Topic: HONEYMOONER Wife-Swapping

[BeAStooge]

The Honeymooners -  Jackie Gleason, Audrey Meadows, Art Carney and Joyce Randolph. The classic cast lineup of 1952 - 1958. But they were not the original cast, nor the last.

The Honeymooners premiered as sketches on Jackie Gleason's 1951 - 1952 Dumont Network variety show. Pert Kelton was Alice Kramden, and after a couple episodes, Art Carney was added as Ed Norton. The first Trixie was Elaine Stritch, who did not get along with Gleason, so she was replaced by Joyce Randolph. Most of the Dumont kinescopes were destroyed, but a couple survive. Here is December 7, 1951's "Honeymooners" sketch, with Jackie, Pert, Art and Joyce...
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For the 1952 - 1953 season, Gleason moved his show to CBS. But the McCarthy witch-hunt named Pert Kelton as a possible Communist, and CBS wanted nothing to do with her. Press releases mentioned health concerns as the reason for her departure. Enter... Audrey Meadows.

Gleason, Meadows, Carney and Randolph were "The Honeymooners" from 1952 - 1958, both in variety show sketches and the "Classic 39" sitcom of 1955 - 1956.

After a hiatus to embarrassing game shows, and notable films (e.g., THE HUSTLER), Gleason returned to TV in 1962 with his AMERICAN SCENE variety show. Out of the gate, he brought back "The Honeymooners," but Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph were unavailable... enter Sue Ane Langdon as Alice, and Patricia Wilson as Trixie. Here's the Sept. 29, 1962 "Honeymooners" sketch, with Gleason, Carney, Langdon and Wilson...
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It wasn't quite the same, so after a couple episodes, Gleason retired "The Honeymooners" for a few more years.

[BeAStooge]

Shortly after Gleason's relocation to Miami, and his show's transition to color, Jackie revisited "The Honeymooners" with a 1-hour special titled "The Adoption." A remake of a 1955 "Honeymooners" sketch, it was the bittersweet story of Ralph and Alice trying to adopt a baby. Audrey Meadows returned as Alice Kramden for the special, aired on Jan. 8, 1966.

Ratings went thru the roof, so Gleason (and prompting from CBS) made "The Honeymooners" a regular part of his weekly variety show, beginning with the 1966 - 1967 season. Not just sketches... every other 2nd to 3rd episode would be dedicated to a 1-hour "Honeymooners" musical-variety showcase. The 1957 - 1958 sketches involved Ralph winning a slogan contest, and going on a round-the-world trip... the new, color episodes would remake these as musical extravaganzas.

Meadows and Randolph were not available for a weekly Miami commute, busy at home in LA and NYC with family. Enter... Sheila MacRae as Alice Kramden, and Jane Kean as Trixie Norton. Here's the premiere musical episode from Sept. 17, 1966...

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Gleason later hired Pert Kelton (Alice # 1) to play Ralph's mother-in-law in the March 4, 1967 episode "Rififi, Brooklyn Style."

Most 1967 - 1969 "Honeymooner" episodes adopted various 1952 - 1955 sketches, into the 1-hour musical format. 1969 started with original stories about Ralph's movie idea earning the Kramdens and Nortons a trip to Hollywood, and ended with more 1950s sketch adaptations.

Gleason ended his show in 1970. CBS won a breach-of-contract lawsuit, that prevented Jackie from working in television until 1976.

1976 and 1977, Gleason took "The Honeymooners" to ABC for three 1-hour specials. Joyce Randolph again was unavailable, so Jane Kean continued as Trixie... but Audrey Meadows [appropriately] encored as Alice Kramden for all three shows.

And Alice and Ralph lived happily ever after.

[xraffle]

Talk about coincidence. I just bought the Classic 39 DVD set a couple of days ago for $25 at my local B&M store, just in time to participate in this thread and also in time to start my own marathon for New Year’s. I had these episodes on VHS and converted them to DVDs, but they didn’t come out all that great. This DVD set looks a lot better.

This is such a funny show that it puzzles me why it only lasted 39 episodes. I doubt it had bad ratings. Maybe Jackie Gleason wanted to return to The Jackie Gleason Show? I honestly don’t know. Anyone know why?

