'Mooners Monday: Remember when TBS got the Lost Episodes?

I never thought of The Honeymooners as a TBS show, and I still don't, but it was a big deal when they got basic cable rights (Showtime had the initial rights for premium cable) to the Lost Episodes. I think for those of us who grew up watching the Classic 39 on WPIX, it was weird to see any version of the series on any other outlet!

'Mooners Monday: Jackie Gleason's Honeymooners Christmas (1978) is on Prime Video

Before I prepare for my annual Christmas Eve screening of the Classic 39's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, I want to write a few words about the 1978 hourlong special I saw for the first time this month. MPI released it on DVD years ago, but I hesitated to buy it because the price was a little steep for one episode...plus I'm cheap.

I also confess that I didn't know if I truly wanted to see the main cast (well, except poor Joyce Randolph, who is replaced as Trixie by Jane Kean) in 1978. The "Color Honeymooners" of the 1960s are enjoyable but a step down from the 1950s episodes, and even though it's my favorite show of all time...I don;t know, is seeing them as seniors something I want?

What a fool I was. The 1978 Xmas show is a delight, one of the better post-1950s episodes I've seen. There are a few "modern" references that seem a little self-conscious, but the script by longtome Gleason scribe Walter Stone with Robert Hilliards very funny. The story is worthy of being included in 'Mooners canon. And, yes, the actors are older and a little bigger (except Jackie Gleason, now practically smaller than Art Carney), but it's not painful to watch them. After all, they're seasoned pros who have the characters down. I can even get past Ralph's pencil mustache!

The best thing I can say about it is that it feels like The Honeymooners in a way that many of those color episodes with Sheila McRae as Alice did not. I think it goes beyond the casting, though; I like that it's a "fresh" story (how many times did they redo The Adoption).

This one premiered December 10, 1978. Ralph unveils yet another get-rich scheme, this time collecting as much money as he can get his mitts on and spending it on lottery tickets. It's hard to get a lot of info about this one. The Official Honeymooners Treasury covers only the Classic 39. Even The Honeymooners Lost Episodes by Donna McCrohan and Peter Crescenti has only a plot synopsis and airdate. It was written in 1986 before the 4 hourlong 1970s specials were in circulation, and so they are thrown into the "Still Lost" section.

This reminds me that one of the big things I have yet to see (and now really want to) is the previous year's Christmas special. In that one, Ralph stars in a Raccoon Lodge production of A Christmas Carol. It's in circulation--folks have seen it at the Paley Center and even on YouTube--but MPI never released it on DVD, nor is it on Prime Video, though it is out there in collector circles. So we have 3 of the 4, but not this one, which sounds like a regular riot. Hey, Santa, if you want to bring me a surprise tomorrow, how about a nice complete copy of the 1977 special?

'Mooners Monday: Why I Love "The Bensonhurst Bomber"

As we close out our look at this classic episode, let me just list some of the ways:

1) The title is one of the best episode titles in the history of the series.

2) Any episode with an extended billiard sequence is A-OK in my book. Is it just me, though, or do they not always come off like the high-level players they are supposed to be? The story is that the show trusted Gleason and Carney to do what they needed on camera because they could handle a cue. I don't dispute that, especially in The Great One's case, but he even scratches in this one.

3) That said, Norton's explanation of his elaborate shot is one of my favorite Norton lines. I lose it when he gets to the "chain reaction" part of his call.

4) In fact, it's a standout episode for Art Carney all around. I love how he talks Ralph into the fight, then afterwards, clueless as ever, scolds him for being foolish enough to get into the mess. Ed blurting out the Kramdens' address to Harvey is another highlight.

4) Ralph has several great "WILL YOU GO ON, ALREADY!"  bits AND throws Ed out of the billiard parlor. I love anytime Ralph throws his buddy out of a public place.

