Frank Gannucci
10-31-2014, 07:57 AM
60 Minutes' Jackie Gleason Profile (10/28/84)
DVD: On the Blu-ray release, it is attached to #16-#24 of the Classic 39 (including two versions of "$99,000 Answer", "A Dog's Life", "Here Comes The Bride" & "Please Leave The Premises" in which one of the episodes has the original ads) & 60 Minutes' Profile Outtakes.
This begins with Morley Safer introducing us to Jackie Gleason. He said that he was the most watched man on TV. He then says he will show us who Jackie is. I should point out that all the Honeymooners clips here were not digitally remastered since this feature is included the was it was when it was first shown.
We see Jackie in his home playing pool with the Honeymooners theme in the background. Then misc clips of Jackie is shown with Morley Safer saying that he rolled over networks and film studios to get what he wanted. Other clips are shown like Jackie leading his orchestra as well as him playing golf. Morley (via VO) claims that Jackie never rehearsed or practiced and he winged it all his life which is not completely true since he did rehearse for things like the Honeymooners XMas Party episodes because they required quick extensive costume changes as well as some other episodes. He needed to rehearse for the XMas Party episodes for those for the sake of the actors and actresses. Morley than says that 50 (now 80) years ago, Jackie wasn't even remotely famous.
They are now sitting at Jackie's bar. During this whole interview, Jackie is smoking. Jackie says that he went to Tiny Chateau, and he had this stale act of bad impersonations and bad jokes. He said that he was the first show and the crowd was all miners in boots. He was almost booed off and "Tiny" who Jackie claims was seven feet tall said: "Come here." He directed Jackie to a pay phone. Tiny called New York and he got Solly Shore on the phone and said: "How can you send me a BUM like this?" Tiny did this in front of the crowd. After that, Tiny and Jackie had 15 drinks. Now, it was time for the second show. He came out and he killed the crowd and did somersaults, told jokes that he never heard etc. The next night for the next show, he tried to remember what he had done. So he went to the bar and had 15 drinks and it would come to him.
Jackie than recounts that he went to Hollywood and earned $250 a week playing Gangster pictures. That pales in comparison to the money that the stars make today. He then recounts how he started on Calvacade of Stars and said that he didn't think he had a future in TV. Clips of the Poor Soul, Reggie Van Gleason III and Honeymooners are shown. Morley says that the Honeymooners was played for laughs and the comedy was rooted, if not in tragedy then in poverty. Jackie says that the Kramden apartment was fashioned like his old childhood home and that his mother had to work hard because Jackie's dad had left him when he was 8. She couldn't take care of the house well but she was a good mother. Jackie says that in the neighborhood that he lived in, almost everyone was a Kramden. He says that Ralph had schemes that fail and after that he would apologize. Morley asks why is the show as popular now as it was the first time around considerating that there were only (at the time) 39 episodes. Jackie: "I could give you, uh, 20 academic answers for that." Jackie says that it is funny. The golf clip from "The Golfer" is shown. Jackie says that Ed Norton is responsible for 90 percent of the show's success.
Morley says that Jackie wanted to do his show in Miami. Jackie says that he had a two-year contract. After the first year, he said that he didn't want to do it, and they didn't believe him. They thought he had a job somewhere else. So, Jackie talked them into getting him a big train and having it go down to Florida since he played golf down there and liked it so he thought he might as well do the show in Florida. He talked them into doing the show in Florida. The train was called "The Great Gleason Express." Various rare clips from that train ride are shown. He said that there were nice girls on the train but nothing happened. I don't think I have to say what he meant by that. Morley: "Was there a bar on that train?" Jackie: "The train was a bar." He mentioned that his show was in the Top 3 as far as ratings go. Clips of Jackie being welcomed to Miami are shown. Morley mentioned that Jackie had a 15 million dollar contract which pales in comparison to the money the stars make today. Jackie responds by saying that the first contract that he had with the CBS Head at the time, Mr. Paley, it was for $11 million. After that, he had a hangover and he was at the table with all the agents and they had lunch in Paley's room and he fell asleep. Paley said that iif that is his attitude, give it to him. The hangover worked according to Jackie. Jackie says that people should have two fortunes. One to live it up and one for security. He says that in TV, they used to do this. They would get you to paint yourself into a corner of luxury. Then, they would start to dictate. Because they knew that you feared losing that money. You would give up your independence and go along with them. It threatened your security and kudos to your ego. He learned all of this when he was a kid. Jackie: "And I knew when they were telling me, how great I was that they had something coming up next that they wanted, or wanted me to do."
