I grew up in Las Vegas in the '70s and '80s and my Dad would take us down to the Sahara Hotel every year to see a segment (they switched out the audience every hour or so) and then over the the Las Vegas Convention Center where there was sort of a carnival setup and the local Las Vegas cutaway set. I would go door to door as a little kid with a coffee can collecting donations to bring down. I always tell people it really was a very big deal to the locals back then. Everyone tuned in and every year kids would try to stay up all night like Jerry was (never successful..). I still have a Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon button from around 1980-81 around my house somewhere.
Here's a great 1976 clip....
