"The Honeymooners" Classic 39 One at a Time (Episode-by-Episode Thread)

Yeah I noticed this as well. All Classic 39 are up on YouTube, and if you put on "TV or not TV" to doze off to at night (like the old days), you are jarred awake by episode 2 ("Funny Money") which is much louder.

 

Same thing happens to me when I change to the next episode! Yikes!
I do not have the blu ray box yet. I wonder if they corrected the problem in that set?

 

Glad you enjoyed ... As the weeks and episode discussions go on I will share more for the time period that relates to the episode we're talking about!!

 

I also grew up watching the show in the 70's on WPIX. I confess I never knew about the original running order. I am kind of surprised that this was the first episode of the stand alone sit-com.

 

I watched The Honeymooners on KTLA in Los Angeles in Spring-summer of 1975. "Best Of Groucho" preceded it at 11pm. I absolutely loved that combination! I was 10. Hearing the theme song still takes me back!

I'm going to make the effort to keep up. I have a DVD set given to me many years ago. Although I did love the show, I got burned out on it and at that time -early 2000s - I did feel some of the "threats" to Alice made me uncomfortable.
I don't see it that way anymore and chalk it up to 50s attitudes.

I also didn't realize this was the first long-form episode! Art Carney was such a talent!

Looking forward to rediscovering this show.

 

Amazing that they filmed two shows a week! Aaah the PIX years....I hung out with a few kids who were really into this show-not exactly the demo you'd think would like it. Look forward to contributing to the thread. About the current episode: Some of the best examples of Alice giving as good as she gets. And Ralph's startled reaction to Norton's helmet is something my friends and I would do to each other all of the time (to the odd looks from the uninformed). This episode does suffer from very poor sound.

 

Same here. I would have been four, turning five, when THE HONEYMOONERS first aired on CBS with the classic 39. And I have vague memories of liking Jackie Gleason from whatever shows he was airing back then. But I began my serious watching of the series when it hit a syndicated rerun cycle in Philadelphia ten years later. Now I was 14, going on 15, and fascinated with television in general. But I have/had no concept of any series "order".

Philadelphia had been essentially a 3-channel town (plus educational TV), but in 1965, a new UHF station had hit the airwaves that summer. And this station, WIBF-TV Channel 29, had two sitcoms airing on Sunday nights from 9 to 10 PM. They aired THE HONEYMOONERS at 9 and HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE at 9:30.

I was always looking for comedy at that age, so the competition: BONANZA on NBC, MOVIE on ABC, PERRY MASON on CBS, didn't do anything for me. At 10, CBS had CANDID CAMERA, and that was good for a laugh. So I chose to watch the snowy pictures on channel 29 and rediscover the comedy of Ralph, Ed, Alice and Trixie, plus the ladies on HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (possibly getting a DVD release - see Amazon). Here's a scan from the only old TV GUIDE I have left from that era.



By the way, it looks like I missed out on a Beatles show on channel 12 at 9:30, but then again, by 1965 I wasn't into the Beatles at all.

 

Bought the blu-ray set for my wife when Amazon had it as a lightning deal in December.The audio level is not so different from the 'Funny Money' episode that follows that you need to scramble for the remote.The picture is amazing.You can actually see the grain of the woodwork in the Kramdens apartment.Love how Ralph's excuse was that he was waiting for 3-D tv.

 

Somewhere in the early or middle 80s, WPIX had a big promotion when they tried airing a 3-D movie ("Gorilla at Large") IN 3-D. You had to go to 7-11 to get your glasses (I don't remember if they were free or you had to buy a Big Gulp or something). Anyway, they aired the commercial for the event relentlessly for a few weeks before the premiere (I guess so everyone could get their glasses). The commercial started with a clip from "TV or Not TV" - Ralph stating that he was waiting for 3-D television, with the announcer answering something like "Wait no more!"

 

It's been talked about Ad Nauseum, but Alice was no battered wife. Ralph was all bark, and it is laughable to think that Alice "feared" Ralph. They just had a weird relationship, but one that was loving underneath the showmanship. Alice is a VERY strong woman. It kind of set the template for the modern bumbling husband, and the intelligent, strong wife.

In other words, Ralph's "threats" don't bother me in the least.

 

No way it was a flub. Reasonable metaphor-preserving apartment like it was a national landmark, or worse, no better than Lincoln's log cabin. Actually pretty clever (although not particularly funny). And Gleason barely reacted.

