The Great one !

[hermitcrab]

was looking around my local goodwill and saw this album and I knew from an earlier bio I watched , that this album was Gleason's first attempt in the music industry and was considered to be a great success , the cover is very flimsy like it was in a flood at some point but the record itself plays flawless ... no pops no nothing , like the day it was pressed , and it is great background music...My parents must be rolling over in their graves knowing I am listening to the same stuff they did ...

[walyfd]

Jackie wasn't really a musician but he made great concepts. "OOOH...", "VELVET BRASS", "Martinis and Memories" and "All I Want for Christmas", a 2-lp dinner stack i play after Nat Cole...

[William]

I have several Gleason records and you are right, great background music. I remember watching him when I visited the Grandparents, along with L.W. Sing along with Mitch, and a few others. Actually, Jackie Gleason was a musician he could play the organ.

Bill

[electra225]

Grandma thought Jackie Gleason and Groucho Marks were the devil himself. I liked both of them, so I went over to Uncle Fort's to watch their programs. I always thought the Jackie Gleason Orchestra was right up there with the other house bands of the time. I didn't know he played the organ...

[danrclem]

I've been watching the Honeymooners and I'll have to say that he's a riot. A lot of it is the same thing, over and over again but it's still funny. I also thought he was great on the original Smokey And The Bandit.

[electra225]

Jackie Gleason MADE the movie Smokey and the Bandit. Arguably his best work. Thin plot, mostly talking dirty and wrecking cars. but Gleason took a silly theme and made it into a blockbuster movie. I watch that movie maybe once a year on a VCR tape. I find something every time I had missed before. Jackie could use strong language that didn't sound offensive......

[TC Chris]

How about his performance in The Hustler?

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

"The Hustler" was a real movie with a real plot. "Smokey and the Bandit" was a nonsense movie, very thin plot, marginal special effects, marginal talent otherwise. Jerry Reed was a guitar picker. Burt Reynolds was past his prime, Sally Field was there just because. The best scene with Jerry Reed was when he got beat up by the biker gang. One his way out, he ran over all their motorcycles with his truck. (Another example of the so-so special effects. Had he done that for real, it would have done as much damage to the truck as to the bikes ) Somebody remarked that Jerry Reed wasn't much of a fighter. Someone else looked out the window at the carnage and said "yeah, and he ain't much of a truck driver, either."

[danrclem]

Jackie could use some language that my mom, and even my wife wouldn't approve of, but he makes it funny.

I saw the movie not too long after it came out at an indoor theatre. After the movie was over and people were leaving the parking lot, a lot of them were racing their engines and squealing their tires. I might have to watch it again soon.

https://youtu.be/GN_Ir2gedvQ?si=hNBcrCIgvOwyMGaT

[electra225]

There is a video on YouTube that highlights some of the Jackie Gleason scenes in Smokey and the Bandit. Comical, to be sure, but probably not appropriate to post on the forum

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

We enjoyed his show when it moved to "Beautiful Miami Beach",
with the June Taylor dancers....

He packed up the show on a train and headed South in 1964.

HOW SWEET IT IS ! (what was in that coffee cup Jackie ? )

And AWAY we go !

[William]

That is when I can remember his show, when he was in Miami. Joe the bartender and Reginald Van Gleason III. His first how, The Jackie Gleason Show (Cavalcade of Stars) was aired on the DuMont network. I do not remember that show.

Bill