Archive Interviewee Jerry Lewis Discusses the MDA Telethon

The 42nd annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association will be broadcast live from Las Vegas on Monday, September 3rd. “I’ll never wave the white flag in the fight against muscular dystrophy and other muscle-wasting diseases,” Lewis says on the MDA website. “Not only is the Telethon a chance to help put an end to these debilitating diseases, but it’s also a way to inform and educate the public, while having a darn good time.”

Jerry Lewis was interviewed in October 2000 by the Archive of American Television where he talked about his long association with the annual event.

On doing a telethon with Dean Martin in 1949:
We did a telethon for two hours with the mail carriers in 1949. Then we went to Carnegie Hall in 1950. He did the six-hour telethon with me there… We did MDA from ‘50 to ‘52, and then there was a hiatus. I didn’t do another one till after we split up. But he was very helpful and he understood it was something I had to do and he was very supportive.

On going national with the telethon:
In 1950, Dean and I did the first telethon out of WNEW New York. That was the flagship. The flagship meaning they also had stations in New Jersey and Connecticut… Then we were on hiatus from ‘53 to about ‘57. And in that, in the interim Dean and I had split up, and then I was doing the telethon local New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut from ‘57, ‘58, ‘59. Then in 1960 I started to travel to get stations, because we were on three stations, New York and two, whatever that was. By 1960 I was already getting seventy stations, ninety stations. ‘61, ‘62, I’m into a hundred and four stations. ‘66, we went national. I had taken those years to put everybody in place and then finally get them to go with us, when we went national. So we were the first telethon to ever go in color, the first telethon to go coast-to-coast, and by the time we went into 1970 I had 213 stations. We moved the telethon in 1973 to Las Vegas for the first time. And this last year [1999] was my fiftieth year. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing it for 50 years. But the thing that is so magnificent is that the television medium helped me generate a billion seven hundred million dollars in these last 38 years, because twelve years I didn’t raise two hundred thousand dollars.

On the hope for a cure:
And God-willing, again, because of television, we’re going to find a cure. We’re into DNA now, we’re into genetic engineering, which is certain to give us information. And now I’m being told by the clinicians and the researchers and the lab people, you’re going to see the cure in your lifetime. I mean, it’s incredible.

On special moments on the telethon through the years:
Jack Benny came on and destroyed the audience. I had introduced him and he walked on and he looked right in the camera and he thought for a minute, he looked in the camera again. He looked around, and he said, "I don’t guarantee that I’m going to make a pledge." And we were destroyed! Everybody was hysterical. And he leaned on that for about another minute of just staring. I’ll never forget what that man did with one thought. “Cheapest man in the world,” he’s not going to make a pledge. The Ritz Brothers came on and did the act that they did in vaudeville forty years before, and it was spectacular… I had the hundred and twenty Russian Bolshoi ballet. A hundred and twenty coming right at the center camera, one at a time. One at a time. And about after a hundred and three I was in it. I did my thing. I’ll tell you one thing that I could never ever forget. Mary Passalacqua was a victim of neuromuscular disease, and I went to the hospital to see her in San Francisco, hoping that she would be better. And she was, she was skeleton-like. She was dying so badly. And we funded a thing called plasmapheresis, which flushes the bad blood out and puts new blood in, and she had been given the last rights when I arrived there. When I arrived there she was the epitome of what hero worship is, because she saw me and she, she practically came alive. And then I left, I said good-bye, never though I’d see her again, and then I get a letter from her two months later. Thanks so much for visiting me: it made the difference. I’m doing well. I’m fine. And P.S. my dream is to one day dance with you. I read the letter on television in front of eighty million people. And then I pointed to the curtain and there she came. She walked out and she and I danced dead center of that stage. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. She’s alive and well because of our funding the plasmapheresis syndrome. And that’s probably one of the most unforgettable things, because I was trembling so, trying to dance and be cool. It was so important to her and to everyone else that was a victim. It was a special moment for people in trouble.

On his 1976 reunion with Dean Martin on the telethon:
The other great moment that’s pretty close emotionally was when Frank [Sinatra] decided to bring Dean on and have us embrace, and stop the twenty years of silence, because it was twenty years we hadn’t talked. And Frank worked it out. He worked it out so that everyone in that studio, every member of my staff— nobody knew Dean was coming on. The only one that knew it was Ed McMahon. So I could never have heard about it. It was such a total surprise. And when you look at the footage and you see the look on my face and the look on his face you see two men that love one another. It was an incredible moment. It was great television.

