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The Honeymooners
*Jackie Gleason and Art Carney were first cast together on "The Cavalcade of Stars" program. Art's character "Ed Norton" was introduced on that series.
*According to Jackie Gleason, Orson Welles was the first person to call him, "The Great One".
*In addition to Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph, several other actresses played the roles of Alice and Trixie. Pert Kelton, Sue Ane Langdon and Sheila MacRae played Alice. Elaine Stritch, Patricia Wilson and Jane Kean played Trixie.
*Jackie Gleason did not originally want Audrey Meadows to be cast for the part of Alice Kramden. He thought she was too young and too pretty. She sent him pictures of herself dressed as a poor housewife and he changed his mind.
*In 1956, Art Carney won an emmy for the tv show as best actor in a supporting role. Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows both earned emmy nominations that year too but did not win.
*You know how you're always hearing that some series is filmed in the same studio where the Ed Sullivan Program was done. Well, The Honeymooners episodes were done there first!
*Jackie Gleason was born in a poor part of Brooklyn, NY pretty similar to his home on the Honeymooners.
*The often heard of "Lost Episodes" of the series are actually the sketches of the Honeymooners that were performed on the Jackie Gleason Program. They were in Gleason's possession all those years (30) and he always knew where they were. He had copies because it was in his contract that he would receive copies of all shows.
*The inscription on Jackie Gleason's headstone is his trademark phrase, "And Away We Go!".
*Everyone knows that Jackie Gleason starred in the movie, "The Hustler" in the role of "Minnesota Fats". Many people know that Jackie did not use a "double" for the pool shots as he was an excellent pool player himself. Few people are aware, however, that he got his skill by actually working as a pool hustler in his younger days!
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