'Mooners Monday #2: Ralph's telephone etiquette

Let's stick with The Babysitter for another week. I've always wanted to answer the phone the way Ralph does in this episode. First, he endures the indignity of being called out by Alice after claiming the new phone would be for "you, you, you!"

"It's for you, you, you!"



Then Ralph picks up the phone, says, "Hello?" then after a brief pause, spits out, "Shut up!" and hangs up!

I love the elegance of that. "Hello? Shut up!" I wish I could do that someday. And by the way, aren't we missing something without these "old" conventional telephones? Pushing a little button isn't as satisfying as slamming a receiver into the cradle.

When Alice asks Ralph why he hung up on Norton, the answer is he's a nut--calling him up to congratulate him on getting a telephone. It's actually a pretty sweet gesture by Ed, but I still love how contemptuous Ralph is when he dismisses him. It's one of my favorite simple 'Mooners moments.

A final bit of info before we move on from The Babysitter: Donna McCrohan's The Honeymooners' Companion claims this episode was pushed back 3 times--from mid October to December to later in December to late January--before finally airing. Whether it's because of the redubbing they had to do when they had to change the Kramden's number is not said, but that seems a likely factor.