Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922 by L. M. Montgomery - Free Ebook
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Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922
A golden wedding -- A redeeming sacrifice -- A soul that was not at home -- Abel and his great adventure -- Akin to love -- Aunt Philippa and the men -- Bessie's doll -- Charlotte's ladies -- Christmas at Red Butte -- How we went to the wedding -- Jessamine -- Miss Sally's letter -- My lady Jane -- Robert Turner's revenge -- The Fillmore elderberries -- The finished story -- The garden of spices -- The girl and the photograph -- The gossip of Valley View -- The letters -- The life-book of Uncle Jesse -- The little black doll -- The man on the train -- The romance of Jedediah -- The tryst of the white lady -- Uncle Richard's New Year dinner -- White magic.
Release Date
Mar 19, 2008
Copyright Status
Public domain in the USA.
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audio books by Jane AustenFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the 2005 film, see .
For the television episode, see .
The Honeymooners is an American , based on a recurring 1951–55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the
and subsequently on the
network's , which was filmed before a live audience. It debuted as a half-hour series on October 1, 1955. Although initially a —becoming the #2 show in the United States during its first season—it faced stiff competition from The
Show, and eventually dropped to #19, ending its production after only 39 episodes (now referred to as the "Classic 39"). The final episode of The Honeymooners aired on September 22, 1956. Creator/producer Jackie Gleason revived The Honeymooners sporadically until 1978. The Honeymooners was one of the first U.S. television shows to portray working-class married couples in a gritty, non-idyllic manner (the show is set mostly in the Kramdens' kitchen, in a neglected Brooklyn apartment complex).
The show's cast in 1955 as it premiered on CBS.
The majority of The Honeymooners focused on its four principal characters on fixed sets within a Brooklyn apartment building. Although various secondary characters made multiple appearances and occasional exterior shots were incorporated during editing, virtually all action and dialogue was "on stage" inside the normal backdrop.
Played by —a bus driver for the fictional Gotham Bus Company. He is never seen driving a bus (except in publicity photos), but is often shown at the bus depot. Ralph is frustrated by his lack of success, and often develops . Ralph is very short tempered, frequently resorting to bellowing, insults and hollow threats. Well-hidden beneath the many layers of bluster, however, is a soft-hearted man who loves his wife and is devoted to his best pal, Ed Norton. Ralph enjoys bowling, playing pool and being a member in the Loyal Order of Raccoon Lodge (although in several episodes a blackboard at the lodge lists his dues as being in arrears). Ralph was given honorary membership in the union for real New York City bus drivers (Local 100 of the ) during the run of the show, and a Brooklyn bus depot was named in Jackie's honor after his death. Ralph Kramden is the inspiration for the animated character .
Alice ( Alice Gibson), played in the first seven episodes by
throughout the "classic 39", is Ralph's patient but sharp-tongued wife of roughly 15 years. She often finds herself bearing the brunt of Ralph's insults, which she returns with biting sarcasm. She is levelheaded, in contrast to Ralph's pattern of inventing various schemes to enhance his in each case, she sees the current one's unworkability, but he becomes angry and ignores her advice (and by the end of the episode, her misgivings are almost always proven to have been well-founded). She has grown accustomed to his empty threats: "One of these days... POW!!! Right in the kisser!" or "BANG, ZOOM! Straight to the moon!", to which she usually replies, "Ahhh, shaddap!". She studied to be a secretary before her marriage, and works briefly in that capacity when Ralph is laid off.
is based on Alice Kramden.[]
for Ralph is Alice's mother, who is even sharper-tongued than her daughter. She despises Ralph as a bad provider. Alice's father is occasionally mentioned but never seen. Alice's sister, Agnes, appeared in one episode (Ralph jeopardizes his newlywed sister-in-law's marriage after giving some bad advice to the groom, but all works out in the end). Ralph and Alice lived with her mother for six years after getting married before they got their own apartment. Ralph's mother is rarely mentioned, but appears in one episode. Ralph's father is only mentioned in one episode ("Young Man with a Horn") as having given Ralph a
he learned to play as a boy, and insists on keeping when Alice suggests it be thrown away. In a 1967 revival, Ralph refers to Alice (played by
1966–70 and once more in 1973) being 1 of 12 children and her father never working.
The Honeymooners was originally a sketch on the 's "Cavalcade of Stars", with the role of Alice played by Pert Kelton. When his contract with DuMont expired, Gleason moved to the CBS network where he had The Jackie Gleason Show, and the role went to Audrey M Kelton's husband had been blacklisted during the McCarthy hearings, affecting her career at the time.
