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I WAS
THERE... "Jackie and the people at William Morris, his agency, had put the production together. Together with CBS, they pitched the program to me and a few others at Liggett & Myers. I remember thinking that the show could be risky for it was quite removed from anything that Gleason had done and the premise of celebrities sticking their heads through a painted plywood board and quessing what historical character they were supposed to be was pretty shaky. "But I think I thought that since Jackie Gleason was at the peak of his career, he could pull off a silly game show with the same success Groucho Marx was enjoying on NBC. "It was, as Erickson writes, a huge bomb! Everybody knew it. Gleason, William Morris, CBS, and, for sure, Liggett & Myers. The real question after the first show was what do we do now. "I don't remember who came up with the idea for the second show, probably Gleason himself. Nor do I recall that CBS wanted to continue with the game show. If they did, they didn't tell me and I can add if they had they would have done so without this sponsor. "I should have known that things would go wrong when at the first script rehearsal, the first meeting for the show, Gleason asked before the start, "Who is the GREAT ONE?" A chorus rang out, "You are!". That began an association with the greatest egotist I have ever known." - Cope Robinson |
"The actual show aired the first week, it was a huge bomb, but unlike today they didn't have anything "in the can" to put on the next week. What they did the second week was have Jackie Gleason sitting at a desk just talking and being rather hysterical, I thought. The third week he was back and informed us that although the first week had been a bomb, the second week was a hit and they considered just alternating between the two. They just would have to figure it out with the sponsors (who would sponsor the bomb and who would sponsor the hit). "Anyway, a neat piece of TV history and trivia that I'm glad I was in on. Jackie's not with us anymore but a lot of his work carries on (this series not included)."
First,
a little history:
DISASTER!
In truth, Gleason had no intention of doing the game show ever again, instead he decided on a one on one talk show format. This was something the network was dead set against, but they were forced to let Gleason have his way since he made his statements on live television.
An angry and embarrassed CBS pulled the plug on the series after eight weeks. One reason they were angry - the network wanted to salvage the game show concept. There was another episode of 'You're in the Picture' shot on tape (very expensive in those days) to use during the re-run season, but it had to be scrapped after Gleason so thoroughly trashed the concept on that second show. Jackie Gleason returned in 1962 with a variety show on CBS that had a highly successful nine-year run. "If you notice the date of the show was January 20, 1961 -- the evening of Kennedy's inaugural. If I remember correctly, the main reason I was watching it was because the other channels were covering the Kennedy Inaugural gala. Probably 9 year old kids like me were the only ones watching. (As a 9 year old I remember I didn't think it was that bad!). "I now live in Jakarta, Indonesia, by the way, and so truly appreciate your site as a link with home." - A Reader |
Amazon Prime - unlimited streaming PR4 & PR5 Pages for Advertising
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Television's
-
Steve Erickson 
"The
Great One" (as he was known) returned to television in October of 1958
in a live, thirty-minute variety show - but Gleason stopped production
after a three-month run stating: "Anytime quality has a deadline, it's
got to deteriorate. You can strive for quality week in and week out,
but you won't often get it because it can't be manufactured within a
specific time."
Gleason
made his next TV project a game show, reasoning that this would be a
more relaxed working environment. Besides, games were big ratings, and
Groucho was having tremendous success as a host on NBC with You Bet
Your Life.
You're
in the Picture was added to the CBS schedule on January 20,
1961, to replace the poorly performing sitcom 'Mr. Garland', Friday
nights at 9:30. You're in the Picture was a poorly conceived
game show that went over like a lead balloon. How's this for a premise
- celebrity contestants stick their heads into a painted scene, and
they have to guess what the scene is, or what historical figure they
represent by asking the emcee questions.
Jackie
Gleason was the host of this live broadcast, (he even helped develop
the show) and the celebrity contestants for that first (and only broadcast)
episode included Jan Sterling, Keenan Wynn, Aurthur Treacher, and Pat
Carroll.
After
the embarrassingly bad show
aired, Gleason convinced CBS to let him go on the next week and apologize
to the home audience. This would give the production a chance to re-tool,
it was reasoned, and get 'You're in the Picture' back on in a new and
improved format.
Gleason
went on the air the next week live and apologized
all right - "Honesty is the best policy. We had a show last week that
laid the biggest bomb! I've seen bombs in my day, but this one made
the H-bomb look like a two-inch salute." He filled the half-hour with
extemporaneous stories, explaining in detail his mistake in ever letting
the show reach the air, all the while distancing himself from the fiasco.
At the end of the show, Gleason promised to return the next week, "I
don't know what we'll do, but I'll be back".
The
critics flipped for the half-hour public apology, praising the comedian's
breazy, spontaneous wit, and the audience loved the idea of a big star
admitting he had made a mistake.
For
the next eight weeks, Jackie Gleason played host to stars like Bobby
Darin, Jane Mansfield, and his comic partner Art Carney, in a talk show
format under the title 'The Jackie Gleason Show'.
"Fantastic
site! One bit of trivia omitted from your background info on Jackie
Gleason's ill-fated "You're in the Picture" was the marvelous scheduling
of the program. I
recall seeing it as a child.
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