You may have noticed this feature was absent last week. I think on some level I was avoiding writing this one. I normally love to defend my boy Ralph Kramden, even when it seems he is doing something indefensible. But in my current rewatch of the Classic 39, I have hit something I cannot defend.
Ralph Kramden did a lot of dumb, inconsiderate, and, yea, even downright cruel things on
The Honeymooners, but I think
Please Leave the Premises represents his low point. Yes, landlord Johnson is a real jerk about raising the rent. He just seems too giddy about the opportunity to stick it to the tenants. Oh, how I wish I could back Ralph in this fight against DA MAN.
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| Look at that rent-eating grin! |
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| How dare you point your finger at a hard-working, upstanding member of the Gotham Bus Company? |
However, he takes it too far, and most importantly, he drags Alice down with him--literally down the stairs, out the door, and onto the streets. His refusal to pay the rent first forces them to hole up inside the apartment without heat, water, or electricity--well, the last one isn't a hardship considering they don't have any appliances, but you get the gist.
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| Ralph, we know you're a man of principle, but... |
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| He's actually trapped Alice in the apartment. |
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| Well, it can't get any worse. |
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| Strike that. |
I don't have much else to say about this episode except that I love the title. For some inexplicable reason, I always enjoy it when one of the characters refers to "leaving the premises," and to see that formal-sounding bit of speech embedded in the title pleases me. Be a better man next time, though, Ralphie boy!
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