Who Wrote The Honeymooners Theme Song?

The instrumental theme song for The Honeymooners, titled Youre My Greatest Love, was composed by Jackie Gleason and performed by an orchestra led by Ray Bloch. Gleason, an American actor, comedian, writer, and composer, was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy. The song was released in 2013 and is part of the album The Jackie Gleason Story. The theme song is an Unknown language song and is sung by Jackie Gleason. The song is the opening and closing to an episode of the hit classic television show The Honeymooners, which also includes an orchestral version of the theme and a vocal version. The song was written by Gleason himself and was performed by an orchestra led by Ray Bloch, who previously led the orchestra for The Gleasons variety show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Although the lyrics were composed, they were never sung. The song is featured on the original broadcasts of The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason and Art Carney.

Who gets royalties from The Honeymooners?

Meadows was the only member of the Honeymooners cast to earn residuals after the Classic 39 episodes of the show from 1955 to 1956 started airing in reruns. Her brother Edward, a lawyer, had inserted a clause into her original contract whereby she would be paid if the shows were re-broadcast, thus earning her millions of dollars.8 When the lost Honeymooners episodes from the variety shows were later released, Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton, received royalty payments.9.

For her work on the show, Meadows was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (then for In a Regular Series) at the 8th Primetime Emmy Awards. She lost to Nanette Fabray in Caesars Hour.

Career outside The Honeymoonersedit. Meadows appeared in a 1960 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled Mrs. Bixby and the Colonels Coat, one of the 17 episodes in the 10-year series directed by Hitchcock himself, and a rare light-hearted one.

Did Jackie Gleason write music?

Though Gleason did not read music, he had a good ear and was able to compose a number of tunes with the help of skilled musicians. From the early 1950s to the early 1970s, he worked on a large number of mood-music records.

In his later career, Gleason hosted several variety shows and appeared in a number of films. Among his most memorable movie roles are those of pool shark Minnesota Fats in The Hustler, which also starred Paul Newman, George C. Scott, and Piper Laurie; the title role in Gigot, a film for which Gleason also wrote the script and the music; and the sheriff in the Smokey and the Bandit films, starring Burt Reynolds.

Why was The Honeymooners cancelled?

In 1955 the Buick Motor Company offered Gleason six million dollars to produce The Honeymooners as a weekly situation comedy for two years. The corpulent comedian formed his own production company and used a new film technology, the Electronican process, to record the series live on film. The program was shot two times a week before an audience of 1,100 people. During the first season Gleason was disturbed by the amount of rehearsal time and felt that these recorded episodes lacked the spontaneity and originality of the live sketches. He discontinued the series after 39 programs and decided to return to the live, variety format. He sold the films and syndication rights to CBS for a million and half dollars.

The Honeymooners remained a prominent part of Gleasons succeeding variety series with the writers trying to do something unusual with the trusted material. During the 1956-1957 season of The Jackie Gleason Show, the Kramdens and the Nortons took a live musical trip to Europe. At the end of the season, Carney left the series, and Gleason did not revive the sketch until his 1960s extravaganza, The American Scene Magazine. When Carney was available, Gleason revived the sketch on videotape, often with new cast members. Sue Ane Langdon and Sheila MacRae played Alice, while Patricia Wilson and Jean Kean were recruited for Trixie. Despite the changes, the familiar catchphrases remained: One of these days…Pow! Right in the kisser!; and Bang! Zoom, Ralphs stock phrases to Alice as well as Eds greeting to Kramden, Hiya there, Ralphie boy.

After his variety series ended in 1970, Gleason produced four more Honeymooner specials with Carney and the returning Meadows. But Ralph Kramden remained fixed in the popular imagination because the 39 episodes of The Honeymooners were a perennial success in syndication. For over 20 years a local station in Manhattan played them every night. There was great celebration among fans when The Museum of Broadcasting and Jackie Gleason unearthed thelive sketches during the mid-1980s. Those lost episodes found another life on cable television and the home video market.

Why was Kelton blacklisted from The Honeymooners?

Lost the role of Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners due to blacklisting of her husband Ralph Bell, which by association affected her career as well. But the reason publicly given was that her health was poor.

Though she created the role of Alice in the original Honeymooners sketches with Jackie Gleason, she returned in the late 60s to play Alices mother.

For many years portrayed a comical cleaning woman in a series of Spic n Span TV commercials.

Why was the first Alice on The Honeymooners blacklisted?

Kelton appeared in the original sketches, generally running about 10 to 20 minutes, shorter than the later one-season half-hour series episodes and 1960s hour-long musical versions. However, she was abruptly dropped from her role due to being blacklisted and was replaced by Audrey Meadows. Rather than acknowledge that she was blacklisted, her producers explained that her departure was based on alleged heart problems. Kelton and her husband had been listed in Red Channels, an early 1950s publication of alleged communists or fellow travelers in the U.S. entertainment industry. Kelton sued the publication for libel, but later dropped the suit.20 In his book The Forgotten Network, David Weinstein wrote Kelton remained on Cavalcade of Stars through the final season of the series (1951–1952), and suggests that it may have been because Jackie Gleason had resisted attempts at having her dropped.

In the 1960s, Kelton was invited back to Gleasons CBS show to play Alices mother in an episode of the hour-long musical version of The Honeymooners (also known as The Color Honeymooners), with Sheila MacRae as a fetching young Alice.

In 1963, Kelton appeared on The Twilight Zone, playing the overbearing mother of Robert Duvall in the episode Miniature. The next year she guest-starred on the popular family sitcom My Three Sons. In this episode Stage Door Bub, Kelton portrays Thelma Wilson, a veteran itinerant stage actress who longs for a settled domestic life but soon realizes that that lifestyle is actually ill-suited for her personality.

