The Jackie Gleason Show

The show was broadcast live in front of a theater audience, and offered the same kind of vaudevillian entertainment common to early television revues.Gleason portrayed a number of recurring characters, including: The series was a big hit for CBS, finishing at #8 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1953–1954 season and #2 in 1954–1955.[6] By far the most memorable and popular of Gleason's characters was blowhard Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden, featured originally in a series of Cavalcade skits known as "The Honeymooners", with Pert Kelton as his wife Alice, and Art Carney as his upstairs neighbor Ed Norton.These were so popular that in 1955 Gleason suspended the variety format and filmed The Honeymooners as a regular half-hour sitcom (television's first spin-off), co-starring Carney, Audrey Meadows (who had replaced the blacklisted Kelton after the earlier move to CBS), and Joyce Randolph.Finishing 19th in the ratings, these 39 episodes were subsequently rerun constantly in syndication, often five nights a week, with the cycle repeating every two months for decades.American Scene was initially taped in New York City; after two seasons, production moved to Miami Beach (1964), on Jackie's insistence.June Taylor's chorus girl routines revived for the television generation the aerial pattern kaleidoscope formations made famous on film by Busby Berkeley.During this period, The Jackie Gleason Show earned three more Emmy nominations, for Carney for special classification in 1966 and for variety series and writing in 1967.Coupled with the fact that the CBS network was concerned with demographics and wanted to change its image with more urban-oriented shows (to attract younger, more affluent audiences).Beginning in late December 1970 CBS began airing selected reruns of The Jackie Gleason Show (featuring only the color Honeymooners episodes) in prime time on Sunday nights at 10 p.m. which replaced The Tim Conway Comedy Hour.
Gleason and June Taylor dancer Margaret Jeanne (1955)
Gleason and Audrey Meadows as Ralph and Alice Kramden (1956)
Photo postcard in response to ticket requests after The Jackie Gleason Show moved to Miami in 1964. Note a very tanned Gleason.
VarietyJackie GleasonMelancholy Serenadelist of episodesMulti-cameraDuMontDuMont Television NetworkJack CarterJerry LesterBroadway Open HouseWilliam BendixThe Life of RileysitcomvaudevillianBert WheelerSmith and DalePatricia MorisonVivian BlaineWilliam S. PaleyCBS TelevisionJohn Serry Sr.UCLA Film and Television ArchivePaley Center for MediaList of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television NetworkList of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcastsmonologuesketch comedyArt CarneyJune Taylor DancersdipsomaniacpantomimeChicken FatBrooklynNielsen ratingsThe HoneymoonersPert KeltonAudrey MeadowsblacklistedJoyce RandolphI Love LucyLucille BallDesi ArnazBuddy HackettTalk showJohnny Olsongame showYou're in the Pictureonly one episodeJayne MansfieldBobby DarinMiami BeachFrank FontaineThe Jack Benny ProgramJune TaylorkaleidoscopeBusby BerkeleySheila MacRaeJane KeanMilton BerleBiscayne BayThe Red Skelton HourPetticoat Junctionrural purgeThe Tim Conway Comedy HourTemple University PressWayback MachineBallantine BooksPenguin BooksGeorgia GibbsArthur Lee Simpkins