Jackie Gleason

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Jackie Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987) was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The Hustler (1961) starring Paul Newman, and as Buford T. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit movie series.

Early years

Gleason was born at 364 Chauncey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York.[1] Originally named Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr., he was baptized as John Herbert Gleason.[2] His parents, both from Faranree, County Cork, Ireland, were Mae (Maisie) (née) Murphy, a subway change-booth attendant, and Herb Gleason, an insurance auditor.[3] Gleason was one of their two children. Gleason's brother died when he was young, and his father abandoned the family. He attended elementary school at P.S. 73 in Brooklyn. He attended but did not graduate from John Adams High School in Queens and Bushwick High School in Brooklyn. Gleason was raised by his mother, who died when he was 19.[2]

By age 24, Gleason was appearing in movies, first at Warner Brothers as Jackie C. Gleason in such films as Navy Blues (1941) with Ann Sheridan and Martha Raye and All Through the Night (1941) with Humphrey Bogart; then at Columbia Pictures for the B military comedy Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942); and finally, at Twentieth Century-Fox, where Gleason played the Glenn Miller band's bassist in Orchestra Wives (1942). Gleason also had a small part as the soda shop clerk in Larceny, Inc. (1942) with Edward G. Robinson, and a modest part as "Commissioner" in the 1942 Betty Grable/Harry James musical, Springtime in the Rockies.

Gleason, however, did not make a strong impression in Hollywood at first. At the same time, he developed a nightclub act that included both comedy and music. He also became somewhat known for hosting all-night parties at his hotel suite. "Anyone who knew Jackie Gleason in the 1940s," wrote CBS historian Robert Metz, "would tell you The Fat Man would never make it. His pals at Lindy's watched him spend money as fast as he soaked up the booze." Gleason's first recognition as a significant entertainer finally came on Broadway, when he appeared in the hit musical Follow the Girls (1944).

Entering television

Gleason's big break arrived in 1949, when he landed the role of blunt but softhearted aircraft worker Chester A. Riley for the first television version of the radio hit The Life of Riley. (William Bendix originated the role on radio, but was unable to take the television role at first because of film commitments.) The show received modest ratings but positive reviews; however, Gleason left the show, claiming he could do better things. The Life of Riley became a television hit in the early 1950s. By that time, however, Gleason was long gone from the show, and his nightclub act had begun receiving attention from New York City's inner circle and the small DuMont Television Network.

DuMont career

Gleason was hired to host DuMont's Cavalcade of Stars variety hour in 1950. He framed the show with splashy dance numbers, developed sketch characters he would refine over the next decade, and became enough of a presence that CBS wooed and won him over to its network in 1952.

Renamed The Jackie Gleason Show, it became the country's second-highest-rated television show during the 1954–1955 season.[4] Gleason amplified the show with even splashier opening dance numbers, inspired by Busby Berkeley screen dance routines and featuring the precision-choreographed June Taylor Dancers. Following the dance performance, he would do an opening monologue. Then, accompanied by "a little travelin' music" ("That's a Plenty", a Dixieland classic from 1914), he would shuffle toward the wing, clapping his hands inversely and hollering, "And awaaay we go!" The phrase became one of his trademarks along with "How Sweet It Is!", used in reaction to almost anything at all.[4] Theona Bryant, a former Powers Model, became Gleason's "And awaaay we go," girl logo. Ray Bloch was Gleason's first music director, followed by Sammy Spear, who stayed with Gleason through the 1960s; Gleason often kidded both men during his opening monologues.

Gleason continued developing comic characters, including the following:

Reginald Van Gleason III, the top-hatted millionaire with a taste for both the good life and the wild invention or fantasy.

Boisterous, boorish Rudy the Repairman.

Gregarious Joe the Bartender, with friendly words for the never-seen Mr. Dennehy, who always entered his bar first.

The Poor Soul, a silent character who could and often did come to grief in the least-expected places or show sweet gratitude at things no more complicated than being allowed to share a newspaper on a subway.

Rum Dum a character with a brush-like mustache who often stumbled around as if he were drunk and confused.

Fenwick Babbitt, a friendly but addle-headed young man usually depicted working (and invariably failing) at various jobs.

Loudmouth Charlie Bratton, a boor who frequently picked on the mild-mannered Clem Finch (portrayed by Art Carney).

