March 8, 2000

REGARDING A FRIENDSHIP OF 20 YEARS

At one point during our most recent Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, which aired for 21½ hours on Sept. 5-6 last year, we took time out to do something special. We aired a video tribute to one of the most important members of our Telethon family, Casey Kasem; the segment took the form of a montage, introduced by Jerry himself, showing a small portion of the work Casey has done as a friend to MDA over the years.

To countless Americans, Casey Kasem is known for his warm, mellifluous voice and his hugely popular work on his nationally syndicated program, "America's Top Forty." (Recently, Casey's name came up as one of the answers on the tremendously successful quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?")

Although Casey invariably has many irons in the fire, including his radio show as well as a multitude of radio and television voiceover assignments, he's demonstrated an abiding dedication to the furtherance of MDA's affairs, in recognition of which he was named an MDA national vice president some years ago.

Casey Kasem

Most prominently, Casey has served as Telethon co-host, both on the national portion of the broadcast alongside Telethon star Jerry Lewis and anchor Ed McMahon, but also on the pivotally important Los Angeles broadcast on KCAL 9-TV. Many times he's been ably assisted by his beautiful and talented actress wife, Jean.

Typical of the man's character, which is marked by gentlemanliness and modesty not often seen these days, Casey was genuinely surprised and touched on Telethon '99 that we'd take time out to honor him for the 20th anniversary of his initial Telethon involvement.

The tribute was overdue, however. The fact is, it's hard to enumerate all the work Casey has done in behalf of MDA. He's helped Jerry and Ed keep things flowing smoothly on the immensely complex national broadcast, facilitating segues between segments and introducing performers and MDA profile subjects, all the while demonstrating a deeply ingrained understanding of the issues faced by families fighting daily battles against muscle-wasting diseases.

On the local broadcast, he's developed the ways of getting the phones to ring to a fine art, whether it means making impassioned speeches or encouraging callers to dial the last digit of MDA's pledge number at exactly the same moment so that a whole phone bank will begin ringing at once.

He's represented MDA at parades. He's stood on street corners under a blazing sun being filmed in formal attire while quizzing passersby on how much they knew about MDA's programs. He's hosted retrospective shows of favorite moments from the Telethon.

He's used his celebrity to make radio appearances across the country promoting MDA and the Telethon. He's emceed MDA meetings and events, and gone out of his way to befriend sponsor representatives and others who have thrown their support behind MDA.

In short, Casey has done anything and everything he can for the sake of "Jerry's kids," even bringing in family members such as his son, Mike, a talented young veejay who's served as MDA national youth chairperson.

Casey has never sought credit or acclaim for the work he's done, but is satisfied with knowing he's helped hasten the day when neuromuscular diseases will be defeated.

Jerry Lewis and all of us at MDA are well aware of the debt we owe Casey. We'd like to take this chance to reiterate the sentiment that was expressed on Telethon '99:

"Casey, you're the greatest!"

With every best wish . . .

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