The poor old former Jerry Lewis telethon for Muscular Dystrophy: it’s been reduced now to two hours on ABC on September 1st. Gone completely is the famed 21 hour show that went through the night from Sunday to Monday on Labor Day, with Jerry Lewis watching the tote board and local stations pitching in to find money for MDA. In 2011, Lewis didn’t appear and was eliminated from MDA with no explanation after 50 years.

In 2012, Lewis was even further erased, and the show was slimmed down from six hours to three. It resembled nothing of its former glory. Now MDA has announced the show is just a two hour special on ABC. All gone are the local shows that fed the syndicated one. And Jerry Lewis has been wiped from the show’s history.

Interestingly, I reported after the 2011 show that MDA was unable to actually collect 50% of the money that was pledged without Lewis. After last year’s three hour show, no announcement was ever made about how much money was pledged or what was collected. MDA still hasn’t filed its Form 990 for 2012, so questions remain about how viable the telethon– now just show– is anymore in its enfeebled state.

At the end of 2011, after the first telethon without Lewis, Charity Navigator gave MDA a 41.78 out of 70, two stars out of four. MDA had the lowest score of five similar organizations. The ranking hasn’t been revised since no tax filing has come in yet for 2012.

Pink Floyd, a long time hold out, has finally come to Spotify. On Friday, Pink Floyd allowed “Wish You Were Here” onto the streaming service. Unpublicized, they agreed that if the album got 1 million streams, they’d allow the rest of their catalog to be included. This morning they hit the 1 million. And now, it’s all there. The Beatles, The Eagles, and a few others are still holding out from Spotify. But the Pink Floyd news is major. “Dark Side of the Moon” is one of the most popular albums of all time. On Spotify it should skyrocket. Streaming is now turning into the biggest deal of all–it’s easy and there’s none of the tiresome uploading of CDs. So now we’ll wait for Pink Floyd numbers from Spotify. I’m putting “The Wall” on now…

I just came home from lunch with two irascible  legends, Lauren Bacall and Vanessa Redgrave. And now I need a nap. (A picture I took is attached.) Terence Stamp was also there. He and Redgrave star in a charming film to be released this Friday by The Weinstein Company called “Unfinished Song.” Peggy Siegal organized the lunch at Michael’s, with a few other notables including Cuba Gooding Jr, Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera, newspeople Bob Jameson and Jody Applegate, and so on. I never got a chance to talk to Frank DiGiacomo, who’s turned Movieline around.

But I got to sit with my old friend Bacall.  She and Redgrave couldn’t stop hugging and kissing each other. They became friends many years ago through Vanessa’s late great daughter Natasha Richardson. Betty Bacall said, “I don’t go out and I don’t go to lunch. I did this for Vanessa Redgrave.” They caught up on family stories from both sides, especially updates about grandchildren.

During lunch, Terence Stamp, the original General Zod from the Richard Donner “Superman” movies, made a toast. He looked around and said, “I was hoping to meet Harvey Weinstein,” he said, looking around the room. He added, “My feeling is, there’s an artist in there trying to escape.”

Redgrave — a mere 76 to Bacall’s 88– appears tonight at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in a panel on Shakespeare. “We’re reading  about Shakespeare and money,” she said. In August, she appears in “The Butler” just in the opening sequence with Mariah Carey– a harrowing introduction to the movie by her account. Then she opens in September with James Earl Jones in London in “Much Ado About Nothing” at the Old Vic.  When that’s over she may return to Broadway with Jesse Eisenberg in their off Broadway hit, “The Revisionist.” She’s also in Bennett Miller’s “Foxcatcher” this Oscar season.

“What are you doing next?” I asked. “I know, but I don’t want to tell you,” Redgrave said. “Is that all right?” It is. She was more interested in spending time with her friend. She did get a little political, talking about global markets.

Bacall, laying low because of a pained leg, told me she did see Tom Hanks on Broadway in “Lucky Guy.” “He was pretty good,” she said, which is like getting an A plus. “He should have won the Tony.”

Journalist David Margolick came over and asked if he could interview Bacall sometime about her friendship with legendary composer Ira Gershwin’s wife. “It’s for a book,” he said.

“Everyone has a book or a film they want to ask me about,” Bacall said. She was non-committal. She made her exit at that point. It was great to see her. She’s a living Hollywood icon in our midst. Let’s not forget that. And damn funny.

Redgrave made a little speech, thanking everyone for coming. “I got to meet Cuba Gooding!” she said, deliciously.

PS Michael’s for a Monday was pretty filled up with a hot selection of peeps. In the main corner: Tom Brokaw and Dick Ebersol. That sort of thing.

“Mad Men” just ended. The big news is that Bob Benson was revealed, I won’t say how yet. Suffice to say that thanks to Duck, checking for Pete on Bob’s background, Pete is back. Bob will be Pete’s bucket boy now, which should be interesting. Meanwhile, Sally wants to go to boarding school and has an interview–with overnight stay–at Miss Porter’s. Her line, “My father has never done anything for me,” will live in infamy. Sally may turn out to be Don’s greatest enemy.

Elsewhere, the “Rosemary’s Baby” commercial doesn’t sound like such a great idea for St. Joseph’s aspirin for children. But it did draw more out of the Peggy-Ted relationship. The pause in the room when Don said Ted’s reasons for the commercial were personal– the longest pause in recent TV history. Who didn’t worry about what Don was going to say?

Was Don home watching reruns of “The Patty Duke Show” during the day? It was long off the air by 1968 as a first run show.

And then: Ken getting shot by the Chevy execs during the first segment was also a little mini soap opera, but cleverly done. Joan imitating the old Jewish lady for the commercial pitch was hilarious.

There are so many loose strands to tie up. It’s hard to believe next week is the last episode of the penultimate season. Can 14 episodes more after that really bring “Mad Men” to a satisfactory close?  And can we wait until next March? Painful.