I’ve watched at least a little bit of the MDA Labor Day Telethon every year since I was a kid, and donated every year for almost as long. This was all due to a fascination with Jerry Lewis and the schlocky side of Hollywood. This year, which was to be Lewis’s final appearance, he will be mysteriously absent. Rather than the standard 21.5 hours, the broadcast has been whittled down to 6 hours. And it’s being held on the day before Labor Day. The whole thing has me kind of sad. To mark the end of an era, I’m sharing this poem, which I wrote on September 9, 1990.
I fiddle with the rabbit ears
until I get a clear
shot of Tony Orlando.
It’s telethon time again.
Jerry and Ed are set,
Sammy, noticeably absent.
The Love Network is in place—
two hundred affiliates from coast
to coast. Thousands of volunteers wait
by the phones. Aretha Franklin is live
via satellite from Atlantic City.
Cameramen scramble
as Jerry does some schtick. Boom
operators, lighting crews,
and electricians work feverishly
for twenty-one and a half hours.
Then the power goes out; they can’t light the toteboard.
Ed reads the final tally off of a notecard.
Technical Difficulties
3 responses to “Technical Difficulties”
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Hooray for notecards and Jack’s poems!
Jack, no worries about the telethon. There’s been a marathon of tv programming going on for at least a month. Two separate channels have been playing a movie about Norman Finklestein almost non-stop. It’s called “American Radical” (despite having little to do with being an American). Was wondering if you’ve seen it, and would like to comment on its whole schtick.
Hmm, haven’t seen that one, and it doesn’t seem to be currently airing on any of my channels. However, I did make a field trip to Bergenfield, NJ yesterday to see the current John Sayles release, “Amigo.” He’s a bit of an American radical himself.