How Sweet It is: The Jackie Gleason Story

This is a man's man book, a loving tribute by a fellow compatriot and boozer, to a larger-than-life figure whose talents, appetites, hurts, and generosity ran deep and wide. Written in 1985 and politically incorrect even by those standards, the book mostly consists of anecdotes, almost all involving booze, in which Gleason and his buddies -- like Sinatra, Berle, "Toots" Shore and others, play tricks on each other and manage to get some work in somehow -- including groundbreaking comedy. All I know is that coffee Jackie is drinking is 100 proof! It's a light and fast read of a originator and comic legend whose story has yet to be truly told.

This book is mainly about success in an era which shaped what American society is today: high in entertainment values and celebrity personalities. There is an appendix which offers a list of major accomplishments; Films, Major Television Shows, and Theater. The final entry, for the classic play "The Sly Fox" in 1978, reveals that "it almost rang down the final curtain. In Chicago, he suffered a heart attack onstage in the final act but, with a trooper's instinct, finished the play. He then underwent a triple bypass operation." (p. 208).Published in 1985, HOW SWEET IT IS: THE JACKIE GLEASON STORY by James Bacon is an authorized biography in which the characters which Jackie Gleason played are as important as the people he met and the audiences who adored him. The Foreword by Jackie Gleason is addressed "Dear Jim, I have read the book . . ." and admits "Many are the times I have ended up wounded by a deep and ugly hangover after a day of wishful drinking." (p. xi). The Prologue admits that the author was barred from the set of a movie "The Toy" being filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1982 for being an evil companion responsible for getting Jackie Gleason drunk during production. As Bob Hope said, "An evil companion for Jackie Gleason? I don't believe it. He makes you look like an altar boy. I don't believe it." (p. xiv).I was small when I was young, and Jackie Gleason was one of the heaviest people I ever saw on television. Most of the pictures in this book show him younger than I remember him. Henny Youngman was even younger than I remember him. Chapter 10 is called "Pow! Alice, Right on the Kisser!" In Chapter 11, even one of his writers, Leonard Stern, had trouble seeing him. "He was in Doctors Hospital, either losing weight or getting over a hangover. I went over there and the nurse told me the same thing--`Mr. Gleason is not well so he went home.' I know the story has been around but it actually happened." (p. 130).Gleason hired Elvis for his summer replacement show. "Only there was a problem. He was so damn good on that first show that Tommy and Jimmy [Dorsey] got pissed off. They argued that they were supposed to be the stars, not Elvis. Tommy had been through this same thing with Sinatra. As a result, we only used Elvis a few times, not the six weeks I wanted." (p. 141). Soon Elvis had a movie contract signed with producer Hal Wallis, and was causing riots.There is a picture of midget Billy Curtis holding at least five helium balloons and lots of string like a miniature statue of liberty in Los Angeles "before the Great Gleason Express took off for a ten-day trip cross-country in 1962." (3 pages before p. 109). I think he must have started hopping. "Billy was holding too many balloons, and suddenly, the little guy was rising off the ground. Gleason spotted little Reggie heading skyward and rushed out and grabbed him by the legs." (p. 159). Among the great moments of the trip: "the conductor yelled, `