Posted on 02/26/2016 11:41:53 AM PST by Borges
Born 100 years ago (today), Jackie Gleason rose to the top of comedy thanks to his larger than life personality and rigorous work ethic.
The mood of the photo essay is a strange one: Jackie Gleasonâs soon-to-be hit show The Honeymooners was about to hit the airwaves, but the starâs look in the pages of that 1955 issue of LIFE was melancholy. The entertainer, as the magazine explained, had âjust become, by financial standards at least, historyâs greatest comedian.â He was raking in millions between his weekly Jackie Gleason Show and new contracts with Buick and CBS for The Honeymooners. âNo other actor in the world,â the magazine declared, âever had it so good as this 39-year-old, Brooklyn-born comedian with a 265-pound body, a bellowing voice and a superb instinct for theater.â
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Rigorous work ethic? He was infamous for skipping rehearsals. He could get away with it due his exceptional memory.
He didn't like rehearsing because he thought it hurt the spontaneity of the performance. Some of the funniest moments of The Honeymooners were improvised when he forgot his line or something went wrong on the set. During the episode depicting Ralph & Norton doing a commercial for the "chef of the future", they actually knock down the set walls on accident, but it was left in because it actually made the scene funnier.
He moved here so he could live just a few steps away from the Inverarry Golf Course.
What I wouldn’t give for
5 minutes in the tunnel of love with
RAMONA!!
They made a great comedy team. Too bad we just have celebrities today and not true entertainers.
I remember Fatso Fogerty, Frankie Fontaine who played the stuperous drunk and would suddenly sing like an angel at Jackies request. Also the June Taylor Dancers, great show with a lot of talent.
We have a CD of Jackie Gleason’s Orchestra. Beautiful, romantic music.
How did that come about?
Thanks for that photo. While my old man was very skinny and unassuming - he thought very much like that. Both while struggling and enjoying success.
He ended up with a second home on the beach in Florida - west coast. He really loved it there. And always planning either the next small project or big adventure.
<;-)
He was also fantastic in “Requiem for a Heavyweight”.
I forgot that - thanks for the reminder. “Let’s play some pool.”
ditto
That is one film I should own and don’t. Yet.
Minnasota Fats - allegedly Etta Jamesâ father
Damn right! He should have won a Best Supporting Oscar from just his facial looks and physical movements alone!!!! Best line in the movie: Fast Eddie: I’m the best there is Fats...I’m the best ya ever seen....even if ya beat me I’m still the best”.
Ping
Fats: “Do you like to gamble Eddie...gamble money on pool games”?
Gotta disagree ‘70. JG played that part to perfection as the top stick faced with a challenge from young gun road player Fast Eddie Felson.
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