Gleason mentioned in Abbott & Costello booklet

[Bill S.]

I was recently looking through the commemorative booklet that comes with the Abbott & Costello Show Collector's Edition set, which was released last year, and found an interesting paragraph about Jackie Gleason that I thought I'd share. In the biography of Sidney Fields (Abbott & Costello's landlord on the show), it reads as follows:

In the summer of 1960, Sid moved to New York to join the cast of Jackie Gleason's new variety hour, THE AMERICAN SCENE MAGAZINE. Fields and Gleason often reprised sketches that Sid had done with Costello. (Sid recalled that Gleason couldn't be disturbed each day at 5:00 because he was in his office watching reruns of THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW on TV.) When Gleason moved his show to Miami, Sid was dropped from the cast. Fields returned to Vegas and kept busy in burlesque revues. In his final years he wrote a show business nostalgia column for a local weekly.

One thing I wanted to point out is that Gleason's American Scene Magazine debuted in September of 1962. So, while Mr. Fields (pictured below with Lou Costello) may have moved to New York in 1960, it doesn't seem likely that he would've done so in order to be on a show that wouldn't debut for another two years.

[The Great One]

That's a great find! It looks like someone didn't take the the time and do their homework before printing the booklet.

[Marvo301]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

I was recently looking through the commemorative booklet that comes with the Abbott & Costello Show Collector's Edition set, which was released last year, and found an interesting paragraph about Jackie Gleason that I thought I'd share. In the biography of Sidney Fields (Abbott & Costello's landlord on the show), it reads as follows:

One thing I wanted to point out is that Gleason's American Scene Magazine debuted in September of 1962. So, while Mr. Fields (pictured below with Lou Costello) may have moved to New York in 1960, it doesn't seem likely that he would've done so in order to be on a show that wouldn't debut for another two years.

And according to his IMDB page Mr. Fields didn't join the cast of "American Scene Magazine" until 1963!

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

And according to his IMDB page Mr. Fields didn't join the cast of "American Scene Magazine" until 1963!

They might not have credited him for all of his appearances. From my understanding, he appeared fairly regularly and was a staff writer for the show as well, so I doubt he only appeared in 14 episodes. Another interesting thing worth pointing out is that he's credited with having appeared in the Honeymooners "Adoption" remake in 1966, even though it says in the Abbott & Costello booklet that he was dropped from the cast when Gleason moved the show to Miami.