P a New York City
worker and Ralph's best friend (and upstairs neighbor). He is considerably more good-natured than Ralph, but nonetheless trades insults with him on a regular basis. Ed (typically called "Norton" by Ralph and sometimes his own wife) often gets mixed up in Ralph's schemes, and his carefree and rather dimwitted nature usually results in raising Ralph's ire, while Ralph often showers him with verbal abuse and throws him out of the apartment when Ed irritates him. Ed and Ralph are both members of the fictional Raccoon Lodge ("An Emergency meeting is an Emergency meeting—never a poker game. An Executive Meeting, that's a poker game."). According to
he is one of the "greatest sidekicks." Ed worked for the New York City sewer department and described his job as a "Sub-supervisor in the sub-division of the department of sub-terranian sanitation, I just keep things moving along". He served in the U. S. Navy, and used his G.I. Bill money to pay for Typing School, but felt he was unable to work in an office as he hated working in confined spaces. The relatively few scenes set in the Norton apartment showed it to have the same layout as the Kramdens', but more nicely furnished. Though Norton makes the same weekly $62 salary as Ralph, their higher standard of living might be explained by Norton's at one point he admits to having 19 charge accounts. Ed enjoys bowling and playing pool. Ed is the inspiration for
ranked him 20th on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time."
P Ed's wife and Alice's best friend. She did not appear on every episode and had a less developed character, though she is shown to be bossy towards her husband. In one episode she is depicted as a pool hustler. On another episode, Ralph insults Trixie by making a reference to Minsky's ( the original Trixie [played by ] was a burlesque dancer). There are a few references to Trixie's burlesque background in the lost episodes (e.g., Norton: "Every night I'd meet her backstage and hand her a rose&#160;... It was her costume!"). Randolph played Trixie as an ordinary, rather prudish, housewife, complaining to her husband on one occasion when a "fresh" young store clerk called her "sweetie-pie". In a 1967 hour special Trixie (played by
and ) resentfully denied Ralph's implications that she "worked in burlesque" to which he replied "If the shoe fits, take it off." Trixie is the inspiration for
in The Flintstones.
was the first and original Trixie Norton in a Honeymooners sketch with , , and . The character was originally a burlesque dancer, but the role was rewritten and recast after just one episode with the more wholesome looking
playing the character as an ordinary housewife.
Some of the actors who appeared multiple times on the show include
as various characters,
as Alice's mother, Zamah Cunningham as Mrs. Manicotti, and Cliff Hall as the Raccoon Lodge President.
, son of George Burns and Gracie Allen, made a guest appearance as "Wallace" on one episode. On another episode, Ed Norton makes a reference to a co-worker, "Nat Birnbaum"; 's real name was Nathan Birnbaum (as in "'nat' a 3 letter word for bug", stated by crossword aficionado Ed Norton).
The Kramdens and Nortons lived in an apartment house at 328 Chauncey Street in the
section of , . In the 1955 episode "A Woman's Work is Never Done", the address is referred to as 728 Chauncey Street. The landlord of the apartment house is Mr. Johnson. In the Honeymooners episodes filmed from 1967 to 1970, the address of the Kramdens' and Nortons' apartment house changed to 358 Chauncey Street, and the number of the Kramden apartment is 3B. The actual 328 Chauncey Street is located in the
section of the borough, approximately eight miles northeast of the show's location.
Mr. and Mrs. Manicotti: An older couple who were of Italian descent.
Tommy Manicotti: He played stick-ball and contracted the measles. He also left his water pistol in the Kramdens' apartment.
McGarrity: He was tired of hearing Ralph practicing for
quiz show. He accused Ralph of renting his tuxedo from an undertaker. He also loved Ralph's joke about "sending a knight out on a dog like this."
McGarrity Boy: He played stick-ball and contracted the measles.
Mrs. Bennett: Needed her radiator fixed when Ralph was the janitor.
Johnny Bennett: He played stick-ball, earned an apple for a home-run and contracted the measles.
Mrs. Doyle: Mother of Tommy Doyle.
Tommy Doyle: He was arrested for spending a $100 counterfeit bill that Ralph gave him to take his suits to the cleaners.
Mrs. Stevens: She gave Alice a box for hairpins that was made of matchsticks for Christmas which was the same exact gift Ralph was about to give her. She received a kitchen thermometer from Alice.
Mrs. Olsen: She said that Ralph broke her venetian blinds instead of repairing them when Ralph was the janitor.
Mrs. Hannah: Needed her bathtub fixed when Ralph was the janitor.
Mrs. Folgerty: Accused Ralph of taking food out of her ice box when Ralph was the janitor.
Mrs. Schwartz: The apartment house blabber mouth who reported that the Kramdens' had set the all time lowest gas bill for the building. She also was curious to know if the house phone was able to connect to
when Ralph was the janitor.
Mr. Riley: Had a full garbage can that needed to be emptied when Ralph was the janitor.