On the instituting of “ You’ll Never Walk Alone” as the telethon’s closing song:
In 1950 I had the occasion to go to Chicago and visit a twelve-year-old little boy who was suffering from spinal atrophy. And they had operated on him and put a shunt in his spine so he could sit up. And when he saw me he said, I got to tell you something. I just love what you do, and, and you know, you should have a theme song. Twelve years old. I said, what do you mean, a theme song? You should have a song for all of us kids. Your kids. I said, a song like what? He said, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” And it was like I was hit between the eyes with a bullet. What? Of course, I know that lyric, I know where he’s coming from. But he was a very bright twelve-year-old little boy. Speaking for all of the kids that were in trouble. I dedicated it to him on Telethon ‘50. I’ve done it for fifty years.

Link to information about the 2007 MDA telethon.

The entire five-part Archive of American Television interview can be viewed by clicking here.

Additionally, Archive interviewee Eddie Foy III also spoke about working with Jerry Lewis on the MDA Telethons (six minutes into part 10).

Interview Description:

Jerry Lewis was interviewed for nearly two-and-a-half hours in San Diego, CA. Mr. Lewis described his rise to stardom and his work on early television, including hosting The Colgate Comedy Hour with his partner, Dean Martin. Mr. Lewis spoke of his many accomplishments in the entertainment industry and his major work in television, including his annual telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The interview was conducted by Sam Denoff.

Archive Interviewee Brad Garrett Talks About "'Til Death" -- Now Out on DVD

FOX comedy 'Til Death: Season One comes out on DVD today; the series has been renewed for its second season for 2007-08. Series star Brad Garrett is best known for playing Ray Romano's brother, policeman "Robert Barone" on Everybody Loves Raymond. He's also the voice of "Gusteau" in the current Pixar feature Ratatouille. Brad Garrett sat down with the Archive of American Television on April 26, 2007 where he talked about starring in 'Til Death.

Describe the character you play.

Eddie, I think is 90% of your married men out there that have made it to 20 years. I was close to make it to 20 years, I was just 13 years shy. You know how, [people say] “I married my best friend.” If I’d married my best friend I’d be bass fishing right now. You don’t marry your best friend, what you hopefully try to do is marry someone who is a wonderful blending of your neuroses-- that’s really where the marriage is. And then you get to the point where you’re too tired to leave or you’re too tired to break up and you realize later in life you’re just going to need someone to change you, not emotionally, your diaper. So when you look at 80 year olds, they’re not still in love, they hold hands-- it’s balance, they can’t walk without, that’s why they’re holding hands, they’re not in love after 60 years, no matter what they tell you.


Talk about the casting of Joely Fisher.

So Eddie is a guy who has met his match in Joely Fisher who plays Joy. She was the last woman to audition for the part and I didn’t have a wife for the show, literally 12 hours before our first table read, she came in at the last minute and just blew our doors off because what I loved about her is what she is in real life-- as well as this character-- she’s courageous and she’s strong and she pushes the envelope and she’s incredibly instinctive and I knew it was important kind of like The Honeymooner dynamic of Ralph and Alice. If I’m going to be a blowhard and be an in-your-face type of husband, I need a woman that could stand toe to toe and not you know be blown over by my wind if you will. And she was just there, to stand right there and be Joy and still be feminine and still be sexy and still be strong and... people aren’t supposed to look at the show and say oh my God look, they’re happy 20 yeas later, I want them to go oh my wow that is like me, boy a marriage is work, boy it is the little things that piss you off, boy it is the little things that keep you together.


You have a catchphrase with “Fantastic”…

Oh “fantastic.” Yes. Which came out, sadly enough, is out of my own life, that’s what I sometimes say when I don’t know what to say, someone will say I’m thinking about getting this lanced you want to look at it? And I’ll go “fantastic,” said I’ll be happy to look at anything on you that you think should be removed.


So that came from you?

It did come from me. I called Raymond cubby as Robert [on "Everybody Loves Raymond"], I’d go 'come here cubby,' that came out of an ad-lib. Again it’s those little things, the layers, it’s all about layers that we try to find. That’s what’s fun about acting or creating a show or being involved with a show and I’m also a producer on “’Til Death,” which only means I have parking, that’s really all it means, that and I can say we need more sherbet, it’s really nothing more than that.


Do you have a favorite episode so far?

