The Golden Ham: A Candid Biography of Jackie Gleason

by Jim Bishop

Overview

In his foreword, Jim Bishop says of Jackie Gleason that when the comedian read the manuscript for the Fust time “he did not ask that anything be either omitted or altered. And yet there were parts of this biography that made him wince.”

For The Golden Ham is candid biography. To it Mr. Bishop brought his painstaking interest in detail, his reporter’s curiosity, his layman’s interest in the world of the theater, and his detachment. And most important, he began and ended his job with Jackie Gleason’s guarantee that nothing Bishop wrote would be censored.

The result is a kind of theatrical biography that is entirely new and, like Gleason himself, is made up of a great deal of a great many things. As Bishop says:

“There are several Jackie Gleasons. I know some of them. There is Gleason the comedian. Millions know him, and he’s a great talent. Then there is Gleason the producer and Gleason the writer. Some people know these....Gleason the businessman—second-rate, but he thinks he’s good at it—and then there is Gleason the thinker (apt and fast) and Gleason the man (fat, out of shape, but light on his feet) and Gleason the tenement-house kid from Brooklyn (nervy and not a bit surprised that he’s on top) and Gleason the lover, Gleason the musician, Gleason the moody, and Gleason the lonely, tormented soul.”

This is a book about Jackie Gleason. If you like him, it may make you like him more, or less, depending on the kind of person you are. If you never liked him, it may change your mind a little. If you never had any special attitude toward Jackie Gleason, you will have one by the time you have finished this book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787204171
Publisher:	Papamoa Press
Publication date:	04/07/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	259
Sales rank:	282,591
File size:	984 KB

About the Author

James Alonzo “Jim” Bishop (November 21, 1907 - July 26, 1987) was a syndicated columnist and author of many bestselling books.

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he dropped out of school after eighth grade. In 1923, he studied typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping, and in 1929 began work as a copy boy at the New York Daily News.

In 1930, Bishop got a job as a cub reporter at New York Daily Mirror, where he worked until 1943, when he joined Collier’s magazine. He remained there until 1945.

From 1946 to 1948, Bishop was executive editor of Liberty magazine, he then was director of the literary department at the Music Corporation of America until 1951. Next, he was the founding editor of Gold Medal Books (the juvenile division of Fawcett Publications) until 1953.

In the 1950s, Bishop would do his writing at the Jersey Shore in Sea Bright, New Jersey, going back to his home in Teaneck, New Jersey on weekends to see his wife and children. In 1957, he started his column, Jim Bishop: Reporter, with King Features Syndicate, which continued until 1983.

Bishop spent the remainder of his career writing biographical books about notable figures and Christian-themed books. The Day Lincoln Was Shot was published in 1955 and became an instant bestseller. Bishop also wrote The Day Christ Died, The Day Christ Was Born, and The Day Kennedy Was Shot. Perhaps his most critically acclaimed book was FDR’s Last Year: April 1944 - April 1945, which brought to public awareness the secrecy that surrounded President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declining health during World War II.

Bishop died in 1987 at the age of 79.