Was Jackie Gleason a heavy smoker?

Later years, health issues and death As early as 1952, when The Jackie Gleason Show captured Saturday night for CBS, Gleason regularly smoked six packs of cigarettes a day.

John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916–June 24, 1987), known as Jackie Gleason, was an American actor, comedian, writer, and composer also known as The Great One.123 He developed a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, and was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy, exemplified by his city bus driver character Ralph Kramden in the television series The Honeymooners. He also developed The Jackie Gleason Show, which maintained high ratings from the mid-1950s through 1970. The series originated in New York City, but filming moved to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1964 after Gleason took up permanent residence there.

Among his notable film roles were Minnesota Fats in 1961s The Hustler (co-starring with Paul Newman) and BufordT. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy from 1977 to 1983 (co-starring Burt Reynolds).

Gleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career during the 1950s and 1960s, producing a series of bestselling mood music albums. His first album Music for Lovers Only still holds the record for the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks), and his first 10 albums sold over a million copies each.4 His output spans more than 20 singles, nearly 60 long-playing record albums, and more than 40 CDs.

Was Jackie Gleason rich?

Have you ever heard someone say, I dont care about money? Jackie Gleason said this before, and he meant it.

The Honeymooners star was worth millions, but being rich is not what gave him the drive to follow his dreams. Of course, it gave him the finer things and an upscale lifestyle, but Gleason cared about success.

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, the actor talked about the connection between success, money and his life.

I dont care about money, Gleason said. Success is like a blue serge suit. You pick up the lint of your critics behavior. People seem to think I should be ashamed of making $11,000,000. Im not. I didnt rob a bank. This is America.

Who wrote The Honeymooners?

The standard by which all working-class sitcoms are still measured had a fitful beginning. Harry Crane and Joe Bigelow are credited with creating Ralph Kramden, a Brooklyn bus driver, as a sketch character for Jackie Gleason in 1951, when Gleason was hosting the Dumont networks Calvalcade of Stars variety show (two other writers on that show, Coleman Jacoby and Artie Rosen, brought in Art Carney for a different sketch). The Honeymooners took further shape on The Jackie Gleason Show in 1952 and Toast of the Town, a variety series hosted by Ed Sullivan. It was in 1955 that the 39 episodes of the now-classic sitcom were filmed, with a writing team of six: Leonard Stern, Marvin Marx, Walter Stone, Herbert Finn, Sydney Zelinka and A.J. Russell. The Honeymooners earned Emmys for Gleason and co-stars Carney and Audrey Meadows, but not for the writers who gave words to the battle.

Joseph M. CalvelliHarry CraneKen EnglundHerbert FinnMarvin MarxA.J. RussellLeonard SternWalter StoneSydney Zelinka.

Did Jackie Gleason write the theme song to The Honeymooners?

The instrumental theme song for The Honeymooners, titled Youre My Greatest Love, was composed by Gleason and performed by an orchestra led by Ray Bloch, previously the orchestra leader for Gleasons variety show as well as for The Ed Sullivan Show. Although lyrics were composed, they were never sung. Sammy Spear, who later became Gleasons musical director, provided the arrangement.32 The music heard in the episodes was not performed during the show, so to enhance the feeling of a live performance for the studio audience, an orchestra performed before filming and during breaks.19 The shows original announcer was Jack Lescoulie, who also was a spokesman for the sponsor, Buick. For the unsponsored syndicated version, the introduction was voiced by CBS staff announcer Gaylord Avery.

Revivalsedit. On September 29, 1956, one week after The Honeymooners ended as a weekly 30-minute series, The Jackie Gleason Show returned. The Honeymooners returned as part of the revived variety show. Many of these episodes were produced as original musicals with music and lyrics by Lyn Duddy and Jerry Bresler. The stories featured the Kramdens and Nortons touring Europe after winning a contest.33 Live musicals had become popular on live television following the success of the 1954-1955 live broadcasts of Mary Martin in Peter Pan as well as that of several Max Leibman original musicals.

In 1959, TV Guide magazine mentioned Gleasons interest in producing new Honeymooners shows. This did not happen for several years, but Gleason did team with Carney to revive an old Honeymooners scene for an October 1960 CBS special titled The Big Sell.

Did the Flintstones rip off The Honeymooners?

Jackie Gleason later said that he considered suing but decided that becoming known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air wasnt worth the negative publicity. A rip off ? No not at all. It was an open satire modelled after the Honeymooners.

How much money did Jackie Gleason make for The Honeymooners?

Jackie Gleason, the famed actor best known for portraying Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, was the creative mastermind behind the series. Because he came onto the show as the resident creative with the name recognition to draw a crowd, he understandably made much more than anyone else. According to several sources, Jackie Gleasons CBS contract was worth $11 million, but that wasnt his money,…

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Who is the heaviest smoker of all time?

Walter Humphreys chain-smoked 100 cigarettes a day non-stop for 27 years.Mr Humphreys, 58, from Townsville, Queensland, first started smoking at 13.He largely rolled his own cigarettes with a 50g packet of White Ox per day.Bad habit morphed into horrendous addiction while he was in jail in 1990.

A man who chain-smoked 100 cigarettes a day non-stop for 27 years has revealed how he kicked the filthy habit.

Walter Humphreys, 58, would puff on cigarettes from the moment he woke up at 5am until he fell asleep at night at 10pm.

I was a walking disaster, the die-hard smoker from Townsville, Queensland said.It was one after the other, all day and all night.