Drumroll please...

It feels a little awkward to experience Labor Day Weekend without one of the time-honored traditions.

Oh, here in East Tennessee, we still have the Boomsday celebration. And the Vols successfully opened another fall football campaign with a thrashing of Austin Peay.

There was one last trip to the lake, if you wanted it; backyard barbeques for all those hungry and even a dip in the pool as our late-summer temperatures touched 90 for a rare occasion in 2013.

What was missing again this Labor Day Weekend was Jerry Lewis.

For people my age and (and older…and slightly younger), this was a staple of the early September screen. Kids my age grew up with this show on the air in the background as we ran in and out of the house getting our last bits of summer fun. Lewis and a cavalcade of talented performers would entertain nation-wide audiences while raising funds for MDA throughout the show.

Often, the telecast would be on inside while we were enjoying our last few hours of play before school started back on the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Honestly, I was never one to sit down and watch hours and hours of the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon. But, it was always somewhat comforting to know that at some point during the 18-hour telecast, you might run across just a few minutes of it. That happened well past my school years until just a few years ago before Lewis and the MDA had a very public split.

I’m not sure for the reasons behind the divorce between agency and actor. But, despite those issues, it definitely seems like a telethon is probably a by-gone tool in the fundraising arsenal.

With today’s past-faced, hyper-speed pace, I doubt there are few people who could devote hours to watching such a show. Think about it. When was the last time you had the time to commit to sitting back and following all the drama unfold as the fundraising totals mounted and as the team reached toward the goal of raising more dollars than had been achieved the previous year.

You probably remember the hourly updates of the tote-board, punctuated by percussion and the famous words: “Drumroll please…”

But would you have time to sit and watch now? With bills to be paid, lawns to be mowed, school lunches to fix, we just have too many distractions. The era and the show are mismatched. I guess that’s why it has now been scaled way back to a two-hour ’entertainment special.’

Still, it is a sad reality. One by one, the things we counted on as youths are fading as the late summer warmth fades to fall.

A tip of the cap to the ol’ Nutty Professor…for the good deeds he did and the entertainment he provided. If this had been like past years, I might have turned on the tv late on Sunday night and enjoyed a snippet of the show.

I settled for SportsCenter instead.

JG

Originally posted 9/1/2013