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BRITCOM III
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00:00The Golden Age of Television.
00:09I Love Lucy didn't just change American television, it invented American television.
00:13Back when one screen brought everyone together.
00:16Watching television was a family event.
00:19The shows that shaped us.
00:21The Brady Bunch was part of the American soul.
00:25It's timeless.
00:26The familiar faces.
00:27Ralph Cramden was loved by the Honeymooners.
00:31He was a presence.
00:33The unforgettable moments.
00:35Dynasty captured the essence of what the 1980s were about in America.
00:39These are their stories.
00:40Cheers is the pinnacle of how great the sitcom can be.
00:43This is TV We Love.
00:51The year is 1955.
00:54Dwight D. Eisenhower is in the White House.
00:57Rock and roll is in its infancy.
00:59And music is blaring out of diner jukeboxes.
01:02America is caught up in a booming post-war glow and looming Cold War chill.
01:08Suburbs are packing up.
01:10And the American dream is being sold with every white picket fence.
01:14Teenagers discovered this new phenomenon known as Elvis Presley.
01:19While their parents, eh, they're still watching Perry Como.
01:24And then one loudmouthed Brooklyn bus driver.
01:28Are you nuts or something?
01:30Changed sitcom history forever.
01:32The Honeymooners is kind of in a class all of its own.
01:42Well, so you're in the championship class.
01:45Well, where do you play, Cramden?
01:47Well, The Honeymooners is one of the most interesting comic universes ever created.
01:51All this stuff.
01:52Characters were perfect.
01:54The characterizations were perfect.
01:56The scripts were well written.
01:58It was perfect.
01:59The Honeymooners is my favorite show ever.
02:00I love it.
02:01And every time I see it come on, it just makes me smile.
02:04At a time like this, you're gonna smile.
02:06You're gonna smile.
02:08Jackie Gleason.
02:09He's one of the funniest performers in the history of comedy.
02:13Ha ha!
02:15The show that really stood the test of time and people still are discovering now.
02:20As a matter of fact, one night at rehearsal, he said that I have something that comes across
02:24the footlights and reaches out into the audience.
02:26You know, I think The Honeymooners is one of the most important shows in the history of
02:30American television.
02:31You certainly have.
02:32Jackie Gleason is not the kind of person you would have pointed to in the streets and
02:40said, now there's a star.
02:44And he did so much in entertainment.
02:47And he really learned to sort of dominate the stage in so many different vaudeville houses
02:53throughout the country.
02:55Jackie Gleason had already established himself as a major talent.
02:59William Paley, the founder of CBS, noticed Gleason and said that we're going to create
03:06a show for him.
03:08And that's exactly what he did.
03:10The Jackie Gleason Show.
03:14Gleason was an impresario, that he had a vision not only of the sketches, but of the
03:19entire show.
03:22Gleason really wanted to bring song, dance and comedy and make Saturday Night.
03:26It's just spectacular entertainment.
03:30He was in control of every element of the show.
03:34It was larger than life.
03:35You saw these dancers from above.
03:37You were seeing like a 30s musical.
03:43They had these dancers on the show.
03:46It was called the June Taylor Dancers.
03:48My father and I were standing in the wings, and the June Taylor Dancers had just finished
03:53their number.
03:54As they came out, my father would say, this is my son, Brian.
03:57This is my son, Brian.
03:58And they were all so tall.
04:01All I remember is rear ends and legs going by me, you know.
04:06It's a variety show, so people are singing and dancing.
04:25The Honeymooners was a sketch within a larger show.
04:29You know, he had other characters.
04:31Ralph Cramden was the character.
04:33But he had Reginald Van Gleason, he had the poor soul, he had Joe the bartender.
04:40He had a dozen of these different characters.
04:43I think the most relatable character that he ever came up with was probably Ralph Cramden
04:48in The Honeymooners.
04:52Jackie Gleason.
04:55The Honeymooners.
04:57The Honeymooners is about a bus driver in Brooklyn, Ralph Cramden, and his wife.
05:04Alice.
05:04And their neighbors are Ed and Trixie Norton.
05:07And they all are getting along in very blue-collar environment in Brooklyn, which is one of the
05:13most realistic New York apartments ever shown.
05:16It's like a family show, because it represented these people that are often living paycheck to
05:23paycheck, and are fighting their way through every day.
05:27But with a sense of humor, and God bless, isn't that what we all want?
05:32What's more important than a man and a woman loving each other?
05:35What's more important than a man and a woman trying to make it?
05:39Ralph is the master of the get-rich-quick scheme.
05:41And so he's always trying to master to better his station in life by doing something that
05:46will require the least work possible.
05:48To beat the system.
05:50And he's always beaten down by the system instead.
05:53I am going to make a fortune, and I am going to let you in on a deal.
05:57There we go again?
05:58You know, if you break it down to its simplest form, it could sound pretty corny.
06:04Get-rich-quick, got a dreamer.
06:06You could put so many different actors in that role, and it would feel like a cliché.
06:11But the cast is really what made it work.
06:14I can't stand to make a fortune again.
06:15I'm going broke.
06:16I mean, they're really otherworldly.
06:20The Honeymoon.
