Here, from the glorious black and white days of television, is a gem — on several levels. Comedian Frank Fontaine, slipping into his singer’s mode, does two Christmas songs, but when he does the second, “The Christmas Song,” Jack Frost may not be nipping at his nose but a pesky fly is. Watch that second song closely and watch Fontaine’s face. And note legendary comedian Jackie Gleason’s great ad lib at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcpxOxhyfXw
A word about Fontaine and Gleason. Fontaine was a second banana comedian who appeared in his nutty comic persona during the final years of Jack Benny’s CBS radio show. In 1962, when Gleason began his final stint of weekly shows, Fontaine became “Crazy Guggenheim,” in segments where Gleason would show why he was one of the best comic straight men ever. But Fontaine would at the end of some of the segments slip into his own persona and sing a beautiful song in his own voice. He even had some hit LPs, since for roughly two years he became the national rage. He eventually vanished form the Gleason show and largely from public view.
Gleason — to young readers — was the character upon which Hanna Barbera clearly based its Fred Flintstone character. Gleason was never compensated for the clone and by some reports he was not pleased. Gleason was a good friend of Rat Pack Chairman Frank Sinatra, and enmeshed in the World War II generation’s culture of significant drink and (clearly) significant dining.
Here — for young people studying comedy, comedy fans and for those old enough to have seen the show when it aired (Gleason videotaped it but did not stop the cameras, as the fly clip shows) — is a segment with Fontaine as Guggenheim and Gleason as Joe the Bartender. Fontaine was later blasted by some who suggested his character made light of either a)drunks, b)people with mental problems. When you watch it study Fontaine…then re-watch it and study Gleason as straight man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39CV4jsdjl8&feature=related
Finally, Gleason was the ultimate showman. Watch the opening of his show from 9/26/62, the June Taylor Dancers’ dance (which even when it was done was a bit “camp” since it echoed back to the dances of the 30s and 40s..complete with the Busby Berkeley like kaleidoscope overhead shot) — and how Gleason puts himself smack in the middle of it. And how the audience so loved him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEQg-L-Rbp0&feature=related
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.