Then they talk about "You're In The Picture." Jackie jokingly calls this show a beauty. A clip from that trainwreck of a show is shown. When Morley asks what possessed him to do it, Jackie says that there were perhaps 30 executives in CBS who thought it was the funniest thing that they seen in their life and Jackie agreed. Oh boy. Jackie: "We did it and crash." Jackie says that he wanted to apologize for that show. The network said no. Apparently, Jack didn't take no for an answer and a clip of him apologizing is shown. I wonder if the five fans of that show were upset at that moment since they weren't getting that show on that day. Back iin those days, they were no onscreen TV Guides that mentioned last minute changes. In this clip, Jack says that "You're In The Picture" laid without a doubt the biggest BOMB in the history of TV. Jackie mentioned that the critics hailed the apology. When asked how some show like that gets approved, Jackie responds by saying that CBS has talent in which when they say "yes" it sounds like "no" and "no" that sounds like "yes."
Morley says that he was the most successful man ever on TV and maybe even now you're past that but he then says that he still may be the most successful man on TV but he got no TV awards. Jackie: "II won the Tony on Broadway. I was nominated for an Oscar and nominated for an Emmy once. Jackie says that the business that he endeavors himself too shouldn't be some award. Jackie: "Everyone got an Emmy but me."
A rare clip presumably from the 80s is shown of Jackie and Marilyn on the golf cart. Morley (via VO): "Ralph never got out of Brooklyn but Jackie Gleason took his revenge by living very well by truly being the king of his castle." We then see Jackie back in his home. Jackie: "In the other room, the game room, we have a crap table from Vegas." Morley (via VO): "Jackie and Marilyn are rebuilding their home in Florida that was almost destroyed by a fire in '83." II should mention that Marilyn Gleason moved out of that house in 2002 and recently that house was put on the market. Back to the bar interview, Jackie says that if he was broke tomorrow, it would hurt for a while, but he would going back to the way he used to live. A clip of Jackie playing pool is shown. While playing pool, Morley asks him where did the nickname "The Great One" come from. Jackie: "Orson Welles called me that first and than Lucille Ball called me that. I'm really not that offended by it." Morley: "Did you ever believe it?" Jackie: "You saw me play pool, did you?" That's the end.
I was somewhat disappointed by this. I remember seeing other clips from this same interview that were not in the feature but featured in the 35th & 50th Anniversary specials. But, those same clips are in the flowing review so it's all good. Also, if you watched that horribly inaccurate Jackie Gleason bio film entitled "Gleason", the ending of that film plays homage to Morley and Gleason playing pool where the female interviewer takes Morley's place (even though Morley was and still is alive and active) and Gleason was played by Brad Garrett. I guess Morley was too busy to be in this film.
60 Minutes' Jackie Gleason Profile (10/28/84) Outtakes
DVD: On the Blu-ray release, it is attached to #16-#24 of the Classic 39 (including two versions of "$99,000 Answer", "A Dog's Life", "Here Comes The Bride" & "Please Leave The Premises" in which one of the episodes has the original ads) & 60 Minutes' Profile.
In the first clip, Jackie says that the first nightclub date he ever had was at the Club Miami in Newark. He recounts how he got the job. The owners wanted to know if he could fight well. Jackie: "If we ever had a glass crash out at the bar, the band would go into "Happy Days Are Here Again", we would go to some location in the joint where we had the leg of a chair, and go out to the bar to see that the disturbance was quieted right away. Jackie mentions Tony Galento, a future boxer. Jackie: "We were doing the 3:00am show and I had a couple of quarts, and I was telling some jokes, and he was yelling all types of things." Jackie didn't know who Tony was so he says to the crowd: "I will be back in a moment. You (Tony) come on." They got outside, Jackie took his coat off. Jackie: "Next thing I know, I was downstairs by the furnace and the owner and the guys were giving me this thing." Jackie gets told who Tony was and when he asked the owner as to why the owner didn't tell him who he was, the owner said. "You're a wise guy. You can lick everybody." Jackie: "That was a bad time. I was careful after that."
Jackie mentions his work at the 18 Club. Jackie: "The 18 Club was THE club in New York. You weren't allowed to do an act. It was all adlib and every star in Hollywood was there every night. I was also working the Queens Club that night. I went to do the second show. Later on Fred Warner wanted to sign Gleason for pictures and he signed him. Jackie played those pictures and he said he couldn't do any jokes. He went back to New York and went to work at Slapsy Maxie's
Next thing we hear about is that shot on Calvacade. Jackie says that also the first time he appeared as the paid master of ceremonies in the Halsey Theater some seltzer had gotten on the stage. He decided to walk and fall down and that's why they hired him steadily. Same thing happened on Dumont. He was doing a sketch where he was walking into a check room and the door got stuck. The sketch was terrible, but once the door got stuck he had to climb out and call for a hammer and all of that stuff. It turned out to be a big thing. He said it was all luck.
