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Jackie Gleason was born Herbert John Gleason in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn in New York City in 1916. His father left his family when he was a boy, and his mother died when he was a teenager. He grew up very poor, and worked at all sorts of odd jobs after dropping out of school. He had some bit parts in movies in the early 1940s, but had little success, and started a night club act. In 1949, it LOOKED like he got his big break when he was cast as the lead in the TV version of The Life of Riley (because William Bendix was too busy with his movie career). But Gleason bombed out, and only 12 shows aired before it was cancelled, surprising, because it had been a huge radio hit (and in 1953 Bendix was finally free to star, and the show ran for 6 years!). In 1950, Gleason got another shot at his own TV show, and this was Cavalcade of Stars, a variety show for the fledgling DuMont network, and it was successful enough that CBS hired him away in 1952 (and re-named the show). This show had production numbers and skits with Gleason's memorable characters, including Reginald Van Gleason III, Joe the Bartender, and of course, Ralph Kramden, among others. If you don't know who Ralph Kramden is, go out and rent some of the Honeymooners episodes and watch the funniest TV show ever created! If you do know, I don't need to explain about that show. The Jackie Gleason show continued on TV until 1957, and Gleason brought back the show and The Honeymooners in various forms in the 1960s and 1970s. In those years he also appeared in a number movies, some excellent, and some not so good. To my mind, his two best performances were as Minnesota Fats in Robert Rossen's The Hustler (nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this film) in 1961, and as Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter in Blake Edwards' Soldier in the Rain in 1963. Gleason had a major hit in 1977's comedy Smokey and the Bandit, where he played Sheriff Buford T. Justice. He continued acting until 1986, the year before he passed away at the age of 71.

Important Added Info: Note that this board game was created when Jackie Gleason was on TV with his "Jackie Gleason Show", and the cover of the game depicts him as his most famous characters, including as Ralph Kramden of "The Honeymooners"! Also note that this is one of 120 board games we are auctioning in this set of auctions. It is a remarkable collection that covers all decades and genres. Most are movie or TV related in some way (often based on a specific movie or TV show, but sometimes on a character). All of the games were actually used and played with. We can't say if the games are complete, especially in regards to the small pieces. We have photographed the cover of the game, the inside of the cover (if relevant), the board, and the game pieces, and we include the length and width measurements of the box. Please look at our images to tell both the overall condition of the game, and to see if it appears to be complete. We have assigned each game an overall condition grade, but because we are FAR from experts in these board games, we don't have a basis for how to grade them, and we are just taking a good guess as to how to grade them. Also, please do not ask any questions about them, because we won't know the answers, beyond what can be seen in our images. We also have already packed the games so that they will be quickly ready to ship, so they can't be opened, and therefore we can't look at any of them to give further information beyond what is seen in our images. This is a wonderful opportunity to purchase many of these games at one time! If you bought them one at a time, it would surely take years to assemble a collection like this, but all of these will have new owners when these auctions end, because all are being sold with no reserve, and all start at just $1!

Note that this item needs to be shipped in an oversized flat package (sometimes a very large oversized package; see the dimensions of the item). So please bear in mind that this item must be sent in a LARGE flat package (the size of the package will depend on the size of the item), and bear this added expense in mind before placing a bid on it. In addition, some of the items that are in this section are ones that are "three dimensional" and need to be shipped in a box, and often need to be sent by themselves, because combining them with other items would likely cause damage, so bear that in mind as well before bidding. So please bear in mind that this item must be sent in a LARGE flat package (the size of the package will depend on the size of the item), and bear this added expense in mind before placing a bid on it.

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Bruce Hershenson,
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