Yes I know, Labor Day is over so let’s be done with Jerry Lewis. Not so fast–because I’ve found a clip that I never knew existed, a rare Jerry Telethon clip in which he’s the least offensive person on stage. It’s 1968 and Joan Crawford makes an appearance, reading a poem called ‘The Clumsy Kid’–at half-speed. Are pills involved? Vodka? There’s something a bit ‘off’ about Joan’s demeanor, her performance. She manages to make it through the poem and haltingly hands Jerry a check for five grand. Then things get really weird. Christina Crawford is waiting in the wings to make an appearance. When Jerry mentions her presence Joan looks frosty. Christina comes out, says a few unheard words to Jerry and is instantly led off the stage by her mother who says something like ‘We’ve got work to do’. Actually ‘led off’ is a bit light–Joan drags her off quite deliberately and takes her to the phone bank, where presumably they’re going to start working the phones. (My guess is that Crawford was out of there as soon as they went to commercial and didn’t give her daughter a lift home). She gives Christina a strange shove in the back that feels less than familial. I can’t help but wonder if even Jerry–one of the world’s most abusive fathers–was surprised by Joan’s on-air treatment of the clearly lost Christina, who would exact her revenge just a few years later.  Jerry, at least, put up a warm and cuddly front with his kids in public, though later one of his sons characterized him as ‘mean as a snake’. Wow.