Jerry Lewis Never Again on Telethon

Jerry Lewis has always been controversial. Why take him off now? That's the disgrace. After all these years. In the old days staying up all night and day. The telethon worked because of Jerry Lewis' reactions to things. Particularly the crying. Whoever they get to "man" the show could never live up to Jerry's work. He's not Jerry Lewis. I'm afraid the 6-1/2 hours will not produce much money. He's 85 years old and people want to see him. I will turn the telethon on, and if I don't see Jerry Lewis I will shut it off.

Below is what I read about this falling out. I know Jerry is going to call a press conference about this on Sept.5.

Ability Magazine said:

Lewis has made such derogatory comments during the telethons. During the 1991 MDA Telethon, Lewis said in regards to a person who has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, (ALS), "You might as well put a gun to your head." During the 1992 telethon, Lewis said: "My kids cannot go into the workplace. There's nothing they can do. They've been attacked by a vicious killer. I'm begging for their survival."

"But the May 20 CBS Sunday interview sparked a public apology, by both the MDA and Jerry Lewis himself, after more than 100 people with disabilities wrote in outrage. In its statement, the MDA said,"...the Board of Directors and all of us at the Association are deeply disturbed by a comment made by our national chairman. His comment does not reflect the views MDA or its leadership, and our displeasure has been communicated directly to Mr. Lewis. [So they fired him.]

"Jerry Lewis himself later apologized publicly, "The statement I made on the May 20 CBS Morning Show was made in error. It is certainly not how I feel. Many of the people that I work closely with are in wheelchairs and I have never seen any of them as inferior to anyone else. They are my friends and my co-workers. I would never intentionally harm or demean anyone with a disability. I believe in my heart that I have done good work." But some disability rights activists have argued that these statements have come too little too late, noting also that the public apologies have been the first of its kind."

Jerry Lewis Falls Ill

Jerry Lewis fell ill today as he was about to step onto a French stage to perform for Muscular Dystrophy.  He says this will be his last telethon as host.  He says he will still sing "When You Walk." 

Jerry wasn't hospitalized but a doctor did attend to him.  The doctor said he collapsed from exhaustion.  He's 85 years young.  I wish him well.  He's been one of my favorite celeb -- going back, when he was nasty on the Mike Douglas Show in the '70's or the Telethon.  When he got off Percodan and met his current wife, I think he was very happy.  And he's made a lot of money since.  Amazon is selling his videos.  Above is The Ladies Man (1961).  Karyn Kupcinet was in it.  She was also going to be in The Nutty President (1963), but she died.

I began to understand Jerry when I realized what had happened to him in 1963.  He was given a multi-million dollar contract to host a live 2-hour Saturday night show on whatever network.  Everyone wished him luck.  On his first show were phone calls from Johnny Carson and other talk show hosts wishing him well.  Steve Allen played a joke on Jerry. Steve was in the audience with Karyn Kupcinet.  This was around Sept. 1963. 

I loved Jerry but I was too young to watch the show that late.  But my parents always brought me to his movies, and I remember seeing The Ladies Man when it first came out.

The show bombed.  I don't know why.  He lost his multi-million dollar deal.  Apparently the Producers did not like the show.  The embarassment of losing a deal like that affected him.  He started to become "Jer."  Then his friend, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Then the girl he discovered, Karyn Kupcinet, was murdered the next week.  On the show he had the audience singing "Think Pink" because his wife was pregnant.  They already had 5 boys.  Lewis wanted a daughter.  The child was born during this time frame, another boy.  That's a hell of a lot of things to deal with in a short span of time.

There was one fortunate thing for him that year: The Nutty Professor was a hit.

So now I understand "Jer."

OJ Simpson Curtailed Once Again

Monday, May 30, 2011
Legal Briefs
Las Vegas Business Press

Attorney to appeal O.J. Simpson's Nevada conviction 

As Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass prepares to leave her seat for a career in television, the man who made her famous won't soon be free.

