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AA REE PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, Inc. 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103 Doustepay and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are trademarks of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Book design by Guenet Abraham Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Henry, William A. 1950— The great one : the life and legend of Jackie Gleason / William A. Henry III. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Gleason, Jackie, 1916-1987. 2. Television personalities—United States—Biography. 3. Comedians—United States—Biography. 4. Motion picture actors and actresses—United States—Biography. I. Title. PN1992.4.G6H46 1992 791.45'028’092—dc20 {B} 91-40090 CIP ISBN 0-385-41533-8 Copyright © 1992 by William A. Henry III All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America June 1992 1 35 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 First Edition ee tn! The lite and legend of Jackie Gleason. William f. Henzy Il b Doubleday New York Condon ‘lorontc ' Sydney: fluckland ALSO BY WILLIAM A. HENRY UII Visionso f America For my equivalent of Jackie’s gang at Toots Shor’s, my pals, especially Andrew Carron for his unfailing decency Kevin Conroy for his universal compassion Jon Nygaard for his unswerving loyalty Tom Sabulis for his unflinching perception and all of them for making me laugh ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One of the most gratifying things about being a journalist is how gener- ous people are, for no reason other than their belief in the value of a truthful historical record. A very few of the hundred fifty or so people who granted interviews or otherwise assisted my research on this book had axes to grind, grudges to settle, pieces of terrain they wished to reclaim. But even they tended to be frank about their interests and fair about the facts. A few other people whom I would have liked to see declined me outright or turned me aside with brief unrevealing discussion. But the vast majority were giving in every sense. It is a tribute to Jackie Gleason that almost all of them, what- ever the emotional residue of their experience, admired him intensely as an artist and viewed him compassionately as a man. I am especially grateful to Jackie’s fellow performers Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph of The Honeymooners, plus Milton Berle, Ted Bessell, Nandrea Lin Courts, Franklin Cover, Mercedes Ellington, Bob Fosse, talkmaster Larry King, Sheila MacRae, Jay Marshall, Robert Morse, Estelle Parsons, Trudy Carson Sales and Marian Seldes for their recollections of working with Gleason, and to the performers Jane Alexander, Dorothy THE GREAT ONE Loudon, Malachy McCourt, Burgess Meredith and Adam Redfield for stories of other exchanges with him. From the world behind the scenes, producers Joe Cates, Robert Halmi Sr., Joseph Jacoby, Charles Joffe, Norman Lear and Jack Rollins, director Arthur Penn and the writers Larry Gelbart, Coleman Jacoby, Neil Simon, Leonard Stern, Peter Stone and Saul Turtletaub were especially valuable. So were stage managers Charles Blackwell, Gene Wolsk and Manny Kladitis, press agents Merle Debuskey, Frank Goodman and David Powers, and dresser Herb Zane. Harvey Sabinson, former press agent for David Merrick and now executive director of the League of American Theater Owners and Producers, was a treasure trove of history, as was Broadway historian Steven Suskin. I learned much about Jackie’s television career from the former CBS executives Mike Dann, Sal Iannucci, Oscar Katz, James Rosenfield, Irwin Segelstein and Frank Stanton. Also helpful were entertainment executives Robert Bennett, Dick Steenberg, Helen Brown of the CBS Foundation and Barbara Rudd of the late Sonny Werblin’s office. Within Gleason’s inner circle, superagent Sam Cohn, attorney Richard Green, secretary Sydell Spear and especially press agent Pete McGovern gave me a vivid and affectionate understanding of a boss they adored. I appreciate the blessing of Jack Philbin, Jackie’s producer and partner, and wish that circumstances had allowed us more than a brief conversation. The same applies to choreographer Peter Gladke, an assistant to June Taylor in over- seeing her dance troupe. Among Jackie’s friends and acquaintances and their offspring, the pivotal figure was Flo Haley (widow of Jack Haley Sr.). I also thank her household assistant Norris Bennett, plus Mike Callahan, Michael Conniff, Freddie Hancock, Vincent McNamara, Linda Redfield and my brother-in-law, erstwhile Miamian David Manyan. I benefited from the recollections of journalists Jonathan Abarbanel, Fred Bernstein, Les Brown, Dick Cavett, Charlotte Chandler, Richard Christen- son, Robert Deutsch, Mel Gussow, Joe Franklin, Kay Gardella, Robert Lenzner, Gorden Manning, Dozier Mobley, Bob Sacha, Morley Safer, Arthur Unger and Linda Winer. I learned much about Jackie’s artistry from the musicians Phil Bodner, Max Ellen, Irwin Fisch and Frank Owens, among others, and something about his temperament from the painter Alfred “Chip” Chadbourne. Any contemporary Gleason biographer owes a debt to Jackie’s first book- length chronicler, Jim Bishop, especially for his research of Jackie’s early years. I also thank another prior biographer, James Bacon. While I found