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

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by RayS, Mar 7, 2017.

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  1. EddieMann

    EddieMann I used to be a king...

    Location:
    Geneva, IL. USA.
    I wonder how much rehearsal they did for each show. There are of course occasional goofs, but by and large these are very well acted shows. Compare the acting on these to episodes of SNL where the actors' eyes are glued to cue cards off set. Gleason especially is a genius at comic timing and phrasing (Carney is no slouch either). Jackie Gleason should be mentioned with the greatest comic actors of all time.
     
  2. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower Thread Starter

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Yes - you're right. I used to know that. :) Been a really long time since I read up on the show's production (apart from the Carney biography which I read not too long ago).
     
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  3. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower Thread Starter

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Nice catch - and they're not even the same color! I never noticed that before.
     
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  4. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I can't recall where I heard or read it but there were a few times when Gleason would miss rehearsals and then show up for the taping and read the script just once before filming. I don't know how true that is. Maybe RayS can confirm?
     
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  5. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    I have not read the Carney book in ages! Thanks for the reminder!
     
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  6. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower Thread Starter

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Just working from memory here, so I may have things a bit jumbled. I believe the cast did an initial "table read" with each script, a rehearsal, and one dress rehearsal. The other cast members wanted more rehearsal, so they would work on their bits without Gleason. I vaguely recall one story of Gleason's stand-in reading lines with the other cast members. Two things everyone agreed on was that Gleason hated rehearsing because he thought it made the comedy stale, and Gleason had a terrific ability to memorize scripts on short notice.
     
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  7. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    According to Audrey Meadows and my conversations with Joyce Randolph there would usually be one or two run-throughs. Sometimes Gleason participated sometimes not. If he did it would be in a mono-tone voice and mostly "I go here, you there, we say blah blah," etc. Someone else, usually Joe Bigalow I believe, would read Ralph's lines and Gleason would just observe what happened on stage. This was mostly to let the cameras know where to go. Meadows, Carney, and Randolph always ran lines in the dressing room before the show. Sometimes Gleason would also participate. And sometimes, like you said, the rehearsal and performance were all in one! This was common during the live years, too. Can you imagine a show doing that today! This was all done in one day, too. This is partly why Gleason pulled the plug on the musical Europe shows in the 1956/1957 season. It required two days of rehearsals - ha!
     
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  8. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    IIRC, this was part of the reason why the nickname "The Great One" was coined.
     
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  9. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Have you ever watched the 60 Minutes interview where he's asked where it came from. Gleason says Orson Welles started it, then Lucy carried it on. When Morley asked if it was true Gleason said, "You just watched me play pool!"
     
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  10. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Great info. Thanks.
    That is fantastic you spoke with some of the stars of the show.
     
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  11. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I did see the interview way back when probably when it first aired.
    I need to watch it again.
     
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  12. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
  13. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower Thread Starter

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Funny how Gleason's "greatness" was not apparent to anyone when he had his first run in Hollywood in the early 40s. Interesting to see him pop up in Warner Brothers' gangster movies (albeit light-hearted gangster movies) like "All Through the Night" with Bogart and "Larceny Inc." with Eddie G.

     
  14. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I looked at a list of the Classic 39 and the first two episodes are in my top ten with TV or Not TV probably in the top 5.
    TV Guide ranked TV or Not TV #26 in its top 100 greatest of all time.
     
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  15. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    It's a bonus on the Blu-ray so if you can get it at a good price I would recommend getting it!
     
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  16. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I did not realize the blu ray set is such a good price at this point. I plan to order it in the next day or so.
     
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  17. John Moschella

    John Moschella Senior Member

    Location:
    Christiansburg, VA
    I read somewhere that Gleason made did his own shots during "The Hustler", not sure if its true, but I'm sure one of you guys know.
     
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  18. rufus t firefly

    rufus t firefly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona
    One of my favorite lines in this show from Alice.. replying to Ralph being embarrassed to not have dues for his Lodge.. "It's embarrassing just to be in the Lodge"
     
  19. Fox67

    Fox67 Bad as Can

    Location:
    Isle of Rhodes
    I got the dvd boxset........I should watch these now.
    Fave episode "Young at heart"
     
  20. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    I have heard this several times. I think on the 60 Minutes interview or Carson interview Gleason said he did do his shots. On the A&E Biography it was mentioned Jackie did his own, too.
     
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  21. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Gleason appears at about the 15min mark. I am on my mobile device so I could not link it to start right when he comes out, sorry.

     
  22. rufus t firefly

    rufus t firefly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona
    Thanks for posting. They really don't make 'em like Gleason anymore.
     
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  23. halfjapanese

    halfjapanese Gifs moider!

    Loved his mandolin story!
     
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  24. O Don Piano

    O Don Piano Senior Member

    That's right! There's really no resolve at the end. One expects some kind of make up between Ralph and Alice.
     
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  25. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower Thread Starter

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Episode 3 - "The Golfer"

    Aired: 10-15-55



    Yet another iconic episode. When we were kids we had no idea that the episodes had proper titles, so we gave them names of our own. This one was, of course, "Hello Ball".

    A few items of note:

    The first of the classic 39 written by Russell & Finn (there were 3 pairs of writing teams - the first two episodes were written by Marx & Stone). The jokes tend to have a longer set up, and obviously there's a great reliance on physical humor in this episode (be interesting to know how much of the physicality in the Ralph-Norton golf lesson was scripted, and how much was left for the actors to fill in).

    First appearance for John Gibson - later to reappear as Ralph's new brother-in-law, and as his chief rival for Raccoon traveling secretary. Also second (first on-screen) appearance for George Petrie - who played Freddie Muller (bus driver and fellow Raccoon) but also a bank robber, a psychiatrist, a magazine editor ...

    Yet another episode with no Trixie.

    When I started working in the banking industry in the middle 80s, I had Jackie Gleason to thank for my use of the term "Notary Republic". Maybe that's a special country where all the notary publics live!

    And the book Ralph probably read:

    [​IMG]
     
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