 

I can see it both ways. Are there scripts floating around for these?

 

One time I found a VHS tape of the honeymooners @ salvation army recorded off analogue cable and I love it!!

It was a honeymooners marathon recorded in 1988 on a channel in my area..

15 episodes on this tape........ There was another tape with more of the marathon (Not as many episodes though) and I should have gotton that also!!!

 

I'll just continue to disagree. If you wanted to make a joke comparing the apartment to Lincoln's log cabin birth place, that's fine. But why introduce Washington as a comedic counterpoint? It makes no sense, unless you're making the joke that the apartment is significantly older than Lincoln's birth place (hence the comparison to Washington's).

I won't remember off the top of my head, but there's a joke in one of the lost episodes that they couldn't make the claim that "Washington slept here" because their building was already condemned in Washington's time.

 

If my memory serves, there are scripts included in the bonus features in the Lost Episodes box. But they're (obviously) lost episodes scripts, not Classic 39.

 

And the Saint had Python-favorite Carol Cleveland on!

 

Here are a couple of Classic 39 scripts, if you've got 5 grand to spare.

2 Original Shooting Scripts from The Honeymooners by on Appledore Books

 

Right. I agree. Alice was right most of the time and that bugged Ralph! His blustery-ness against her strong will is a big part of the show. I know this. I'm not trying to insert some kind of PC threadcrap.
It took a short time to overcome my feelings at the time I stated. I mentioned that to explain why I hadn't watched my DVD set until this thread!

 

I wish filming dates for the Classic 39 were available. I don't believe any known dates for each episode has ever been given. Ditto for the taped shows from Miami in the 1960s.

 

Episode 2 - "Funny Money"

Aired: October 8, 1955



IMO, 2 for 2, another home run of an episode.

The exchange between Ralph and Alice's mother would have been enough to carry this episode by itself (but wait - there's more!) Believe it or not, Ethel Owen (Alice's mother) only appears in 3 of the Classic 39, reinforcing the Ernest T. Bass rule - great recurring characters in great shows SEEM to be on a lot more than they actually were. She also appears in 6 lost episodes, but some of those are as Alice's aunt, a completely different character. My only regret with this one - I sure would have loved to see Ralph's "rich man" clothes in COLOR.

 

Another amazing episode. Ethel Owens really helps to carry the episode playing the perfect traitor. From "Sonny Boy knows what he is doing" to "arrest that big fat one". Hilarious.

 

I agree. It may be the best exchange of the series. The insults are insane. One of my favorites is when she asks Ralph if the suitcase (of money) is his lunch box.

 

Ray, thanks for starting this thread! The Honeymooners was (IMNSHO) the greatest comedy series ever. I always enjoy reading everyone's comments. I'm not very good at picking out all the nuances, I just like to be entertained lol. And entertained I am by these original 39 episodes. Time to get the dvd box out of the basement for an extended viewing session.

 

Episode Ephemera:

Norton knows his investment firms (comes from working in sewers in the financial district). At the time Merrill Lynch was known as Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Beane (rather than Ziggy).

Carrie Nation was a prohibitionist who died before the law was enacted. Yes, she gave a lot of lectures.

Mammy Yokum, of course, comes from the "Lil' Abner" cartoon strip.



She was quite the looker. Not much of a compliment to be compared to her.

Random Stuff:

With the gangster characters doing all the exposition work in the first 5 minutes of the episode, there's no need for Trixie, so Joyce Randolph sits this one out.

First on-screen appearance for Frank Marth (as Officer Grogan). Plus other familiar faces who will show up down the road in the Classic 39. (One hint: He makes donuts.)

There looks to be a rare edit in the first scene (after the line "Don't get sore"). Could be a cut for time, or a flub - we'll likely never know.

If you got rich overnight, would you really have your best friend work as your servant? And although Ralph claims to be a millionaire, there seems to be 25K tops in the suitcase when he starts burning evidence.

The lead gangster is amazing at finding phone numbers (two page turns and voila!)

Why was Ralph planning to move to Park Avenue if he hit the $99,000 answer, but stays in "this dump" after becoming a millionaire?

Why does Ralph want to "belt" his mother-in-law when she clearly saved his life?

Yes, I know, just a sitcom. Please accept these "insights" in the light-hearted way I intend them.

And with all the great lines in this episode (yes, the "lunch box" line probably being the best of them!) I have to point out how well-grounded an individual Edward L. Norton was. The money was "enough to keep you in pizza for the rest of your life".