Judy Connors: A teenager who didn't want her father to meet Wallace her date.
Tommy Mullins: A
service member who was home on leave for Christmas.
Carlos Sanchez: A
dancer who works at night.
Mr. and Mrs. August Gunther: Were former residents of the Kramdens' apartment. August hit it big with his donut business.
The real 328 Chauncey Street
In July 1950, Jackie Gleason took over as the host of , a variety show that aired on the . After the first year, Gleason and his writing staff developed a sketch that drew upon familiar domestic situations for its material. Based on the popular radio show , Gleason wanted a realistic portrayal of life for a poor husband and wife living in . The couple would fight almost constantly, but ultimately show their love for each other. After rejecting titles such as "The Beast", "The Lovers", and "The Couple Next Door", Gleason and his staff settled on "The Honeymooners" for the name of the new sketch. Gleason took the role of Ralph Kramden, a blustery bus driver, and he chose veteran comedy movie actress
for the role of Alice Kramden, Ralph's acerbic wife.
"The Honeymooners" made its debut on October 5, 1951, as a six-minute sketch. Cast member
made a brief appearance as a
who gets hit with flour Ralph had thrown out the window. The tone of these early sketches was much darker than the later series, with Ralph exhibiting extreme bitterness and frustration with his marriage to an equally bitter and argumentative middle-aged woman (Kelton was nine years older than Gleason). The Kramdens' financial struggles mirrored those of Gleason's early life in Brooklyn, and he took great pains to duplicate on set the interior of the apartment where he grew up (right down to his boyhood address of 328 Chauncey Street). The Kramdens (and later the Nortons) are childless, an issue never explored, but a condition on which Gleason insisted. Ralph and Alice did legally adopt a baby girl whom they named Ralphina (because he actually wanted a baby boy which he could name after himself but fell in love with the baby girl whom the agency had placed with them). The biological mother requested to have her baby back, and the agency asked whether the Kramdens would be willing to return her even though they were the legal parents of the girl. Ralph agreed and stated that they would visit her and she would have a real life Santa Claus every Christmas.
Early additions to the cast of later sketches were upstairs neighbors Ed and Trixie Norton. Ed (played by Carney) was a sewer worker and Ralph's best friend, although his innocent and guileless nature was the source of many arguments between the two. Trixie Norton (maiden name unknown), Ed's wife, was originally portrayed as a
dancer by , but was replaced by the more wholesome looking , after just one appearance. Trixie is a foil to Ed, just as Alice is for Ralph, but derivatively, and almost always off-screen.
Due in part to the colorful array of characters that Gleason invented (including the cast of The Honeymooners), Cavalcade of Stars became a huge success for DuMont. It increased its
from nine to 25 percent. Gleason's contract with DuMont expired in the summer of 1952, and the financially struggling network (which suffered through ten-year layoffs from July, 1953 through October, 1963) was unable to re-sign him.
convinced Gleason to leave the DuMont Network and bring his show to CBS. In July 1952, the cast of The Jackie Gleason Show embarked on a highly successful five-week promotional tour across the United States, performing a variety of musical numbers and sketches (including the popular "Honeymooners"). However, actress Pert Kelton was blacklisted at the time and replaced on the tour by
actress Ginger Jones, who subsequently was also
(having earlier been named on the ) by CBS, which meant that a new Alice was needed.
Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) with Ed Norton (Art Carney), and Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows) in a Honeymooners scene.
Jones' replacement was , already known for her work in the 1951 musical
and on 's television show. Before receiving the role, Meadows had to overcome Gleason's reservations about her being too attractive to make a credible Alice. To accomplish this, she hired a photographer to come to her apartment early in the morning and take pictures of her with no
on, wearing a torn housecoat, and with her hair undone. When the pictures were delivered to Gleason, he looked at them and said, "That's our Alice." When it was explained to him who it was he said, "Any dame who has a sense of humor like that deserves the job." With the addition of Meadows the now-famous "Honeymooners" lineup of Gleason, Carney, Meadows, and Randolph was in place.
The rising popularity of The Honeymooners was reflected in its increasing prominence as part of The Jackie Gleason Show. During the first season, it appeared on a regular basis (although not weekly) as a short sketch during part of the larger variety show. The sketches ranged in length from seven to thirteen minutes. For the 1953–54 season, the shorter sketches were outnumbered by ones that ran for a half-hour or longer. During the 1954–55 season, most episodes consisted entirely of The Honeymooners. Fan response was overwhelming. Meadows received hundreds of
in the mail from fans who wanted to help Alice lead a fancier life. By January 1955, The Jackie Gleason Show was competing with (and sometimes beating)
as the most-watched show in the United States. Audience members lined up around the block hours in advance to attend the show.
