by D Server

Created on: April 13, 2011   Last Updated: April 15, 2011

Jackie Gleason is now most known for his situation comedy, “The Honeymooners”, but during the peak of his career, in the 1950s and 1960s, he was best known for his variety show, “The Jackie Gleason Show”. For many years, the show was one of the most popular on television, airing on CBS on Saturday nights. 

The Honeymooners show itself had originally been a part of the variety show in the fifties and when the variety show reappeared in 1962, The Honeymooners more than occasionally were featured. But there were many other famous segments on the variety show, including Gleason as “The Poor Soul”, a pantomime routine about a rather helpless and sad man, though he was usually quite funny. The sentimental music which the orchestra played while The Poor Soul was on screen was written, like much of the music on the show, by Gleason himself. Other characters played by Gleason included Charlie Bratton and Rudy The Repairman, who were both loud and boisterous.

Much of the comedy on the Jackie Gleason show revolved around alcohol, as apparently did much of Gleason’s adult life. He once insisted to his biographer James Bacon, “I am not an alcoholic. I’m a drunkard”. a difference possibly only understood by heavy drinkers. The show often began with Gleason sitting on a chair and talking to the audience while drinking a cup of “coffee”, which, judging from his rolling eyes after he took a sip, was apparently a lot stronger than your average cup. More alcohol was featured in another comedy bit which featured Jackie as the outrageous showman and bon vivant Reginald Van Gleason. His always flamboyant and elaborate entrance on-stage came in top hat, tails and white gloves, with his hair slicked backwards. Despite his sartorial splendor, Reginald usually kept a bottle of liquor in his pocket, occasionally dropping the whole bottle into a water cooler. When he would then take a drink, Gleason would not only roll his eyes, but would be accompanied by a loud bang on a drum.

The most famous bit on the Jackie Gleason show took place in a bar itself, with Gleason playing Joe the bartender. After a few jokes, Joe would be joined by a character known as Crazy Guggenheim, played by Frank Fontaine. Guggenheim, usually just called “Craze” by Joe, was apparently inebriated himself, finishing most of his sentences with a whining laugh. But the segment in the bar would always end with Guggenheim singing

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