To those of us of a certain age, Labor Day weekend will always belong to the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon. Jerry was at his most Buddy Love-ish when hosting the show, strutting around in a tux, his hair heavily pomaded, a cigarette clutched between his fingers. He often dressed down the crew, made fun of people with southern accents who’d made the journey to Vegas to live their dream and present their fundraising efforts on TV to Jerry, and always capped the whole thing with his dreadful version of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Typical guests included Joey Heatherton, Sammy Davis Jr., Liberace, magicians and second-tier acts from nearby casino’s–and those were the good years. By the end, Jerry was attracting cruise ship style entertainers and had given up even trying to be funny himself. Above is a moment that I actually remember seeing from the 1975 telethon, in which…never mind, just watch it. Tomorrow I’ll try to find some clips from the second day of one of the 70s telethons, which is Jerry in the Percoset years. As a kid the second day was always my favorite part of the show–the dopey, confused, exhausted and irrational Jerry who I thought was just goofy from tiredness, having no idea the man was a pill-head on a jag. Happy Labor Day weekend!