The "material" was adapted from a previous radio script Irving Brecher and his writers created for William Bendix. Brecher had somewhat of a handicap producing this series, as this was not only the first situation comedy series filmed for network television, he had to pay $2000 out of his own pocket each week to make up the deficit in filming each episode {his sponsor, Pabst Blue Ribbon, refused to advance him any more money than THEY thought the production budget should be; he couldn't even use a laugh track because he couldn't afford it- he finally added one, years later}. He filmed each episode in ONE DAY, after three days of rehearsal. He believed that, since he OWNED the program, he would be able to syndicate it in future years. But Pabst double-crossed him by backing out of their 39 week agreement to film a full season's worth of episodes, so Brecher stopped after the 26th episode. He later found out their request for only "32 episodes" would have ended the series at the time they began sponsoring CBS' Wednesday night "BLUE RIBBON BOUTS" (in May 1950), "which they thought was better for selling their lousy beer", he bitterly recalled. Because of legal reasons {and an injunction filed against him by Jackie Gleason to keep those episodes off TV in the late '60s and early '70s}, Brecher wasn't able to syndicate these episodes until January 1977.
Do you know WHY Jackie was "Chester Riley" in the 1949-'50 series? Because William Bendix was forbidden by his movie studio [RKO] to appear on TV as long as he was under contract to them. He could do the RADIO show, but NOT the TV edition. Irving Brecher saw Jackie on Ed Sullivan's "TOAST OF THE TOWN", had him audition, and chose HIM, despite protests from the Pabst Brewing Company (the sponsor) AND the William Morris Agency {his agent}. He won an Emmy for filming the series.....on the day he "tore up" his contract with Pabst over the TV series (he continued to produce Bendix's radio edition through 1951).
This is how the series was originally seen......without a laugh track.
Jackie Gleason was a great talent, even with lame material.
The "material" was adapted from a previous radio script Irving Brecher and his writers created for William Bendix. Brecher had somewhat of a handicap producing this series, as this was not only the first situation comedy series filmed for network television, he had to pay $2000 out of his own pocket each week to make up the deficit in filming each episode {his sponsor, Pabst Blue Ribbon, refused to advance him any more money than THEY thought the production budget should be; he couldn't even use a laugh track because he couldn't afford it- he finally added one, years later}. He filmed each episode in ONE DAY, after three days of rehearsal. He believed that, since he OWNED the program, he would be able to syndicate it in future years. But Pabst double-crossed him by backing out of their 39 week agreement to film a full season's worth of episodes, so Brecher stopped after the 26th episode. He later found out their request for only "32 episodes" would have ended the series at the time they began sponsoring CBS' Wednesday night "BLUE RIBBON BOUTS" (in May 1950), "which they thought was better for selling their lousy beer", he bitterly recalled. Because of legal reasons {and an injunction filed against him by Jackie Gleason to keep those episodes off TV in the late '60s and early '70s}, Brecher wasn't able to syndicate these episodes until January 1977.
Do you know WHY Jackie was "Chester Riley" in the 1949-'50 series? Because William Bendix was forbidden by his movie studio [RKO] to appear on TV as long as he was under contract to them. He could do the RADIO show, but NOT the TV edition. Irving Brecher saw Jackie on Ed Sullivan's "TOAST OF THE TOWN", had him audition, and chose HIM, despite protests from the Pabst Brewing Company (the sponsor) AND the William Morris Agency {his agent}. He won an Emmy for filming the series.....on the day he "tore up" his contract with Pabst over the TV series (he continued to produce Bendix's radio edition through 1951).