Something was wrong with Labor Day and not just the melancholy about the end of summer or the wearing white shoes thing.
It was the disappearance of the Jerry Lewis Telethon.
He was removed from the annual Labor Day MDA Telethon last year, and the whole telethon shrunk in hours.
Once it went on all night Sunday and into Labor Day. In its early days, it was the only annual broadcast that was actually on in the middle of the night (yes, TV used to sign off right after midnight. I am that old).
It was also one of the last connections of TV to the days of vaudeville, with its combination of corn, music, oldtime acts, and mostly, the presence of Jerry Lewis.
The event itself used to dominate communities, with firemen taking to traffic signals for donations in their boots, school kids going door to door and big corporations bringing big cardboard checks in hopes of annual P.R. exposure.
This year the telethon ran just three hours, was pre-taped and didn’t even have a tote board (totals will be released later this week.
The biggest name performers were Carrie Underwood, will.i.am and OneRepublic.