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 Lester 1969 production of "South Pacific". Afflicted with Alzheimer's disease in 1985, he retired from show business. He died in Miami, Florida, in 1995. His brother was actor and comedian Buddy Lester. Jerry Lester Jerry Lester (February 16, 1910 – March 23, 1995) was an American comedian, singer and performer on radio, television and the stage, who hosted the first network late night television program as host of "Broadway Open House" on NBC, a vaudeville-esque combination of comedy and music, whose success demonstrated the potential for late-night television and led to the creation of the "Tonight Show". Jerry Lester was born