For the third year in a row, my wife Sandy and I spent Labor Day weekend at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas working on an annual event that has become an intrinsic part of the American experience, the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.
For almost as long as I can remember, this 20-hour emotional appeal and entertainment extravaganza has been a part of my life and, in fact, the collective experience of a whole generation.
However, it’s a far different thing tuning in from home in your pajamas and being a part of an extraordinary TV production involving hundreds of talented and dedicated people. This year was even more significant and gratifying because our E.B. Lane team had created the campaign that became the unifying call to action that spanned celebrities and corporate sponsors alike:
Make a Muscle, Make a Difference.
Over the past year, EBL had been getting dynamic shots of celebrities and sports stars flexing on behalf of MDA. At the same time, we produced a powerful :60 commercial featuring researchers, firemen, soldiers, Harley riders and sponsors demonstrating their ongoing commitment to Jerry’s Kids. Guided by Executive V.P. Kevin Moran and powered by Steve Farella, CEO of TargetCast, our new MDA campaign received more than $12 million in public service advertising. All of this effort set the stage for an amazing MDA Telethon on Labor Day weekend.
We had been receiving updates on the “Huge Reviews” that EBL was getting for our commercials and print ads. But it wasn’t until we arrived at the Sponsor’s Cocktail Party on Saturday night that we became aware of just how fully MDA had embraced our campaign. Lining the halls were eight-foot reproductions of our flexing celebrities. When Jerry Weinberg, the CEO of MDA got to the podium, his very first thank you was to EBL for creating the campaign. In fact, almost every speech that night involved flexing and our call to action. They even had a cheer squad doing flips and exhorting the crowd to Make a Muscle, Make a Difference
Sunday night finally arrived and we headed to the studio. For this year’s Telethon, the entire set had been redesigned with giant digital screens that felt more open and contemporary than previous years. As the countdown to the live, national broadcast continued on monitors around the studio, cameras rolled and technicians scurried. We took our assigned seats.
Of course, the beating heart and emotional center of it all has always been Jerry Lewis. At 84 years old, he is still an extraordinary and remarkable man capable of making you laugh one moment and shedding tears the next. At last year’s show, he had been sick and wheelchair-bound, but this time, he was full of energy and resolve, clearly willing to do almost anything necessary to get the money that his kids so desperately needed. This was Jerry’s 44th Telethon and marked his 58th year with MDA. He took center stage at 6 p.m. and remained there until 11 p.m. when he handed the microphone over to Nigel Lythgoe of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance fame. The line-up of talent, co-hosts and donations continued through the night.
Every time the national show took a break and went to the local stations of the Love Network, we headed back to see Jim Brown, MDA’s head of Public Relations who was orchestrating the ongoing photo shoots of the national sponsors as they flexed for MDA. We had set up the lighting with the photographer before the Telethon began. So when stars became available, they could quickly visit the P.R. room and make a muscle for MDA. The shoot continued throughout the night and into the following day.
We arrived back on the stage at about 10:30 a.m. Monday morning with the tally near $30 million. Over the next four hours, we watched more great entertainers and heard heartbreaking stories of adults and children afflicted with these terrible muscle diseases. The effect took you on a roller coaster of emotions. Hour after hour, stars, sponsors and co-hosts alike exhorted the audience to Make a Muscle, Make a Difference.
In the end, America once again came though for Jerry and his kids, raising almost $60 million in donations plus many millions more in corporate donations. It had been an amazing couple of days with moments that will stay with me for a lifetime.
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