'Mooners Monday #29: Head of the House

You gotta love episodes that revolve around Ralph's biiiiiig mouth. Sure, the temptation is to say that means "all of them," but "Head of the House" is a classic example of Ralph shooting his mouth off and getting himself in trouble. In an odd way, though, Ralph deserves some credit in this episode. He says some dumb things, but he doesn't back down.

First let's took a look at old Gleason Players reliable Frank Marth, who is hanging around on the street harassing--uh, inquiring to various passersby for a feature in his newspaper.

Marth played both sinners and saints on The Honeymooners; it's a good bet that if you have a story involving cops, he's gonna be one of the bad guys if not one of the men in blue. His solid everyman kind of look and demeanor suits this inquiring reporter role well. See, in the 1950s, people didn't yet think THE MEDIA was the root cause of all the world's evils.

Still, everyone is just blowing right by him like they owe him money. I guess it is annoying to be accosted on the street when you're hustling off to work. Several citizens speed right past Marth until Ralph and Ed stop for a few minutes to answer the question, who is the head of the household in your family?

Ed doesn't want to make any waves, and Ralph scolds him, launching a diatribe on how HE is the boss and the master of his household. Well, Marth is gonna put all this in the paper. Check out Ralph's reaction:

Ralph's not thrilled, but he becomes defiant and decides to go through with it. Go ahead and print it. What does he care? This is the first time Ralph doubles down on his attitudes.

Of course, talking big around Ed is one thing, but being a blowhard around Alice is another. So when he goes home, he tries to prevent Alice from seeing the paper. I'm surprised that a cheapskate like Ralph wouldn't make Alice fish for day-old editions, anyway.

Norton brings the paper home, though:

How helpful of Ed, ensuring that Alice doesn't miss her hubby's big spotlight in the newspaper. Of course Alice is irritated by Ralph's comments, pointing out that of the handful of men who answered the question, he was the only one who insisted HE was the head of the household.

Would newspapers be in better shape today if they posted correspondents all over the place asking goofy questions? No? You're right. Yet another thing we can blame on Facebook. Who cares about seeing their name and mug shot in the paper of record when they can post pictures of their dinners all over the Internet?

Coming up in future installments: Ralph doubles down again, one of the most famous scenes in series history, and one of the all-time great "minor" 'Moonersverse characters.