Jerry Lewis and Hurricanes

Today I was thinking back to some family traditions from my youth. One was the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. I can still clearly picture the regular family gathering at Aunt Catherine’s house, with cousins, aunts, uncles and Grandma watching the telethon. I hear the sound of Jerry’s whiney but sincere voice pleading for donations, punctuated by occasional snoring from Dad or Uncle Denny during their post-meal snooze in front of the television. The entertainment on the telethon was incredible and because there were only three TV station choices, it was hard to ignore or forget the telethon.


I thought about this as I surfed past the telethon today. It is now merely one of nearly 100 program choices and I don’t recognize one single entertainer. I’m happy to see that they still can raise significant amounts of money for this great cause, even though the event is no longer a significant part of Labor Day weekend.

Hurricanes are another part of family tradition that is on my mind today. Because our neighborhood was vulnerable, we would usually evacuate to Aunt Catherine’s house when hurricanes approached New Orleans. She lived on slightly higher ground in a suburban neighborhood that was less likely to flood. My mental picture is of Mom, Dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and Grandma sitting around the huge dining table playing dominoes or cards till the power went out.

I still hear the sound of local TV meteorologist Nash Roberts in the background talking about wind speed and barometric pressure. He first appeared on TV in New Orleans in 1948, when there was only one TV station, and he was the first full time TV weatherman in the South to use radar on television weather reports.


He always warned of a specific hurricane path that could flood the city. Long after he retired, a hurricane named Katrina took that exact path, and for the first time in his life, he evacuated. He is still alive (age 90) and still well-known to baby boomers from New Orleans. (Click here to read or watch a recent interview with him)

So this Labor Day, from the safety of my Maryland home, I’m watching TV coverage of a hurricane moving in on the New Orleans area. My viewing choices include the traditional networks from my youth (NBC, CBS and ABC), several news networks (CNN, MSNBC, Fox) and something no one could have imagined in the 1960s – The Weather Channel. And I can even watch live coverage from New Orleans TV stations on the internet.

I guess some traditions never die.