Before Gleason's initial three-year contract with CBS expired, he was offered a much larger one by CBS and '
division (the carmaker having dropped their sponsorship of 's
after two seasons on NBC). The three-year contract, reportedly valued at $USD 11 million, was one of the largest in show business history. It called for Gleason to produce 78 filmed episodes of The Honeymooners over two seasons, with an option for a third season of 39 more. He was scheduled to receive $65,000 for each episode ($70,000 per episode in the second season), but had to pay all production costs out of that amount. Art Carney received $3,500 per week, Audrey Meadows received $2,000 per week, and Joyce Randolph (who did not appear in every episode) received $500 per week. Production for The Honeymooners was handled by Jackie Gleason Enterprises, Inc., which also produced the show's lead-in, Stage Show, starring . Reportedly, only Audrey Meadows, who later became a banker, received residuals by inserting language to that effect into her contract.[]
The first episode of the new half-hour series aired Saturday, October 1, 1955, at 8:30 pm
(during prime time), opposite
and had aired every Saturday since. As it was sponsored by Buick, the opening credits originally ended with a sponsor identification by announcer
("Brought to you by&#160;... Your Buick Dealer. And away we go!"), and the show concluded with a brief Gleason sales pitch for the company. All references to the car maker were removed when the show entered syndication in 1957.
Critical reaction to The Honeymooners was mixed. The New York Times and Broadcasting and Telecasting Magazine wrote that it was "labored" and lacked the spontaneity of the live sketches, but
praised it as "rollicking", "slapsticky" and "fast-paced". In February 1956, the show was moved to the 8 pm(et) time slot, but had already started to lose viewers to the hugely popular Perry Como Show. Gleason's writers had also begun to feel confined by the restrictive half-hour format (in previous seasons, Honeymooners sketches typically ran 35 minutes or more), and Gleason felt that they were starting to run out of original ideas. After just one season, Gleason and CBS agreed to cancel The Honeymooners, which aired its 39th and last original episode on September 22, 1956. In explaining his decision to end the show with $7 million remaining on his contract Gleason said, "the excellence of the material could not be maintained, and I had too much fondness for the show to cheapen it". Gleason subsequently sold the films of the "Classic 39" episodes of the show to CBS for US$1.5 million.
One week after The Honeymooners ended, The Jackie Gleason Show returned on September 29, 1956. The "Honeymooners" sketches were soon brought back as part of the revived variety show. In 1962, Gleason's variety show returned as Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine. The "Honeymooners" sketches returned as well, whenever Carney was available. Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph were replaced as Alice and Trixie by
and , respectively, for two sketches.
In January 1966, Meadows returned as Alice for a
special,The Honeymooners: The Adoption, a re-enactment of a 1955 sketch of the same name. When
(then based in ) returned in 1966, the "Honeymooners" sketches (then in color for the first time) returned as a series of elaborate musicals. The sketches, which comprised ten of the first season's thirty-two shows, followed a
that had the Kramdens and Nortons traveling across Europe after Ralph won a contest (an updated version of a 1957 , with musical numbers added). "The Color Honeymooners", as it has since become known, featured
in the roles of Alice and Trixie, respectively, as Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph did not want to relocate to Miami (Gleason raised no objections about this, but was adamant that the Ed Norton role never be played by anyone other than Art Carney). One notable 1967 segment featured the return of
(in one of h she died the following year), this time playing Alice's mother, Mrs. Gibson.
The Honeymooners ended again when The Jackie Gleason Show was canceled in 1970, the result of a disagreement in direction between Gleason and the network. Gleason wanted to continue interspersing "The Honeymooners" within the confines of his regular variety show, while CBS wanted a full-hour "Honeymooners" every week. On October 11, 1973, Gleason, Carney, MacRae and Kean reunited for a "Honeymooners" skit called "Women's Lib" on a Gleason special on CBS. The Kramdens and Nortons were brought back for four final one-hour specials on ABC, which aired from . Alongside Gleason and Carney, Audrey Meadows returned as Alice (for the first time since 1966) while Jane Kean continued to play Trixie. Joyce Randolph, the actress most identified as Trixie, never played the part after the 1950s. These four specials came at a time when Gleason and Carney had each achieved new found fame, with Gleason's prominent role in the box office smash
and Carney winning an
for his leading role in , which actually brought some more attention to these series of specials. These were the final original "Honeymooners" productions.
The Honeymooners was filmed using three .
In 1955, many television shows (including The Jackie Gleason Show) were performed live and recorded using
technology, though sitcoms were already largely done on film, e.g., , , . , which was recorded directly onto , had influenced television production companies to produce directly on film. For The Honeymooners, Gleason utilized the
TV-film system, developed by DuMont in the early 1950s, which allowed for a live performance to be directly captured on film. As a result of the superior picture and sound quality afforded by the Electronicam system, episodes of The Honeymooners were much more suitable for rebroadcast than most other "live" shows of the era.
