Tag: Reunion

The Reunion

48 years ago today, Frank Sinatra did something spectacular. He saw to it that two greats were reunited after not seeing each other for 20 years – Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. He did it on the 1976 Labor Day Telethon. It is a magical thing to watch.

Martin and Lewis were huge when they were together. They did live shows in nightclubs, radio shows, TV shows and countless movies. On July 24, 1956, ten years to the day that they first performed together, they split and didn’t speak to each other until Frank brought them together.

It is obvious that Jerry was clueless about this. Vanity Fair wrote: “Jerry Lewis hates surprises – and on September 5, 1976, the biggest one of his then more-than-30-year career was waiting in the wings at Las Vegas’s Sahara Hotel. Lewis’s annual M.D.A. Telethon, always an event, was, on this night, already the equivalent of a “Very Special Episode”: Frank Sinatra was performing live instead of remote for the first time since 1953.

Frank did his set and presented Jerry with a couple of donations, including one for $5,000 on behalf of his grandchildren. “Listen,” he told Jerry, “I have a friend who loves what you do every year, and who just wanted to come out. Could you send my friend out, please?”

Then, to thunderous applause, Dean Martin walked on stage from the wings.

Dean’s surprise appearance at the telethon caught Jerry completely off guard. “You son of a bitch,” he can be heard saying, sotto voce, to Frank in the clip, before joking, “Shoulda been a Jew that did it.” And then Frank bows out, and it’s just Jerry and Dean. “So, how ya been?” Jerry begins. “You know, it seems like we haven’t seen each other for 20 years,” Martin replies. Lewis’s response: “Well, you know, there was all those rumors about our breaking up—and then when I started the show and you weren’t here, I believed it.”

The moment has been called one of the most iconic moments in television history.

Putting it into words just doesn’t cut it, so let’s enjoy the moment together, shall we?

Magical!

I’ll Skip This One …

June will mark 34 years since I graduated from high school. My class has never had an “official” reunion. I’m not really sure why that is. It doesn’t really matter. The only time our class had some sort of get together was a combined event with the class after us. They held it at a local bar and I remember it being very loud. It was great to see some of the faces from the past, but I felt like it was hard to catch up because you were screaming at each other.

I’ve DJ’s many high school reunions, and they are difficult to do. Not many people want to dance, because they are busy catching up with their old classmates. One reunion organizer told me to play 70’s songs (they graduated in 76) and to keep the volume down “so we can talk.” That really is what reunions are about – catching up with old friends.

This coming weekend, there is another Alumni Get Together being held. It will again be at a bar, and this one is open to pretty much anyone who went to our school. There was a Facebook invite sent out and the event is in my calendar. I can look at who is attending, but can only see those people who are my friends on Facebook.

Just yesterday, Facebook reminded me of the event again. I glanced over the friends who are going and believe me, I would love to get to hang out with them for the night. However, I decided early on that I am going to stay home. There will no doubt be many pictures taken and posted from the event and I will anxiously await seeing them.

A high school friend and I chatted on my way to work this week. She asked if I was planning on going this weekend. I told her I was not, and it isn’t because of where it is going to be or anything like that.

What it all boils down to is that there are too many possible people who could show up that I would rather not see. I have many former friends who have bought into the lies and stories that have been told about me and quite frankly, I don’t want to give anyone anything to talk about. Many former relatives went to my high school. They have their opinions of me and that’s fine. They have written enough “bad press” about me and continue to do so. Yeah, no thanks. I certainly don’t want to see any of those people, or the ones who took what they said as “truth.”

As I look back over the list of those going to the event, I know that I can message or call them at any time. Many, I do. Thanks to Facebook, I can keep in contact with them. I am sure there will be some friends not on Facebook who will be there, and I’ll miss reconnecting with them, but I keep hoping that one day my class will have an actual reunion.