WHERE EXACTLY is Jackie Gleason’s vault in Florida?

[Frank Gannucci]

Got a question.

Me and someone else, have been searching for Incredible World of Ed Norton. After searching for our ship to come in (THE QUEEN MARY hehehe), the other person is under the assumption that the show is still in Jackie Gleasons Miami vault in his last home.

Now, what do you think the odds are of a celebrity’s vault still being inside another person’s home (another person who probably isn’t familiar with Gleason)? I would say...not great. But, can you imagine if the homeowner is a Gleason fan and was allowed to view footage inside the vault (including Incredible World)? The fan would say: “How sweet it is.”

[Frank Gannucci]

Here’s a pic from Time Life’s Jackie Gleason Show In Color DVD booklet

[RetroTVNitekatt]

Originally Posted by Frank Gannucci

Got a question.

Me and someone else, have been searching for Incredible World of Ed Norton. After searching for our ship to come in (THE QUEEN MARY hehehe), the other person is under the assumption that the show is still in Jackie Gleasons Miami vault in his last home.

Now, what do you think the odds are of a celebrity’s vault still being inside another person’s home (another person who probably isn’t familiar with Gleason)? I would say...not great. But, can you imagine if the homeowner is a Gleason fan and was allowed to view footage inside the vault (including Incredible World)? The fan would say: “How sweet it is.”

That's very unlikely anything is left in his former home. After his passing, the Estate most likely made safe arrangements for ALL his material to be placed in a professional bonded vault for safekeeping and future use.

The question is - WHERE is the Bonded Vault and WHAT is there and in what format (Did Jackie get copies of both 2" VT and kines of his 1960's Shows?) What is still missing of Jackie's 1950's and 1960's material, and what 2" VT tape material from the 1960's was not recoverable due to the age of the tapes? (The rumors of some of the non-Honeymooners material having been lost,damaged or beyond recovery that have been circulating for some time.) You have to expect by now, the Estate has a complete log of what is there - especially after the Time-Life deal.

I'd like to know what happened to the 1970's master tapes of the half-hour "Jackie Gleason Show" package from the B&W "American Scene" episodes! Does 20th Television still have them? Did the estate get the masters back after the contract ended?

As for "The Incredible World of Ed Norton"- I honestly think it doesn't exist and that Jackie had all copies destroyed to protect Art's reputation. (or at minimum, left instructions for the show NEVER to be shown again.) Let's face it, even if it is the train wreck it is reported to be, don't you think MPI or Time-Life would have released it by now? The last piece of the Color Honeymooners puzzle.

[cloggedmind]

Originally Posted by RetroTVNitekatt

As for "The Incredible World of Ed Norton"- I honestly think it doesn't exist and that Jackie had all copies destroyed to protect Art's reputation. (or at minimum, left instructions for the show NEVER to be shown again.) Let's face it, even if it is the train wreck it is reported to be, don't you think MPI or Time-Life would have released it by now? The last piece of the Color Honeymooners puzzle.

During Frank's call to Geraldine it was revealed that the material does exist in a Florida vault. No other confirmation was made as to playability or whether or not the tape has a "Do Not Use" legality about it. As well, trade paper clippings and the, unfortunately now lost, audio recordings made by a well-known and knowledgeable archivist suggest the episode did air once.

An article about the Gleason property in Florida and fire that ran through in the 80's, mentions recovering Lost Episode material from a closet(though I tend to doubt that the date is correct, as that fire would have been around 1982-83, I think):

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl...937-story.html

Similar reports of rescuing media from fire damage appear in other publications not available online.

A news report of the lowball sale of Gleason's Lauderhill home, mentions an odd stipulation:
"One of the conditions she had was that he [the buyer] would maintain it the way it was."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N-BBRcACtc

Must be a reason such a property was let go so cheap? All speculation of a vault or storage area left for maintenance is just that-- speculation based on what is already known. Things may have changed since that time, but I'm quite convinced that Gleason, himself, would never let the material out of his sight. All signs point to his own insecurities, trust issues, and determination to maintain and control his intellectual property.

And, honestly, from the photo Frank posted above, it is of my opinion (or opi-onion, as an old teacher of mine used to write) that the tapes look grungy and not well kept. Some of the cases look stained and damaged. They don't look like they spent any time in a secure, fully-bonded, climate-controlled storage facility. They look like they were left in a refrigerator that got unplugged!

I can imagine that many will not play properly without some serious attention.

[Frank Gannucci]

Sadly, it seems that only Jackie’s daughter and the family knows and maybe Time Life...and they are not willing to spill the beans as to where the vault is.