All 39 episodes of The Honeymooners were filmed at the DuMont Television Network's
at 152 West 54th Street in , in front of an audience of 1,000. Episodes were never fully rehearsed, as Gleason felt that rehearsals would rob the show of its spontaneity. The result was that while the cast was able to bring a fresh approach to the material, mistakes were often made&#160;— lines were either recited incorrectly or forgotten altogether, and actors did not follow the scripted action. To compensate, the cast developed visual cues for each other: Gleason patted his stomach when he forgot a line, while Meadows would glance at the refrigerator when someone else was supposed to retrieve something from it.
In contrast to other popular comedies of the era (such as , , and ), which depicted their characters in comfortable,
suburban environments, the set design for The Honeymooners reflected the
existence of its characters. The Kramdens lived in a small sparsely furnished two-room apartment (the main set) in a tenement building at least four stories high (the Kramdens were on the third floor and the Nortons' were one floor above them), badly aired and with insufficient lighting. They used the single main room as the , dining and living room, and it consisted of a functional table and chairs, a chest of drawers, a curtain-less window (with a view of a ) and an outdated . The Kramdens' bedroom was never seen, although in the episode about Ed Norton's sleepwalking the Nortons' bedroom is shown. One of the few other sitcoms about a blue-collar family was , whose first season (1949–50) had actually featured Jackie Glea , who had originated the role of Chester A. Riley on the radio show, took over the role on television thereafter.
The instrumental
for The Honeymooners, "You're My Greatest Love", was composed by Gleason and performed by an orchestra led by Ray Bloch (who had previously served as orchestra leader on Gleason's variety show, as well as ). Although lyrics were composed, they were never sung. Sammy Spear, who later became Gleason's musical director, provided the arrangement. The music heard in the episodes was not performed during the show, so to enhance the feeling of a live performance for the studio audience an orchestra performed before filming and during breaks. The show's original announcer was , who was also a spokesman for the sponsor, Buick. For the non-sponsored syndicated version, the introduction was voiced by CBS staff announcer Gaylord Avery.
Art Carney won five
for his portrayal of Ed Norton — two for the original Jackie Gleason Show, one for The Honeymooners, and two for the final version of The Jackie Gleason Show. He was nominated for another two () but lost. Gleason and Meadows were both nominated in 1956 for their work on The Honeymooners. Gleason was nominated for Best Actor – Continuing Performance but lost to , while Meadows was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role but lost to . Meadows was also nominated for Emmys for her portrayal of Alice Kramden in 1954 and 1957.
The following table summarizes award wins by cast members, both for The Honeymooners and The Jackie Gleason Show.
Awards won
Art Carney
Emmy, Best Series Supporting Actor (1954)
The Jackie Gleason Show
Emmy, Best Supporting Actor in a Regular Series (1955)
The Jackie Gleason Show
Emmy, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (1956)
The Honeymooners
Emmy, Special Classifications of Individual Achievement (1967)
The Jackie Gleason Show
Emmy, Special Classification of Individual Achievements (1968)
The Jackie Gleason Show
Audrey Meadows
Emmy, Best Supporting Actress in a Regular Series (1955)
The Jackie Gleason Show
Most of The Honeymooners took place in Ralph and Alice Kramden's small sparsely furnished two-room apartment. Other settings used in the show included the Gotham Bus Company depot, the Raccoon Lodge, and on occasion the Nortons' apartment (which was always noticeably better-furnished than the Kramdens'). Many episodes began with a shot of Alice in the apartment, awaiting Ralph's arrival from work. Most episodes focused on Ralph and Ed Norton's characters, although Alice played a substantial role. Ed's wife, Trixie, played a smaller role in the series, and did not appear in every episode as the other three did. Each episode presented a self-contained story, which never carried over into a subsequent one. The show employed a number of standard sitcom
and plots, particularly those of
and comic misunderstanding.
The show presented Ralph as an
who struggled to make a better life for himself and his wife, but who ultimately failed due to his own shortcomings. He (along with Ed) devised a number of get-rich-quick schemes, none of which succeeded. Ralph would be quick to blame others for his misfortune, until it was pointed out to him where he had fallen short. Ralph's anger would be replaced by short-lived remorse, and he would then apologize for his actions. Many of these apologies to Alice ended with Ralph saying, "Baby, you're the greatest", followed by a hug and kiss.