O.J. Simpson, who was convicted in 2008 of armed robbery and kidnapping in connection with a 2007 incident at Palace Station, will not have his appeal heard by the Nevada Supreme Court. 

Simpson, 63, is serving a nine-year to 33-year sentence at the medium security Lovelock Correctional Center. Simpson had been convicted of leading an armed invasion of a sports memorabilia dealer who had items that Simpson claimed were his property.

The only option left for Simpson would be the federal court system. Simpson lawyer Malcolm LaVergne told The Associated Press that he will appeal his client's conviction in federal court.

LaVergne said he believes Simpson's notoriety from his famous 1995 murder trial and acquittal in Los Angeles has made the former football star and actor too controversial for a Nevada Supreme Court Justice to set free.

"What judge wants to be put in the position that they let O.J. go free?" attorney LaVergne told the AP. "We'll work now within the federal court system. ... This is not a fair result for Mr. Simpson, given the facts of the case."

If Simpson's 2008 conviction stands, he will not be eligible for parole until at least 2016.

Reasonable Doubts: The OJSimpson Case and the Criminal Justicc System by Alan Dershowitz

New Trials

I'm holding my breath.  No one's going to like this, but I think Michael Skakel is innocent.  The link to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s vivid portrait of the night Martha Moxley died shows authorities did not investigate other suspects, namely the "baby-sitter" for the Skakel's is in the post below.  And the other suspects: a group of boys who got into the closed community through the woods.  They were there that night and at least one time before.

I also call for another trial for O.J. Simpson.  He was acquitted of the murder charges.  No other suspects were looked into: drug dealers or O.J.'s oldest son.

A book by William Dear called, O.J. Is Guilty, but Not of Murder describes O.J.'s son as having an intermittent rage disorder.  He's a chef.  He had his knives with him.  No chef leaves his knives at the restaurant.  He was never looked at.  I think he should come forward like a man and admit his guilt.  He was the only one in the family who wasn't elated when O.J. got off.  A report said that at at one point, the son was in a fetal position on the floor and couldn't be seen.  After the acquittal O.J. gave him a message to read to the public.  The look on this young man's face told viewers he wasn't too happy.  Very puzzling.

The charges O.J. is dealing with are nothing more than judicial revenge.  I found that judge very arrogant  -- the woman who put away Simpson.  Now she's having a TV show with herself as the judge.  A reward?  And I hated the way she explained the jury's job.  Real fast and impossible to decipher.  Shouldn't she be held accountable for that?  I couldn't understand her.  She's a show off. Anyone else who participated in this fight amongst "boys" would get a slap on the wrist.  This is not justice; it's a lynch mob.  Simpson should have a fairer trial.  Do you agree?  Click on "comments."

Mickey Sherman's Strange Website

Go to http://www.mickeysherman.com to see the lawyer's advertisement.  It's a little eerie, but it makes you notice him.  Below he's at the Michael Skakel trial with Douglas and Robert Kennedy, Jr.  RFK Jr didn't care for Mickey Sherman's defense of his cousin, which failed miserably, and wrote a long, fascinating article about it in The Atlantic; an intriguing read. RFK Jr claims other suspects were not investigated.  I urge you to read it.  The article can be found at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/01/a-miscarriage-of-justice/4759/

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Cocaine Blues by Mickey Sherman
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From the NewsTimes.com (link at bottom): 

Michael "Mickey" Sherman -- the high-profile attorney best known for defending Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel in his 2002 murder trial -- and who also represented Marash Gojcaj in his recent murder trial in Danbury Superior Court, turned himself in Tuesday at the federal prison in Otisville, N.Y.

Sherman will begin a one-year, one-day sentence for tax evasion.

A Greenwich native who has offices in Stamford, Sherman pleaded guilty last June to failing to pay more than $420,000 in federal taxes.

Sherman, 64, was the guest of honor at a going-away party last month at which guests paid $20 to sip cocktails with Sherman in a Greenwich watering hole. At the party, Sherman said he had no bitterness about serving the prison sentence.

"I didn't get railroaded. I made a mistake. I never groused about paying the price," he said. "I do believe that lawyers should be held to a higher standard."

Although the Internal Revenue Service said that Sherman hasn't paid close to $1 million in taxes since the mid 1990s, he agreed to plead guilty to failing to pay $420,710 in taxes for 2001 and 2002.

All the while, he was making between $800,000 and $1 million a year, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Jongbloed.

The IRS is pursuing the rest of the money through civil proceedings. Sherman's law license has been suspended, but he expects to resume practicing law upon release from prison.

Sherman's attorney, William Dow, said earlier this year that his client will apply for reinstatement when released from prison.

That could happen before the full sentence is over because Sherman is eligible for early release based on good behavior.

"Mickey has accepted responsibility for what he did," Dow said. "He is the consummate professional and I have no doubt that he will be back practicing law and defending people as soon as he is able to do so."

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Jeff Conaway Dead at 60

LOS ANGELES - New York-born actor Jeff Conaway, famous for his roles in "Grease" and TV's "Taxi," died early Friday after an accidental pill overdose and two weeks in a coma. He was 60 years old.

The actor, who battled cocaine and prescription drug addiction for years, was taken off life support and passed away within minutes at 10:30 a.m., his sister said.

"They did everything they possibly could, everything humanly possible," sister Carla Shreve, 66, told the News "We kept him as comfortable as possible. He's in the Lord's hands now."

She said Conaway was found unconscious and taken to a hospital in Encino, Calif., on May 10.

"He was unconscious for a long time, and he had pneumonia so bad," she said. "We had hope last week, but that hope was just gone this week. His blood wasn't getting any oxygen."

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/05/27/2011-05
27_jeff_conaway_dies_at_60_grease_and_taxi_star_taken_off_life_support.html#ixzz1NcMyZDHk

                                             ***                             

I trust he's out of his misery and in better hands now. His life, as wasted as people may think, had meaning; as does everyone's.

Jeff Conaway in Coma

JEFF CONAWAY(PEOPLE.com) -- After a long history of health problems and addiction, "Taxi" star Jeff Conaway fell into a coma a week ago in Los Angeles.
T
he latest crisis for the troubled actor, 60, came as a surprise to those closest to him.
"He seemed fine early last week," his manager of eight years, Phil Brock, told PEOPLE on Thursday. "He had spoken with his agent and his management team and even attended an autograph signing. He really seemed in fine spirits."

Given what appeared to be a content state of well-being for Conaway, Brock and the rest of his team were devastated when the actor was found after lying unconscious for approximately 10 hours.
"We strongly hope for his recovery," Brock says. "We hope he can finally exorcise the demons that have plagued him. He is an amazingly kind soul and there are many people who care about him."
Brock fears the ultimate outcome of the situation -- and for good reason.

"Over the weekend, there was head movement, but there have not been any changes in his movement or condition since then," he says. "We are concerned it may have been an overdose but we have no way of knowing for sure."

JEFF CONAWAY

Conaway, who battled substance abuse since he was 17, had an open struggle with alcohol, cocaine and pain pills over the course of his life.

At the time he slipped into a coma, Brock says the actor was on a combination of legally prescribed painkillers to treat back problems and other medications for various illnesses. The adverse reaction caused Conaway to come down with pneumonia.

Conaway's problems were publicly addressed on Dr. Drew Pinsky's "Celebrity Rehab" reality series on VH1, during which Pinsky told PEOPLE the Grease actor was "complicated," but "not hopeless."
"I am deeply saddened to learn of Jeff's condition," Pinsky says of Conaway's current state. "My thoughts and prayers are with Jeff and his family."
See full article at PEOPLE.com.