To get to London to make this special, Jackie Gleason flew by airplane for the first time in twenty years.
This special was produced specifically for the American market (with Jackie Gleason's famous catchphrase making up half the title). Because Gleason was not as well known in England at the time, the program was re-titled "Julie Andrews and Jackie Gleason...Together" when it was shown on British television three months after its US broadcast.
During the early 1970s, Julie Andrews' career underwent some unusual changes. After her mid-1960s success in "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music," the back-to-back commercial failures of her big-budget movies "Star!" (1968) and "Darling Lili" (1970) derailed her popularity as a film star. While big-screen opportunities abruptly vanished, small-screen opportunities emerged via a partnership of ABC and the British company Associated Television. This Anglo-American partnership backed Andrews in a weekly variety program that was produced in London and broadcast in both countries. The Julie Andrews Hour" won seven Emmy Awards, but it never scored in the U.S. or U.K. ratings and was cancelled after a single season. But rather than allow Andrews to wander off, ABC and Associated Television reconfigured their contract with the star. In the updated deal, she was contracted to appear in five one-shot variety specials, which aired between 1973 and 1975. In her first three variety special Andrews, teamed up with the "Sesame Street" Muppets, celebrated Christmas with Peggy Lee and Peter Ustinov, and reunited with her "Mary Poppins" co-star Dick Van Dyke. These productions were clearly aimed at the family audiences that initially raised Andrews to Hollywood stardom. For her third special, however, Andrews took a strange challenge by working with Jackie Gleason in a program that would pay tribute to the Great One's colorful career. The resulting "Julie and Jackie: How Sweet It Is" can only be described as a fascinating failure, with two iconic talents trying in vain to mesh their extremely different performing styles into a coherent whole.
ABC broadcast "Julie and Jackie: How Sweet It Is" on May 22, 1974. Sentry Insurance was the corporate sponsor and took up all of the commercial breaks. The show was broadcast in Great Britain three months later under the title "Julie Andrews and Jackie Gleason -- Together." The production was not particularly well received in either country.