5) I mentioned George and Harvey in previous weeks, but they create two of the most memorable one-off characters in series history. Even the "Hey, get a load of fatso" guy, Mike O'Dowd, makes a strong impression, all crude and rough-looking in the best way.

6) One of my favorite moments is when Ralph tries to just slip out of the apartment without drawing attention.  What did he think Alice would say to this? I just adore this sequence for some reason. He packs a suitcase and thinks he will go under the radar, but the best is his timid explanation to Alice:  "Well. so long. I'm gonna be gone for a couple of weeks." Check out his sheepish expression in the last screencap as Alice tries to figure out what is up:

 

 

'Mooners Monday: Amazon Prime news plus what is the "deal" with George and Harvey?

Great news for 'Mooners fans who don't already own the DVDs from MPI: Amazon Prime Video now has available two 1970s Honeymooners specials for streaming with membership: 1976's Second Honeymoon and 1978's The Valentine Special.  It's reasonable to hope the 1978 Christmas special appears by the end of the year (knowing how streaming often works, it'll probably be on December 29). The 1977 Christmas special has never been released on video and, as far as I know, remains lost.

For now, these two hourlong TV presentations join the Lost Episodes on Prime, and it makes me wonder, where are the Classic 39? As I pointed out before, CBS/Paramount already milked all it could from DVD sales and Blu-Ray sales. The complete series is available at a great price in each format. It may not be a big deal since so many surely have the discs, but I'd like to see the 39 available in nice, crisp HD somewhere in the streaming world, even if on CBS All Access.

Now back to The Bensonhurst Bomber. Let me ask this without being indelicate: What is "the deal" with George and Harvey? Does anyone else think there's a suggestion that the big guy and the little guy are more than just billiard buddies?

 

No? OK, well, in that case, let's talk about the actors.

Leslie Barrett (George) was a stage actor from New York known for Shakespeare work but became best known for this episode. He's in many other era TV episodes, including I Shot an Arrow into the Air, the season 1 Twilight Zone in which Edward Binns and a few other astronauts crash-land a rocket. He told The Official Honeymooners Treasury, "Of course, I didn't get a job after that for two years, because everybody thought I talked like that."

George Mathews (Harvey) was also in all kinds of era TV shows, including The Phil Silvers Show and The Rifleman. The Treasury reports that Mathews never saw this 'Mooners episode until a live screening at a RALPH (Royal Association for the Longevity and Preservation of the Honeymooners) convention, decades after its premiere.

'Mooners Monday: The Bensonhurst Bomber Part 1

It's been MANY a moon since the last 'Mooners Monday, but it's time to revisit it with one of my favorite episodes (I feel like I say that all the time): The Bensonhurst Bomber.

 
This is the one in which Ralph, after bullying a little guy named George, is himself bullied by a bigger guy named Harvey (HARRRR-veeee!) and has to fight him. I always considered it one of the single funniest installments, and we'll get into the episode soon, but let me get right to the one thing I do NOT like about it.

I like strong "heels." Growing up, it annoyed me when I watched pro wrestling and saw dominant bad guys suddenly turn to jelly just because the babyface hero pulled his strap down on his singlet or shook his finger. I liked seeing villains get beat, mind you, but I respected ones who managed to stay strong, like Lex Luthor or Doctor Doom, and it frustrated me to see the old cliché that bullies backed down right away when you just challenged them.

Is that really true in actual life? I don't think so. Sometimes, maybe, but just as often, doesn't standing up to a bully delight him (or her) because it's easier to get at his target?

This is why I hate the end of this episode. Ralph, thanks to a ruse concocted with Norton (not really, we discover, but Ralph doesn't find out till after the fact) punches out a guy in front of Harvey to scare off the big guy. It actually works!

Harvey was an interesting character, a blowhard, yes, but one who was really sticking up for his little friend. They did kind of have dibs on the pool table (I don't know the code of the pool hall, but surely there must be some kind of procedure in a place like that for reserving a table when you want to go get something cold to drink), and Ralph brushed off George's concerns.

