A lost comedic art: pantomime. For younger TMV viewers, here, from the 60s, is Jackie Gleason — the inspiration for Fred Flintstone — in one of his lesser known comedy incarnations, Rum Dumb the drunk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnhhdb-nGSQ
But lest you think Gleason was a comedian who did comedy without words, or was “only” the bombastic Ralph Kramden (which Hanna Barbera clearly used when it drew Fred Flintstone) he could also do very loud slapstick, too. Here he is as Rudy the Repairman, in a skit from the 50s. Gleason produced his own show — and he literally destroyed sets on live TV. Be sure to watch this and realize it was done LIVE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrVykGwnKIg&NR=1
He was above all a showman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jow_qpHzNEk&feature=related
He was known for his opening – a big dance number with the June Taylor Dancers who formed patterns seen via overhead cameras. In this opening from 1962 you see the big number with the pizzaz…and Gleason the showman putting himself smack in the middle. Watch him closely:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEQg-L-Rbp0&feature=related
Being a straight man is not easy, and Gleason was one of the best in the business. He could help another comedian look funnier. Here he is with Frank Fontaine playing Crazy Guggenheim and Gleason playing Joe the Bartender. Fontaine, who died at age 58 of a heart attack, would go out of character at the end and sing a song seriously (my father had a boat and Fontaine came aboard with a bunch of people once…my father talked about how Fontaine loved to eat). Fontaine sold a lot of vynl records to the World War II generation in the 60s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAIApLtXio&feature=related
In the mid to late 1960s, he redid “The Honeymooners” this time in color as musicals using Art Carney again as Ed Norton. (Carney as sewer worker Norton with the distinctive cap and vest and voice was Hanna Barbera’s inspiration for Yogi Bear). Gleason couldn’t really sing but he put the songs across due to his likable personality — and showmanship:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxtfF2gJsHY
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.