In most episodes, Ralph's short temper got the best of him, leading him to yell at others and to threaten physical violence, particularly against Alice. Ralph's favorite threats to her were "One of these days&#160;... one of these days&#160;... Pow! Right in the kisser!" or to knock her "to the Moon, Alice!" (Sometimes this last threat was simply abbreviated: "Bang, zoom!") On other occasions, Ralph would simply tell Alice, "Oh, are you gonna get yours." All of this led to criticism that the show displayed an acceptance of . Ralph never carried out his threats, however, and others have pointed out that Alice knew he never would. In retaliation, the targets of Ralph's verbal abuse often responded by simply joking about his weight, a common theme throughout the series. Alice was never seen to back down during any of Ralph's tirades.
For the "Classic 39" episodes of The Honeymooners, there is no continuing story arc, all of the episodes are self-contained. For example, in the series premiere "TV Or Not TV", Ralph and Norton buy a television set. By the next week's show, the set is gone, although in later episodes a set is shown in the Nortons' apartment. In the installment "The Baby Sitter", the K however, in the next episode, the phone is gone. And, in the episode, "A Dog's Life", Alice gets a dog from the pound which Ralph tries to return. But in the end, Ralph finds himself growing to love the dog and decides to keep him, along with a few other dogs. However, in the next episode, the dogs are nowhere to be seen and are never referred to again.
Occasionally, references to earlier episodes were made, including to Ralph's various "crazy harebrained schemes" from the lost episodes. Norton's
in "The Sleepwalker" was referenced in "Oh My Aching Back." But it was not until the 1957 "Trip To Europe" shows that a Honeymooners story arc is finally used.
Day & Time
Preceded by
Saturdays at 8:30 pm (October 1, ;– February 18, 1956)
Saturdays at 8:00 pm (February 25&#160;– September 22, 1956)
at 8:00 pm (January 7&#160;– February 18, 1956)
at 8:30 pm (April 14&#160;– June 2, 1956/September 22, 1956)
at 8:30 pm (September 8–15, 1956)
The Honeymooners "Classic 39" Episodes DVD
The Honeymooners gained its greatest fame in syndication, where it has aired almost continually since its cancellation.
in New York City has aired the series for more than five decades (after initially running in
on WRCA-TV, now ), with occasional breaks. It regularly airs on WPIX with a marathon that begins on the final hour of
and runs well into .
aired 38 of the original 39 episodes beginning in 1989 and ending in 1991. The show has also aired in Australia, , , , Ireland and . It was previously seen on
from June 2008 to September 2009 and
from December 2010 to September 2011. As of April 2012, the show has returned to .
In 1984, the
announced the discovery of four original Honeymooners sketches from the original The Jackie Gleason Show. When they later held a public viewing for three of them, the response was overwhelmingly positive. In January 1985, Gleason announced the release of an additional group of lost episodes from his private vault. As with the previously released sketches, these "lost episodes" were actually kinescopes of sketches from the 56–57 run of The Jackie Gleason Show. Because the prints had not been stored under ideal conditions, parts of the soundtracks of three episodes were unusable, and voices had to be redubbed. Gleason personally approved the soundalike actors, with impressionist
doing Kramden's lines.
Gleason sold the broadcast rights to the lost episodes to , and they were first aired from
as a series of 68 22-minute episodes on the
cable network. They have since joined the original 39 episodes in syndication, and have also been released on VHS and DVD. In September 2004, another "lost" episode was reportedly discovered at the
archives in . This episode, "Love Letter", originally aired on The Jackie Gleason Show on October 16, 1954. It aired for the first time since then on October 16, 2004, its fiftieth anniversary, on .
(the modern-day successor to Viacom), via CBS Broadcasting, owns the "classic 39" series outright, while the Gleason estate owns the "lost episodes" (although CTD does distribute them).
/ released the six-disc DVD box set The Honeymooners "Classic 39" Episodes in November 2003 (only available in ). The set contains all 39 episodes from the series' original 1955–56 broadcast run. Also included in the set is an edited version of a 1990 anniversary special hosted by Audrey Meadows, as well as original show openings and closings (sponsored by Buick) that were removed when the show entered syndication.
released 80 of the "lost episodes" in 'Region 1' DVD format in 2001–02 spread out on 24 single-disc volumes. MPI subsequently re-packaged the 24 volumes into six 4-disc box sets. Both the 24 individual volumes and the six 4-disc box sets went out-of-print during the course of 2008. However, MPI has since renewed its deal with Jackie Gleason Enterprises LLC and has continued to release new editions of the "lost episodes" and other Honeymooners material not currently owned by CBS. On July 28, 2011, MPI Home Video announced the release of a complete restored set of all existing Honeymooners Lost Episodes from 1951 to 1957. The 50-hour, 15 DVD set will contain 107 Honeymooners sketches, include the home video debut of the nine existing original DuMont Network sketches, six other sketches never before released on home video and the eight musical Honeymooners episodes from 1957 which are collectively known as the "Trip To Europe" shows that have been long sought after by Honeymooners fans. The new restored set of Lost Episodes was released on Oct. 4, 2011, sixty years after the first Honeymooners sketch aired.
