The Story of Jackie Gleason's Life

Aired: May 21, 1944 (Philco Radio Hall of Fame)Before Jackie Gleason became a television icon as Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, he was building his reputation in nightclubs, movies, Broadway, and radio. This 1944 appearance on Philco Radio Hall of Fame catches Gleason during his successful run in the Broadway musical Follow the Girls, more than a decade before The Honeymooners reached television.Asked to introduce himself to listeners who might not know his name, Gleason responds with a comic autobiography that quickly abandons any concern for accuracy. He takes the audience from his supposedly difficult infancy through school, romance, burlesque, nightclubs, and some decidedly unsuccessful adventures in radio, delivering a rapid succession of jokes along the way.It's an entertaining opportunity to hear the distinctive comic personality of Jackie Gleason years before his best-known television work—and a glimpse of a performer whose biggest successes were still ahead of him. Subscribe to the Old Time Radio Snack Wagon at https://www.snackwagon.netBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/old-time-radio-snack-wagon-rare-historic-radio-programs--5919985/support.