JACKIE GLEASON

February 26, 1916

Jackie Gleason was born as Herbert Walton Gleason Jr. but baptized as John Herbert Gleason. He was born at 364 Chauncey Street in Brooklyn, an address he later used for Ralph and Alice Kramden on his iconic series “The Honeymooners.”

For most of the 1940s Gleason appeared on Broadway, featured in Keep Off The Grass, Artists and Models, Follow the Girls, and Along Fifth Avenue. His greatest success on the Great White Way came after his television success, in 1959′s Take Me Along, which won him a Tony Award. 

He made his screen debut in 1941 with Navy Blues starring Ann Sheridan and Jackie Oakie.  

He entered the new medium of television transferring “The Life of Riley” from radio to television in 1949. It became the first sitcom to win an Emmy Award. Curiously, the TV pilot starred Lon Chaney Jr.  William Bendix was originally supposed to play Chester Riley, reprising his role from the radio series. But because Bendix was committed to the film The Life of Riley (1949) he was unable to star in the series but he later starred in the revived series “The Life of Riley” in 1953.

“The Honeymooners” sketches aired originally on the “Cavalcade of Stars”, which Gleason hosted, and subsequently on “The Jackie Gleason Show.” The popularity of the characters led Gleason to rework “The Honeymooners” as a filmed half-hour series which debuted on October 1, 1955. Production ended after 39 episodes (now referred to as the ‘Classic 39’). Gleason sporadically revived the characters until 1978.  The characters were so popular, references to them turned up on several “Lucy” sitcoms. 

In the second episode of “Here’s Lucy” “Lucy Visits Jack Benny” (HL S1;E2 on September 30, 1968), Gleason makes a totally unexpected and wordless cameo as “Honeymooners” bus driver Ralph Kramden.  Having these three comedy icons on screen in one shot was rare. 

Gleason joined Lucy and Desi to with Ed Sullivan a happy eighth anniversary on June 24, 1956, although they shared no screen time.

In 1957, Lucy and Desi appeared on “The Jackie Gleason Show” to mark the 65th Birthday of Eddie Cantor, who Lucille worked with when she first got to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Coincidentally, Lucille is on the cover of TV Guide that week to celebrate TV’s tenth year!  

Lucy turned up on “Jackie Gleason’s 51st Birthday Celebration” in February 1967.

On December 4, 1973, the Friars Club celebrated Milton Berle’s 60 years in show business. Sammy Davis Jr. hosts with guests Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas, Red Foxx, and Carol O’Connor.  

Although he made a wordless walk-on cameo in the second-aired “Here’s Lucy”,

“Three for Two” (aired on December 3, 1975) was the first time Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason actually acted together on screen. The special was comprised of three separate stories, all focused on characters played by Gleason and Ball.  

Herb and Sally, a middle-aged couple from Cleveland with grown children who are on a month-long vacation in Italy after 24 years of marriage.

Fred and Rita, a couple carrying on a discrete affair and trying to decide whether they should tell their spouses. They meet at a dimly lit nightclub.

Mike and Pauline,

domineering parents involved in a New Year’s Eve family crisis forced to recognize their college-aged children’s declaration of independence.  This was Gleason’s final collaboration with Lucille Ball. 

A passion project of Lucille Ball’s was to play Lillian Russell with Jackie Gleason as Diamond Jim Brady. For various reasons, this project never got off the ground, despite a finished script (tentatively titled “Diamond Jill & Lil”) and even a production budget (above). 

His final screen appearance was in the feature film Nothing in Common (1986) opposite Tom Hanks. 

Jackie Gleason died of colon and liver cancer on June 24, 1987, two years before Lucille Ball. He was 71 years old. 

GLEASON ON THEIR LIPS!  

Although he may have not been actually in the episodes, Jackie Gleason’s name was always good for a laugh on Lucycoms!

When “Lucy Meets Danny Kaye” (TLS S3;E15) in 1964, she begs him for tickets to his TV show.  Kaye gets on the phone with the network president to call in a favor, but the best Paley can do is two tickets for “The Jackie Gleason Show” next April!

In “Lucy Helps Danny Thomas” (TLS S4;E7) she mistakenly attributes the catch phrase “And away we go!” to Thomas when it was actually Jackie Gleason’s.  

When Mary Jane first suspects Milton Berle as someone famous in “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (TLS S4;E13) in 1965, Lucy thinks he may be Jackie Gleason. 

In “Lucy and the Efficiency Expert” (TLS S5;E13) in 1966, Lucy repeats a joke she heard on “The Jackie Gleason Show” which aired on Saturday nights on CBS. On her way out of the office after mentioning the show, Lucy does Gleason’s famous “away we go” exit.  

Striving to stay thin to resemble Sid Caesar, Frankie the Forger (also played by Caesar) wishes he looked like Jackie Gleason instead in “Lucy and Sid Caesar” (TLS S6;E23) on March 4, 1968.

In “Lucy and Liberace” (HL S2;E16) in 1970, Kim answers the front door saying “It’s probably Craig with his arms loaded down with that something he had to get from a big star.” Lucy replies: “Maybe he’s got his arms full of Jackie Gleason.”  Turns out he had his hands full of Liberace’s trademark candelabra! 

When Lucille Ball guest-starred on “Make Room For Granddaddy” in 1971, Lucy’s taxi driver (Joseph Mell) says Danny is one of his favorite comedians, although he thinks he is Jack Benny. Danny corrects him and says he is Jackie Gleason!

Gleason shares a birthdate with other “Lucy” guest stars Tony Randall and Robert Alda. When “Goodbye, Mrs. Hips” (HL S5;E23) first aired on their birthdays in 1973, Gleason was 57, Randall turned 53, and Alda was 59.