Jackie mentioned the characters. Jackie: "Once you get the crowd to like the characters in something you're doing, you are two-thirds of the way home and people could identify with The Honeymooners. Gleason mentions that he never had to worry about the cast. Morley than asks if he ever had scripts for the shows and Jack says yes. Jack mentions the time that him, Art and Pert did a script that was COMPLETLY IMPROVISED. It must have been a show that was either not taped or is still lost (like the episode entitled: "Meat Substitute.") He mentions that him and the other two had 90 minutes to write a sketch so they went over to Jackie's apartment. Pert got on the typewriter and they couldn't think of anything so they had a few drinks and they couldn't think of anything. Then a few more drinks and still nothing. So Jackie decided to improvise the whole thing. How did they do all this in 90 mins.? According to Gleason, he heard that that was the best Honeymooners sketch that they had made up until that point. Morley mentions that the show was famous for being chaotic. Jackie says that he doesn't know if it was because the results weren't chaotic. Morley: "I heard that up until airtime, everything was a mad house." Jackie mentioned that he hated rehearsing. Jack: "If you rehearsed, you got stale. I had to run through it once for the cast and when they knew that there weren't going to be any tough rehearsals, they knew their lines. There was no fooling around. The result was the proper one." Morley mentions that Jackie was the greatest in every way, but she was reduced to tears preparing for that show every time and Jack admits this. Jackie: "But then, she could have fought Primo Carnera and done the show." As far as the work goes, Jack says that he wasn't scared. Jack: "It was work up until the lights went on and the show began. Then it was fun. And after the show, if we were fortunate to come out even, it was even happier."
Morley mentions that all the characters that Gleason played were victims. Jack corrects him by saying: "Except Reggie. He made a victim of everyone." Jack mentions how mean his character was (omitting the times he was on the lost episodes entitled "XMas Party" when he was nice to the Nortons and Alice.) Jack says that Reggie liked to drink as well as some of the other things that Reggie did. One of the things that he mentioned that Reggie supposedly did was making U-Turns in the Holland Tunnel. Jackie: "Strangely the audience can recognize and go along with a guy like that. One thing that he felt bad about was hangovers." Morley: "Did you ever know a Reggie Van Gleason?" Ralph: "I almost did and I had a fight with him. We were at the Copa and he insulted someone that I was with and I said: "Come on." The guy said: "Let's go up to the park." They did. They had the fight and he said: "Not so fast. That was Reggie."
Morley than says other than Reggie, all the characters you made were kind of victims. Jackie: "The Poor Soul was a victim." He mentioned that at the end of every sketches, something bad would happen to him (omitting the times the character was in the episode "XMas Party" where he leaves with a gift from Alice.) Jackie mentions that Fenwick Babbit was like the Poor Soul. Jack: "He took it for a while and then, he was the worm that turned. He would get even with everyone." Morley: "He (the Poor Soul) was very much a Chaplinesque kind of character-" Jackie disagreed saying that Chaplin was mean. Morley asks how Chaplin would have done on TV. Jackie mentions that he was talking with a couple other comics and they didn't think that he could come up with the material every week. Jackie mentioned that Chaplin would only make a picture every two years and if there was a scene he didn't like, he would work. Jackie says with TV, it's different. No matter what, you have to go on, according to Jackie. Jackie: "I don't think that Chaplin would have enjoyed working under those conditions."
Morley says that the Ralph Kramden character was the forerunner for Archie Bunker in that they are the same guy. Jack mentions the time that Charlie O'Conner sent him a letter saying: "I know I'm doing a lot of the things that you did." Jack sent him a letter back saying: "I wish I'd done all the things you're doing." Morley mentions that the Honeymooners was one of the first attempts to make working class people funny on TV. Jackie says that people could identify with those characters. He also mentions that the apartment was basically the same kind of apartment that Jackie lived in when he was a kid.
Jackie mentions that the network (CBS) didn't try to influence the show. Jackie: "I didn't want any smut on the show." Wow! Jackie: "It had to be straight. They let me do what I wanted because of what I told them at DuMont and if I flop, I flop." Jackie mentions that when the people heard this or read it in the paper, they said: "Oh, he must be great." Jackie: "You have to do a show that enhances the star. The other performers want you to be enhanced. They are willing to go along." Morley: "So, its something even beyond ego?" Jackie: "Ego has nothing to do with it. It's just down-to-earth, good business."