I never bought Harvey chickening out like that even if Ralph did  slug an even bigger guy (Mike O'Dowd). Ralph's swagger IS funny, and the episode has a great payoff, but it comes at the expense of ol' Harv, who turns punk in record time with too little reason. he practically runs out of the gym.

I do think Ralph's silly laugh when he says this is why he doesn't like to fight--and sometimes he even hurts himself--is classic.

More next week!

'Mooners Monday: Leave it there; the cat'll get it!

I really didn;t know about the rich history of ad-libs in The Honeymooners until I plowed through The Official Honeymooners Treasury and read all kinds of anecdotes about bloopers and mishaps and cast's reactions to them as the cameras kept rolling. One of the most famous ad-libs in the series' run comes in Alice and the Blonde. Bert Weedemeyer is bringing out refreshments to the gang:

Suddenly he knocks into the coffee table and spills a little.

Art Carney as Ed Norton leans over and says in classic animated Norton fashion: "Leave it there; the cat'll get it!"

In itself, that isn't so hilarious if you don't know it's an unscripted reaction to Bert's accident. However, once you know it isn't supposed to happen, it becomes one of the more fascinating moments in 'Mooners lore.

First, I love Ralph's over-the-top reaction to Norton's comment. With a huge smile, he cackles, "Leave it there; the cat'll get it!"

He turns to Alice and repeats it with a tone of, "Come on, didn't you hear his hilarious remark?"

Gleason's reaction is entirely in character because Ralph is in classic "sucking up and trying to be charming" mode, in which he exaggerates everything to demonstrate what a good time he's having.

However, Alice is already fed up with this, so Audrey Meadows' stern, "I heard him," is also in character:

And check out Ralph's chagrined face after Alice kills the moment:

Again, by itself, this isn't hilarious stuff, though it is amusing and totally in keeping with the rest of the scene. But when you think that this is all done on the fly, it seems perfect, an amazing sequence of talented performers taking something unexpected and turning it into something entertaining and 100% appropriate to the larger purpose of the story.

In The Official Honeymooners Treasury, Art Carney himself tells the authors they didn't do a lot of ad-libbing and mostly stuck to the script, but Gleason trusted him and knew he wasn;t trying to upstage him or steal his thunder." He also tells them, "I still use that line." Even away from Norton, he would throw that into a rehearsal or scene when something fell, and sometimes, he said, they would keep it in."

Freda Rosen, who plays Rita, says in the book:

The unusual thing is that when somebody comes out with an ad-lib to save something, then usually that's it, they go back to the script. With The Honeymooners, the unusual thing is that you ad-libe, and then the other guy picks up on it, and they really turn it into something funny. You'd never know it was an ad-lib  if you didn't study this stuff and get it under your skin.

'Mooners Monday: A closer look at Rita Weedemeyer

One of the standout elements of Alice and the Blonde is Audrey Meadows glamming it up in an effort to please Ralph (and, no, I STILl don't know what the deal is with her and that rum candy). Let's take a closer look at the character who inspires Alice's behavior, though: Bert Weedemeyer's new bride Rita.

Rita is played by Freda Rosen (1928-2016), the wife of comedy writer Arnie Rosen. Arnie and partner Coleman Jacoby wrote for Gleason's shows in the 1950s and also for The Phil Silvers Show, but Freda made an indelible mark with her memorable turn as Rita.

Again, I give full credit to the sacred text The Official Honeymooners Treasury, which features great quotes from an interview with Freda Rosen. The episode was produced well after it was written because of the difficulty finding a suitable actress. Rosen claims no one on the show knew she was the writer's wife when she auditioned. She she beat out 19 other actresses for the role of "somebody kind of shallow and dumb, but not anything really heavier than that. Innocent, nonthreatening, just a dumb broad," then ran out and bought cigarette holders to practice her big "light up" scene.

