This Is How Telethons Became a Fundraising Tradition

When Hollywood bands together for Hand In Hand: A Benefit For Hurricane Harvey Relief on Tuesday night, the entertainers who show up will be participating in a long-running tradition of lending star power to important causes via televised fundraisers. While the comedian Jerry Lewis became the biggest celebrity telethon-er when he started hosting fundraisers for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in the ’50s he wasn’t the first to do one. Comedian Milton Berle is credited with hosting the first telethon, which NBC broadcasted from 12 p.m. on April 9, 1949, to 3:55 a.m. on April 10th. The 16-hour telecast raised about $1,100,000 — more than $11 million in today’s dollars — for the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund, named after the journalist and short-story writer. The event prompted LIFE magazine, in its April 25, 1949, issue, to feature a photo essay and timeline of what it called “probably the longest sustained vaudeville performance on record.” Berle’s sister Rosalind managed the models and chorus girls who answered the phones and, the feature noted, “many callers just wanted to talk to the show’s handsome chorus girls.” Entertainment included a quiz show with top radio commentator H.V. Kaltenborn, a performance by jazz musician Eddie Condon and his band, and Berle yukking it up with fellow vaudeville comics Benny Rubin and Jerry Bergen. Berle’s mother Sandra also showed up — “Show your teeth, Mothe...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized health photography Television Source Type: news