Audrey Meadows…Her Television Debut With ‘Bob & Ray’

After appearing on the Broadway stage with Phil Silvers in ‘Top Banana’, Audrey and her friend Cloris Leachman each got a casting on NBC’s ‘Bob And Ray’ television show in 1951. At the link above, you’ll see her as Linda Lovely…a recurring role she played on the popular weekly show.

On September 20, 1952, ‘The Jackie Gleason Show’ debuted from CBS Studio 50, or what is now known as The Ed Sullivan Theater. Although Gleason had been doing Honeymooners sketches since late ’51 on Dumont’s ‘Cavalcade Of Stars’ show, Pert Kelton, who had played the part of Alice Kramden, was not a part of the show when it moved to CBS.

Kelton’s husband had been labeled a communist and, by association, she too had wound up on the dreaded “Black List”. A new Alice had to be found, and Meadows went for an audition. Gleason had seen her as Linda Lovely and thought she was good, but too glamorous. Meadows heard about this and a few days later auditioned again under another name but this time, with no makeup and a dressed down look. The rest, as they say, is history.

In this photo below, the production crew at Studio 50 runs over some basics with Meadows a few days before the CBS debut. Among those basics…which lens to look at. The taking lens on the RCA TK30 was the top center. Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee

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