ABC-Paramount 442
Producer: Sid Feller
Track listing: When Your Hair Has Turned to Silver / I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles / That Old Gang of Mine / Daddy’s Little Girl / If You Were the Only Girl in the World / Mary’s a Grand Old Name / (The Gang That Sang) Hart of my Heart / I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now / Beautiful / If I Had My Way / Always / Easter Parade
March 16, 1963
5 weeks mono
For the early ’50s through the ’60s, Jackie Gleason was one of the biggest stars on television. His comedy-variety show spawned the enormously funny sitcom The Honeymooners and made stars of Art Carney, Buddy Hackett, and Frank Fontaine.
In 1962, Fontaine was cast as Gleason’s sidekick in the fourth incarnation of Gleason’s variety program, The Jackie Gleason Show: The American Scene. Prior to joining Gleason, Fontaine was already a well-known comedian featuring in nightclubs, films, and on TV and radio, but it was with Gleason that his career thrived.
Fonataine’s character “Crazy Guggenheim” was a staple on the show’s regular “Joe the Bartender” sketch. One day during rehearsals, Fontaine began to sing an old standard – not in character, but in his own voice. The cast and Gleason were floored by Fontaine’s vocal prowess and it was decided that Fontaine should close each episode with his rendition of a different standard. The popularity of Fontaine’s singing led to a contract with ABC-Paramount.
“Jackie broached the idea to ABC,” says Sid Feller, who was the director of A&R for ABC. “It sounded like a good idea, so we signed him.” Yet even Feller, who produced the album and arranged several of the songs on the album, was surprised by Fontaine’s vocal abilities on the TV show. “He would have this crazy look on his face and would wear this dumb hat and then he would sing and out came this big, booming operatic voice.”
Instead of attempting the popular songs of the day, Fontaine stuck mostly to standards, such as Irving Berlin’s “Always” and “Easter Parade,” for his first album. “We did songs that he knew,” says Feller. “It was all old standards from the ’20s. He knew these songs as a child.” The album, however, did include one original, “Beautiful,” which was co-written by Fontaine.
ABC-Paramount operated on a shoestring budget and often cut corners when making orchestral recordings, but for Fontaine’s album, says Feller, the company spared no expense. The full orchestra was conducted by Sammy Spear, the musical director of Gleason’s show. Gleason’s name wasn’t only included in the album’s title, he also signed the liner notes, but Feller says the essay was actually written by a label executive, rather than the Great One.
Almost a decade before Fontaine entered the studio to cut his first album, Gleason was a recording star in his own right. Lonesome Echo, his 1955 Capitol album that featured instrumental music conducted by Gleason, topped the chart on July 23.
Nearly eight years later, Fontaine joined his boss in the Number One album club, as Songs I Sing on the Jackie Gleason Show topped the 150 Best Sellers in its sixth week on the chart.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of March 16, 1963
1. Songs I Sing on the Jackie Gleason Show, Frank Fontaine
2. My Son, the Celebrity, Allan Sherman
3. Moving, Peter, Paul and Mary
4. The First Family, Vaughn Meader
5. West Side Story, Soundtrack