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Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in less than 3 Weeks — TIMPANI! OH, YEAH!!!

August 14th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon Ticket

A round trip ticket to Marvelous!

Labor Day is, as Andy Williams would say, the most wonderful time of the year! It’s Christmas, New Year’s, The 4th of July and Pesach all rolled into one because it’s the one weekend out of the year that I am guaranteed to see JEEEEEEERRY!

The 43rd annual love-in will originate for the third year in a row from the marvelous South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa in marvelous, marvelous Las Vegas, Nev. There will be a lot to talk about on this year’s ‘Thon. Do you think Jerry will goof on the recent financial tsouris sidekick Ed McMahon has had to endure? OH, YEAH! Will there be a tearful tribute to commemorate the recent loss of the disorderly heart surgeon and Jerry’s personal physician for almost 40 years, Dr. Michael DeBakey? OH, YEAH!! Will Norm Crosby wow the crowd with his flair for malaprop? OH, NO!!!

Your Call Made Our Day

Sadly, Norm appears to be the only remnant of the old guard scheduled to appear on this year’s Extra-Special Special. No Rip Taylor, Sam Butera, Rickles, Debbie Reynolds, Jack Jones, and alas, no Charlie Callas’ Tap Dancing Alligator” or the M-M-M-M-ZIP-Maestro’s seminal I Remember It Well routine (***weep***). Pep boy Bart Conner will be there, but we won’t have the thrill of hearing Nadia Comaneci mangle the simplest names of gold and silver star donors.

Continue reading Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in less than 3 Weeks — TIMPANI! OH, YEAH!!!

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Filed Under Rants

Dig A Hole: Dr. Michael DeBakey, the man who saved Jerry Lewis’ life

July 12th, 2008 by Scott Marks

In 1982 I was working the dispatch office for Cablevision in Oak Park, Illinois. The phone rang and instead of some irate jerk in Cicero shouting that his Playboy Channel was out it was my friend David Elliott. The call came in at around 7 am San Diego time, an unthinkable hour of the morning for the then childless Mr. Elliott.

My first thought was that a member of the family had taken ill and in a sense I was right. As soon as Dave heard my voice he hit me with, “Jerry had a heart attack.”

Dr. Michael DeBakey was Jerry’s personal physician. The two men met in 1970 when Dr. DeBakey joined the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Scientific Advisory Committee. From 1972 to 1991 Dr. DeBakey served on MDA’s board and had stayed on as MDA national vice president since then.

Jerry and the Doc quickly formed mutual admiration societies, each man carrying pictures of the other in their wallets. It was Dr. DeBakey who first diagnosed Jerry’s addiction to Percodan. During a 1978 visit to Houston, Jerry collapsed and Dr. DeBakey’s first thought was that he had a heart attack. X-Rays revealed an inordinately large bleeding ulcer which were masked by the pain killer Jerry had been addicted to. After two grueling weeks of spinal injections the ulcer showed signs of healing and it was Dr. DeBakey’s nurturing words that helped Jerry kick the Percodan habit.

The attack that Jerry suffered in 1982 was so sudden that it prevented Dr. DeBakey from personally performing the open heart surgery, although he did act as a consultant. In 1992, sawbones DeBakey was once again called upon to help rid Jerry of prostate cancer.

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Filed Under Obituaries

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