The Great One

 John Herbert Gleason
was born in 1916 in Brooklyn, NY.
His father abandoned the family when Jackie was 9;
Mae, his mother, supported the family
working for the BMT subway line.
Jackie dropped out of school early,
and began a long line of "careers",
including carnival barker, pool hall hustler,
stunt man, and finally... master of ceremonies at a theatre.
He soon put a comedy act together with a friend
and booked his first paying gig
($19 a week)
at a club in Reading, PA.
It began his professional career!

 

From club dates, it was a short jump to movies,

including Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,

All Through The Night,

and Springtime In The Rockies.

4F on account of his weight, Jackie did not serve inWWII, 

and he didn't make a great impression in Hollywood, either.

Television was a different story;

his success in Cavalcade of Stars in 1950

led to his own variety show (1952-1970).

Take Me Along in 1959

brought him to Broadway,

although he had debuted there in 1940 with 

Keep Off The Grass. 

He won a Tony for his portrayal of Sid Davis,

bon vivant salesman.

Great pics of "Sid" in Take Me Along.

And yes, that's a young Robert Morse

at the table,

no doubt taking notes!

With other Tony winners of 1960:

Mary Martin (for The Sound Of Music),

Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker),

and Melvyn Douglas (A Thurber Carnival).

Irish writer Brendan Behan
backstage with Jackie
after a Take Me Along performance.

The Honeymooners began in 1955,
and would be resurrected for The Jackie Gleason Show
in the 60s.
Pert Kelton, Elaine Stritch, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows,
Sheila McRae and Joyce Randolph had their turns as
character actors in the series.
Ralph and Alice's address, 328 Chauncey,
was Jackie's home address, growing up in Bed-Stuy.

The Hustler,

(released in 1961) with Paul Newman,

allowed Jackie to use his pool hall experiences to the utmost.

He played Minnesota Fats

to Paul's Fast Eddie,

along side George C. Scott, Piper Laurie,

Vincent Gardenia, and as a bartender, Jake LaMotta.

Smokey And The Bandit (1,2 and 3)

had Jackie playing Texas Sheriff Buford T. Justice...

Burt Reynolds insisted that Gleason be hired for the part,

and gave him free rein to improvise, 

and boy did that sumbitch do just that!

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Jackie also produced albums

for Capitol Records,

"mood music" with a jazz flavor.

Although he couldn't read music, 

he managed to translate his ideas to others who wrote

for him (often without credit)...

His goal was to make

"musical wallpaper that should never be intrusive," 

and said that if Clark Gable needed music to make love,

a guy in Brooklyn must be desperate!

His first album, Music For Lovers Only,

still holds the record for the

 longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks);

his first 10 albums sold over a million copies each.

With Ed Sullivan, 

and golf sweaters.

Jackie and Lucille Ball

in a TV special called Tea For Two

done in 1975.

Arnold Palmer (at left)

was one of Jackie's favorite golfing buddies.

Jackie was nominated for an Emmy 3 times,

but never won.

When Gleason hosted the 1976 Emmy Awards,  

Paul Lynde was awarded an Entertainer of the Year Emmy 

 for being voted the funniest man of the year, 

which Lynde immediately turned over to Gleason, 

citing him as "the funniest man ever." 

Jackie died in 1987, at the age of 71,

His creative works: 

Literally hundreds of TV appearances,

30 films, 9 Broadway shows, and

58 albums (40 made into CDs).