Morley: "No smut, no suggestiveness. Every show on TV lives on that formula now." Morley and Jackie could not see the days of TV 30 years later. Jackie mentions that smut and suggestiveness is easy to write. The Honeymooners was tough to write. The sketches were tough to write because I wouldn't do anything that wasn't-- That couldn't happen for real even in the Reggie sketches, a guy like him would do." Um, I think if the Kramdens ever existed in real-life, they would be divorced. Morley asks if Jackie is prudish. Jackie: "As far as my appeal to an audience, I think so but not in private life. A great deal of sexual innuendo is connected to my private life."
Morley mentions the time he made a movie with Richard Pryor. Morley: "You met with guys like Eddie Murphy. Did they make you laugh?" Jackie: "Only Richard. Flip Wilson is a great sketch comedian." Morley: "But the young guys rely on sexual situations or jokes or whatever do they make you laugh?" Jack: "No."
Morley mentions the time in where Jack played the sheriff in Smokey and the Bandit is really a total departure from Jackie Gleason and Jack agrees. Jackie: "That is what I meant it to be. First, I got a pencil mustache for a sheriff. A southern sheriff with a pencil mustache? And I made it just as hot as I could possibly make it." Morley mentions that they tried to find a clip of Smokey and The Bandit that they could use where there is no profanity and Jack agrees. Uh, couldn't they just censor the profane words? Jackie mentions that the director said that Jackie could say anything that he wanted as long as it made sense in the movie. Jackie: "At first, there wasn't any script for me. He mentioned that the lunchroom scenes and the ending scene were the two only scenes that he had with Burt Reynolds. Morley: "For a movie without a script, it was a big success." Jack: "First time, I saw a crowd stand up and applaud when the movie was over, I didn't understand it. It was a carefree movie.
Morley mentions that Jack chose to do a lot of work that the great TV comedians don't do like a serious actor etc. Morley: "How come?" Jackie: "I realized that when I put the show together that no guy is rich enough to come out and do the show every week and entertain the crowd. I needed characters to do that. I needed variety. Same thing with my career. I liked dramatic work. I liked writing plays and TV shows. I was fortunate enough to be successful at it."
Morley asks: "How much acting was involved in The Hustler for you?" Jack: "A lot because I was between two heavyweights. I was between Newman and Scott. They are awful good and if you don't wanna look like a wimp, you better wind up and throw a couple. So you had to act in self-defense." Morley: "Did that acting come easier than most?" Jack: "Only the pool shooting. The rest was an acting job. I made all my shots in the film."
Morley: "Do you find Bob Hope funny?" Jack: "Yes. I don't think he's too good a scene comic. He's the All-American comedian." Wasn't Bob Hope an Englishman? Jackie: "He is what people think--as a clean-cut, nice guy, getting up there, telling them jokes and making them laugh. He is the epitome of that.
Next, Jackie and Morley are talking about the You're In The Picture fiasco in which the following week, Jackie apologized to the fans for the BOMB of that show. Jackie: "That was the first show I did with the cup. I knew I had to do something funny. I had the girl come out and pour some J&B into the cup. I took a sip and went "Oooh."I told them how terrible the show was. Once again, I wonder if the five fans of that show were upset at that moment since they weren't getting that show on that day. Back iin those days, they were no onscreen TV Guides that mentioned last minute changes. Jackie mentioned that they retooled the show as an interview show."
Next, Jackie mentions that you couldn't exist at Toots Shor's unless you had a few bombs during the day. Jackie: "I never drank on show day." Morley: "What was Toots Shor's then, really? Jack: "Toots was the candy store that you hung out as a kid but this one was for adults. Most everyone was a friend of the other. They would defend you to death. It was a great place. II couldn't wait there for lunch. There would be DiMaggio, Mantle, Considine, uh, Caniff, and Cannon. They are witty guys. I would get there at 11 before the place opened and leave at 4, 4:30p. I would go home, take a shower and get dressed and come back for dinner. The same guys were there. It was one of the fun times in my life." Morley: "But the fun, a lot of the fun was to get the others, wasn't it?" Jackie: "Oh, you needed everyone. My life was devoted to going to Toots every day and getting him into some kind of trouble that everyone could laugh at. After doing something that got him in trouble that everyone could laugh at, he was asked to leave." Makes me wonder why Toots didn't ban him. He never held a grudge. That was it.
I was somewhat disappointed that there weren't any real funny outtakes here but this feature did have clips of the interview that didn't make the real 60 minutes interview.