The Bachelor

The Honeymooners

By far, Gleason's most popular character was the blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden. Possibly inspired by another radio hit, The Bickersons, and largely drawn from Gleason's harsh Brooklyn childhood, these sketches became known as The Honeymooners and customarily centered on Ralph's incessant get-rich-quick schemes, the tensions between his ambitiousness and his friend Norton's scatterbrained aid and comfort, and the inevitable clash when his sensible wife Alice tried pulling her husband's head back down from the clouds.

The Honeymooners first appeared on Cavalcade of Stars on October 5, 1951, with Carney as Norton and the character actress Pert Kelton as Alice. Darker and fiercer than they later became with Audrey Meadows as Alice, the sketches proved popular with critics and viewers. As Kramden, Gleason played a frustrated bus driver with a battle-ax wife in harrowingly realistic arguments; when Meadows (who was 15 years younger than Kelton) took over the role after Kelton was blacklisted, the tone softened considerably. In fact, early sketches come as something of a shock to some modern critics.

When Gleason moved to CBS, Kelton was not part of the move, since her name had turned up in Red Channels, the book that listed and described reputed Communists and/or Communist sympathizers in television and radio. Gleason reluctantly let her leave the cast, with a cover story for the media that she had "heart trouble". He also turned down Meadows as Kelton's replacement, at least at first. Meadows wrote in her memoir that she slipped back to audition again and frumped herself up to convince Gleason that she could handle the role of a frustrated but loving working-class wife. Rounding out the cast with an understated but effective role, Joyce Randolph played Trixie Norton. Elaine Stritch had played the role as a tall and attractive blonde in the first sketch, but she was quickly replaced by Randolph.

The Honeymooners sketches proved popular enough that Gleason gambled on making it a separate series entirely in 1955. These are the so-called Classic 39 episodes, which finished 19th in the ratings for their only season.[4] However, they were filmed with a new DuMont process, Electronicam, which allowed live television to be preserved on high-quality film.[5] That turned out to be the most prescient move the show made, since — a decade after they first aired — the half-hour Honeymooners in syndicated reruns started to build a loyal and growing audience that made the show a television icon. Its popularity was such that even today, a life-size statue of Jackie Gleason, in full uniform as bus driver Ralph Kramden, stands outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.

Musical work

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Gleason enjoyed a secondary music career, lending his name to a series of best-selling "mood music" albums with jazz overtones for Capitol Records. Gleason felt there was a ready market for romantic instrumentals. He recalled seeing Clark Gable play love scenes in movies, and the romance was, in his words, "magnified a thousand percent" by background music. Gleason reasoned, "If Gable needs music, a guy in Brooklyn must be desperate!"

Gleason's first album, Music for Lovers Only still holds the record for the album staying the longest in the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks), and his first ten albums all sold over one million copies.[6]

Gleason could not read or write music in a conventional sense; he was said to have conceived melodies in his head and described them vocally to assistants. These included the well-remembered themes of both The Jackie Gleason Show ("Melancholy Serenade") and The Honeymooners ("You're My Greatest Love"). There has been some controversy over the years as to how much credit Gleason should have received for the finished products; Gleason biographer William A. Henry III wrote in his 1992 book The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleason that beyond the possible conceptualizing of many of the songs, Gleason had no direct involvement (such as conducting) in the making of these recordings. Red Nichols, a jazz great who had fallen on hard times and led one of the groups recorded, did not even get session-leader pay from Gleason. Nearly all of Gleason's albums are still available, and have been re-released by Capitol Records onto compact disc.

He also took the role of a lead performer in the musical Take Me Along, which ran from 1959 to 1960; he won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

Return to television

Gleason restored his original variety hour, including The Honeymooners, in 1956, but abandoned the show in 1957 when his ratings for the season came in at #29 [4] and the network "suggested" he needed a break. He returned in 1958 with a half-hour show that featured Buddy Hackett. However, this version of the Gleason show did not catch on.

His next foray into television was with a game show, You're in the Picture, which survived its disastrous premiere episode only because of Gleason's now-legendary [7] humorous on-the-air apology in the following week's time slot. For the rest of the scheduled run, the program became a talk show that was once again named The Jackie Gleason Show.

In 1962, he resurrected his variety show with more splashiness and a new hook— a fictitious general-interest magazine called The American Scene Magazine, through whose format Gleason trotted out his old characters in new scenarios. He also added another catchphrase to the American vernacular, first uttered in the 1963 film Papa's Delicate Condition: "How sweet it is!"

