Web-Enhanced Features
The Web-enhanced Telethon will give Internet users immediate access to video clips of classic moments from Telethons past - and will provide preview information about what's coming up on this year's show. It will also allow people to make contributions to the Telethon quickly, safely and conveniently online using AT&T's SecureBuy Service. (Supporters of MDA can make online pledges not only at Telethon time but year-round.)
Visitors to the MDA site will also be able to submit questions online, some of which will be answered live on the broadcast by Jerry Lewis and his Telethon co-hosts during the 21 1/2 -hour event.
Talented Telethon Team
But what about the Telethon itself?
Movie star, comedian, writer, director and song-and-dance man Jerry Lewis will take his usual place on the Telethon stage, fresh from a string of live performances in Australia and fully recovered from last year's bout of viral meningitis that forced him to carefully conserve energy during the 1999 Telethon.
Jann Carl |
Lewis is back in top form and raring for another successful Telethon celebration. As always, his goal is to top the previous year's pledge total by one dollar. Last year, the Telethon raised $53,116,417 in pledges and contributions to support MDA's programs of research, medical services and summer camps for those fighting neuromuscular diseases.
Cynthia Garrett |
He'll be aided by longtime pal and Telethon Anchor Ed McMahon, with other faithful friends, including Jann Carl, Cynthia Garrett and Norm Crosby, as Telethon co-hosts.
"Putting on the Telethon is immensely difficult and labor-intensive," Lewis says. "To undertake something like this without good friends around you would be tough. Fortunately, with Ed and my Telethon co-hosts, I'm surrounded by delightful, caring, talented people who really pull together as a team. That's so important."
MDA Senior Vice President and Executive Director Robert Ross serves as the Telethon's executive producer, with Lee Miller in place once again as producer and Eddie Foy III as executive in charge of talent.
Star Power in 2000
Jack Lemmon |
The roster of celebrities slated to appear on Telethon 2000 will, as usual, remain in flux until airtime in September. However, Lewis promises that this Telethon will be no exception to the past policy of recruiting as many exciting stars as possible.
Some of the names certain or likely to appear include Oscar winner Jack Lemmon, making an impassioned appeal about the need to conquer amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and astronaut and American legend Buzz Aldrin, who with Neil Armstrong became one of the first humans to walk on the moon in 1969.
Keeping up the Telethon's high standards of musical performance will be such entertainers as singing and dancing sensation Charo, a Telethon favorite known for making her way into the audience and energizing everyone in the studio as well as at home, and peerless sophisticated song stylist Maureen McGovern.
There'll be a wide variety of comic talent to suit every taste, from Kevin Meaney to Bob Zany to Carrot Top. Plus we'll be seeing popular TV personalities ranging from Delta Burke and LeVar Burton to Dennis Franz and Martha Stewart.
Not to mention the casts of Broadway shows, including Tony-winning "Annie Get Your Gun" ... and many other surprises.
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