Remembering Jackie Gleason, the Funniest Man on Television
‘The REAL Brooklyn of Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners’ Book Excerpt
Jackie Gleason, 71, died on June 24, 1987. Gleason’s formative years were spent in Brooklyn. where he grew up, went to school and honed his comedic skills in the borough’s bars and vaudeville theaters. Enjoy this excerpt, the introduction of the eBook The REAL Brooklyn of Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners.
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Between 1840 and 1845, the first wave of European immigrants arrived in Brooklyn. By 1855, nearly half of the borough’s residents were foreign-born; half were Irish and the rest from Germany and the UK. Immigrants from Eastern Europe, Italy, and Poland arrived in the late 1880s to work in Brooklyn’s railyards, ironworks, slaughterhouses, and sweatshops. Thousands of African Americans moved from the South in the early 20th century.
Fast-forward to 1950. Actor Jackie Gleason, the host of TV’s musical variety show Cavalcade of Stars, sought to come up with a name for what would become his most beloved character, Ralph Kramden. Gleason looked to the working-class neighbors of his Brooklyn childhood in the 1920s.
Gleason said in Jackie Gleason: An Intimate Portrait of The Great One that there were “hundreds” of Kramdens when he was growing up but he wanted a name that didn’t have “any particular ethnic sound.” Gleason insisted that his writers spell Kramden with a K. He said later, “To this day, no one has come forward with that name.”
Gleason succeeded in every aspect of show business, from saloon comedy to Broadway theater. Gleason was a talented musician whose albums of music and comedy routines have sold millions of copies. His acting in dramatic films like The Hustler and Requiem for a Heavyweight and comedic turns in the Smokey and the Bandit series earned him acclaim from the greatest actors of his generation.
But Gleason is best remembered as Ralph Kramden in the pioneering situation comedy The Honeymooners. Ralph is a big man with big dreams: a loyal husband and friend, exasperated bus driver, accomplished bowler and pool player, and treasurer of the International Order of Friendly Raccoons, a fraternal organization always teetering on bankruptcy. His mannerisms and catchphrases “Bang, Zoom,” “Pow, right in the kisser,” and “Baby, you’re the greatest!” are remembered and repeated today.
The Honeymooners broke new ground in its portrayal of a struggling family living in a Brooklyn tenement. Its influence can be seen sitcoms like All in the Family, which starred Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker. O’Connor once wrote Gleason, “I know I am doing some of the things you did.” Gleason wrote back: “I wish I had done some of the things you’re doing.”
The success of The Honeymooners also lies in the actors Gleason assembled: Audrey Meadows as his forgiving wife Alice; neighbor, best friend, and sewer worker Ed Norton, played by Art Carney; and Joyce Randolph, Norton’s good-natured spouse.
Gleason ended the series after the 1955–1956 television season but the “Classic 39” episodes of The Honeymooners have been in syndication ever since, entertaining new generations of fans. This book follows Gleason’s epic journey from a Brooklyn tenement apartment on Chauncey Street to its replica on a Manhattan sound stage where The Honeymooners was filmed. And awaaay we go!
Frank Mastropolo is the author of The REAL Brooklyn of Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners: The Early Life of the Funniest Man on Television.
