The Honeymooners TV Show - Classic 39 Episodes | clown ministry | Reviews | Art Carney reviews

You are here: Reviews > Art Carney reviews > Jackie Gleason reviews >The Honeymooners TV Show - Classic 39 Episodes

The Honeymooners TV Show - Classic 39 Episodes - DVD - Jackie Gleason - Ralph Kramden - Art Carney - Ed Norton - Audrey Meadows - Alice Kramden

Editorial Review of The Honeymooners TV Show - Classic 39 Episodes, courtesy of Amazon.com

Get the bag. As The Honeymooners continues to get bumped from late-night TV schedules across the nation--by laughably unfunny shows such as Friends and Murphy Brown no less--legions of Honeymoonies will need to get their fix in other ways. This set--the Honeymoonie’s Holy Grail--contains all 39 episodes from the legendary 1955-1956 season. There’s no commentary from some "expert" who compares Ralph to gods from Greek mythology or memories from some assistant producer--it’s just the meat, and that’s enough to make any fan salivate. This was the only season that The Honeymooners had a life of its own apart from the Jackie Gleason Show, and as much as we tried to welcome the "Lost Episodes" into our family, they very rarely matched the high quality of the classic 39. Rather than sequence them in order, the producers have decided to group them by eight different themes including Ralph’s jealous nature, his life at the Gotham Bus Company, his friendship with Norton, domestic troubles, and financial woes. Sometimes this approach is a bit forced, but it does illustrate why The Honeymooners is the ultimate situation comedy: You can show them out of order. No matter what happens to the Bensonhurst foursome, Ralph will still work for the bus company, Norton in the sewer. They’ll be struggling to get by, passing the time bowling, shooting pool, arguing with the wives, and dreaming of a better day. And it’s in the mundanity of everyday life that The Honeymooners finds boundless humor. Even when the events were anything but mundane--bank robbers, counterfeiters, TV commercials, game shows, golf dates with The Boss--the real story and the best jokes were about the reality of their lives and the realization that, because of marriage and friendship, they didn’t really have it so bad after all. The chemistry between Jackie Gleason and Art Carney still amazes after all these years. Audrey Meadows’s Alice is the perfect foil for Ralph, stern but sympathetic. And Joyce Randolph’s Trixie? Well, let’s just call her "earnest." Still, for all of Norton’s frenetic energy and Alice’s wisdom, the show belongs to Ralph Kramden. Somehow, Gleason took a chauvinistic, paranoid, insensitive, scheming, bitter, loudmouth, underachieving bus driver and made him a hero to millions. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description of The Honeymooners TV Show- Classic 39 Episodes, courtesy of Amazon.com

Although it only aired for one season, The Honeymooners TV Show remains one of the funniest and most beloved TV shows of all time. Its brilliant comic interplay has influenced television comedy throughout the years, and its trademark one-liners have carved out a permanent spot in American pop culture ("one of these days, Alice!"). This 6-disc box set includes every episode from its sadly limited 1955-56 run--a total of 39 episodes, affectionately known as the "classic 39." Rediscover the magic and hilarity as Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) trades barbs with his feisty wife Alice (Audrey Meadows) and plans get-rich-quick-schemes with his upstairs neighbor Ed Norton (Art Carney). Baby, you’re the greatest!

Trivia for The Honeymooners TV Show (1955)

Filmed at CBS’ Studio 50 in New York, later used for "Toast of the Town" (1948), now known as "The Ed Sullivan Theater."
Pert Kelton, the original Alice, left while the sketch was still part of "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1952) due to purported health problems (it was later revealed she had been blacklisted). Audrey Meadows was approached for suggestions about who could replace Kelton. After rattling off a list of actresses, none of whom were suitable for one reason or another, Meadows finally suggested herself. Jackie Gleason initially rejected her on the grounds that she was too young and pretty. Meadows, determined to get the part, had a photographer come to her house at 7:00 the next morning, and had pictures taken of herself without makeup, her hair pinned up with combs she’d slept on, and wearing a torn blouse, a skirt, and an apron. When Gleason saw the pictures he exclaimed happily, "That’s Alice!" and asked who it was. When told it was the same young actress he’d rejected the day before, he said, "Any dame with a sense of humor like that deserves the job. Hire her!"
The show was shot "as live" (filmed before an audience, edited and shown later). If you ever notice Jackie Gleason patting himself on the stomach, it was a sign that he had forgotten his line..
Audrey Meadows was the only cast member to receive residual payments for the show for her entire life; not even Jackie Gleason knew how she managed to arrange such a deal.
Jackie Gleason rarely liked to rehearse, as he feared it killed the spontaneity of his performance. Co-stars Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph eventually took to rehearsing without him, taking turns standing in for him in scenes where Ralph Kramden appeared.
According to Art Carney, the elaborate procedure Ed Norton would go through whenever he had to sign something was originally an ad-lib. He based it on the performance his own father would go through when signing his school report card.
The four main characters later became the prototypes for the four main characters in "The Flintstones" (1960).
Jackie Gleason’s childhood home is still located at 328 Chauncey Street in Brooklyn, New York. This apartment served as the model for the Honeymooner’s set.
Jackie Gleason refused to work with Art Carney in anything besides Honeymooners material until the TV movie _Izzy and Moe (1985) (TV)_ .
Art Carney’s first appearance on The Honeymooners was not as Ed Norton, but a cop who gets hit by a barrel of flour in the very first "Honeymooners" sketch on "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1952).
Trixie Norton’s real name was Thelma.
Ralph’s phrase "To the moon, Alice!" was ranked #2 in TV Guide’s list of "TV’s 20 Top Catchphrases" (21-27 August 2005 issue).
Ed’s full name is Edward Lilywhite Norton.