How Sweet It wa w S In the 1950s and ’60s, Miami was the sun-and-fun playground for the celebrity set—the kind of town where anything could (and often did) happen. B y G a s pa r G o n z á l e z
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redit Arthur Godfrey. In the 1950s, “The Old Redhead” was the country’s biggest media star, hosting two weekly television programs as well as a daily show on radio. He also was its most trusted pitchman; a thumbs-up from Godfrey meant big sales for corporate advertisers like Lipton tea and Chesterfield cigarettes. So it’s no surprise that when Godfrey decided to bring his CBS show to the Kenilworth Hotel in ritzy Bal Harbour in 1953, South Florida’s stock soared. “Don’t take my word,” Godfrey told his audience as he emerged from a refreshing dip in the Atlantic. “Come on down. Experience it for yourself.” In the ensuing years, millions of viewers would take him up on the offer. So would fellow entertainers, including some of the era’s best-known names. Others, not so famous, came in hopes of making the kind of splash that would land them on the A-list. Together, they turned Miami into America’s celebrity hot spot, a place where the stars boozed, brawled and made frontpage headlines (and, on occasion, the police blotter). It was a wild time—and here are the stories to prove it.
Jackie Gleason in Miami Beach
and away we Go! Godfrey might have helped put Miami on the map, but the man who would become synonymous with the city’s golden age— and who would bestow upon Miami Beach its most famous nickname—was Jackie Gleason. By the early 1960s, the rotund, Brooklyn-born comic had been a staple on television for more than a decade. Audiences knew him best as Ralph Kramden, the New York City bus driver with a get-rich-quick scheme for every day of the week and a wisecracking wife who reveled in bringing him back to reality. But Gleason’s talents extended far beyond the tube. He had earned both a Tony Award and an Oscar
nomination, the latter for playing Minnesota Fats opposite Paul Newman in the stark poolroom drama “The Hustler.” It seemed there was nothing “The Great One” couldn’t do—except maybe get in as much golf as he would have liked. In 1963, Gleason mentioned to newspaper columnist Earl Wilson that he was thinking of relocating his variety show from New York to a sunnier clime where he could hit the greens year-round. The logical choice, of course, would have been Los Angeles, but Miami Beach public-relations maven Hank Meyer had a different idea: Why not bring Gleason’s show to South Florida? To get Gleason, Meyer convinced the
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