The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon individual stations, airing on ABC on Sunday, September 1, 2013, and running two hours. The final edition aired on ABC on August 31, 2014, again as a two-hour special, beginning at 9PM ET/PT. It was announced on May 1, 2015 that the MDA would be discontinuing the annual event for good. Jerry 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
Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis Show", this time as a one-hour variety show for NBC, which ran from 1967 to 1969. He would next direct and star in "The Big Mouth" (1967). Lewis made an appearance on "The Danny Thomas Hour", starred in Jerry Paris' film "Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River" (1968) and then appear as a guest on "Playboy After Dark", surprising Davis Jr. in 1968. Lewis went on to star in "Hook, Line & Sinker" (1969) with co-star Peter Lawford and afterwards, guest starred in an episode of "Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters Hour". In 1970, Lewis guest