Saturday, February 3, 2018

'The Jackie Gleason Show' DVD: How Sweet it is to Get Previously Unreleased Episodes


The Time Life February 6, 2018 DVD release of color episodes of  "The Jackie Gleason Show" during its 1966 -70 period in "fun and sun capital of the world" "beautiful" Miami Beach continues the "unreal" trend of that purveyor of all things Americana of releasing sets from the golden age of television variety and sketch comedy shows featuring the best "Golden Age" and "Silver Age" stars of the era. Recent notable examples include a fantabulous (reviewed) 50th Anniversary "Best of " "The Carol Burnett Show," a (also reviewed) "The Red Skelton Show" set, and the (you got it) hilarious complete second season of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In."

The most awesome thing about the "Gleason" releases and the ones mentioned above (as well as other recent additions to the Time Life catalog) is that many of these episodes have not been seen since people not only had rotary telephones but had to rent them from the telephone company AND had to have someone install them.

The following YouTube clip of a promo. for the deluxe 27-episode version of "Gleason" provides a strong sense of the star power and the comedy of these episodes.


Press materials for "Gleason" share that the impetus for moving this show from New York to Florida is the desire of the star to golf all year. This lore includes this move requiring that Gleason create the required production infrastructure. The most remarkable aspect of this is 100s of families moving from New York to Florida so that they can continue attending the recordings of the show.

The tried-but-true (with minor variations) of "Gleason" is that the titular star walks out flanked by the famous June Taylor dancers, lights a cigarette, makes a Johnny Carson-style joke about the flashy sports coat of his bandleader, and introduces his guests.

The big name of the evening comes out and banters with Gleason about golf and other "insider" subjects as well as topical humor that includes hijackings to Cuba. This usually leads to the musical guest, there is another vaudeville style comedy bit that often involves Gleason, the grand finale is an extended "Honeymooners" skit featuring Gleason and Art Carney. The final segment is Gleason coming out to say good night.

Red Buttons is the featured comedian in the first two episodes. He and Gleason particularly delight each other with their silly dances. Milton Berle gets in a great cross-dressing joke (that you must be at least 40 to understand) while bantering with Gleason about the girth of his host and about comics stealing jokes.

Phil Silvers is equally funny during his episode and works in a very interesting story (and hilarious jokes) regarding his starring in a Broadway flop.

Incredibly talented cornball comedian Morey Amsterdam is a no-brainer regarding his appearance on the show. George Carlin guesting on the final episode in the set is more surprising to his fans who know the edgier persona that he introduces a few years later. The extended monologue of Carlin on "Gleason" has enough grit to provide a sense of things to come.

The musical guests are Florence Henderson, who sadly does not do any comedy, and Frankie Avalon.

The three "Honeymooner" sketches are pure examples of the timeless classic comedy of that series. As Burnett states in an interview for her Time Life set, funny never stops being funny. Ralph Kramden no longer threatening to hit wife Alice so hard that she lands on the moon is an early indication of the birth of political correctness on television.

The first "Honeymooners" skit centers around Ralph misinterpreting a medical report on a dog as stating that Ralph has six months to live; the second skit has Ralph mistakenly thinking that Alice is having an affair. The third skit is an example of the "get rich quick" episodes from the series. Ralph greatly overestimates the value of his injury from an accident while driving his bus. Although the other two are very funny, this final episode is the most humorous. It also is the most true to the "everyman" spirit of the series.

As is true regarding every set that this review mentions (and other similar Time Life fare), they sadly do not make 'em like that anymore. A practical aspect of this is that the greats either are knocking 'em dead in Heaven or are too old for the demands of a weekly series. Another equally sad factor is that current public tastes run more to shock value and crude humor. The Time Life releases terrifically give folks old enough at least to remember '70s and '80s syndicated reruns of these series a second bite at the apple and folks who have never used a rotary phone to see this "Silver Age" fare.

Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Gleason" is strongly encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.


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