Jerry and Me

(From Fall, 2017)

I have a photograph in my head.  It’s from 1977 at a big conference hotel… maybe the Sahara in Las Vegas.  I’m the one on the left.  The one on the right is Jerry Lewis.

Just out of college and recently married, I took a job with MDA – the Muscular Dystrophy Association – earlier that year.  It was my first “real” job, and my first national conference.  There were probably 500 people in attendance, and I was the youngest and least experienced.  So inexperienced that I didn’t know any of the unspoken rules, such as, nobody on the MDA staff was allowed to talk to MDA’s famous chairman and Labor Day Telethon host. 

In that photograph in my brain I can see the younger me happening upon Mr. Lewis before a luncheon for which he was to be the guest speaker.  I politely said, “Excuse me, Mr. Lewis.  It is an honor to meet you.”

He said, “thank you,” and we each went our own way – me by myself, and he with his cadre of minions.

About three minutes later, as I sat down in the ballroom for lunch, my new boss put his hands on my shoulders and asked me to come with him.  Out in the hall, he asked me if I had talked to Jerry Lewis, and I said I had.  He turned whiter, put his hand on his forehead, and apologized to me for not telling me that staff couldn’t do that.  He said he could probably keep me from being fired.

I’m pretty sure Jerry didn’t complain about me, but his “keepers” surely did.

I don’t remember what kind of chicken we had for lunch, but the memory of that day has obviously stayed with me.

As you know, Jerry Lewis died last month.  His death resurrected a number of my MDA memories.  Most of them were good.  For seven years I helped tell the story about neuromuscular diseases, and helped raise money for research and patient care. 

I also gained a lot of respect for Jerry Lewis.  In all his years working for MDA he gave an inestimable amount of blood, sweat, and tears, and was much more than a figurehead.  His speeches showed a real knowledge of the diseases and the on-going research.  He was truly committed.

Now, 40 years later, progress in treating those diseases has been made, thanks to the money he helped raise.  It was good to remember my “brush with greatness,” and to consider the small part I played in MDA’s efforts.