Yes you should get a decent spurt of fluid, maybe not quite as much as the fronts but similar. One of the advantages of being in a shop is using a power bleeder, but without that I'd start by opening the rear bleeders and letting it gravity bleed. If you don't get much you may have the proportioning valve stuck due to air, which on an older car where things weren't bled right may have happened. You can typically free one up by providing very hard fast hits on the brake pedal with the bleeders all closed. I would start by gravity bleeding the system either way and see what happens. It's honestly a very good way to get air out, and finish up with a normal bleed procedure.
I have never had much luck with the vacuum type bleeders either, so short of something that can put pressure to it I wouldn't bother. You can always run a hose into a bottle with some brake fluid in it and pump away all by yourself, I do it all the time.
Sorry for the rambling, if I can try to answer anything specifically I will. I just always end up typing my thoughts out withut much structure.