Kiss of death

All things must end. The forced exit of Jerry Lewis from the Muscular Dystrophy Association‘s annual telethon puts the penultimate nail in the coffin of an ancient Las Vegas institution. The telethon format is cumbersome and inefficient compared to emerging technologies (and this particular one has been the subject of hard-earned ridicule for decades). As for the crusade itself, the cause of muscular dystrophy has faces for today’s generation in the former of Justin Bieber and gridiron star Clay Matthews. However, even though Lewis himself has never been the epitome of class, the MDA needn’t have followed his example by metaphorically pushing him down the stairs, much as Richard Widmark did with wheelchair-bound old woman in Kiss of Death.