Release Date
The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 1
October 30, 2001
The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 2
October 30, 2001
The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 3
January 29, 2002
The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 4
March 26, 2002
The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 5
June 25, 2002
The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes Collection 6
August 27, 2002
The Honeymooners- Lost Episodes: The Complete Restored Series
October 4, 2011
In June 2006,
released The Color Honeymooners&#160;– Collection 1 ( and ), which collects the "Trip to Europe" story arc presented on The Jackie Gleason Show in 1966. It has since released an additional three volumes featuring additional episodes from this story arc.
has also aired The Color Honeymooners shows under license from Gleason Enterprises and Paul Brownstein Television.
Release Date
The Color Honeymooners- Collection 1
June 27, 2006
The Color Honeymooners- Collection 2
February 26, 2008
The Color Honeymooners- Collection 3
May 27, 2008
The Color Honeymooners- Collection 4
August 26, 2008
On July 22, 2013 Paramount and CBS Home Entertainment announced that all 39 episodes would be released on
on October 15, 2013. The release was remastered and in high definition. On September 30, it was announced that the box set had been pushed back and was released on March 18, 2014.
Steven Sheehan explains the popularity of The Honeymooners as the embodiment of working-class masculinity in the character of Ralph Kramden, and postwar ideals in American society regarding work, housing, consumerism, and consumer satisfaction. The series demonstrated visually the burdens of material obligations and participation in consumer culture, as well as the common use of threats of domestic violence in working class households.
In 1997, the episodes "The $99,000 Answer" and "TV or Not TV" were respectively ranked #6 and #26 on "".
published a list titled "TV's 100 Greatest Characters Ever!" Ed Norton was #20, and Ralph Kramden was #2.
In 2002, The Honeymooners was listed at #3 on .
On June 1, 2007, FOX aired a special of TV's Funniest Moments. A clip from the episode "" was on the list. In the clip, Ralph lamely identifies the composer of "" as being "Ed Norton".
In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Honeymooners #13 on their list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time.
Due to its enduring popularity, The Honeymooners has been referenced numerous times in American , and has served as the inspiration for other television shows. The show also introduced memorable
into American culture, such as "Bang, zoom, straight to the Moon!", "One of these days&#160;... one of these days&#160;... Pow! Right in the kisser!" and "Baby, you're the greatest".
In 1960, the -produced animated sitcom
debuted on ABC. Many critics and viewers noted the close resemblance of that show's premise and characters to that of The Honeymooners. In various interviews over the years, co-creators
have each stated that The Honeymooners was used as a basis for the concept of The Flintstones. , the voice of , was asked to model Barney's voice after Ed Norton, but reportedly refused. Gleason later said that he considered suing but decided that becoming known as "the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air" wasn't worth the negative publicity.
episode "",
witnesses the future's interpretation of The Honeymooners.
In the episode "" of the same show, Lrrr says, "One of these days, Ndnd, bang! zoom! straight to the third moon of Omicron Persei 8!!"
The sitcom
was inspired partly by The Honeymooners.
The show was parodied in a series of animated
shorts, in which the principal characters, Ralph and Alice Crumden and Ed and Trixie Morton, are depicted as
and Ralph's "big dream" is like to get enough
to impress Alice. These cartoons are
(1957), and
(1960). Human caricatures of Ralph and Ed are pitted against
in the 1956 Warner cartoon . And in another cartoon,
(1958), when
falls into an open manhole, inside we hear a voice like Ed Norton's say, "Whoo-hoo-hoo! Hey, look at this, Ralph, a pussycat." To which Sylvester simply peers out of the sewer to the audience.
has stated in an interview that he based the layout of Louie's apartment in the HBO show, , on the Kramdens' , in contrast to other shows like
that have very nicely decorated
on low incomes.
The Honeymooners was spoofed in an episode of
as a result of the character Balki Bartoukomos ()'s spinning an extended metaphor about the characters' existential situation to an episode of The Honeymooners Balki's description of the episode is shown in a black-and-white flashback.
As Ralph Kramden was a New York City bus driver, one of the service depots in Brooklyn was renamed the
in 1988. All buses that originate from the bus depot bear a sticker on the front that has a logo derived from the 'face on the Moon' opening credits of The Honeymooners. The
also took 1948
bus number 4789, renumbered it to 2969 and made it the 'official Jackie Gleason bus'.
A statue of Gleason as
stands at the
entrance to the
in New York City. The plaque on the base of the statue reads, "Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden&#160;— Bus Driver&#160;— Raccoon Lodge Treasurer&#160;— Dreamer&#160;— Presented by the People of "
included a restaurant and bar named Kramden's Kafe from 1984 until 2013.