The Jackie Gleason Show: The American Scene Magazine was a hit and continued in this format for four seasons. Each show began with Gleason delivering a monologue and commenting on the loud outfits of band leader Sammy Spear. Then the "magazine" features would be trotted out, from Hollywood gossip (reported by comedienne Barbara Heller) to news flashes (played for laughs with a stock company of second bananas, chorus girls, and midgets). Comedienne Alice Ghostley occasionally appeared as a downtrodden tenement resident, sitting on her front step and listening to boorish boyfriend Gleason for several minutes. After the boyfriend took his leave, the smitten Ghostley would exclaim, "I'm the luckiest girl in the world!" Veteran comics Johnny Morgan, Sid Fields, and Hank Ladd were occasionally seen opposite Gleason in comedy sketches.

The final sketch was always set in Joe the Bartender's saloon, with Joe singing "My Gal Sal" and greeting his regular customer, the unseen Mr. Dennehy (actually the TV audience, with Gleason speaking to the camera), who was named after a neighbor who took Gleason in after he was orphaned. During the sketch, Joe the Bartender would tell Dennehy about an article he read in the fictitious "American Scene" magazine, holding a copy across the bar. It had two covers: one featured the New York skyline and the other palm trees (after the show was moved to Florida in 1964). Then, Joe would bring out Frank Fontaine as Crazy Guggenheim, who would regale Joe with the latest adventures of his neighborhood pals and sometimes showed Joe his current Top Cat comic book. Joe usually asked Crazy to sing, almost always a sentimental ballad sung in a lilting baritone.

Gleason also revived The Honeymooners, first with Sue Ane Langdon and then with Sheila MacRae as Alice and with Jane Kean as Trixie. By 1964, Gleason had moved the production from New York to Miami Beach, Florida, reportedly because he liked the year-round access to the golf course at the nearby Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, Florida, where he built his final home. His closing line became, almost invariably, "As always, the Miami Beach audience is the greatest audience in the world!" In 1966, he finally abandoned the American Scene Magazine format and converted the show into a standard variety hour with guest performers.

Gleason kicked off the 1966–67 season with new, color episodes of The Honeymooners. Carney returned as Ed Norton, with MacRae as Alice and Kean as Trixie. The stories were remakes of the 1950s "world tour" episodes, in which Kramden and Norton win a slogan contest and take their wives to international destinations. Each of the nine episodes was a full-scale musical comedy, with Gleason and company performing original songs by Lyn Duddy and Jerry Bresler. Occasionally, the Gleason hour would be devoted to musicals with a single theme (a college comedy, a political satire, etc.), with the stars abandoning their Honeymooners roles for different character roles.

This was the format of the show until its cancellation in 1970, except for the 1968–69 season, which had no hour-long Honeymooners episodes. In that season, The Honeymooners was presented only in short sketches.

The musicals pushed Gleason back into the Top Five in the TV ratings, but audiences soon began to decline. By its final season, Gleason's show was no longer in the top 25. In the last original Honeymooners episode aired on CBS, "Operation Protest," Ralph encounters the youth-protest movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a sign of changing times in television as well as in society.

Gleason, who had signed a deal in the 1950s that included a guaranteed $100,000 annual payment for 20 years even if he never went on the air, wanted The Honeymooners to be just a portion of his format, but CBS wanted another season of nothing but The Honeymooners. The network had just canceled mainstay variety shows hosted by Red Skelton and Ed Sullivan because they had become too expensive to produce and attracted, in the executives' opinion, too old an audience. Gleason simply stopped doing the show by 1970 and finally left CBS when his contract expired.

Revival of The Honeymooners

Gleason did two Jackie Gleason Show specials for CBS after giving up his regular show in the 1970s, including "Honeymooners segments" and a Reginald Van Gleason III sketch in which the gregarious millionaire was shown as a clinical alcoholic. When the CBS deal expired, Gleason signed with NBC, but ideas reportedly came and went before he ended up doing a series of Honeymooners specials for ABC. Gleason helmed four of these ABC specials during the mid-1970s. Gleason and Carney also made a television movie, Izzy and Moe, which aired on CBS in 1985.

In April 1974, Gleason revived several classic characters, including Ralph Kramden, Joe the Bartender, and Reginald Van Gleason III, in a television special with Julie Andrews. In one song-and-dance route, the two performed "Take Me Along" from Gleason's Broadway musical.

In 1985, three decades after the Classic 39 began filming, Gleason revealed he had carefully preserved kinescopes of his live 1950s programs in a vault for future use—including Honeymooners sketches with Pert Kelton as Alice. These "Lost Episodes," as they came to be called, were initially previewed at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City, then first aired on the Showtime cable network in 1985, and were later syndicated to local TV stations. They were also released on home video.