She was not a smoker, so she had to work on using the holder and lighting the cigarette, and then of course the infamous lack of rehearsal on the series combined with the live-to-tape-style process made for a nerve-wracking experience.

 Rosen says that she was surprised when Gleason whacked her on the arm--so much so that she nearly toppled over in the incredibly tight evening dress she wore.

"If you noticed, I always took very tiny steps. When he pushed me, I took those little steps backwards, because otherwise it was right on my fanny."

Freda Rosen provides one of the more memorable one-shot performances in 'Mooners history, and I think fans can agree "she certainly is a treasure." I like the actress' quote that closes the book's chapter on this episode: "It was great fun and scary!"

'Mooners Monday: The Secret History of Alice Kramden

One of my favorite lines in Honeymooners history is one probably intended to be a showstopper, but one that is nevertheless in the pantheon of most quoted pieces of dialogue in my family:

Alice, you've been at that rum candy again!

Let's go to Alice and the Blonde, originally airing June 2, 1956. It's the night after the Kramdens and Nortons visited the Weedemeyers, and Alice attempts to woo Ralph by being like the woman she thinks he admires: Rita Weedemeyer.

Her vamping and cooing is a delight--it's a lot of fun to see Audrey Meadows get to glam it up, even for comic effect--but Ralph isn't having it. His facial expressions as he wonders what's she up to are hilarious.

Eventually Ralph can't take it anymore, and that's when he bellows his accusation:

This is a great piece of dialogue. The idea of someone being tipsy from rum candy is funny, the idea of it being Alice is even funnier, and...well, look at that last word: again.

Again?

Was there some other incident in which Alice really did get drunk on rum candy and made a fool of herself? I don't know about you, but I'm fascinated and want to know more about this.

Alice insists that it's Ralph. "You intoxicate me," she says. "Don't give me that. It's that candy!"

It's obvious that something happened in the past with Alice and rum candy. But when, what, where?

This will remain one of the great mysteries of the 'Moonerverse. It's not a mystery that this is a fantastic episode, and this scene is classic. As Alice heads into the bedroom (easy now, tigers), she tells Ralph, "I call you Killer 'cause you slay me."

 Of course he responds, "I'm calling Bellevue 'cause you're nuts!"

'Mooners Monday: Audrey Meadows steps out

Audrey doesn't just step out of Bensonhurst this week, she steps out of the 1950s! Thanks to a free trial period of Starz last week, I enjoyed Ms. Meadows in The Nancy Palmer Story, the season 4 finale of Wagon Train.

The episode premiered March 7, 1961, on NBC. it wasn't even 5 full years after the Classic 30 Honeymooners season, but Audrey already looks a little more seasoned. I guess life on the frontier is even harder than life in that dingy flat on Chauncey Street on a bus driver's salary. However, the plot of this episode relies on Meadows' "innocent" and "sweet" face--the words are from the teleplay, I'm not mocking their use by putting them in quotes--to drive the action.

At the beginning, she regales the chillun of the train with some stories and even captivates the adults. Her natural way with the kids and her pleasant, unassuming demeanor makes her a comforting presence for the wagoneers. It's interesting because to me, Audrey always has a bit of an edge to her, and in fact, post-'Mooners she got edgier and edgier, to the point where she kind of scared me on Too Close for Comfort.

 

However, she's married to Jack Cassidy, who wants to rob a bank. He figures no one will suspect her, and so when everyone else heads off to a night of celebration, they volunteer to babysit, and, whammo, there's his chance to go steal some cash.

I hope that revealing Jack Cassidy plays a scoundrel is not a spoiler for anyone. I will say, though, that this scheme doesn't end that well for neither Jack nor Audrey.

Meadows gets a lot of spotlight moments in this episode, and well she should considering she's Nancy Palmer--it's HER story! I recommend this for any Honeymooners fan who wants to see Audrey Meadows stretch and play a completely different character.

Meadows and Cassidy make a great team, too. Check out this classic Audrey reaction in one early scene they share: