JERRY LEWIS MDA TELETHON BACK IN VEGAS
TUCSON, Ariz., August 1, 2006 – The Muscular Dystrophy Association’s
2006 Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon will be broadcast live from the
South Coast Hotel in Las Vegas, Sept. 3-4. The Telethon’s national
broadcast returns to “the entertainment capital of the world”
after a 12 years of origination from Hollywood.
The South Coast’s 22,000-square-foot ballroom will be home to
the 21½-hour live television event which reaches nearly 50 million
viewers in the United States and Canada via 190 television stations
in MDA’s “Love Network,” and is available to millions
more worldwide, thanks to Real Networks, on the Internet at www.mda.org.
The national show airs from 9 p.m. EDT Sunday, Sept. 3, to 6:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 4. Broadcast times vary; local listings will show start
times and stations.
Comedy legend Jerry Lewis, MDA’s national chairman and star of
its world-renowned Telethon, is ready to light up the tote board from
his hometown. The Telethon also will feature live remotes from New York
and Chicago.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that we’re bringing the
Telethon back to the bright lights of Las Vegas and the great people
of this city,” said Lewis, a longtime Las Vegas resident.
“There’s plenty of work to be done to make this the most
successful Telethon in history. We must keep pushing forward because
we’re moving closer and closer to finding treatments and cures
for all ‘my kids.’”
Telethon anchor Ed McMahon will return for his 39th year. Ed was recently
named “greatest sidekick of all time” by Entertainment Weekly.
Telethon co-hosts include Jann Carl of “Entertainment Tonight,”
comedian Norm Crosby, TV host and comedian Tom Bergeron and country
singer Billy Gilman.
The South Coast Hotel is home to 1,350 rooms, a movie complex, bowling
center, equestrian center and several restaurants. The hotel is located
on 60 acres in the southern part of Las Vegas and is located just minutes
away from the famous Las Vegas Strip.
South Coast Vice President and General Manager Mike Gaughan Jr. said,
“We’re delighted to be a partner with MDA in supporting
the fight against neuromuscular diseases. Las Vegas is the perfect setting
for the Telethon, and we’re excited to open our doors to MDA,
its staff, the families it serves and Telethon viewers nationwide.”
This year marks the 41st consecutive year for the Telethon, which originated
over the Labor Day weekend in 1966 from the Grand Ballroom of the Americana
Hotel in New York.
The MDA national broadcast was televised live from Las Vegas from 1973
to 1989, it went to Hollywood in 1990, and again from Vegas from 1991
to 1994. Since 1995, the broadcast has been based in the Hollywood.
MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular
disease through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services,
and far-reaching professional and public health education. The Association’s
programs are funded almost entirely by individual contributors.
# # # |
