September 4, 1966: The 1st Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon

September 4, 1966, 60 years ago: The MDA Labor Day Telethon is held for the 1st time, hosted by singer-comedian Jerry Lewis. 

Lewis began hosting telethons to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America (MDAA) in 1952, after a plea from a staff member who worked with Lewis and Dean Martin on The Colgate Comedy Hour. Lewis had previously taken part in what has been described as the very first telethon, a marathon 1951 broadcast benefiting a cardiac hospital that was organized by Budd Granoff, which featured the Martin and Lewis comedy team, who were his clients at that time.

Until their split in 1956, Martin and Lewis hosted these local telethons from New York together. Lewis then hosted it alone, and was named national chairman of MDAA, doing it on Thanksgiving Day in 1957 and 1959. In 1966, it went national, and was moved to Labor Day, previously one of the few national holidays without a major television connection.

It allowed for a 21 1/2-hour production, which Lewis would begin by singing Charlie Chaplin's theme song, "Smile"; and end with "You'll Never Walk Alone," from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel. In between, there would be a constant stream of celebrities: Singers, dancers, comedians, actors performing scenes from Shakespeare's plays and Broadway musicals; and footage of the children the MDA was trying to help, who became known as "Jerry's Kids." Many critics slammed Lewis for appealing to pity, and sometimes the kids' difficulties were hard to watch, but it worked.

Initially, the Telethon was staged at the Americana Hotel, at 811 7th Avenue at 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan. (It's now the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel.) It had the necessary facilities: A ballroom with a stage big enough for a talk show-style desk, a performance area big enough for a 19-piece band, seating space, room for phone banks to take the donation calls, and a tote board to keep track of the donations coming in.

The tote board turned out to be key to the broadcast's success. With each new total coming in, a drumroll would begin, and Lewis would call out, "Tympanies!" and the new total would go up, to a standing ovation. The show's national syndicators were skeptical that it could work, but, at the end of the 1st broadcast, Lewis had to get on a ladder and add a number 1, because they had raised more than $1 million, which was a digit more than the tote board could handle: $1,002,114. (In 2022 money, that works out to a little over $9 million.)

By 1970, the Telethon was shown in 64 cities nationwide on "The Love Network." In 1976, it peaked at 213 stations, making it, if for not quite one full day every year, effectively America's 4th-largest television network behind the old standbys NBC, CBS and ABC. Also in 1976, the show hosted a reunion of, and an end to the 20-year feud between, Lewis and Dean Martin, arranged by their common friend, Frank Sinatra, who usually appeared on the Telethon.

One reason Sinatra appeared is that, in 1973, the broadcast was moved to his favorite city, Las Vegas, Nevada. That year, it broke the $10 million barrier in money raised. The 1976 reunion of Martin & Lewis must have struck a chord with many people, because that show was the first to surpass $20 million in donations.

The Telethon was held at the Sahara, then moved to Caesars Palace in 1982, and to the larger Cashman Center in 1989. In 1990, it moved to the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles, then back to the Sahara from 1991 to 1995, then to CBS Television City in Los Angeles, and then in 2005 to Beverly Hills, and in 2006 back to Vegas at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa until 2011. It was still syndicated to 190 TV stations.

Lewis would always host for 16 of the 21 1/2 hours, taking time out for a nap, with Ed McMahon as his co-host, until 1999. By that point, he was over 70 years old, and had serious health issues, made worse by his obvious weight gain. He began hosting the 1st 5 hours, and the last 5, with McMahon (not exactly young and slim himself) and others filling in the gaps.

As Lewis got older, his health got worse, and his behavior became erratic. In 2011, he was fired as MDA Chairman and host. Starting that year, there were 3 co-hosts, all blonde women: Small Town Big Deal co-host Jann Carl, soap opera (and Hallmark Christmas Movie) actress Alison Sweeney, and Entertainment Tonight co-anchor Nancy O'Dell.

Without Lewis, the show was cut back to 6 hours on the night before Labor Day in 2012, and the last one aired on ABC on August 31, 2014. In 2007, the show topped out at $63,759,478 -- just under $90 million in 2022 money. Even in the last year, 2014, it managed to get a little under $57 million.

