Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon

Black text along upper portion of button. Illustration of Jerry Lewis with untied bow tie, holding microphone in center foreground. On left side of button are three tuxedo-clad male trumpeters and a rainbow (from top: yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and green). Entire illustration is on a red background.

The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon was an annual televised fundraising event for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) that usually lasted six hours on Labor Day weekend. Actor and comedian Jerry Lewis hosted the broadcast from its 1966 inception until 2010. In 1950s, Jerry Lewis hosted a Thanksgiving Party for MDA, which raised funds for the organization's New York City area operations. The success of the event had thus spun off the Labor Day Telethon.