Jerry Lewis inspired France’s Téléthon
Comedian and actor Jerry Lewis, who died at the weekend aged 91, was the inspiration behind France’s hugely successful annual Téléthon fundraiser.
The Téléthon, which raises money for muscular diseases (and certain other rare illnesses) will have its 30th anniversary this year, but its founders were inspired by the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, which he hosted from 1966 for 44 years each Labor Day weekend in September.
Alongside his performing career Lewis had a lifelong interest in fundraising for research into muscular dystrophy (one of the better-known kinds of myopathy – muscle disease) and his 21-hour telethons raised a total of over $2.6billion.
He used to dominate the show with his charisma and would become tearful towards the later hours, pleading with viewers to help get the totals higher. Among celebrities who appeared with him over the years were Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and John Lennon.
He never revealed why he was so passionate about the cause.
In 1986 two French members of the Association Française contre les Myopathies (AFM), whose children had the disease, went to America to see how the fundraiser was run and on their return they persuaded the heads of France 2 to adapt it for French television the following year.
Lewis agreed to be the patron of the first show and he made a closing speech which was translated into French.
He said: “For the first time in the history of France and this disease, the great people of this country have given the children hope.
“You must feel wonderful to know you have brought hope to these children. And all of us here love you and we hope we see you next year.”
Since then the Téléthon has several times topped €100million and has raised a total of around €2.2billion.
