Encore
File under guilty pleasures, but we well remember tuning into the annual 24 hour MDA Telethon when Jerry Lewis hosted it for almost five decades. As donations for research rolled in, audience treats included Lewis’ usual antics, or as here, in 1980, when he would step in front of the orchestra to conduct. (In this case, with Count Basie.) Part of Lewis’ schtick was a train of endless finales for the number just when you thought he’d had it. After years of acclaim and controversy, Lewis left the MDA organization in 2010. Audience taste changed, as did fund-raising, and the Telethon was discontinued after shortened versions in 2014. —Eric Gould