The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleason (Hardcover)

by William A. Henry (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Following W. J. Weatherby's disappointing Jackie Gleason (Nonfiction Forecasts, Mar. 9), this is a thorough, penetrating, uncompromising study of the Brooklyn-born, Irish-American ghetto kid whose talents took him to the top. The cultural icon's programs dominated TV in the 1950s, and even today reruns of The Honeymooners wipe out the competition, notes Time magazine culture critic Henry, who expertly analyzes the performer's acting on TV, on stage and in film. Although known as "The Great One," so dubbed by Orson Welles, Gleason (1916-1987), shows the author, was a terror in his private life: a glutton, heavy drinker and womanizer who was cruel to friends and associates. The book presents diverse sentiments from those who knew him well, suggesting that he presented many different guises. Or, as a close friend quoted here concludes: "The truth is, I don't know if I ever met Jack Gleason. I know I met some portrayal of him." Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The life and times of one of Hollywood's legendary comedians is described in careful detail in this audiobook. Many of Gleason's friends, collaborators, and antagonists were interviewed for this biography, and what unfolds for the listener is a tale of the man behind the legend; a man who had money, power, and fame but who was deeply private and at times lonely and depressed. The abridged text is ably narrated by Frank Ferrante, whose performance helps capture the complexities of a man who was once the highest paid star in the business. Recommended for larger collections.
- Denise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. System, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 321 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (May 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385415338
• ISBN-13: 978-0385415330
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #598,308 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bitter, hypocritical, and misinformed, September 16, 2002

By	Karen Athay (Kensington, MD United States) - See all my reviews

On the first page of the book you hit the statement that Jackie was "the laziest man alive." For me, that statement sets the tone. A quick look at the picture of the author will show he doesn't know much about excercise himself. I found it laughable that one of the big gripes William makes about Gleason was he proported musical talent was his that belonged to others, when whole paragraphs from the previous two biographies mysteriously found themselves into this book, word for word at times. Whereas the first two books were written by friends of Jackie's, William never had even a personal conversation with him, and spoke to NONE of the family. While he did speak to coworkers, I got the feeling from the beginning that he had set out to write a "Jackie is a smuck" book, and filtered everything accordingly. Within the first few chapters, I lost count of the number of factual errors that I found. Mae's mother had 11 children, not 5. They never actually lived in Ireland. Jackie's darkness didn't come from some ancestral Spainard sunk of the coast of Ireland, but from a maternal Great-Grandfather from Portugal. Herb, the father, was not a decade older than his wife, but three years. These were all easily researched items and were wrong. This cast a long shadow of suspicion over the rest of the book which consists of people's accounts of things long past. We all know how memories can be. The bookcover said the author treated shortcomings with compassion, but I found it closer to intense condemnation, such as with the statement, "the laziest man alive" because Jackie didn't walk 12 blocks in New York. Have to wonder if the author would have hoofed it, or hailed a cab. There may be some facts buried in the pile of misinformation and bad feeling, but it may be hard to find, or to identify. For me, I see Jackie's ever changing stories as a way for him to keep the truth private and just for himself. I certainly hope no one out there really believes that Tom Cruise is telling us the truth about his life, or Julia Roberts. Just because they do something, doesn't mean we deserve the intimate details of theirs lives. And just because Jackie wasn't upfront about his, doesn't change that mystical magic that happens when people watch the Honeymooners. He wasn't perfect, few of us are, but he gave us smiles we didn't have before. His life was sad and hard, but to be so spiteful and mean about it makes William's life even sadder. Imagine implying Jackie shouldn't feel upset because his mother died when he was a "man of nineteen" instead of boy of sixteen. I can't imagine having lost both parents by nineteen and to only have one cousin at my wedding for family. This book will only give you what you want if you already know that it has been written by someone who looked for the bad and down played the good, or quite possibly, simply didn't include those accounts. The book wasn't that interesting, and I certainly could put it down. It left a very bad taste in my mouth.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Loaded with facts and yet..., July 19, 2000

By	Dana Sciortino (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

...I had a hard time liking this book for anything other than trivia nuggets. The author seems to endlessly delight in pointing out errors or outright lies in any and all Gleason anecdotes. He also makes sure to include every unflattering thing anyone ever said about Gleason, with very few kind things to balance them out. While I enjoyed learning new things about Jackie Gleason, I finished this book with an overall feeling that the author not only disliked him, but is almost jealous of Gleason's success, and tries to compensate for this by portraying Gleason as negatively as possible.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bitter, hypocritical, and misinformed, September 16, 2002

By	Karen Athay (Kensington, MD United States) - See all my reviews

On the first page of the book you hit the statement that Jackie was "the laziest man alive." For me, that statement sets the tone. A quick look at the picture of the author will show he doesn't know much about excercise himself. I found it laughable that one of the big gripes William makes about Gleason was he proported musical talent was his that belonged to others, when whole paragraphs from the previous two biographies mysteriously found themselves into this book, word for word at times. Whereas the first two books were written by friends of Jackie's, William never had even a personal conversation with him, and spoke to NONE of the family. While he did speak to coworkers, I got the feeling from the beginning that he had set out to write a "Jackie is a smuck" book, and filtered everything accordingly. Within the first few chapters, I lost count of the number of factual errors that I found. Mae's mother had 11 children, not 5. They never actually lived in Ireland. Jackie's darkness didn't come from some ancestral Spainard sunk of the coast of Ireland, but from a maternal Great-Grandfather from Portugal. Herb, the father, was not a decade older than his wife, but three years. These were all easily researched items and were wrong. This cast a long shadow of suspicion over the rest of the book which consists of people's accounts of things long past. We all know how memories can be. The bookcover said the author treated shortcomings with compassion, but I found it closer to intense condemnation, such as with the statement, "the laziest man alive" because Jackie didn't walk 12 blocks in New York. Have to wonder if the author would have hoofed it, or hailed a cab. There may be some facts buried in the pile of misinformation and bad feeling, but it may be hard to find, or to identify. For me, I see Jackie's ever changing stories as a way for him to keep the truth private and just for himself. I certainly hope no one out there really believes that Tom Cruise is telling us the truth about his life, or Julia Roberts. Just because they do something, doesn't mean we deserve the intimate details of theirs lives. And just because Jackie wasn't upfront about his, doesn't change that mystical magic that happens when people watch the Honeymooners. He wasn't perfect, few of us are, but he gave us smiles we didn't have before. His life was sad and hard, but to be so spiteful and mean about it makes William's life even sadder. Imagine implying Jackie shouldn't feel upset because his mother died when he was a "man of nineteen" instead of boy of sixteen. I can't imagine having lost both parents by nineteen and to only have one cousin at my wedding for family. This book will only give you what you want if you already know that it has been written by someone who looked for the bad and down played the good, or quite possibly, simply didn't include those accounts. The book wasn't that interesting, and I certainly could put it down. It left a very bad taste in my mouth.