The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It follows the lives of New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden, his wife Alice, Ralph's best friend Ed Norton and Ed's wife Trixie as they get involved with various schemes in their day-to-day living.
Most episodes revolve around Ralph's poor choices in absurd dilemmas that frequently show his judgmental attitude in a comedic tone. The show occasionally features more serious issues such as women's rights and social status.
The original comedy sketches first aired on the DuMont network's variety series Cavalcade of Stars, which Gleason hosted, and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show, which was broadcast live in front of a theater audience. The popularity of the sketches led Gleason to rework The Honeymooners as a filmed half-hour series, which debuted on CBS on October 1, 1955, replacing the variety series. It was initially a ratings success as the No. 2 show in the United States, facing stiff competition from The Perry Como Show on NBC. Gleason's show eventually dropped to No. 19, and production ended after 39 episodes.
The final episode of The Honeymooners aired on September 22, 1956, and Gleason sporadically revived the characters until 1978. The Honeymooners was one of the first American television shows to portray working-class married couples in a gritty, non-idyllic manner, as the show is mostly set in the Kramdens' kitchen in a neglected Brooklyn apartment building. One of the sponsors of the show was Buick.
Cast and characters
The majority of The Honeymooners episodes focus on four principal characters and generally use fixed sets within their Brooklyn apartment building. Although various secondary characters make multiple appearances, and occasional exterior shots are incorporated during editing, virtually all action and dialogue is "on stage" inside the normal backdrop.Ralph Kramden
Played by Jackie Gleason, a bus driver for the fictional Gotham Bus Company based in New York City, he is never seen driving a bus, but sometimes is shown at the bus depot. Ralph is frustrated by his lack of success and often develops get-rich-quick schemes. He is short-tempered, frequently resorting to bellowing, insults, and hollow threats. Well-hidden beneath the many layers of bluster, however, is a softhearted man who loves his wife and is devoted to his best friend, Ed Norton. Ralph enjoys bowling and playing pool; he is proficient at both and is an enthusiastic member of the Loyal Order of Raccoons. Ralph's mother rarely is mentioned, although she appears in one episode. Ralph's father is mentioned in only one episode as having given Ralph a cornet he learned to play as a boy, and Ralph insists on keeping the cornet when Alice suggests it be thrown away.The Ralph Kramden character was given honorary membership in the real New York City bus drivers' union during the run of the show, and a Brooklyn bus depot was named in Gleason's honor after his death. Ralph Kramden was the inspiration for the animated character Fred Flintstone. An eight-foot-tall bronze statue of a jolly Jackie Gleason in a bus driver's uniform was erected in 1999 in front of Manhattan's midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal. TV Land funded the statue in cooperation with Gleason's estate and the Port Authority. Also in 1999, Ralph was ranked #13 on TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest TV characters.
Alice Kramden
Alice, played in the first nine skits from 1951 to January 1952 by Pert Kelton, by Audrey Meadows until 1956, then by Sheila MacRae, is Ralph's patient but sharp-tongued wife of 14 years. She often finds herself bearing the brunt of Ralph's tantrums and demands, which she returns with biting sarcasm. She is levelheaded, in contrast to Ralph's pattern of inventing various schemes to enhance his wealth or his pride. She sees his schemes' unworkability, but he becomes angry and ignores her advice. Upon discovering the failures of his schemes and subsequent cover-ups, she demands to Ralph: "Oh, how I wish you had an explanation for that." Alice runs the finances of the Kramden household, and Ralph frequently has to beg her for money to pay for his lodge dues or crazy schemes. Alice studied to be a secretary before her marriage and works briefly in that capacity when Ralph is laid off. Wilma Flintstone is based on Alice Kramden.Another foil for Ralph is Alice's mother, who is even sharper-tongued than her daughter and despises Ralph as a bad provider. Alice's father is occasionally mentioned, but never seen. Alice's sister Agnes appears in episode 22, "Here Comes the Bride".. Ralph and Alice lived with her mother for six years after getting married before they got their own apartment. In a 1967 revival, Ralph refers to Alice as being one of 12 children, and to her father as never working.
The Honeymooners originally appeared as a sketch on the DuMont Network'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 of Alice went to Audrey Meadows because Kelton had been blacklisted. According to playwright Arthur Miller, a family friend, writing many years later in his autobiography Timebends: A Life, extensive inquiries finally revealed that her blacklisting was due to the fact that her husband Ralph had, many years earlier, marched in a May Day parade. "Ralph, I knew, had absolutely no leftist connections whatever but had simply thrown himself in with a gang of actors protesting whatever it was that year, and Pert had never even voted in her life."
The character's name is mentioned in the 1998 American stoner comedy film Half Baked in the lyrics to the song by the movie's character "Sir Smoka-Alot".
Edward Lillywhite/Ethelbert "Ed" Norton
Played by Art Carney; a New York City municipal sewer worker and Ralph's best friend. He is considerably more good-natured than Ralph, but nonetheless trades insults with him on a regular basis. Ed often gets mixed up in Ralph's schemes. 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. In most episodes, Ed is shown to be better-read, better-liked, more worldly and more even-tempered than Ralph, despite his unassuming manner and the fact that he usually lets Ralph take the lead in their escapades. Ed and Ralph both are members of the fictional Raccoon Lodge. Like Ralph, Ed enjoys and is good at bowling and playing pool. Unlike Ralph, Ed is good at ping-pong.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 subterranean sanitation, I just keep things moving along." He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and used his G.I. Bill money to pay for typing school, but felt he was unable to work in an office because 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 freer use of credit; at one point he admits to having 19 charge accounts.
Ed is the inspiration for Barney Rubble in The Flintstones, and for Yogi Bear. In 1999, TV Guide ranked him 2nd on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time". According to Entertainment Weekly, Norton is ranked 8th of the "greatest sidekicks ever".
Thelma "Trixie" Norton
Thelma "Trixie" Norton was Ed's wife and Alice's best friend. She did not appear in every episode and had a less developed character, though she is shown to be somewhat bossy toward her husband. In one episode, she surprisingly is depicted as a pool hustler. Trixie is the inspiration for Betty Rubble in The Flintstones.Elaine Stritch was the first and original Trixie Norton in a Honeymooners sketch with Gleason, Carney, and Pert Kelton. Trixie's abrasive ex-burlesque-dancer character was rewritten and recast by Gleason after just one episode, with Joyce Randolph playing the character as a wholesome housewife.
Joyce Randolph played the role in earlier sketches and on the 1955–1956 sitcom The Honeymooners.
Jane Kean played the role in a series of hour-long Honeymooners episodes, in color and with music, on The Jackie Gleason Show from 1966 to 1970, playing the role for many more years than her predecessor.
Others
Some of the actors who appeared multiple times on the show include George O. Petrie and Frank Marth as various characters, Ethel Owen as Alice's mother, Zamah Cunningham as apartment building neighbor Mrs. Manicotti, and Cliff Hall as the Raccoon Lodge president.Ronnie Burns, son of George Burns and Gracie Allen, made a guest appearance on one episode. On another episode, Norton makes a reference to a co-worker "Nat Birnbaum". George Burns's real name was Nathan Birnbaum. Seasoned actress Eileen Heckart appeared as Alice's mother in the 1978 The Honeymooners Christmas special. Strangely, Heckart's character makes several comments in the episode alluding to her desire to become a grandmother by Ralph and Alice, this despite the fact that Meadows, who played Alice, was in fact 55 years old at that time.