Herbert John "Jackie" Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987) was an iconic American comedian, actor, and musician.

One of the most popular stars of early television, Gleason was respected for both comedic and dramatic roles. However, his major legacy was his brash visual and verbal comedy styling, especially as delivered by the character Ralph Kramden on the pioneering sitcom The Honeymooners.

The Jackie Gleason Show was the name given to a series of popular television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970.

You're in the Picture was an American television game show that aired on CBS for only one true episode, on January 20, 1961 (the same day John F. Kennedy was sworn in as 35th President of the United States).

Considered by many to be one of the largest flops in television history, the show was an attempt to mirror the success that Groucho Marx had enjoyed for many years with You Bet Your Life. Lending the comedic touch as host was TV star Jackie Gleason, joined by Johnny Olson as announcer and Dennis James doing live commercials for sponsor Kellogg's.

The show consisted of a four-member celebrity panel sticking their heads into a life-sized illustration of a famous scene or song lyric. Each panelist would then take turns asking yes/no questions to Gleason to try to figure out what scene they were a part of. If they were able to figure out the scene, 100 CARE Packages were donated in their name; if they were stumped, the packages were donated in Gleason's name.

The celebrity panel for the episode consisted of Pat Harrington, Jr., Pat Carroll, Jan Sterling and Arthur Treacher. In a 1980s interview with Gleason on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson also makes the claim that he was on the show, even though existing clips do not show him involved.blank">http://tvparty.com/picture.htmlhttp://imdb.com/title/tt0054581/.

The show received negative reviews across the board following its premiere. The program's second episode, instead of the game, consisted of Gleason sitting on a stool on a bare stage and apologizing for the previous week's show.

Saying that the show failed because of "the intangibles of show business," Gleason also noted that more than 300 years' worth of show business experience had been involved in the production. He commented that the program, "laid, without a doubt, the biggest bomb in history...This would make the _H-Bomb look like a two-inch salute." Acknowledging the critics, he also stated that, "You don't have to be Alexander Graham Bell to pick up a telephone and know it's dead."

This comical half-hour apology got much better reviews than the game show, and Gleason finished out his series commitment by renaming the program The Jackie Gleason Show and turning it into a talk show.

The Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio) in New York City has copies of both the original airing and the half-hour apology available for public viewing.

lph Kramden: [visiting in Ireland] You know, I never knew that Jackie Gleason was Irish. Norton: Oh yeah, I knew it. I read it in a TV magazine once. His whole family came over from Ireland during the potato famine. lph Kramden: Oh. Norton: In fact, I think they caused it! lph Kramden: That Gleason is a little chubby, isn't he? Norton: Oh, he certainly is. [laughs] lph Kramden: That Art Carney put on a few pounds too, you know.

lph Kramden: [rehearsing a TV commercial in England] And I say, "Oh, it is my good wife, Lady Penelope Farthingay, Duchess of Rathbone. Blimey, you look lovely." ice Kramden: "Blimey"? lph Kramden: That's right, "blimey". That's the way all of those high-falutin' English talk. They use words like "blimey", "tally-ho", "yoicks"... ice Kramden: If you ask me, we're the "yoicks" for doing this.

lton Berle: [during a 1969 curtain call] You look fantastic. ckie Gleason: Let me tell you what happened. I dropped 60 pounds. lton Berle: On whom?

ckie Gleason: [at the end of each show] The Miami Beach audience is the greatest audience in the world!

The four panelists put their heads through a cutout in a board. They did not know what was painted on the board and their job was to guess what it was. Written by J.E. McKillop

Comedian, actor, composer and conductor, educated in New York public schools. He was a master of ceremonies in amateur shows, a carnival barker, daredevil driver and a disc jockey., and later a comedian in night clubs. By the mid-1950s he had turned to writing original music and recording a series of popular and best-selling albums with his orchestra for Capitol Records. Joining ASCAP in 1953, his instrumental compositions include "Melancholy Serenade", "Glamour", "Lover's Rhapsody", "On the Beach" and "To a Sleeping Beauty", among numerous others.