DVD: On the Blu-ray release, it is attached to #16-#24 of the Classic 39 (including two versions of "$99,000 Answer", "A Dog's Life", "Here Comes The Bride" & "Please Leave The Premises" in which one of the episodes has the original ads) & 60 Minutes' Profile Outtakes.
This begins with Morley Safer introducing us to Jackie Gleason. He said that he was the most watched man on TV. He then says he will show us who Jackie is. I should point out that all the Honeymooners clips here were not digitally remastered since this feature is included the was it was when it was first shown.
We see Jackie in his home playing pool with the Honeymooners theme in the background. Then misc clips of Jackie is shown with Morley Safer saying that he rolled over networks and film studios to get what he wanted. Other clips are shown like Jackie leading his orchestra as well as him playing golf. Morley (via VO) claims that Jackie never rehearsed or practiced and he winged it all his life which is not completely true since he did rehearse for things like the Honeymooners XMas Party episodes because they required quick extensive costume changes as well as some other episodes. He needed to rehearse for the XMas Party episodes for those for the sake of the actors and actresses. Morley than says that 50 (now 80) years ago, Jackie wasn't even remotely famous.
They are now sitting at Jackie's bar. During this whole interview, Jackie is smoking. Jackie says that he went to Tiny Chateau, and he had this stale act of bad impersonations and bad jokes. He said that he was the first show and the crowd was all miners in boots. He was almost booed off and "Tiny" who Jackie claims was seven feet tall said: "Come here." He directed Jackie to a pay phone. Tiny called New York and he got Solly Shore on the phone and said: "How can you send me a BUM like this?" Tiny did this in front of the crowd. After that, Tiny and Jackie had 15 drinks. Now, it was time for the second show. He came out and he killed the crowd and did somersaults, told jokes that he never heard etc. The next night for the next show, he tried to remember what he had done. So he went to the bar and had 15 drinks and it would come to him.
Jackie than recounts that he went to Hollywood and earned $250 a week playing Gangster pictures. That pales in comparison to the money that the stars make today. He then recounts how he started on Calvacade of Stars and said that he didn't think he had a future in TV. Clips of the Poor Soul, Reggie Van Gleason III and Honeymooners are shown. Morley says that the Honeymooners was played for laughs and the comedy was rooted, if not in tragedy then in poverty. Jackie says that the Kramden apartment was fashioned like his old childhood home and that his mother had to work hard because Jackie's dad had left him when he was 8. She couldn't take care of the house well but she was a good mother. Jackie says that in the neighborhood that he lived in, almost everyone was a Kramden. He says that Ralph had schemes that fail and after that he would apologize. Morley asks why is the show as popular now as it was the first time around considerating that there were only (at the time) 39 episodes. Jackie: "I could give you, uh, 20 academic answers for that." Jackie says that it is funny. The golf clip from "The Golfer" is shown. Jackie says that Ed Norton is responsible for 90 percent of the show's success.
Morley says that Jackie wanted to do his show in Miami. Jackie says that he had a two-year contract. After the first year, he said that he didn't want to do it, and they didn't believe him. They thought he had a job somewhere else. So, Jackie talked them into getting him a big train and having it go down to Florida since he played golf down there and liked it so he thought he might as well do the show in Florida. He talked them into doing the show in Florida. The train was called "The Great Gleason Express." Various rare clips from that train ride are shown. He said that there were nice girls on the train but nothing happened. I don't think I have to say what he meant by that. Morley: "Was there a bar on that train?" Jackie: "The train was a bar." He mentioned that his show was in the Top 3 as far as ratings go. Clips of Jackie being welcomed to Miami are shown. Morley mentioned that Jackie had a 15 million dollar contract which pales in comparison to the money the stars make today. Jackie responds by saying that the first contract that he had with the CBS Head at the time, Mr. Paley, it was for $11 million. After that, he had a hangover and he was at the table with all the agents and they had lunch in Paley's room and he fell asleep. Paley said that iif that is his attitude, give it to him. The hangover worked according to Jackie. Jackie says that people should have two fortunes. One to live it up and one for security. He says that in TV, they used to do this. They would get you to paint yourself into a corner of luxury. Then, they would start to dictate. Because they knew that you feared losing that money. You would give up your independence and go along with them. It threatened your security and kudos to your ego. He learned all of this when he was a kid. Jackie: "And I knew when they were telling me, how great I was that they had something coming up next that they wanted, or wanted me to do."
