The Jackie Gleason Show

[comedyshorts2]

Amusing, but does not come close to Tom Howard's It Pays to be Ignorant radio show.

[hfelton]

The ''armed guard'' at the start was Sid Fields, best known for his recurring role on their 1951-3 TV show.

[WytZox1]

Irwin Corey, Crazy Guggenheim and Jayne Mansfield together were hilarious.

[mwvandersteen]

This would have been better is they had only used original jokes. On the 13 september 1950 episode of the original radio show, the one that starts with 'Why is a man like a worm?', one of the questions was "In what town in Pennsylvania did Lincoln make his Gettysburg Address?'. Three of the jokes in this parody were taken from that episode. It's freely available at the Internet Archive, along with dozens of other episodes. And they're really enjoyable (although many are cut up repeats).

[chuakip]

Good god this is awful compared to the radio show.

[hibob418]

Amazing how this concept was the forerunner to SCTV's "Halfwits," which could be argued was the inspiration to SNL's "Celebrity Jeopardy, " etc etc

Thanks for posting!!

[robertquentincobb]

Gleason is Genius! Mansfield is Gorgeous! And Irwin is Insane! I LOVE IT! Thanks for posting!

[Impowers]

Corey was Enrico Banducci's favorite comedian. He's still kicking (Corey, not Banducci).

[StraightTwoDVD]

sidney fields...........

[loulou2lou]

I remember watching this show every Saturday. The sketches were priceless. Jackie was a comedic Genius.

[brianmcc50]

I'd guess its 1964 or near that time.

[russocomedy]

I toured with Jane for the troops in Asia and Vietnam. Hard working, intelligent, a gentle person who anguished over the great distance that separated her from her loved ones back home. During one of her last press conferences which I attended with her two weeks before her death, asked by one cynical reporter: what she wanted in life? " To know God," She said. I'll not state the reporter's rude retort, but she knew the truth better than any there the time capsule of her life was completed.

[ezywonder]

Thanks so much for your reminiscence. Jayne was a true American original. Her daughter, Mariska, is such a gift to us, too.

[KaptKan1]

A friend of my father's knew Jane and Mickey well. He was devastated at the news of her death. He, too, said that she was a bright and kind-hearted individual. God bless and rest her soul.

[xXPinkGoddessXx]

@russocomedy Thanks a lot for sharing that!

[ekocentric]

@russocomedy Wow...I would have loved to have met Jane. Though I love her and Marilyn I feel sad that they were forced (in a way) to play simpering, blonde idiots because their fans loved it and studio heads expected it.

It must have been nice to have worked with her. I was fortunate enough to work in RKO's archives just before they closed...movie and t.v. people put a lot more into their work than most people will ever know.

[latimeclockman]

I'll take Mansfield over Monroe any day.

[sclogse1]

@latimeclockman

Lemme know how that work's out...

[mschnur]

What year was this?

[whitedude60499]

Who is the Babe?

[pgh45rpms]

That's Jayne Mansfield, who often portrayed blonde bombshells in films & tv. Jayne appeared as a Playboy Playmate of the month in the 1950's before her acting career. She was far from being "dumb", with an IQ above 160. She also spoke several languages and was a classically trained musician (violin & piano). Jayne died in a car accident at the age of 34.

[blueblazer68]

Priceless, I'm still laughing.

[FeelOfFriction]

He is a genius.

[defundthewar]

The delivery man was Sidney Fields, who you might remember from the Abbott and Costello show.

[KutWrite]

Prof. Corey is my role model!

[Republicrat74]

I enjoyed listening to the original "It Pays To Be Ignorant" on radio during WWII, with a prize of $25 for a correct answer to questions like "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?"