I loved the dream getaway, I loved the episode where we go on a small vacation with the newlyweds and uh, it ends up that um, Kat Foster that plays the, the young ingenue on our show, who, one of the newlyweds ends up having a sex dream about me, and ends up telling Eddie Kay Thomas, the Jeff character about it, and I get wind of it and I am reveling in it, that this young hot woman would, and I really, it gives Eddie uh, you know a feeling of being wanted again, which guys that have been married 20 years. So, it gives Eddie a color we’ve really never seen and he starts you know dressing better and feeling better. What happens of course Eddie takes it overboard as he usually does and you know rubs it in Joy’s face a little bit, and she calls him on it and says come on you got to be kidding it was a dream and, and then we end up seeing the dynamic of a couple that has 20 years under their belt and how it’s two people that are really feeling insecure you know, and nothing more than that you now. There’s two things in a 20 year relationship, you’re either feeling insecure or you’re hungry.


And the show has a new time slot and how is it doing?

Well they put us after “American Idol” and you know to be honest my Bar Mitzvah video after “American Idol” could probably get a 12 share. We’re trying not to get, too high up on that, but Fox believes in the show, and they wanted to get more eyes on it and since they moved us after “Idol” not only have people been coming, but people have been staying with it. Now what’s the fate for season two? We’re still waiting to hear, if you hear or anybody at home hears, I’m usually the last to hear, please contact me, I’ll be at the primate clinic donating my plasma for the new Gibbon survey.

Brad Garrett's entire Archive interview can be seen at the Archive's offices at the Television Academy Headquarters in North Hollywood and will be available online in the future.

Interview description: Garrett spoke about his early comedy influences and his own break into the stand-up comedy world as a teenager. He talked about his first appearance on television on Norm Crosby’s Comedy Shop and his contest-winning turn on Star Search. He described two short-lived sitcoms he appeared on, before he landed the role for which he is most known, “Robert Barone” on Everybody Loves Raymond. He spoke in great detail about Raymond: describing his character, talking about the ensemble and series creator Phil Rosenthal, and mentioning notable episodes. He then talked about his next sitcom success as twenty-years-married “Eddie Stark” on ‘Til Death, a series he also produces. Additionally, he spoke about playing comic icon Jackie Gleason in the 2002 made-for-television movie Gleason. The 2 hour interview was conducted by Gary Rutkowski.

Archive Interviewee Gerald Fried Joins the Topanga Symphony for a Free Concert

LOS ANGELES RESIDENTS:

ARCHIVE INTERVIEWEE GERALD FRIED WILL BE PERFORMING WITH THE TOPANGA SYMPHONY

Sunday, August 19, 2007 at 7:30 p.m.

Topanga Community House
1140 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. Topanga, CA 90290

***

Jerome Kessler - Music Director and Conductor
Gerald Fried - Oboe

Christoph Willibald Gluck	-	Airs de Ballet Suite #1
Benedetto Marcello	-	Oboe Concerto in C minor
H. Maurice Jacquet	-	Pour un Petit Chien Clown
Johannes Wenzeslaus Kalivoda	-	Symphony No. 6 in F

---

No tickets or reservations required.
For further details call (818) 591-8477

Gerald Fried's 2-hour interview interview is online. Click here to access all segments.

Interview description:

Gerald Fried talked about his early work as the composer of Stanley Kubrick’s first films, including his pulsating score for The Killing. Fried then discussed his work as a composer for television that began at Revue Studios. He described his continued composing for television in the 1960s, highlighted by such series as Gilligan’s Island (including one episode where he had musicians blow into bottles to simulate sea shell instruments) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (including an episode entirely done with kazoos). He spoke in great detail about his work on the classic science fiction series Star Trek, for which he was one of the most significant contributors. He discussed his scores for such classic episodes as “Shore Leave”and “Amok Time.” Additionally, he spoke about his later work for television movies and miniseries (including Roots). B-roll (end of Part 4) consisted of Fried performing three pieces on the oboe from his Star Trek compositions as well as several still photos from recording sessions. The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on June 26, 2003.

TV Land and the Archive of American Television Celebrate Elvis Presley

Thirty years ago today, Elvis Presley died but his popularity never faded. His career was highlighted by several landmark television appearances. The Archive of American Television interviewed several of the behind-the-scenes professionals behind these shows and their stories are being highlighted on TV Land and its website.

Performer and host Milton Berle talks about his first meeting with Elvis that occurred when his manager wanted Berle to audition him.

Agent Larry Auerbach described booking Elvis on his first TV show.

Director/Producer Steve Binder talks about the '68 Comeback Special.

Director/producer Marty Pasetta reminisces about pitching his ideas for the Elvis Aloha from Hawaii special, the first program to ever be beamed around the world by satellite.




To link to these stories click here.

