The booking agent advanced his bus fare for the trip against his salary, granting Gleason his first job as a professional comedian. Birch also told him of a week-long gig in Reading, Pennsylvania, which would pay $19-more money than Gleason could imagine. His friend Birch made room for him in the hotel room he shared with another comedian. The family of his first girlfriend, Julie Dennehy, offered to take him in Gleason, however, was headstrong and insisted that he was going into the heart of the city. He had nowhere to go, and thirty-six cents to his name. Gleason was 19 when his mother died in 1935 of sepsis from a large neck carbuncle that young Jackie had tried to lance. He performed the same duties twice a week at the Folly Theater. Gleason and his friends made the rounds of the local theaters he put an act together with one of his friends, and the pair performed on amateur night at the Halsey Theater, where Gleason replaced his friend Sammy Birch as master of ceremonies. Other jobs he held at that time included pool hall worker, stunt driver, and carnival barker. Gleason became interested in performing after being part of a class play he quit school before graduating and got a job that paid $4 per night as master of ceremonies at a theater. He attended P.S. 73 Elementary School in Brooklyn, John Adams High School in Queens, and Bushwick High School in Brooklyn. Īfter his father abandoned the family, young Gleason began hanging around with a local gang, hustling pool. Once it became evident that he was not coming back, Mae went to work as a subway attendant for the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). On the night of December 14, 1925, Gleason's father disposed of any family photos in which he appeared just after noon on December 15, he collected his hat, coat, and paycheck, and permanently left his family and job at the insurance company. He used to watch his father work at the family's kitchen table, writing insurance policies in the evenings. Gleason remembered Clement and his father having "beautiful handwriting". Gleason was the younger of two children his elder brother, Clement, died of meningitis at age 14 in 1919. Most sources indicate his mother was originally from Farranree, County Cork, Ireland. His parents were Herbert Walton "Herb" Gleason (1883–1939), born in New York City, and Mae Agnes "Maisie" ( née Kelly 1886–1935). at birth, he was baptized John Herbert Gleason and grew up at 328 Chauncey Street, Apartment 1A (an address he later used for Ralph and Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners). Gleason was born on February 26, 1916, at 364 Chauncey Street in the Stuyvesant Heights (now Bedford-Stuyvesant) section of Brooklyn. 3.4 Later years, health issues and death. To date, his output spans some 20-plus singles, nearly 60 long-playing record albums, and over 40 CDs. His first album, Music for Lovers Only, still holds the record for the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks), and his first 10 albums sold over a million copies each. #Beach christmas zoom background seriesGleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career during the 1950s and 1960s, producing a series of best-selling " mood music" albums. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit series from 1977 to 1983 (co-starring Burt Reynolds). After originating in New York City, filming moved to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1964 after Gleason took up permanent residence there.Īmong his notable film roles were Minnesota Fats in 1961's The Hustler (co-starring with Paul Newman) and Buford T. He also developed The Jackie Gleason Show, which maintained high ratings from the mid 1950s through 1970. John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy, exemplified by his city-bus-driver Ralph Kramden character in the television series The Honeymooners.
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