Some years ago I did a post on The Moderate Voice about show biz pizazz and likability, which got great response. And, recently, the topic came up with some young aspiring entertainers and I told them to You Tube and look for…the Color Honeymooners.
The legendary comedian Jackie Gleason — Hanna Barbera used him as the inspiration for Fred Flintstone — did his famous black and white Honeymooners segments in the 50s (still considered among the greatest American sitcoms ever written) in which his second banana was comedic actor Art Carney (Hanna Barbera used him as the inspiration for Yogi Bear). Gleason’s show went off the air by the late 50s but he brought it back in 1962. In 1966 he started a series of color Honeymooners musicals. These have been greatly criticized by contemporary critics as being too stagey and not a “slice of life” like the originals. Many contemporary critics have been unimpressed or turned off. (Here is one review).
But that wasn’t Gleason’s point: this was the heyday of the hummable-score Broadway musical comedy (a heyday that started to vanish but was picked up by Disney’s revival-era animated cartoons beginning with The Little Mermaid — movie musical cartoons that brought musical comedy culture to a brand new generation). The Color Honeymooners were filled with…color…Emmy award winning choreography — plus original songs written just for the show.
And pizazz.
If you’re a fan of musicals, comedy, an entertainment or show biz junkie, watch Gleason, Carney plus Sheila MacCrae (as bus driver Gleason’s Ralph Kramden’s wife) and Jane Kean (as Carney’s Ed Norton’s wife) do this number. Note that it is not perfect: Gleason rarely rehearsed and did not do retakes since he wanted spontaneity. If you’re an aspiring entertainer note Gleason’s likabiliy. Gleason and Carney really couldn’t sing but they could put over a song — just like actors do in some Broadway stage musicals. Look at the energy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxtfF2gJsHY
Now watch this extended segment from the next musical episode that shows his famous opening where a camera pans into Miami Beach (he moved his show there in 1964 so he could golf year round), the famous Miss-America-style Glea Girls, the romantic theme song he wrote — and how it then moves right into a big, brassy glitzy Broadway style opening, complete with original hummable song, Emmy-aware winning June Taylor choreography, singers, and a big ending. This segment also shows the opening of this episode so you can get a taste of the comedy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm3s-22lcPY&feature=related
PS: Talk radio fans are used to conservative talk show host Mark Levin being called “The Great One.” But the phrase was used for Gleason who was (and is) The Great One.
FOOTNOTE: The Gleason family released four three-disc DVD sets of these musicals (if you like them get them while they are in print). Here is the one that contains these episodes:
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.