Lewis died in 2017, at the age of 91. As with many celebrities, the darker side of his personality came out when he was no longer able to fight back and sue. While he was great with his MDA "Kids," his real children, including rock bandleader Gary Lewis, said he was a rotten father. And many other people mentioned the kind of behavior, much of it misogynistic, that got him fired in 2011.

April 19, 1945: "Carousel" Premieres On Broadway

April 19, 1945, 80 years ago: The musical Carousel premieres at the Majestic Theatre, 245 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, just off Broadway. It was based on Liliom, a play by Hungarian author Ferenc Molnár.

The music was written by Richard Rodgers, who later called it his favorite among all his musicals. Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the book and the lyrics.

The story begins in 1873, in a seaside community in Maine. Billy Bigelow is a carnival barker, and Julie Jordan is a millworker. Billy romances Julie while he's on the clock. Julie appreciates this, but his boss doesn't, and Billy is fired. Julie stays out late with Billy. Billy appreciates this, but her boss, who sees them, and presumes this means she won't be on time to work tomorrow morning, doesn't, and she's fired.

Billy and Julie get married. A month goes by, and Billy is offered a chance to make a lot of money -- in a robbery. He's not sure he should do it. Julie tells him she's pregnant. Now, he knows he needs the money, and goes in on the robbery. It goes sideways, and Billy dies. Julie is comforted by her cousin and best friend Nettie Fowler, leading to the musical's most familiar song, "You'll Never Walk Alone."

Billy arrives in Heaven, and is told that the good he's done in life is outweighed by the bad. He's told that as long as there's a person alive who remembers him with fondness, he can get into Heaven.

He's taken to the future, to see his now-grown daughter Louise. He makes himself visible to her, telling her not that he's her father, but that he was her father's friend. He offers her a gift: A star that he took from Heaven. She refuses it. He slaps her hand, seemingly ruining his chance at getting back to Heaven. Julie notices the star on the ground, picks it up, and seems to feel Billy's presence.

Invisible, Billy attends Louise's graduation. Dr. Seldon, the town doctor, who resembles the Starkeeper who has been advising Billy "Up There," tells the graduating class that they shouldn't rely on their parents' successes, but also shouldn't be held back by their failures. Still invisible, Billy whispers in Louise's ear, telling her to believe the doctor. Then he whispers to Julie, telling her that he loves her. Both his widow and his daughter join in singing "You'll Never Walk Alone," and Billy is taken to Heaven.

In the original Broadway production, Billy was played by John Raitt, father of rock legend Bonnie Raitt; Julie by Jan Clayton; Louise by Bambi Linn; Nettie by Christine Johnson; and the dual role of the Starkeeper and Dr. Seldon by Russell Collins.

It was made into a film in 1956. Gordon MacRae played Billy, Shirley Jones played Julie, Susan Luckey played Louise, Claramae Turner played Nettie, and Gene Lockhart played the Starkeeper and the doctor.

"You'll Never Walk Alone" became a standard. Jerry Lewis would use it to close his annual Labor Day telethon for research into muscular dystrophy and related conditions. Elvis Presley made it a mainstay of his live performances from his Las Vegas debut in 1969 until his death in 1977.

In 1963, Liverpool rock band Gerry & The Pacemakers recorded a version that hit Number 1 on the British charts. (It was not released as a single in the U.S.) In the 1960s, at Anfield, the home stadium of Liverpool F.C., games would be preceded by the public address system playing the Top 10 songs in the country. "You'll Never Walk Alone" seemed to stick with the fans, as they began to ask to have it played last every week, even after it began to drop from the charts, just before the team walked onto the pitch. This was done, and Liverpool, managed by Bill Shankly, won the Football League in 1964.

After that, in England, the song was irrevocably tied to the Mersey Reds. After the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989, the words of the song gave hope to a grieving city. The words "YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE" are now cast in iron atop the Shankly Gates leading into Anfield.

Most Liverpool fans don't even realize that the song debuted on Broadway, in New York, in America, during the waning days of World War II.

The Majestic Theatre would later premiere Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific in 1949, and also The Music Man in 1957, Camelot in 1960, A Little Night Music in 1973, and The Wiz in 1975. From 1988 to 2023, it hosted The Phantom of the Opera, Broadway's longest-running musical. Currently, it is hosting a revival of Gypsy.