Lou Rawls telethon airs after his death
Hoodoo
Syndicated broadcast features performances from the famed soul singer
Jan. 8, 2006
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10767130/
LOS ANGELES - In a bittersweet coda to entertainer Lou Rawls' life and
long dedication to the United Negro College Fund, the annual
fundraiser he took part in last September was broadcast shortly after
his death.
"An Evening of Stars," a syndicated telethon honoring Stevie Wonder,
showed Rawls in typically smooth voice and engaging form as he
performed twice and was heard narrating the stories of students helped
by the UNCF.
The program aired nationally throughout the weekend. Rawls died of
cancer Friday in Los Angeles, a loss the program acknowledged with an
on-screen message.
"In memory of Lou and in celebration of his devotion to UNCF, please
make a contribution to help deserving students earn a college degree,"
the message read, in part.
The telethon, which Rawls initiated nearly three decades ago, had
raised more than $15 million in pledges, according to an on-screen
tally shown Saturday night during the Los Angeles area broadcast. It
was to air Sunday in other cities.
The evening included an exhortation by Rawls, who didn't attend
college, for the cause he held dear.
"Year after year, the UNCF keeps fighting the good fight and creating
opportunities for deserving young students to become tomorrow's
leaders. And that's what it's all about," said Rawls, who looked thin
but dapper wearing a pinstriped suit and relaxed smile.
He and other performers, including Smokey Robinson, Toni Braxton and
Fantasia, offered their versions of Wonder hits.
Rawls, in his singular velvet tones, first performed "You Are the
Sunshine of My Life." In his second appearance on stage at the Kodak
Theater, he turned to a song most closely identified with Frank
Sinatra, with a special resonance.
"It Was a Very Good Year" was done in a swinging, big-band
arrangement, with a nod to the evening's honoree.
"But now the days grow short. It is the autumn of the years," Rawls
sang. "And now I think about life as vintage wine from fine old kegs.
From the brim to the dregs, Stevie, it pours sweet and clear. Yes, it
was a very good year. It was a very good year."
Sinatra once said that Rawls possessed the "silkiest chops in the
singing game."
During his telethon appearance, Rawls perched briefly on a stool but
otherwise stood and sang, giving no hint of the health crisis he was
facing. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in December 2004 and brain
cancer in May 2005.
Last month, he was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He
died with his wife, Nina, at his bedside. Rawls' family and a
spokesman said the singer was 72, although other records indicate he
was 70.
Rawls began as a gospel singer and spent nearly five decades working
his soulful magic on classic tunes including "You'll Never Find
Another Love Like Mine" and "Lady Love" and winning three Grammy
Awards.
A longtime activist, Rawls played a major role in the UNCF telethons,
which began as "Lou Rawls' Parade of Stars" and have raised more than
$200 million. He often visited and performed at black colleges.
Besides his wife, Rawls is survived by four children: Louanna Rawls,
Lou Rawls Jr., Kendra Smith and Aiden Rawls.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/ap/nyet13501062125.hmedium.jpg
Lou Rawls, right, with Quincy Jones, left, and Stevie Wonder stand for
a moment before a gala to benefit the United Negro College Fund in
Sept. 2005. Rawls' longtime fundraising efforts for the UNCF included
an annual telethon.
UNCF via AP
Joe Pucillo
> LOS ANGELES - In a bittersweet coda to entertainer Lou Rawls' life and
> long dedication to the United Negro College Fund, the annual
> fundraiser he took part in last September was broadcast shortly after
> his death.
I thought it was especially touching tonight, when I saw a re-
broadcast of his exemplary work on behalf of the Colonial Penn
Life Insurance Co. this evening on WTBS.
Never before have I heard a life insurance salesman with such
smooth, sulky chops.
JP
R H Draney
Sure beats Marlon Perkins belting out "Volare"....r
King Daevid MacKenzie
sez:
> I thought it was especially touching tonight, when I saw a re-
> broadcast of his exemplary work on behalf of the Colonial Penn
> Life Insurance Co. this evening on WTBS.
...Colonial Penn has a particularly bad habit of not pulling the ads
featuring dead celeb endorsers. I remember seeing Dennis James' pitch for
them weeks after he'd died...
...the United Negro College Fund telethon is a different matter. Rawls was
so closely associated with that one that I'm positive he gave them an
enthusiastic okeh to use whatever material they had of him after his
death. I have to imagine Jerry Lewis has a similar agreement with the
MDA...
--
--
King Daevid MacKenzie, WLSU-FM 88.9 La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
heard occasionally at http://www.radio4all.net
http://myspace/kingdaevid
"You can live in your dreams, but only if you are worthy of them." HARLAN
ELLISON
Brad Ferguson
Daevid MacKenzie <echoes...@charter.net> wrote:
> On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 23:01:00 -0600, Joe Pucillo <new...@pucillo.net.xx>
> sez:
>
> > I thought it was especially touching tonight, when I saw a re-
> > broadcast of his exemplary work on behalf of the Colonial Penn
> > Life Insurance Co. this evening on WTBS.