Some of these include earlier versions of exactly the same plotlines later copied for the Classic 39 episodes. One of them, a Christmas holiday episode that was duplicated several years later with Meadows as Alice, delivered every one of Gleason's best-known characters — Ralph Kramden, the Poor Soul, Rudy the Repairman, Reginald Van Gleason, Fenwick Babbitt, and Joe the Bartender — in and out of the Kramden apartment, the storyline hooking around a wild Christmas party being thrown up the block from the Kramdens' building by Reginald Van Gleason at Joe the Bartender's place.

Dramatic roles

Gleason's acting was not restricted to comedic roles. He had also earned acclaim for live television drama performances in The Laugh Maker (1953) on CBS's Studio One; and in William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life (1958), which appeared as an episode of Playhouse 90, a television anthology series.

He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961). (In his 1985 appearance on The Tonight Show, Gleason told Johnny Carson that he had played pool frequently since childhood, utilizing those experiences in The Hustler.) He was also well-received as a beleaguered boxing manager in the movie version of Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). Gleason also played a world-weary Army sergeant, in Soldier in the Rain (1963).

He wrote, produced, and starred in Gigot (1962), a notorious box-office disaster, in which he plays a poor, mute janitor who befriends and rescues a prostitute and her small daughter. The film's script formed the basis for the television film The Wool Cap (2004) starring William H. Macy in the role of the mute janitor; the television film received modestly good reviews.

Gleason played the lead in the Otto Preminger all-star flop, Skidoo (1968). In 1969, William Friedkin wanted to cast Gleason as "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971) but between Gigot and Skidoo, the studio refused to offer Gleason the lead in the film, even though he wanted to play it. Instead, Gleason wound up in How to Commit Marriage (1969) with Bob Hope and the movie version of Woody Allen's play Don't Drink the Water (1969), both flops.

More than a decade passed before Gleason had another hit film. This role was as a very funny and cursing Texas sheriff Buford T. Justice in the films Smokey and the Bandit, Smokey and the Bandit II and Smokey and the Bandit, Part 3, (1977 and 1980, 1983). In these films, he co-starred with Burt Reynolds as the Bandit, Sally Field as Carrie, (Bandit's love interest), Jerry Reed as Cledus (Snowman) Snow, Bandit's truck-driving partner off to bring back beer, clam chowder (II), etc. Former NFL linebacker and actor Mike Henry played his not-so-bright son, Junior Justice. Gleason's gruff and frustrated demeanor, along with a few classic lines, such as "I'm gonna Bar-B-Que yo' ass in molasses!" after a trucker tore the driver's door off his parked sheriff's car, had audiences howling in the theaters, and truly made the first "Bandit" movie a major hit.

Years later, when Burt Reynolds was interviewed by Larry King, Reynolds said that he agreed to do the movie only if they would hire Jackie Gleason to play the part of "Sheriff Buford T. Justice," which is the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman who knew Reynolds' father. That interview also revealed that director Hal Needham gave Gleason free rein to ad-lib a lot of his dialog and make suggestions for the film. For example, the scene at the "Choke and Puke" was Gleason's idea. Reynolds and Needham knew the comic brilliance of Gleason would help make the film a success. And Gleason's characterization of Sheriff Justice helped them connect the film with mostly blue collar audiences.

In the 1980s, Gleason earned positive reviews playing opposite Laurence Olivier in the HBO dramatic two-man special, Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (1983). He also gave a memorable performance as wealthy businessman U.S. Bates in the comedy The Toy (1982), opposite Richard Pryor. Although the movie itself was critically panned, Gleason and Pryor were praised.

Gleason's comic genius and acting ability are why he earned the nickname, "The Great One."

Death

Gleason delivered a critically acclaimed performance as an infirm but acerbic and somewhat Archie Bunker-like character in the Tom Hanks comedy-drama Nothing in Common (1986). The film proved to be Gleason's final film role, as he was suffering from colon cancer, liver cancer, and thrombosed hemorrhoids during production.

Gleason was a heavy drinker, and smoked five packs of cigarettes a day. In 1986, he was diagnosed with diabetes and phlebitis, but he knew his condition was more serious. “I won’t be around much longer,” he told his daughter at dinner one evening after a day of filming Nothing In Common. A year later, on June 24, 1987 Gleason died peacefully, at his Florida home. He was 71 years old.