In the month of August, TV Land will show Elvis highlights including airings of Elvis’ ‘Great Performance’ series, ‘Ed Sullivan’s Rock & Roll Classics, the ‘68 Comeback Special’, ‘Elvis: His Best Friend Remembers’, homemade movies ‘Elvis by the Presleys’, Made-for-TV movie ‘Elvis & Me’, and the worldwide phenomenon ‘Aloha from Hawaii’.

"Make Room For Daddy" and "My World and Welcome To It" Creator Melville Shavelson Has Died— Archive Interview Online

Mel Shavelson, who wrote for such comedians as Bob Hope and Danny Kaye, has died at the age of 90. He created the classic sitcom Make Room for Daddy, starring Danny Thomas. He also wrote and directed for the movies and is a two-time Oscar nominee (for The Seven Little Foys and Houseboat [for original screenplay, shared with partner Jack Rose]). He was also a former President of the Writers Guild of America, west and most currently served on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation's Board of Directors.



This year, on his 90th birthday, Mr. Shavelson published an autobiography: "How To Succeeed in Hollywood Without Really Trying: P.S. - You Can't"

Click here to access his entire four-and-a-half hour interview.

Interview description:
Mel Shavelson was interviewed for four-and-a-half hours in Los Angeles, CA. Mr. Shavelson talked about starting out as a press agent with Milt Josefsberg in 1938. He moved to Los Angeles the following year, with Mr. Josefsberg, to write for the radio show "The Pepsodent Bob Hope Show." In 1947, he wrote for the first commercial television program ever broadcast west of the Mississippi, for Paramount's experimental station W6XYZ that became KTLA. In 1953, he created the sitcom Make Room For Daddy. Mr. Shavelson also discussed the critically acclaimed series My World and Welcome To It, which he also created. He also talked about the Writers Guild of America, for which he served as president. He spoke about writing and directing the following television movies: The Legend of Valentino, The Great Houdini, and Ike. The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on April 6, 1999.

Sheldon Leonard's Full Archive Interview is Now Online!

Television legend Sheldon Leonard (1907-97) was one of the first people interviewed when the Archive of American Television began its pilot project in 1996.

PRESS THE PLAY ARROW IN THE PLAYER ABOVE TO WATCH THE SEGMENT NOW.

Leonard was the executive producer of such classic television series as The Danny Thomas Show/Make Room for Daddy, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and I Spy. He won two Emmy Awards— as director of Make Room for Daddy in 1961 and as producer of My World, and Welcome To It in 1970. In 1995 he was named an Honorary Life Member of the Directors Guild of America for his long-time services to the DGA as treasurer.

Click here to access Sheldon Leonard's full Archive of American Television interview.

Interview description:
Producer/director/creator/writer Sheldon Leonard (1907-97) was interviewed for two-and-a-half hours in Beverly Hills, CA. Not only is Leonard's interview significant to the Archive because of his death just six months after the interview, but because of the warmth, candor and vivid storytelling apparent throughout the interview. Leonard shared his fondest memories about the pioneering programs he produced such as The Danny Thomas Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and I Spy. He also spoke highly of the talented group of people he worked with like Danny Thomas, Mary Tyler Moore, Bill Cosby, Dick Van Dyke, Carl Reiner and Andy Griffith. The interview was conducted by Sam Denoff on July 11, 1996.

Director Robert Butler's Archive Interview is Now Online!

Director Robert Butler was responsible for creating the look and feel for many classic television series in a career that spanned five decades. His full Archive of American Television interview is now available online, including detailed accounts of directing the first episodes of Batman, Moonlighting (pilot telefilm) and Hill Street Blues.

Click here to access Robert Butler's entire five-hour interview.

Interview description:
Butler began by describing his early years breaking into the business as an usher at CBS. He described his experiences in various behind-the-scenes capacities on such classic “live” anthology series as Climax! and Playhouse 90. He described his first break in television directing on the comedy/drama series Hennesey. He detailed his many and varied assignments in series television in the 1960s on such series as The Detectives, Bonanza, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, The Defenders, The Fugitive, Hogan’s Heroes, The Twilight Zone, Batman, and Star Trek. Butler described his work in the 1970s on television movies (such as Columbo MOWs and James Dean) and feature films. He extensively described his groundbreaking work on the look of Hill Street Blues, for which he directed several of the initial episodes (including the pilot). He talked about his later work on such series as Remington Steele, Moonlighting (the telefilm pilot), Out on a Limb, Midnight Caller (which he also executive-produced), Sisters, and Lois & Clark. The interview was conducted by Stephen J. Abramson on January 14, 2004.