Then they talk about "You're In The Picture." Jackie jokingly calls this show a beauty. A clip from that trainwreck of a show is shown. When Morley asks what possessed him to do it, Jackie says that there were perhaps 30 executives in CBS who thought it was the funniest thing that they seen in their life and Jackie agreed. Oh boy. Jackie: "We did it and crash." Jackie says that he wanted to apologize for that show. The network said no. Apparently, Jack didn't take no for an answer and a clip of him apologizing is shown. I wonder if the five fans of that show were upset at that moment since they weren't getting that show on that day. Back iin those days, they were no onscreen TV Guides that mentioned last minute changes. In this clip, Jack says that "You're In The Picture" laid without a doubt the biggest BOMB in the history of TV. Jackie mentioned that the critics hailed the apology. When asked how some show like that gets approved, Jackie responds by saying that CBS has talent in which when they say "yes" it sounds like "no" and "no" that sounds like "yes."
Morley says that he was the most successful man ever on TV and maybe even now you're past that but he then says that he still may be the most successful man on TV but he got no TV awards. Jackie: "II won the Tony on Broadway. I was nominated for an Oscar and nominated for an Emmy once. Jackie says that the business that he endeavors himself too shouldn't be some award. Jackie: "Everyone got an Emmy but me."
A rare clip presumably from the 80s is shown of Jackie and Marilyn on the golf cart. Morley (via VO): "Ralph never got out of Brooklyn but Jackie Gleason took his revenge by living very well by truly being the king of his castle." We then see Jackie back in his home. Jackie: "In the other room, the game room, we have a crap table from Vegas." Morley (via VO): "Jackie and Marilyn are rebuilding their home in Florida that was almost destroyed by a fire in '83." II should mention that Marilyn Gleason moved out of that house in 2002 and recently that house was put on the market. Back to the bar interview, Jackie says that if he was broke tomorrow, it would hurt for a while, but he would going back to the way he used to live. A clip of Jackie playing pool is shown. While playing pool, Morley asks him where did the nickname "The Great One" come from. Jackie: "Orson Welles called me that first and than Lucille Ball called me that. I'm really not that offended by it." Morley: "Did you ever believe it?" Jackie: "You saw me play pool, did you?" That's the end.
I was somewhat disappointed by this. I remember seeing other clips from this same interview that were not in the feature but featured in the 35th & 50th Anniversary specials. But, those same clips are in the flowing review so it's all good. Also, if you watched that horribly inaccurate Jackie Gleason bio film entitled "Gleason", the ending of that film plays homage to Morley and Gleason playing pool where the female interviewer takes Morley's place (even though Morley was and still is alive and active) and Gleason was played by Brad Garrett. I guess Morley was too busy to be in this film.
60 Minutes' Jackie Gleason Profile (10/28/84) Outtakes
DVD: On the Blu-ray release, it is attached to #16-#24 of the Classic 39 (including two versions of "$99,000 Answer", "A Dog's Life", "Here Comes The Bride" & "Please Leave The Premises" in which one of the episodes has the original ads) & 60 Minutes' Profile.
In the first clip, Jackie says that the first nightclub date he ever had was at the Club Miami in Newark. He recounts how he got the job. The owners wanted to know if he could fight well. Jackie: "If we ever had a glass crash out at the bar, the band would go into "Happy Days Are Here Again", we would go to some location in the joint where we had the leg of a chair, and go out to the bar to see that the disturbance was quieted right away. Jackie mentions Tony Galento, a future boxer. Jackie: "We were doing the 3:00am show and I had a couple of quarts, and I was telling some jokes, and he was yelling all types of things." Jackie didn't know who Tony was so he says to the crowd: "I will be back in a moment. You (Tony) come on." They got outside, Jackie took his coat off. Jackie: "Next thing I know, I was downstairs by the furnace and the owner and the guys were giving me this thing." Jackie gets told who Tony was and when he asked the owner as to why the owner didn't tell him who he was, the owner said. "You're a wise guy. You can lick everybody." Jackie: "That was a bad time. I was careful after that."
Jackie mentions his work at the 18 Club. Jackie: "The 18 Club was THE club in New York. You weren't allowed to do an act. It was all adlib and every star in Hollywood was there every night. I was also working the Queens Club that night. I went to do the second show. Later on Fred Warner wanted to sign Gleason for pictures and he signed him. Jackie played those pictures and he said he couldn't do any jokes. He went back to New York and went to work at Slapsy Maxie's
Next thing we hear about is that shot on Calvacade. Jackie says that also the first time he appeared as the paid master of ceremonies in the Halsey Theater some seltzer had gotten on the stage. He decided to walk and fall down and that's why they hired him steadily. Same thing happened on Dumont. He was doing a sketch where he was walking into a check room and the door got stuck. The sketch was terrible, but once the door got stuck he had to climb out and call for a hammer and all of that stuff. It turned out to be a big thing. He said it was all luck.
