"And Away We Go" Jackie Gleason Show Program Promo ~ 1955 CBS

more at http://quickfound.net/

Originally a public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jackie_Gleason_Show

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Jackie Gleason Show is the name of a series of American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970, in various forms...

Cavalcade of Stars

Gleason's first variety series, which aired on the DuMont Television Network under the title Cavalcade of Stars, first aired June 4, 1949. The show's first host was comedian Jack Carter, who was followed by Jerry Lester. After Lester quit in June 1950 (soon to become the star of NBC's first late-night series, Broadway Open House), Gleason—who had made his mark on the first television incarnation of The Life of Riley sitcom—stepped into Cavalcade on July 15, 1950 and became an immediate sensation.

The show was broadcast live in front of a theater audience, and offered the same kind of vaudevillian entertainment common to early television revues. Gleason's guests included New York-based performers of stage and screen, including Bert Wheeler, Smith and Dale, Patricia Morison, and Vivian Blaine. Production values were modest, owing to DuMont's humble facilities and a thrifty sponsor (Quality Drugs, representing most of the nation's drug stores).

In 1952, CBS president William S. Paley offered Gleason a considerably higher salary. The series was retitled The Jackie Gleason Show and premiered on CBS Television on September 20, 1952. Paley used the show's position on CBS to showcase artists like Frankie Laine, Frankie Avalon, Doris Day, and the teenage guitar prodigy Zane Ashton. In 1953, CBS' own orchestral accordionist John Serry Sr. made a cameo appearance.

While much of DuMont's programming archive was destroyed after they ceased broadcasting, a surprising number of Cavalcade of Stars episodes survive, including several episodes at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Additionally, at least 14 Gleason episodes survive at the Paley Center for Media...

Format

The show typically opened with a monologue from Gleason, followed by sketch comedy involving Gleason and a number of regular performers (including Art Carney) and a musical interlude featuring the June Taylor Dancers. (Taylor later became Gleason's sister-in-law; he married her sister Marilyn in 1975.)

Gleason portrayed a number of recurring characters, including:

supercilious, mustachioed playboy millionaire Reginald Van Gleason III (Gleason's personal favorite)

friendly Joe the Bartender

loudmouthed braggart Charlie Bratten

Rum Dum, a hapless dipsomaniac with a walrus mustache

mild-mannered Fenwick Babbitt

The Bachelor who was forever unmarried

bombastic Rudy the Repairman

a put-upon character known only as the Poor Soul, whom Gleason performed in pantomime.

Stanley R. Sogg, late-night movie pitchman for Mother Fletcher's products ("No-Cal Chicken Fat")

blowhard Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden

The series was a big hit for CBS, finishing at #8 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1953–1954 season and #2 in 1954–1955. The Jackie Gleason Show also earned Emmy nominations for best variety series in 1953, 1954 and 1955, for Gleason as best star in 1954 and 1955, for Audrey Meadows as best supporting actress in 1954 and 1957, Art Carney for best supporting actor in 1957, June Taylor for best choreography in 1956, and best writing and best engineering effects in 1955. The series won Emmys for Meadows as best supporting actress in 1955, Carney as best supporting actor in 1954 and 1955, and Taylor for choreography in 1955. Gleason never received an Emmy...