Gleason is interred in an outdoor mausoleum at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami, Florida. At the base is the inscription of one of his catchphrases, "And Away We Go."

Tributes

Miami Beach honored Gleason's contributions to the city and its tourism in 1987 by renaming the Miami Beach Auditorium (where he had done his television show after moving to Florida) as the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts. The theater was scheduled to be razed as part of a Convention Center major remodeling project as of May, 2010; it would be replaced by a hotel.[8][9]

Bus driver related

On June 30, 1988, the Sunset Park Bus Depot in Brooklyn was renamed the Jackie Gleason Depot in honor of the native Brooklynite.

A statue of Gleason as Ralph in his bus driver's uniform was dedicated in August 2000 in New York City by the cable TV channel TV Land. The statue is located in Manhattan at 40th Street and Eighth Avenue at the entrance of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Its inscription reads "Ralph Kramden: New Yorker, Bus Driver, Dreamer" and it was featured briefly in the film World Trade Center (2006).

Another such statue stands at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in North Hollywood, California, showing Gleason in his famous "And away we go!" pose.

Local signs on the Brooklyn Bridge, which indicate to drivers that they are entering Brooklyn, have the Gleason phrase "How Sweet It Is!" as part of the sign.

A city park with racquetball and basketball courts (and a children's playground) near his home in an Inverrary neighborhood of Lauderhill, Florida was named "Jackie Gleason Park".

A television movie called Gleason was aired by CBS on October 13, 2002, taking a deeper look into Gleason's life; it took liberties with some of the Gleason story, but featured his troubled home life, a side of Gleason that few had previously known of. He had two daughters by his first wife; they divorced, and Gleason endured a brief second marriage before finding a happy union with his third wife, June Taylor's sister Marilyn. The film also showed backstage scenes from his best-known work. Brad Garrett, from Everybody Loves Raymond, portrayed Gleason after Mark Addy had to drop out. Garrett was effectively made up to resemble Gleason in his prime. His height (6′8″, about eight inches taller than Gleason) created some logistical problems on the sets, which had to be specially made so that Garrett did not tower over everyone else. Also, cast members wore platform shoes when standing next to Garrett; the shoes can be seen in one shot during a Honeymooners sequence on Alice.

In 2003, after an absence of more than thirty years, the color, musical versions of The Honeymooners from the 1960s Jackie Gleason Show in Miami Beach were returned to television over the GoodLife TV (now ALN) cable network. In 2005, a movie version of The Honeymooners appeared in theatres, with a twist: a primarily African-American cast, headed by Cedric the Entertainer. This version, however, bore only a passing resemblance to Gleason's original series and was widely panned by critics.

Actor/Playwright Jason Miller who was a former son-in-law of Gleason's was in the process of writing a screenplay based on his father-in law's life which was to star Paul Sorvino. Miller died before completing the project. Gleason's daughter, Linda Miller, (herself an actress) had been married to The Exorcist star Jason Miller. Their son is the actor Jason Patric.

Interest in the paranormal

Gleason was a voracious reader of books on the paranormal, including The Urantia Book, parapsychology and UFOs. He even had a house built in the shape of a UFO which he named "The Mothership".[14] During the 1950s, he was a semi-regular guest on the paranormal-themed overnight radio show hosted by John Nebel, and wrote the introduction to Donald Bain's biography of Nebel.[15] According to Gleason's second wife, Beverly McKittrick, he told her that U.S. President Richard Nixon took him on a secret visit to Homestead Air Force Base. There, Gleason allegedly saw an alien spaceship and dead extraterrestrials.[14] After his death, his large book collection was donated to the library of the University of Miami.[13]

In film

Gleason has been portrayed by Brad Garrett in the 2002 TV film Gleason.

Sean Cullen played a small role of Gleason in the 2002 made for TV movie Martin and Lewis.

Career

Television

1949–1959

Your Sports Special (1949)

The Lamb's Gambol (1949)

The Life of Riley (October 4, 1949 – March 28, 1950) TV series

The Arrow Show (1949)

Ted and Jinx (1949)

This is Show Business (1950)

Showtime USA (1950)

Cavalcade of Stars (1950–1952) TV Series

The Frank Sinatra Show (1950)

Ford Star Revue (1951)

The Frank Sinatra Show (1951)

Cavalcade of Bands (1951)

Musical Comedy Time: No! No! Nanette! (1951)

Texacto Star Theatre (1951)

Ford Festival (1951)

This is Show Business (1951)

The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951)

Ford Star Revue (1951)

The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951)

The Kate Smith Evening Hour (1951)

The Jackie Gleason Show (September 20, 1952 – June 18, 1955) TV Series

Arthur Murray Party (1952)

The Sam Levinson Show (1952)

The Ken Murray Show (1952)

Toast of the Town (1952)

Celebrity Time (1952)

Scout O' Rama" (1952)

Jane Froman's USA Canteen (1952) 

Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (1953)

Studio One: The Laugh Maker (May 18, 1953)

What's My Line? (1953)

This is Show Business (1953)

Arthur Murray Party (1953)

Toast of the Town (1954)

Name That Tune (1954)

Studio One: Short Cut (December 6, 1954)

The Best of Broadway: The Show Off (February 2, 1955)

What's My Line? (1955)

I've Got a Secret (1955)

The Jack Benny Program (1955)

Stage Show (1955)

The Honeymooners (October 1, 1955 – September 22, 1956) TV Series

The Red Skelton Show (1955)

Studio One: Uncle Ed and Circumstances (October 10, 1955)

The 64,000 Question (1956)

Person to Person (February 3, 1956)

The Herb Shriner Show (1956)

The Jackie Gleason Show (September 29, 1956– June 22, 1957) TV Series

Playhouse 90: The Time of Your Life (October 9, 1958) TV Movie

This is Your Life (1958)

Arthur Godfrey Show (1958)

The Jackie Gleason Show (October 1958 – January 1959) TV Series

All Star Jazz IV: The Golden Age of Jazz (January 4, 1959)

1960–1986

The Fabulous Fifties (1960)

Arthur Godfrey Special (1960)

The Secret World of Eddie Hodges (1960) TV Movie [narration only]

The Jackie Gleason Special: The Big Sell (October 9, 1960)

The Red Skelton Show (1961)

Sunday Sports Spectacular: Jackie Gleason with the putter and cue (1961)

You're In the Picture/The Jackie Gleason Show (January 27 – March 24, 1961)

The Jackie Gleason Special: The Million Dollar Incident (April 21, 1961) TV Movie

Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine (September 29, 1962 – June 4, 1966) TV Series

The 35th Annual Academy Awards (1963)

The Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre: The Big Stomach (November 16, 1966)

The Jackie Gleason Show (September 17, 1966 – September 12, 1970) TV Series

Here's Lucy: Lucy Visits Jack Benny (1968)

The David Frost Show (1970)

The Jackie Gleason Special (December 20, 1970)

The Jackie Gleason Special (November 11, 1973)

Show Business Tribute to Milton Berle (1973)

Julie & Jackie: How Sweet It Is! (1974)

Bob Hope Special (1974)

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (1975) 

Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason: Two for Three (December 3, 1975)

Super Night at the Super Bowl (1976)

The Mike Douglas Show (1976)

The Honeymooners Second Honeymoon (February 2, 1976)

Donahue (1976)

The Captain and Tennille (1976)

Bing Crosby's White Christmas (1976)

The Honeymooners Christmas Special (November 28, 1977)

The Honeymooners Valentine Special (February 13, 1978)

The Second Honeymooners Christmas Special (December 10, 1978)

Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (June 3, 1983) TV Movie

All Star Party for Burt Reynolds (1984)

60 Minutes (1984)

Izzy & Moe (September 23, 1985) TV Movie

The Honeymooners Reunion (May 13, 1985)

The 39th Annual Tony Awards (June 2, 1985)

The Honeymooners Anniversary Celebration (October 18, 1985)

Gleason: In His Own Words (February 14, 1986)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1986)

Stage productions

Keep Off the Grass (1940)

Artists and Models (1943)

Follow the Girls (1944)

The Duchess Misbehaves (1945)

Heaven on Earth (1948) 

Along Fifth Avenue (1949)

Take Me Along (1959)

Sly Fox (1978)

1981-Smokey and The Bandit (played Sherif Bueford t Justice) 1983-Smokey and The Bandit 2 (played Sherif Bueford t Justice) 1984-Smokey and The Bandit 3 (played Sherif Bueford t Justice)

Filmography

Navy Blues (1941)

Steel Against the Sky (1941)

All Through the Night (1942)

Lady Gangster (1942)

Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942)

Larceny, Inc. (1942)

Escape from Crime (1942)

Orchestra Wives (1942)

Springtime in the Rockies (1942)

The Desert Hawk (1950)

The Hustler (1961)

Gigot (1962) (also writer)

Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)

Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)

Soldier in the Rain (1963) 

Skidoo (1968)

How to Commit Marriage (1969)

Don't Drink the Water (1969)

How Do I Love Thee? (1970)

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Mr. Billion (1977)

Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

The Toy (1982)

The Sting II (1983)

Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983)

Fools Die (1984)

Nothing in Common (1986)

Singles Discography

Year Title Label and Number

1951 "What is a Girl?"/"What is a Boy?" (spoken by Gleason) Decca 27684

1952 "Melancholy Serenade"/"You're Getting to Be a Habit" Capitol F2361

1953 "Alone Together"/"Body & Soul" Capitol F2437

1953 "My Funny Valentine"/"Love is Here to Stay" Capitol F2438

1953 "But Not For Me"/"Love" Capitol F2439

1953 "I'm in the Mood for Love"/"I Only Have Eyes for You" Capitol F2440

1953 "Terry's Theme from Limelight"/"Peg O' My Heart" Capitol F2507

1953 "White House Serenade"/"The President's Lady" Capitol F2515

1953 "Mystery Street"/"Golden Violins" Capitol F2659

1955 "The Band Played On"/"In the Good Old Summertime" Capitol F3144

1955 "Autumn Leaves"/"Oo! What You Do to Me" Capitol F3223

1956 "Capri In May"/"You're My Greatest Love" Capitol F3337

1958 "Where is She Now?"/"Just Only Yesterday" Capitol F4062

1961 "La La La La" Capitol (No.?)

1962 "Allo 'Allo 'Allo"/"Joi De Vivre" (soundtrack) Capitol F4800

Unreleased Songs The following are songs which were recorded for various albums but not included in the final product. However, when the albums were released of CD, these songs were included as extras.

"A Little Love, a Little Kiss" (Capitol) (recorded for Music, Martini and Memories, rel'd. on CD Lover's Rhapsody, 2001)

"After You've Gone" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Music, Martini and Memories, released on the CD Lover's Rhapsody, 2001)

"Alice Blue Gown" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"Blue Café" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"Crazy Rhythm" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Music, Martini and Memories, released on the CD Lover's Rhapsody, 2001)

"I Concentrate on You" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"If You Were the Only Girl" (Capitol)(recorded for single release, released on Music To Remember Her CD, 2001)

"I'll Never Be the Same" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Romantic Jazz, released on the CD, 2002)

"It's All Right With Me" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"More Than You Know" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"My Baby Just Cares for Me" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"Rain" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Romantic Jazz, released on the CD, 2002)

"That Certain Party" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"The Waning Honeymoon" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"Too Much Mustard" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP And Awaaay We Go!, released on the CD for Night Winds, 2005)

"You're My Greatest Love" (Capitol)(recorded for the LP And Awaaay We Go!, released on the CD, 1996)

Sources for Unreleased Songs Data

Romantic Moods of Jackie Gleason CD, 1996

And Awaaay We Go! CD, 1996

Lover's Rhapsody CD, 2001

Music To Remember Her CD, 2001

Romantic Jazz CD, 2002

Night Winds CD, 2005

[edit] LP Record Discography

1. Year Title Label and Number U.S. Billboard 200 Chart

1 1952 Music for Lovers Only Capitol H352 (10") # 1 (153 weeks)