Jackie mentioned the characters. Jackie: "Once you get the crowd to like the characters in something you're doing, you are two-thirds of the way home and people could identify with The Honeymooners. Gleason mentions that he never had to worry about the cast. Morley than asks if he ever had scripts for the shows and Jack says yes. Jack mentions the time that him, Art and Pert did a script that was COMPLETLY IMPROVISED. It must have been a show that was either not taped or is still lost (like the episode entitled: "Meat Substitute.") He mentions that him and the other two had 90 minutes to write a sketch so they went over to Jackie's apartment. Pert got on the typewriter and they couldn't think of anything so they had a few drinks and they couldn't think of anything. Then a few more drinks and still nothing. So Jackie decided to improvise the whole thing. How did they do all this in 90 mins.? According to Gleason, he heard that that was the best Honeymooners sketch that they had made up until that point. Morley mentions that the show was famous for being chaotic. Jackie says that he doesn't know if it was because the results weren't chaotic. Morley: "I heard that up until airtime, everything was a mad house." Jackie mentioned that he hated rehearsing. Jack: "If you rehearsed, you got stale. I had to run through it once for the cast and when they knew that there weren't going to be any tough rehearsals, they knew their lines. There was no fooling around. The result was the proper one." Morley mentions that Jackie was the greatest in every way, but she was reduced to tears preparing for that show every time and Jack admits this. Jackie: "But then, she could have fought Primo Carnera and done the show." As far as the work goes, Jack says that he wasn't scared. Jack: "It was work up until the lights went on and the show began. Then it was fun. And after the show, if we were fortunate to come out even, it was even happier."
Morley mentions that all the characters that Gleason played were victims. Jack corrects him by saying: "Except Reggie. He made a victim of everyone." Jack mentions how mean his character was (omitting the times he was on the lost episodes entitled "XMas Party" when he was nice to the Nortons and Alice.) Jack says that Reggie liked to drink as well as some of the other things that Reggie did. One of the things that he mentioned that Reggie supposedly did was making U-Turns in the Holland Tunnel. Jackie: "Strangely the audience can recognize and go along with a guy like that. One thing that he felt bad about was hangovers." Morley: "Did you ever know a Reggie Van Gleason?" Ralph: "I almost did and I had a fight with him. We were at the Copa and he insulted someone that I was with and I said: "Come on." The guy said: "Let's go up to the park." They did. They had the fight and he said: "Not so fast. That was Reggie."
Morley than says other than Reggie, all the characters you made were kind of victims. Jackie: "The Poor Soul was a victim." He mentioned that at the end of every sketches, something bad would happen to him (omitting the times the character was in the episode "XMas Party" where he leaves with a gift from Alice.) Jackie mentions that Fenwick Babbit was like the Poor Soul. Jack: "He took it for a while and then, he was the worm that turned. He would get even with everyone." Morley: "He (the Poor Soul) was very much a Chaplinesque kind of character-" Jackie disagreed saying that Chaplin was mean. Morley asks how Chaplin would have done on TV. Jackie mentions that he was talking with a couple other comics and they didn't think that he could come up with the material every week. Jackie mentioned that Chaplin would only make a picture every two years and if there was a scene he didn't like, he would work. Jackie says with TV, it's different. No matter what, you have to go on, according to Jackie. Jackie: "I don't think that Chaplin would have enjoyed working under those conditions."
Morley says that the Ralph Kramden character was the forerunner for Archie Bunker in that they are the same guy. Jack mentions the time that Charlie O'Conner sent him a letter saying: "I know I'm doing a lot of the things that you did." Jack sent him a letter back saying: "I wish I'd done all the things you're doing." Morley mentions that the Honeymooners was one of the first attempts to make working class people funny on TV. Jackie says that people could identify with those characters. He also mentions that the apartment was basically the same kind of apartment that Jackie lived in when he was a kid.
Jackie mentions that the network (CBS) didn't try to influence the show. Jackie: "I didn't want any smut on the show." Wow! Jackie: "It had to be straight. They let me do what I wanted because of what I told them at DuMont and if I flop, I flop." Jackie mentions that when the people heard this or read it in the paper, they said: "Oh, he must be great." Jackie: "You have to do a show that enhances the star. The other performers want you to be enhanced. They are willing to go along." Morley: "So, its something even beyond ego?" Jackie: "Ego has nothing to do with it. It's just down-to-earth, good business."