[2reelers]

There were 4 ABC specials in the late 70's

The 2nd Honeymoon
Christmas Special #1 (Ralph blows a bunch of money on lottery tickets)
Valentines Day Special
Christmas Special #2 (Ralph directs and stars in a Christmas play)

I have these on vhs somewhere, but am hoping that they'll be released to dvd like the other color Honeymooners from the 60's.

[Benno1979]

From what I understand, Gleason felt that the show could not maintain the quality that it had during the first season.  He also felt that the writers were getting stale on show ideas and situations to maintain for these characters.  The other thought, which was confirmed to me by Joyce Randolph several years ago, was that CBS (and Gleason) were not impressed with the ratings for The Honeymooners, and that Stage Show (the Gleason-produced Dorsey Brothers variety show that filled out the other 1/2 hour on CBS) was not the success that Buick had hoped for.  On NBC was Perry Como, who was beating the Gleason hour in the ratings, and Gleason went back to his variety show for a final season.

During this final season of live shows, Gleason and Company did many "Honeymooners" that were in varying lengths, from short 15 mins to entire hour shows.  Several were new stories, many more were remakes of older skits that were performed before the "Classic 39" were produced.  Included in these shows were the original "Trip To Europe" shows which were remade in the 1966 season.  These shows were not released along with the "Lost Episodes" in the 1980s, but are available on the "collectors market."  I have these 8 shows, and they are enjoyable though not the ground breaking shows that the 39 episodes are.

In the 1958 season, Gleason starred on a short-lived 1/2 hour variety show also titled The Jackie Gleason Show with Buddy Hacket as his costar.  I don't know if these shows have survived, but it was cancelled midseason.  (I did read somewhere that during one of these shows, Gleason did a Reggie skit where he was in court, and the judge asked him what he was doing on the night of like May 16, and Reggie said "coming home from a New Year's Eve party!")

[Benno1979]

There were 4 ABC specials in the late 70's

The 2nd Honeymoon
Christmas Special #1 (Ralph blows a bunch of money on lottery tickets)
Valentines Day Special
Christmas Special #2 (Ralph directs and stars in a Christmas play)

I have these on vhs somewhere, but am hoping that they'll be released to dvd like the other color Honeymooners from the 60's.

Same here ... I have these specials as well.  My holiday tradition includes watching the Christmas specials which I enjoy for what they are, the last time that Gleason and Co. would play the Kramdens and Nortons.  (In one episode Gale Gordon guest stars, where he mentions an old secretary of his named Lucy who was a "real screwball.")

On the 4th volume of the Color Honeymooners set, MPI included a reunion skit from 1973 with Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean again playing the wives.  It's called "Women's Lib" and if anyone has ever seen the picture of Ralph and Ed looking at a "Plaything" magazine, it came from this special.

There are still several skits from the 1968-1969 season that have not been released or even shown on TV since they originally aired.  They were short sketches performed on Gleason's show, about 15 mins. or so, and I believe there are 7 or 8 of these.  A good release on DVD would be to include these short skits, as well as the reunion shows from 1970s.  And for kicks, they could also include the 2 skits from Gleason's Amercian Scene Magazine with Sue Ane Langdon as Alice, and 1966's "Adoption" episode with Audrey Meadows.

For a show as simple in premise as The Honeymooners, it has a wide and varied history indeed!

[BeAStooge]

There were 4 ABC specials in the late 70's

The 2nd Honeymoon
Christmas Special #1 (Ralph blows a bunch of money on lottery tickets)
Valentines Day Special
Christmas Special #2 (Ralph directs and stars in a Christmas play)

I have these on vhs somewhere, but am hoping that they'll be released to dvd like the other color Honeymooners from the 60's.

"Second Honeymoon" and "Valentine's Day Special" are coming to DVD on May 4, 2010...
THE HONEYMOONERS Specials -  TVShowsonDVD news

TVShowsonDVD also reports that each DVD will include some bonus "Honeymooners" skits, from THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW's 1969 - 1970 season.