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

Excellent point!

 

Marth stars in a bunch of episodes and plays many different types of characters. I remember seeing him on some episodes of Perry Mason. He died a few years ago IIRC.

 

That episode left some loose ends! I don't remember, but I assume they don't explain how he gets his job back. I also found it odd that Ralph would spend money fixing up their dump. You would assume they would move out of that apartment immediately, not hook phones up in it.

And we call that over analyzing folks. The episode is hilarious. Still waiting for a "Baby, You're the greatest."

 

This isn't the best quality but needs to be shared: the original credits/theme to the first half of the Classic 39 shows before the opening changes (along with the time slot) mid-season.

 

Another video of the original opening, taped by a handheld camera off a TV ...

 

Apart from "The Honeymooners", I think I remember Marth best as a Nazi on "Hogan's Heroes".

 

Did Norton quit his job too to be a full-time chauffeur? So far two episodes, and the Kramdens have a TV in both of them!

 

Thanks for the clips. Since you mentioned time slot ... why oh why not lead off with your proven hit show at 8 right off the bat? What was Jackie/CBS thinking?

 

I think they were thinking variety show, Dorsey Brothers, guest stars, etc. would pull people in and then "The Honeymooners" would have them stay. Plus it didn't vary much from Gleason's show (music and dancing girls via June Taylor, monologue, guest star, Gleason skits, ending). Instead Perry Como on NBC was young and more interesting than The Dorsey Brothers. The viewers would watch Como at 8:00 and in pre-remote days not change from NBC to CBS. I know we're getting ahead of ourselves in the timeframe of the discussion but I think mid-season all parties realized the ratings were dramatically lower and Stage Show was a weak lead-in. Once the shows flipped The Honeymooners did better but not so much more ... Gleason dropped from #2 in 1954/1955 to #19 with the filmed shows. Interestingly enough Perry Como came in at #20 for the 1955/1956 season ...

 

Agreed! I'm guessing bright yellow with red & black pattern.

Yeah, flip open the book, turn once and there's the bus company! I didn't rewind but it kinda looked like the crime boss and Ralph both dialed 8-digits, not 7 or fewer.

 

Yes, I can kind of see that idea, but to the average viewer "Stage Show" was a separate entity, despite Gleason producing it. Maybe Gleason could have just come out every week and said "How sweet it is" or "And away we go" Not having the established property serve as the lead in (especially when the top competition was an hour-long show) just seems like a really bad idea. Whatever movie Gleason had in the works for his "spare time" created by "The Honeymooners" being filmed twice a week clearly never came to pass. He didn't make another theatrical film until "The Hustler" in 1961.

 

Exactly! Stage Show would come and go as Gleason's summer replacement (or a show like it) or be used on weeks he was on vacation during the variety show years but I don't think it was ever really a success. I think they were banking on the Gleason name to push it which, like you said, when you have a somewhat weak show as a lead-in with an hour variety show opposite you you have 30 minutes to kill before the Honeymooners come on. By the time they start you're too interested and involved with Como so why change the channel?

 

Then we need a sample of the original end credits

 

I always crack up when Ralph shows Alice the wad of money, says "Look-money!" twice, then Alice looks at the money and says "Ralph-it's money!" Nothing gets by Alice.

 

Assuming for the moment that the picture comes from a moment that was filmed, I'm going to wager that the odd placement of Ralph's hat (sitting on its side) will give away what episode the picture comes from (it's not from the first two episodes). Of course if it's from a dress rehearsal, everything else in the picture is probably too generic to be of help (although even then I can say with certainty it's not from "Funny Money").

 

I've had THE HONEYMOONERS on DVD for a number of years, but for some reason, have only ever watched a couple of them. They're constantly around on TV and I've seen them all multiple times over the years, so dedicating time to watch a DVD hasn't seemed like a pressing thing to do.

Still, this thread has gotten me to look into the Blu-rays. I recall when they came out they were well over $100 and that was just a non-starter. I had the DVDs and didn't feel the need to splurge on Blu-rays at that price. But a quick check on Amazon showed that they were selling for $26.14. That's cheaper than the DVD set we bought years ago. So, I'll be able to continue following along with this thread with Blu-ray quality.

 

The one in the drawing looks very similar to Norton's. I don't see any correlation with the one in the photo.

I suffered through an episode of "Captain Video" on YouTube the other night (collateral research work, you might say). Looked like the characters on the show wore something closer to old style leather football helmets, embellished with goggles.

 

The one in the photo is a Captain Video space helmet.

Yours & mine on this page, Ray.

 

Hard to tell in a blurry video, but I don't think the characters had plastic face shields on their helmets in the episode I saw.

 

Interesting. The "8-8:45" means they had separate houses for the two shows they filmed each night.

 

Something I never noticed before while viewing episode #2 last night. Norton walks in wearing his new servant/coachman/whatever attire and he's not wearing real boots. He has loafers on and some kind of leather leggings that are supposed to look like boots.

 

They only filmed one show per night but filmed two nights a week - Tuesday and Friday. I talked to Joyce Randolph a few times years ago and she said at some point Gleason realized they were weeks ahead schedule so they took a couple of weeks off then came back and finished up. She said she remembers getting scripts the night before but a couple times having it day of. I don't recall if that would have been live or filmed shows, or in Gleason's case probably both!!