Morley: "No smut, no suggestiveness. Every show on TV lives on that formula now." Morley and Jackie could not see the days of TV 30 years later. Jackie mentions that smut and suggestiveness is easy to write. The Honeymooners was tough to write. The sketches were tough to write because I wouldn't do anything that wasn't-- That couldn't happen for real even in the Reggie sketches, a guy like him would do." Um, I think if the Kramdens ever existed in real-life, they would be divorced. Morley asks if Jackie is prudish. Jackie: "As far as my appeal to an audience, I think so but not in private life. A great deal of sexual innuendo is connected to my private life."
Morley mentions the time he made a movie with Richard Pryor. Morley: "You met with guys like Eddie Murphy. Did they make you laugh?" Jackie: "Only Richard. Flip Wilson is a great sketch comedian." Morley: "But the young guys rely on sexual situations or jokes or whatever do they make you laugh?" Jack: "No."
Morley mentions the time in where Jack played the sheriff in Smokey and the Bandit is really a total departure from Jackie Gleason and Jack agrees. Jackie: "That is what I meant it to be. First, I got a pencil mustache for a sheriff. A southern sheriff with a pencil mustache? And I made it just as hot as I could possibly make it." Morley mentions that they tried to find a clip of Smokey and The Bandit that they could use where there is no profanity and Jack agrees. Uh, couldn't they just censor the profane words? Jackie mentions that the director said that Jackie could say anything that he wanted as long as it made sense in the movie. Jackie: "At first, there wasn't any script for me. He mentioned that the lunchroom scenes and the ending scene were the two only scenes that he had with Burt Reynolds. Morley: "For a movie without a script, it was a big success." Jack: "First time, I saw a crowd stand up and applaud when the movie was over, I didn't understand it. It was a carefree movie.
Morley mentions that Jack chose to do a lot of work that the great TV comedians don't do like a serious actor etc. Morley: "How come?" Jackie: "I realized that when I put the show together that no guy is rich enough to come out and do the show every week and entertain the crowd. I needed characters to do that. I needed variety. Same thing with my career. I liked dramatic work. I liked writing plays and TV shows. I was fortunate enough to be successful at it."
Morley asks: "How much acting was involved in The Hustler for you?" Jack: "A lot because I was between two heavyweights. I was between Newman and Scott. They are awful good and if you don't wanna look like a wimp, you better wind up and throw a couple. So you had to act in self-defense." Morley: "Did that acting come easier than most?" Jack: "Only the pool shooting. The rest was an acting job. I made all my shots in the film."
Morley: "Do you find Bob Hope funny?" Jack: "Yes. I don't think he's too good a scene comic. He's the All-American comedian." Wasn't Bob Hope an Englishman? Jackie: "He is what people think--as a clean-cut, nice guy, getting up there, telling them jokes and making them laugh. He is the epitome of that.
Next, Jackie and Morley are talking about the You're In The Picture fiasco in which the following week, Jackie apologized to the fans for the BOMB of that show. Jackie: "That was the first show I did with the cup. I knew I had to do something funny. I had the girl come out and pour some J&B into the cup. I took a sip and went "Oooh."I told them how terrible the show was. Once again, I wonder if the five fans of that show were upset at that moment since they weren't getting that show on that day. Back iin those days, they were no onscreen TV Guides that mentioned last minute changes. Jackie mentioned that they retooled the show as an interview show."
Next, Jackie mentions that you couldn't exist at Toots Shor's unless you had a few bombs during the day. Jackie: "I never drank on show day." Morley: "What was Toots Shor's then, really? Jack: "Toots was the candy store that you hung out as a kid but this one was for adults. Most everyone was a friend of the other. They would defend you to death. It was a great place. II couldn't wait there for lunch. There would be DiMaggio, Mantle, Considine, uh, Caniff, and Cannon. They are witty guys. I would get there at 11 before the place opened and leave at 4, 4:30p. I would go home, take a shower and get dressed and come back for dinner. The same guys were there. It was one of the fun times in my life." Morley: "But the fun, a lot of the fun was to get the others, wasn't it?" Jackie: "Oh, you needed everyone. My life was devoted to going to Toots every day and getting him into some kind of trouble that everyone could laugh at. After doing something that got him in trouble that everyone could laugh at, he was asked to leave." Makes me wonder why Toots didn't ban him. He never held a grudge. That was it.
I was somewhat disappointed that there weren't any real funny outtakes here but this feature did have clips of the interview that didn't make the real 60 minutes interview.