Most of us that have heard of Jackie Gleason probably know him from his portrayal of Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners or Minnesota Fats in the movie “The Hustler” He was a rather fat man who often made fun of his own stature, but as his nickname, “The Great One,” suggests, he was large in many other respects as well.

Early days

Herbert John Gleason (his mother called him Jackie) was born on February 26, 1916 in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, the same neighborhood as was the setting for The Honeymooners, in fact. He grew up in the same kind of tenement building that the Honeymooners characters Ralph and Alice Kramden lived in. His father deserted the family when Jackie was eight years old, leaving him alone with his mother. His mother took a job selling subway tokens to get by and young Jackie did odd jobs to help, quitting school after the sixth grade.

A break finally came their way when 15-year-old Jackie won a local talent show that led to jobs as master of ceremonies and comic at theaters, speak-easies and clubs and a reputation for brash wit and fast ad-libbing. This earned Jackie steady work and good pay for the depression era, but the energetic young man bolstered his income with further odd jobs that included carnival ringmaster, stunt driver and high diver as well as disk-jockey and radio host.

Fame and Fortune

A much bigger break came at age 25, when Jack Warner himself spotted Jackie in a club act and signed him up for Warner Brothers Studios. Jackie had small parts in several movies from Warner Brothers. He then hit the Broadway musical circuit. His starring role in “Take Me With You” earned him a Tony Award. He later appeared on Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town” show. That appearance led to the starring role in the TV show The Life of Riley. He went on to host the Cavalcade of Stars, where he developed several of his characters, including Joe the Bartender and Ralph Kramden, the blustery bus driver. Cavalcade was very popular and made Jackie a national star. The Ralph Kramden sketches were spun off to create The Honeymooners (TV’s first spin-off).It would surprise many to know that The Honeymooners ran for only one season (39 episodes), but it has been in continuous syndicated reruns ever since. Jackie decided to stop writing The Honeymooners because he felt he could not maintain the quality of the material and didn’t want it to diminish.

Other Sides of the Man

Movie Actor

Music producer

He couldn’t read music or play an instrument, but he had a vision for a kind of music that he couldn’t buy anywhere. His solution was to hire an orchestra and work with some orchestrators to realize the vision. Basically, his idea was to cover popular songs in a soft, romantic style to create mood music, or more specifically, music to put you in “the mood.” The song titles of the 20 highly successful albums he published through Capitol Records are quite explicit about what ‘the mood’ refers to: “Music for Lovers Only,” “Music to Change Her Mind,” “Oooo!”, “That Moment,” etc. The cover of one album, “The Lonesome Echo,” featured art by Salvador Dali. In addition to the make-out music, he also created the theme tune for The Honeymooners, “You’re My Greatest Love” and the theme for the Jackie Gleason Show, “Melancholy Serenade.” He also strongly influenced the soundtrack of the movie “Gigot.” He stopped recording albums in 1969.

Golf

A Leaner Cuisine

Pool player

Phrase-maker

“How su-weeeet it is!”

“And awaaay we go!” (usually accompanied by his signature body movement; see http://www.seeing-stars.com/ImagePages/JackieGleasonStatuePhoto.shtml)

“One of these days, Pow! Right in the kisser!”

“Our dreams are first-hand creations, rather than residues of waking life. We have the capacity for infinite creativity; at least while dreaming, we partake of the power of the Spirit, the infinite Godhead that creates the cosmos.” (He was into parapsychology.)

”The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day you're off it.”

In death

What's also not noted is that he had one of the best private libraries of classical literature in the non-Hispanic Western hemisphere. He noted that thin people were beautiful, but fat people were adorable! Also that he was buried in the style of the early Christians, that is, his monument includes a banquet table in the Late Greek style, with effigies of himself and his wife reclining on couches. The message being, "We are still here. Let us eat and drink together, and so, rejoice!" (I find that incredibly moving.)

Yup. You are invited to take your picnic baskets and eat and drink with the Great One. Why is he called so? Because Orson Welles once quoted a Greek poet to him, and he replied "It's not so, it's..."(apparently repeating a Jesuit education)...on for several verses of Brooklyn-inflected Attic Greek.

Welles, whose education extended only into a largely self-taught tenth grade, replied, "You are the Greater One."