Telethons: Spectacle, Disability, and the Business of Charity
Paul K. Longmore
Abstract
Telethons occupied a central, underappreciated place in postwar US history. The yearly programs offered front-row seats to something much bigger than a kitschy parade of prominent celebrities and pathetic children. Quintessentially American, telethons brought together medical research, promises of a cure, compassion, corporate greed, the complex American healthcare system, media sensationalism, changing ideas of embodiment, disability rights, and much more. Marshaling two decades’ worth of painstaking research, this book provides the first detailed study of the popular phenomenon. Organized th ... More
Telethons occupied a central, underappreciated place in postwar US history. The yearly programs offered front-row seats to something much bigger than a kitschy parade of prominent celebrities and pathetic children. Quintessentially American, telethons brought together medical research, promises of a cure, compassion, corporate greed, the complex American healthcare system, media sensationalism, changing ideas of embodiment, disability rights, and much more. Marshaling two decades’ worth of painstaking research, this book provides the first detailed study of the popular phenomenon. Organized thematically, it charts the rise and influence of the telethon as a result of five influential disability-related charities and profiles the philanthropists, celebrities, corporate sponsors, activists, and recipients involved. Longmore, who wrote with the training of a historian and the conviction of an activist before he died unexpectedly in 2010, offers a tour de force that celebrates and critiques both sides of an ongoing battle between telethon-producing charities and disability rights activists.
Keywords:
telethons,
philanthropy,
disability,
Jerry Lewis,
disability activism,
advertising,
corporate America,
television broadcasting,
US healthcare system,
disability charities
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190262075 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190262075.001.0001 |