2 1953 Lover's Rhapsody Capitol H366 (10") #1

3 1953 Music to Make You Misty Capitol H455 (10") #1

4 1954 Tawny Capitol L471 (10") #8

5 1954 And Awaaay We Go! Capitol H511 (10") #35

6 1954 Music, Martinis and Memories Capitol W509 # 1

7 1955 Lonesome Echo Capitol H627 (10") #5

8 1955 Music for Lovers Only Capitol W352 #7

9 1955 Music to Make You Misty Capitol W455 #11

10 1955 And Awaaay We Go! Capitol W511 #85

11 1955 Romantic Jazz Capitol W568 #2

12 1955 Music to Remember Her Capitol W570 #5

13 1955 Lonesome Echo Capitol W627 #1

14 1956 Music to Change Her Mind Capitol W632 #8

15 1956 Night Winds Capitol W717 #10

16 1956 Merry Christmas Capitol W758 #16

17 1957 Music for the Love Hours Capitol W816 #13

18 1957 Velvet Brass Capitol SW/W859 #16

19 1957 Jackie Gleason Presents "Oooo!" Capitol SW/W905 #14

20 1958 The Torch With the Blue Flame Capitol SW/W961 # 1

21 1958 Riff Jazz Capitol SW/W1020 #27

22 1959 Rebound Capitol SW/W1075 #18

23 1959 That Moment Capitol SW/W1147 #36

24 1959 Take Me Along (original cast) RCA Victor LSO1050 -

25 1960 Aphrodisia Capitol SW/W1250 #49

26 1960 Opiate D'Amour Capitol SW/W1314 #53

27 1961 Lazy Lively Love Capitol SW/W1439 #57

28 1961 The Gentle Touch Capitol SW/W1519 #62

29 1962 A Lover's Portfolio (two records in a "briefcase") Capitol SWBO/SBO1619 #135

30 1962 Love, Embers and Flame Capitol SW/W1689 #103

31 1963 Gigot (soundtrack) Capitol SW/W1754 -

32 1963 Champagne, Candlelight & Kisses Capitol SW/W1830 #97

33 1963 Movie Themes For Lovers Only Capitol SW/W1877 #82

34 1963 Today's Romantic Hits/For Lovers Only Capitol SW/W1978 #115

35 1964 A Lover's Portfolio Vol. 1 (Music for Sippin' & Dancin') Capitol SW/W1979 #128

36 1964 A Lover's Portfolio Vol. 2 (Music for Listenin' & Lovin') Capitol SW/W1980 #137

37 1964 Today's Romantic Hits/For Lovers Only Vol. 2 Capitol SW/W2056 #82

38 1965 Last Dance For Lover's Only Capitol SW/W2144

39 1965 Silk 'N' Brass Capitol SW/W2409 #141

40 1966 Music from Around the World – For Lovers Only Capitol SW/W2471 -

41 1966 How Sweet It Is For Lovers Capitol SW/W2582 #71

42 1967 A Taste of Brass For Lovers Only Capitol SW/W2684 #200

43 1967 'Tis the Season Capitol ST/T2791 #37

44 1968 The Best of Jackie Gleason Capitol SW/W2796 -

45 1968 Doublin' In Brass Capitol SW/W2880 -

46 1969 The Best of Jackie Gleason, vol. 2 Capitol SKAO-146 -

47 1969 Irving Berlin's Music For Lovers Only Capitol SW106 -

48 1969 The Now Sound Capitol SW/W2935 -

49 1969 Close Up Capitol ST255 #192

50 1969 All I Want for Christmas Capitol ST346 #13

51 1970 Romeo & Juliet Capitol ST398 -

52 1970 Come Saturday Morning Capitol ST480 -

53 1971 Words of Love Capitol ST693 -

Discography courtesy of Tom Lowery (from his personal collection).

Compact Disc Discography

Year Title Label

1991 Night Winds & Music to Make You Misty Capitol

1993 The Best of Jackie Gleason Curb

1994 Shangri-La Pair

1994 Lush Moods Pair

1994 Intimate Music for Lovers CEMA Special Markets

1995 Merry Christmas Razor & Tie

1995 Body & Soul Pair

1995 22 Melancholy Serenades CEMA Special Markets

1996 And Awaaay We Go Scamp

1996 How Sweet It Is! The Velvet Brass Collection Razor & Tie

1996 Romantic Moods of Jackie Gleason (Two Disc Set) EMI Capitol

1996 Thinking of You CEMA Special Markets

1996 ‘Tis the Season Capitol

1996 The Best of Jackie Gleason Collectibles

1999 Music for Lovers Only & Music to Make You Misty Collector’s Choice

2000 Best of Jackie Gleason EMI Special Products

2000 Tawny & Music, Martinis and Memories Collector’s Choice

2000 Music, Moonlight and Memories (Three Disc Set) Reader’s Digest

2001 Lonesome Echo Collector's Choice

2001 Music to Remember Her Collector’s Choice

2001 Lover’s Rhapsody & And Awaaay We Go Collector’s Choice

2001 Snowfall EMI

2002 For Lovers Only: 36 All Time Greatest Hits (Three disc set) Timeless Media Group

2003 Plays Romantic Jazz Collector's Choice

2004 Music to Change Her Mind Collector's Choice

2005 Night Winds Collector's Choice

2006 A Taste of Brass & Doublin’ in Brass Capitol

2007 Complete Bobby Hackett Sessions (Four Disc Set) Fine & Mellow

2009 Take Me Along (1959 Original Broadway Cast) DRG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Gleason