Tuesday, September 20, 2005

"And awayyyyyyy we go..."

Jackie Gleason was in fact, "The Great One" in girth and mirth. The Jackie Gleason era of comedy was ushered in on this date, September 20, 1952 with the arrival of his first big network show on CBS-TV...

It all started for Gleason on "The Calvacade of Stars" on the DuMont Network in 1950 when he replaced original host Jerry Lester and in 1952 CBS founder William Paley lured Gleason away to his network. Gleason's shows opened with a monologue, followed by a sketch involving "The Great One" and a number of regular members of his show which always included Art Carney and then a musical interlude featuring the June Taylor Dancers. And who can ever forget the great recurring characters played by Gleason himself, Reginald Van Gleason III, Joe the Bartender, loudmouthed Charlie Bratton, mild-mannered Fenwick Babbitt and my favorite of all, the pantomimed Poor Soul. "The Honeymooners" would become a regular feature of the show and then spin-off for a series of its own for a time. The original members of perhaps the greatest ensemble ever created for TV were, Gleason (Ralph Cramden), Carney (Ed Norton), Audrey Meadows (Alice Cramden) and Joyce Randolph (Trixie Norton). In later years Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean would replace Meadows and Randolph. Some other cast members through the years included announcers Jack Lescoulie and Johnny Olsen, Buddy Hackett, Frank Fontaine ("Crazy Guggenheim") and George Jessel with music supplied by the orchestras of, first Ray Bloch and then Sammy Spear...

"The Jackie Gleason Show" would go through many incarnations from 1952 to 1970 with show title and personnel changes and even the locale of the show would change from New York City to Miami. The one constant was phenomenal ratings throughout the show's run. But what would you expect from "The Great One" ?

A personal Jackie Gleason memory follows in my commentary at the end of the post...

More September 20 Memories...

1962) Black student James Meredith is denied entrance to the University of Mississippi by Governor Ross R. Barnett. Meredith was later admitted by court order...

1964) The Beatles wrap up their first U.S. tour with a date at the New York Paramount Theater, making a capacity crowd of 3,682 very happy...

1969) Associated TV buys control of the Beatles' publishing company, Northern Songs for a couple of million dollars...

1971) Peter Frampton quits Humble Pie to pursue a solo career...

1972) From the oops file, police find cannabis growing on the farm of Paul and Linda McCartney...

1973) 30-year old Jim Croce is killed in a small plane crash in Louisiana, on his way to a concert in Sherman, Texas...

1973) Billie Jean King whips Bobby Riggs in a $100,000 winner-take-all tennis match...

1975) The Bay City Rollers appear live on the premiere of Howard Cosell's "Saturday Night Show" on ABC-TV...

1975) "Born to Run" is released by Bruce Springsteen...

1976) "The Captain & Tennille Show" premieres on ABC-TV in prime time...

1976) Playboy releases the Jimmy Carter interview in which he says he lusts for women...

1976) Sid Bernstein lusts for a Beatle reunion offering $230 million for a charity concert by the Fab Four...

1982) NFL players begin a 57-day strike, the first in-season strike in NFL history...

1984) "The Cosby Show" premieres on NBC-TV...

1987) "LA Law", Bruce Willis and Sharon Gless win at the 39th Emmy Awards Show...

1995) AT&T splits into 3 companies: AT&T, Lucent Technologies and NCR Corporation...

1998) After playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games, over 16 seasons, Cal Ripken of the Orioles sits out a game...

2000) Independent counsel Robert Ray closes the Whitewater investigation citing insufficient evidence to warrant charges against the Clintons...

2001) President George W. Bush addresses a joint session of Congress regarding the terrorist attacks and names Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge to head up the new Office of Homeland Security (colored lights to follow)...

Happy Birthday to...

1917) Godfather of the Celtics Red Auerbach...

1928) Dr. Joyce Brothers...

1929) Anne Meara...

1934) Sophia Loren...

1967) Former "Third Rock from the Sun" and new-ER cast member Kristen Johnston...

Commentary...

Before starting his TV career Jackie Gleason did stand-up comedy, playing many New York City dates and I would become an unwitting participant in one of those performances...

I was probably in single digits age-wise when my Dad took me to see Gleason at the Capital Theater in New York City. The comedian was meeting with luke-warm response during his skit about his drinking prowess and while I don't remember the start of the joke, the punchline was "you can't drink Canada dry" to which I replied apparently in a loud enough voice to be heard, "I get it". Gleason responded by pointing to me and saying "see, he gets it." The crowd laughed and I had a memory that would last forever and make me famous at family gatherings...

Jackie Gleason was one of those legendary figures that was truly bigger than life. To this day, the "60 Minutes" interview he did is one that is always rerun whenever that show does a retrospective. There are only a handful of performers that would leave an indelible mark in TV history and "The Great One" is one of them...

How many of you believe in telekinesis ? Raise my hands...