An episode of , "", includes a fictional rip-off of The Honeymooners called The Adventures of Fatso Flannigan.
The success of The Honeymooners in countries outside the United States has led to the production of new shows based entirely on it.
Two series, 26 episodes in all were made for R.C.T.I. in 1996. It was the first sitcom of that style ever attempted in Indonesia. It was entitled Detak Detik and starred Mat Sola as the Jackie Gleason character. Art Carney rang the cast prior to production to give them his best wishes. It was decided to make Mat Sola a Silver Bird taxi driver as they had a bit more prestige in Indonesia. They left Nurbuat who mirrored Ed Norton as a sewerage worker. The chemistry worked well. They had to remove any references to alcohol as Indonesia is a Muslim country.
French Canada was entertained for years in the 1960s and 1970s by a sitcom titled , with , ,
and , which was an uncredited Quebecker version of The Honeymooners (and could, by contemporary standards, qualify as plagiarism).
In 1994, the Dutch broadcasting network
produced a version of The Honeymooners titled
([Back] then happiness was very normal), using translated scripts of the original series but changing its setting to 1950s . After the original 39 scripts were exhausted, the series' lead actors,
and , took over writing, adding many new characters and references to Dutch history and popular culture. The series was a hit in the Netherlands and it finished its run after 16 years and 229 episodes in June 2009.
In 1994, the Swedish network
produced a version of The Honeymooners titled Rena Rama Rolf, but changing its to modern-day , Rolf (Ralph) is working as a
driver. The show ran until 1998.[]
In 1998, the Polish network
produced a version of The Honeymooners titled Miodowe lata which translates to "Honeymoon years", using both translated scripts of the original series and new ones, but changing its setting to modern-day . The original series ran until 2003 and was continued in 2004 as Ca?kiem nowe lata miodowe.
On June 10, 2005, a
of The Honeymooners was released, featuring a predominantly
cast. The roles of Ralph, Alice, Ed, and Trixie were played by , , , and , respectively. The movie was a critical and commercial failure, earning slightly more than US$13 million worldwide. The film was released by .
In 1988, software company First Row Software released a Honeymooners videogame for
Crescenti, P Bob Columbe (1990). . Perigee Books.
Katsigeorgis, John (2002). To The Moon: The Honeymooners Book of Trivia – Official Authorized Edition. Metrobooks. .
McCrohan, Donna and Peter Crescenti (1986). The Honeymooners Lost Episodes. Workman Publishing. .
McCrohan, Donna (1978). . Workman.
Meadows, Audrey (1994). Love, Alice: My Life as a Honeymooner. Crown Publishers. .
Brooks, T Marsh, Earle (1999).
(7th ed.). . p.&#160;464. &#160;.
(1993). "Sweet Subversion". Honey I'm Home!: Sitcoms – Selling the American Dream. . p.&#160;112. &#160;.
B Marsh, "Top-Rated Programs by Season", p.1245
Conner (2010),
Pollak, Michael (February 8, 2004). . New York Times 2014.
Associated Press (July 1, 1988).
Ben Schott, Schott's Mischellany Calendar 2009 (New York: Workman Publishing, 2008), March 21.
TV Guide Guide to TV. Barnes and Noble. 2004. p.&#160;651. &#160;.
, accessed August 31, 2009
McCrohan, Donna (1978). The Honeymooners' Companion – The Kramdens and the Nortons Revisited. New York: Workman Publishing. &#160;.
Simon, Ron. . The Museum of Broadcast Communications 2006.
Lewisohn, Mark. . BBC 2006.
Gehring, Wes (November 2001). .
Boudreaux, Jonathan (November 12, 2003). .
Idaho Council on Domestic Violence And Victim Assistance (October 3, 1999). . The Idaho Statesman 2006.[]
Michalski, Thomas (November 23, 2006). . Pinellas Park Beacon 2006.
"Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time".
(June 28 - July 4). 1997.
TV Guide Guide to TV. Barnes and Noble. 2004. p.&#160;667. &#160;.
WRCA-TV (now ) was the first New York City station to air The Honeymooners, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. during the 1957–58 season, as per contemporary New York-Metropolitan Edition issues of . WPIX first aired the show at the start of the 1958–59 season.
Steven T. Sheehan, "'Pow! Right in the Kisser': Ralph Kramden, Jackie Gleason, and the Emergence of the Frustrated Working-Class Man, Journal of Popular Culture, June 2010, Vol. 43#3 pgs. 564-82
"Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time".
(June 28 - July 4). 1997.
Fretts, B Roush, Matt. "The Greatest Shows on Earth". TV Guide Magazine 61 (): 16–19.
Hagan, Joe (January 21, 2006). . Wall Street Journal 2006.
Meils, Cathy (October 26, 1998). .
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