page_title: Jackie Gleason
section_title: Early television
hierarchical_section_title: Jackie Gleason / Career / Early television
caption_attribution_description: Publicity photo from The Jackie Gleason Show. Gleason and June Taylor dancer Margaret Jeanne get ready for St. Patrick's Day.
context_page_description: John Herbert Gleason was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and conductor. Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy, exemplified by his city bus driver Ralph Kramden character in the television series The Honeymooners. He also developed The Jackie Gleason Show, which maintained high ratings from the mid-1950s through 1970. After originating in New York City, filming moved to Miami Beach, Florida in 1964 after Gleason took up permanent residence there.
  Among his notable film roles were Minnesota Fats in 1961's The Hustler, and Buford T. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit series from 1977 into the early 1980s. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Gleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career, producing a series of best-selling "mood music" albums. His first album, Music for Lovers Only, still holds the record for the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten Charts, and his first 10 albums sold over a million copies each. To date, his output spans some 20-plus singles, nearly 60 long-playing record albums, and over 40 CDs.
context_section_description: Gleason's big break occurred in 1949, when he landed the role of blunt but softhearted aircraft worker Chester A. Riley for the first television version of the radio comedy The Life of Riley. (William Bendix originated the role on radio but was initially unable to accept the television role because of film commitments.) Despite positive reviews, the show received modest ratings and was cancelled after one year. Bendix reprised the role in 1953 for a five-year series. The Life of Riley became a television hit for Bendix during the mid- to late 1950s.
  But long before this, Gleason's nightclub act had received attention from New York City's inner circle and the fledgling DuMont Television Network. He was working at Slapsy Maxie's when he was hired to host DuMont's Cavalcade of Stars variety hour in 1950, having been recommended by comedy writer Harry Crane, whom he knew from his days as a stand up comedian in New York. The program initially had rotating hosts; Gleason was first offered two weeks at $750 per week. When he responded it was not worth the train trip to New York, the offer was extended to four weeks. Gleason returned to New York for the show. He framed the acts with splashy dance numbers, developed sketch characters he would refine over the next decade, and became enough of a presence that CBS wooed him to its network in 1952.
  Renamed The Jackie Gleason Show, the program became the country's second-highest-rated television show during the 1954–55 season. 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 wings, clapping his hands and shouting, "And awaaay we go!" The phrase became one of his trademarks, along with "How sweet it is!" (which he used in reaction to almost anything). Theona Bryant, a former Powers Girl, became Gleason's "And awaaay we go" girl. 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. He continued developing comic characters, including
  Reginald Van Gleason III, a top-hatted millionaire with a taste for both the good life and fantasy
  Rudy the Repairman, boisterous and boorish
  Joe the Bartender, gregarious and with friendly words for the never-seen Mr. Dennehy (always first at the bar)
  The Poor Soul, a silent character who could (and often did) come to grief in the least-expected places (or demonstrated gratitude at such gifts as being allowed to share a newspaper on a subway)
  Rum Dum, a character with a brush-like mustache who often stumbled around as though drunk and confused
  Fenwick Babbitt, a friendly, addle-headed young man usually depicted working at various jobs and invariably failing
  Charlie Bratton, a loudmouth who frequently picked on the mild-mannered Clem Finch (portrayed by Art Carney, a future Honeymooners co-star)
  Stanley R. Sogg, a pitchman, who usually appeared on commercials during late night movies and sold items that came with extras bonuses.  The ultimate inducement was a 10-pound wedge of Facciamara's Macciaroni cheese.
  The Bachelor, a silent character (accompanied by the song "Somebody Loves Me") doing everyday things in an unusually lazy (or makeshift) way
  In a 1985 interview, Gleason related some of his characters to his youth in Brooklyn. The Mr. Dennehy whom Joe the Bartender greets is a tribute to Gleason's first love, Julie Dennehy. The character of The Poor Soul was drawn from an assistant manager of an outdoor theater he frequented.
  Gleason disliked rehearsing. With a photographic memory he read the script once, watched a rehearsal with his co-stars and stand-in, and shot the show later that day. When he made mistakes, he often blamed the cue cards.
caption: Gleason and June Taylor dancer Margaret Jeanne get ready for St. Patrick's Day 1955
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