The Honeymooners "Classic 39" On Blu-ray October 15th

Yes, Dennis Rood and Paul Brownstein also worked on the Dick Van Dyke Show boxed set, and those look tremendous.

 

Watching again today, and I'm laughing myself silly ! The 20 minute 1956 Buick infomercial was pretty interesting too.
Sold the VHS set to our local Buybacks, where they were excited to get it ( clerk has a working VCR of her own, and planned on taking it herself).
For a show that started 3 years before I was born, it's brought me a lifetime of laughter.

 

As for the ongoing debate about The Honeymooners being live or filmed, here's what I assume to be the definitive account, courtesy of the Eyes of a Generation Facebook site:

'The Honeymooners'...The Classic 39

The first Honeymooners sketch was done live, October 5, 1951 as part of Dumont's 'Cavalcade Of Stars' show which Jackie Gleason had become the host of in June 1950. It was only six minutes long, but started something that lasts till this day.

Gleason's Dumont show did quite well and CBS noticed! They brought Jackie and company to Studio 50 in July of 1952 and the rating soared on the Saturday night, hour long, live broadcast. As Honeymooners sketches became more popular, they got longer and could run up to 30 or 45 minutes.

In 1955, Gleason told CBS he wanted take a break from the live show, but wanted to continue a half hour version of the Honeymooners. Gleason still had friends at Dumont and they had told him about the new Dumont Labs Electronicam that shot live video and 35 millimeter film simultaneously.

Gleason had been impressed by the way 'I Love Lucy' was produced and wanted to do film, but keep the live aspect of the show. The Electronicam was perfect for this. A kinescope recording was made of the live presentation, which was switched like a regular live show, but in editing, if a camera had a better angle on a scene, they were able to use that instead of the original shot.

All 39 episodes of The Honeymooners were filmed at the DuMont Television Network's Adelphi Theater at 152 West 54th Street in Manhattan, in front of an audience of 1,000. Episodes were never fully rehearsed, as Gleason felt that rehearsals would rob the show of its spontaneity. The shows were shot on Saturday nights at 8 and by 9, Jackie was headed to Toots Shores or 21.

Gleason and company went back to live television in 1956 because Jackie felt the quality of the longer Honeymooners scripts was petering out. The 39th and last original episode aired on September 22, 1956. In explaining his decision to end the show, Gleason said, "the excellence of the material could not be maintained, and I had too much fondness for the show to cheapen it". One week after The Honeymooners ended, 'The Jackie Gleason Show' returned live to Studio 50 on September 29. Soon after, so did The Honeymooners sketches. Enjoy and share.

 

Thanks. Picked up the complete series set recently for only $55.

If you find Messrs Rood and Browstein are doing future projects let us know, Their work is outstanding. Unlike the low rent hacks at **** Factory, MillCreek and Universal

 

Perhaps the Electronicam video feed was also for the benefit of the studio audience.

 

That Shout Factory line had me on the floor -- best laugh I've had all day! Thanks for that.

That still doesn't make it clear as to whether the live feed got out to broadcast on the Dumont Network or not. The whole thing sounds very dubious to me.

If they just wanted to film it like I Love Lucy, why not just film it exactly that way: three film cameras, and the audiences just had to watch the actors on the stage with no TV monitors? Seriously, film sitcoms were shot that way for pretty much 20 years. I don't think video monitors were added until the mid-1970s at best -- though videotape shows like the Norman Lear series always had audience monitors.

 

I see this going for $50 or less real soon, til then I can get my Gleason Blu-ray fix with The Hustler and Smokey and the Bandit

 

Check eBay. I got my sealed set for $ 56.00 !!!! I never pay full retail anymore.

UPC is 032429135162

 

The explanation sort of makes sense, except for the Saturday night part. The account mentioned earlier in favor of the show not airing live noted it being shot earlier in the week. This description makes it seem as if the show went out live then, even if the version preserved from the direct 35mm films was possibly edited from different cameras vs. the live shots (referenced/preserved on a kinescope) chosen while the show was being performed.

 

I don't think the live feed did go out on DuMont. Wikipedia says DuMont had canceled most of its network shows mid 1955, and the Honeymooners filmed episodes premiered in October of 1955.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuMont_Television_Network

"By February 1955, DuMont executives realized the company could not continue as a television network.[43] The decision was made to shut down network operations and operate WABD and WTTG as independent stations. On April 1, 1955, most of DuMont's entertainment programs were dropped.... The company only retained network links for live sports programming and utilizing the company's Electronicam process to produce studio-based programming. Ironically, Electronicam is best remembered for being used by Jackie Gleason's producers for the 39-half-hour episodes of The Honeymooners that aired on CBS during the 1955-56 television season."

I think DuMont was really pushing the Electronicam at the time, and so they were probably thrilled that another network wanted to make use of it. In this old issue of Broadcasting magazine, starting on page 27 they spell out their grand plans for Electronicam. They pretty much bet the whole future of the company on it.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1955/1955-04-18-BC.pdf

 

This article should clarify a lot... https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1P8TalzUiuyZjFuLTNoMUQ5aDQ/edit?usp=sharing

 

Just noticed it for sale for $59.37 on Amazon, might be time to bite the bullet..

http://www.amazon.com/Honeymooners-...8&qid=1410097323&sr=1-1&keywords=honeymooners


...oh yeah, and the original dvd version currently only $18.80

 

Bought mine, sealed, off eBay, last May, for only $56.00. Why some wait for traditional retailers to lower prices is beyond me.

Also, that's not Amazon. It's " Warehouse Deals 4 Less "...Amazon Fufilled. Amazon's price is $60.64

 

Warehouse Deals is Amazon. It's where they sell overstock, damaged, or returned items.

 

" 4 Less " is different.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main?i...rID=002-4437735-6140221&seller=A2L77EE7U53NWQ

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main/r...03BQ&isAmazonFulfilled=1&seller=APUR2MHW28P9F

 

When it says "fulfilled by Amazon" and available for Prime, it's Amazon...

 

http://services.amazon.com/fulfillm...ve=41241672583&device=c&matchtype=e&network=g

 

Season one of Lucy is the same price right now. Crazy that even at 50% off it still just seems way too expensive to me.

Consider this: you can also get the complete Dick Van Dyke SERIES on blu-ray for the same price.

 

Yes indeed. I'm watching Blu's on a 8yr old 32" Philips 720 panel with an entry level player and I can see a marked improvement that is leaps and bounds over the DVD's of DVDS.

After what happened with the Van Dyke Show Season box on Blu-Ray, I'll wait for season boxes to be cut accordingly. I'm sure at one point if Lucy's complete box comes out, the same will happen, as will Batman and others. Can it be nature of the beast?

 

Of course, my concern with Lucy is that if all of us wait for the complete series box and/or rock-bottom prices, they won't continue releasing the remaining seasons, due to low sales.

 

You are correct. I don't think I've ever dealt with "4 Less"

 

$47.99 for the Blu-Ray on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00E5G03BQ/ref=pd_aw_sims_5?pi=SY115&simLd=1

 

Still waiting for $39!

 

2 on eBay just went for that recently.

 

$34.95!