>
> ...Colonial Penn has a particularly bad habit of not pulling the ads
> featuring dead celeb endorsers. I remember seeing Dennis James' pitch for
> them weeks after he'd died...
>
> ...the United Negro College Fund telethon is a different matter. Rawls was
> so closely associated with that one that I'm positive he gave them an
> enthusiastic okeh to use whatever material they had of him after his
> death. I have to imagine Jerry Lewis has a similar agreement with the
> MDA...
I think what might be at issue here is that many people assume
telethons are done live, because that's certainly the way they used to
be done. Not anymore, though. The MDA show is on at least two
different legs, maybe three; a few years ago I was switching around
between DC local, LA local and WGN in Chicago, and I saw three
different feeds, all of them pre-recorded.
King Daevid MacKenzie
sez:
> I think what might be at issue here is that many people assume
> telethons are done live, because that's certainly the way they used to
> be done. Not anymore, though. The MDA show is on at least two
> different legs, maybe three; a few years ago I was switching around
> between DC local, LA local and WGN in Chicago, and I saw three
> different feeds, all of them pre-recorded.
...I'd have to believe that the MDA allows that because a lot of the
affiliates in major markets are independents or Fox/UPN/WB affiliates who
have commitments with local baseball teams. In 2000, I seem to recall
getting the New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles showings on
my satellite system, and all of them were interrupted by baseball games...
Brad Ferguson
Daevid MacKenzie <echoes...@charter.net> wrote:
> On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 07:24:26 -0600, Brad Ferguson <thir...@frXOXed.net>
> sez:
>
> > I think what might be at issue here is that many people assume
> > telethons are done live, because that's certainly the way they used to
> > be done. Not anymore, though. The MDA show is on at least two
> > different legs, maybe three; a few years ago I was switching around
> > between DC local, LA local and WGN in Chicago, and I saw three
> > different feeds, all of them pre-recorded.
>
> ...I'd have to believe that the MDA allows that because a lot of the
> affiliates in major markets are independents or Fox/UPN/WB affiliates who
> have commitments with local baseball teams. In 2000, I seem to recall
> getting the New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles showings on
> my satellite system, and all of them were interrupted by baseball games...
No doubt that's part of the reason, but I was doing my switching-around
in the middle of the night. It wasn't a time-zone thing, either,
because the lag between the feeds varied from 45 minutes to an hour and
a half, and it wasn't constant -- that is, WGN would be 15 minutes
ahead and then 40 minutes behind after the local break. It was as if
they were running random bits of their own choosing.
I would have expected the telethon to be live at some point. The last
time I watched any of it, in 2004, I couldn't be sure that any of it
was live, not even the conclusion.
David Samuel Barr
>
> On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 07:24:26 -0600, Brad Ferguson
> <thir...@frXOXed.net> sez:
>
> > I think what might be at issue here is that many people assume
> > telethons are done live, because that's certainly the way they used
> > to be done. Not anymore, though. The MDA show is on at least two
> > different legs, maybe three; a few years ago I was switching around
> > between DC local, LA local and WGN in Chicago, and I saw three
> > different feeds, all of them pre-recorded.
>
> ...I'd have to believe that the MDA allows that because a lot of the
> affiliates in major markets are independents or Fox/UPN/WB affiliates
> who have commitments with local baseball teams. In 2000, I seem to
> recall getting the New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles
> showings on my satellite system, and all of them were interrupted by
> baseball games...
It's not just about baseball commitments. The days are long past when
any station, even a small unaffiliated indie, is willing to hand over
three days of non-stop airtime to a telethon. Viewer interest is now
virtually non-existent, and even an old Columbo or Knight Rider on its
200th afternoon rerun can still pull in some ad revenue. I think the
last few years in NYC the MDA telethon carriage has been relegated to
just a couple of late-night hours on Labor Day.
King Daevid MacKenzie
<dsb...@mindspring.com> sez:
> The days are long past when
> any station, even a small unaffiliated indie, is willing to hand over
> three days of non-stop airtime to a telethon.
1) What telethon has ever been three days long??!?
2) Explain my local NBC affiliate, KTTC-TV/10 in Rochester, handing 24
straight hours over to its local Mayo Clinic Cancer Telethon if no station
will do so.
David Samuel Barr
>
> On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 03:37:44 -0600, David Samuel Barr
> <dsb...@mindspring.com> sez:
>
> > The days are long past when
> > any station, even a small unaffiliated indie, is willing to hand
> > over three days of non-stop airtime to a telethon.
>
> 1) What telethon has ever been three days long??!?
MDA, of course. In its heyday in the 70s it would run over the entire
three-day Labor Day weekend, Saturday through Monday (actually about 58
hours, not a full 72). [Those who have been waxing nostalgic about the
old Soupy Sales/Sonny Fox/Chuck McCann days at WNEW in another thread
probably also remember watching these weekend marathons on WOR.]
> 2) Explain my local NBC affiliate, KTTC-TV/10 in Rochester, handing 24
> straight hours over to its local Mayo Clinic Cancer Telethon if no
> station will do so.
Ignoring the non sequitur of your example [24 hours is not three days],
even if you can find an occasional rare exception for such a local
effort, that does not invalidate my indisputable point that over the
last two decades it has become nearly impossible to get the kind of
widespread prime clearances for telethons that MDA used to be able to
get. MDA, which now runs about 22 hours, has a harder time getting
stations to carry the show (though it still clears about 200) and is
largely relegated to fringe-hour carriage, which is why some stations
are on delay or air taped excerpts such as you and Brad noted above.
Even the long-running Chabad telethon clears only four live stations
nationwide for its 9-hour show; in the NYC area, though, it can't even
clear a local station, but has to settle for a small indie station on
Eastern Long Island which is pulled into the metro area by cable
systems. (As was glossed over in the article which started this thread,
the UNCF telethon not only isn't live but was taped several months ago.
Still, all that means is no live running tote boards hyped by the
performers during the show, though of course such tote segments or
chyrons could be dropped in live by the local station if they are able
to coordinate with the call center.)
Now of course, major tragedies like 9/11 and Katrina have prompted
clearance of full network primetime evenings for fundraising, albeit not
on the time scale of the telethons, but those are extraordinary events.
Joe Pucillo
> even if you can find an occasional rare exception for such a local
> effort, that does not invalidate my indisputable point that over the
> last two decades it has become nearly impossible to get the kind of
> widespread prime clearances for telethons that MDA used to be able to
> get.
I somewhat recall the MDA telethon running from Saturday night to
Monday afternoon back in the 70s. Actually, I can remember
breaking up with a high school girlfriend on Labor Day, 1977 and
her asking me to get her home quick so that she could see the end
of the telethon. She got over me fairly quickly.
I also remember an interview with Jerry Lewis in the mid-80s or
thereabouts when stations were backing away and forcing the
shorter hours, where he said something along the lines of the
station managers stating that telethons were "audience killers".
Of course, Lewis disagreed.
JP
Brad Ferguson
<dsb...@mindspring.com> wrote:
> King Daevid MacKenzie wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 03:37:44 -0600, David Samuel Barr
> > <dsb...@mindspring.com> sez:
> >
> > > The days are long past when
> > > any station, even a small unaffiliated indie, is willing to hand
> > > over three days of non-stop airtime to a telethon.
> >
> > 1) What telethon has ever been three days long??!?
>
> MDA, of course. In its heyday in the 70s it would run over the entire
> three-day Labor Day weekend, Saturday through Monday (actually about 58
> hours, not a full 72). [Those who have been waxing nostalgic about the
> old Soupy Sales/Sonny Fox/Chuck McCann days at WNEW in another thread
> probably also remember watching these weekend marathons on WOR.]
The MDA telethon started on Channel 5 back when it was DuMont (WABD, I
think) and survived the transition to WNEW (Metromedia). Channel 9
carried Dennis James' telethon for cerebral palsy (and I am steadfastly
ignoring the opportunity to quote the lyrics to the "March of the
Children," as sung by Jane Pickens Langley).
Channel 5 became a Fox station in (I think) 1986, and the MDA telethon
went to Channel 9 shortly thereafter.
Um, to followup on the baseball thing, the station in Washington
dropped out for five or more hours for an Orioles game, and WGN in
Chicago carried the White Sox and didn't run the end of the telethon
until after 9 p.m. CT.
> Even the long-running Chabad telethon clears only four live stations
> nationwide for its 9-hour show; in the NYC area, though, it can't even
> clear a local station, but has to settle for a small indie station on
> Eastern Long Island which is pulled into the metro area by cable
> systems.
I don't get it down here, which is a shame, because Chabad's was my
favorite telethon.
> (As was glossed over in the article which started this thread,
> the UNCF telethon not only isn't live but was taped several months ago.
> Still, all that means is no live running tote boards hyped by the
> performers during the show, though of course such tote segments or
> chyrons could be dropped in live by the local station if they are able
> to coordinate with the call center.)
We are up to here in phony telethons, most particularly from St. Jude's
Hospital. The pitch (by Mike Farrell and Marlo Thomas, the last I saw)
is an infomercial done on a telethon-like set, with people answering
ringing phones in the background as if the show were live.
I suspect the day of the MDA-style Labor Day telethon is done, and what
we'll wind up with are much shorter, entitely pre-recorded shows spread
throughout the year. This will make it harder to keep track of whether
Charlie Callas is still alive, but them's the breaks.
David Samuel Barr
>
> In article <43C4C7...@mindspring.com>, David Samuel Barr
> <dsb...@mindspring.com> wrote:
> >
> > Even the long-running Chabad telethon clears only four live stations
> > nationwide for its 9-hour show; in the NYC area, though, it can't
> > even clear a local station, but has to settle for a small indie
> > station on Eastern Long Island which is pulled into the metro area
> > by cable systems.
>
> I don't get it down here, which is a shame, because Chabad's was my
> favorite telethon.
Well, they now also stream it live online at http://www.tolife.com, so
if you have broadband you can still see it.
Brad Ferguson
<dsb...@mindspring.com> wrote:
Thanks. It's better than nothing.