Jan 03 2009
Honeymooners Marathon good way to start 2009
Bang, zoom. You’d hear those two words very often if you tuned into the recent Honeymooners marathon that ran on WGN (DTV 307) on December 31, 2008 and concluded New Year’s Day, 2009. The station ran the 39 episodes, known as the Classic 39, that were originally broadcast on the Dumont network from 1955 to 1956. Since the mid 1980’s, earlier and later versions of the Honeymooners sketches that ran on various Jackie Gleason variety shows have also been available, but they cannot compare to the single season when The Honeymooners was a regular half-hour stand alone comedy.
For those who are aleady on the moon, the series concerns the trials and tribulation of Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), his long suffering but loyal wife Alice (Audrey Meadows), his best friend, city sewer worker Ed Norton (Art Carney) and his wife Trixie (JoyceRandolph). Most plots revolve around Ralph and Norton’s get rich quick schemes, their attempts to get around their wives’ rules, and the battle of the sexes among married couples. And at least once in every episode, Alice will remind Ralph of his extra large girth, while he will threaten to send her to the moon or warn her that one day she will get hers, threats which he never carries out. Contemporary TV shows are still doing variations on plots first broadcast on The Honeymooners over fifty years ago. One of the trademark parts of the show is the barebones set of the Kramden’s apartment. A table and chairs, a chest of drawers, and icebox and sink and bare walls are about all the Kramdens have. The bedroom is rarely seen. When it comes to simple living, Ralph and Alice were ahead of their time. No wonder Ralph is always trying out crazy get rich quick plans. One of the surprising elements of the program is how nice the Norton’s place is. Unlike the Kramdens, they have nice furniture, a TV, a phone, wallpaper, a washer and dryer and other accoutrements of the middle-class lifestyle. How they do so, on Ed’s salary, is never revealed.
The marathon will also run on New York’s WPIX, which has run the old episodes for years and years. The Honeymooners marathon is a perfect obsession for those who are tired of the New Years Eve shows with their collection of tired pop stars. It was fun to sit back with a Norton-sized hero, laugh at the “poloponies” episode, hear Norton’s famous greeting, “Hiya, Ralphie boy, pal o’mine” and see Ralph admit his mistakes and finally realize that his wife Alice in the greatest. Same goes for The Honeymooners.