06:21It starts out as an occasional bit done in an hour-long variety show.
06:26Ladies and gentlemen, it's time once again for a visit with Ralph and Alice Crampton,
06:32better known to you as The Honeymooners.
06:35And then started to eat up more and more of that variety show.
06:40And it became popular, I guess, back in the day.
06:42You probably used to write in.
06:44You actually write a letter.
06:47Like, we really like this Honeymooners skit.
06:50My boy.
06:51It was a 14-minute sketch when I was hired just every other week.
06:54Right.
06:54Then it went to every week, 14-minute sketch.
06:57Then it went to a half hour.
06:59Then it went to an hour.
07:00Right.
07:01And now for the champagne.
07:04The success of The Honeymooners took Leeson by surprise,
07:07but it was really the interaction of the characters, I think,
07:10that people responded to on The Honeymooners.
07:12Let me fill the glasses.
07:14Now, come on, Ralph.
07:14Tell me, please, what this is all about.
07:16I think audiences loved The Honeymooners because they could relate to it.
07:21A toast.
07:22The Honeymooners was authentic.
07:23The portrayal of families on television prior to The Honeymooners is really idealized.
07:29In Father Knows Best.
07:32And it's mostly middle- to upper-class families that we're seeing.
07:36And so The Honeymooners is really the first time we're seeing a working-class family
07:40in a small Brooklyn apartment with modest means, modest living, struggling to make ends meet.
07:47We couldn't afford it if you'd take it a little easy and stop throwing the money around.
07:51It's funny, but the underlying premise is striving and longing.
07:57And I think a lot of people in that era related to that.
08:00CBS sees the writing on the wall with The Honeymooners.
08:05It's become popular enough that CBS decides, let's do a series.
08:10CBS looks at The Honeymooners and says, why can't we do the same thing that we're doing with I Love Lucy?
08:16In 1955, Gleason was approached to create two years of The Honeymooners and put it on film.
08:24It's kind of like when characters on SNL have a catchphrase or become popular,
08:29they keep showing up more and more and more and more.
08:31The same thing, The Honeymooners were getting more and more popular.
08:34And so Jackie Gleason got offered a deal to do The Honeymooners as its own standalone domestic sitcom.
08:40Well, so you got the news, huh, fellas?
08:43Yeah.
08:43Well, it only goes to prove that a good man is not hard to find.
08:47The Honeymooners had their own individual series in 1955.
09:00What's so funny?
09:01There's so many things to love about the show.
09:04It was brilliant, but not intellectually brilliant.
09:08Right.
09:08It was simplistically brilliant.
09:11Jackie Gleason, he's all you need because...
09:14He's one of the funniest performers in the history of comedy.
09:23He's just born with it.
09:25I mean, I've known a few people who have...
09:27They're just...
09:28They're just born that way.
09:30And they're like, yeah, Chris Farley.
09:32Oh, Matt's gonna be your shadow!
09:34Here's you, here's Matt!
09:36There's you, there!
09:39Jackie Gleason.
09:40He's hilarious when he snaps and gets really angry.
09:44Besides, you wouldn't even fit through the manhole!
09:46Get out!
09:47He's hilarious when he is putting up with somebody that's slowing him down.
09:54Come on!
09:57I think that any smart lead comedian in their own show appreciates their second banana.
10:03And it's the same with Cramden and Norton.
10:06Ralph is funny because he has Ed to play off of.
10:09Hey, Ralph, that reminds me.
10:11Can I use your phone?
10:12Jackie Gleason was the great one, but the Honeymooners doesn't work without Ed Norton.
10:16Is it an important call?
10:18Look, what, what, what, what, what, what I ask if it wasn't important.
10:21They worked so well together because they really both had impeccable timing.
10:26Will you make the call?
10:30They'd wait that split second before they reacted or they said a line.
10:41But that's the important call you had to make.
10:44And Ed can be dumber than Ralph.
10:46I'm leaving you my bullet shoes.
10:48And so that makes Ralph look good and look smart and have something to be frustrated with.
10:52I was just going to go out and buy myself a new pair of bullet shoes.
10:54This couldn't happen without a better time.
10:57And yet have a willing accomplice in his schemes.
11:00This solves the whole problem.
11:02I mean, neither of them would be considered smart, but Ralph Cramden was incredibly intense
11:08and Ed Norton was comparatively laid back.
11:11And that combination of energies really worked.
11:15Cleeson obviously saw him on the Maury Amsterdam show and thought he's got talent.
11:24And he had him in to read for a part on The Honeymooners.
11:27I don't possess a mansion, a villa in France, a yacht, or a string of palopony.
11:34What makes Art Carney so special?
11:37He was such a talented man.
11:39He was musically talented.
11:43He really could play the piano.
11:45Comedically talented.
11:48You told me that every time you'd turn around, I'd make money.
11:50Well, so far, you ain't been exactly no pig with you.
11:54He's so versatile.
11:55He's a serious actor.
11:56He could do it all.
11:58Right here, right here.
11:59See?
12:00So we're just a couple of kids, really.
12:02And we acted like a couple of kids, too.
12:03Hold it up your face, Ralph.
12:04Hold it up your face.
12:05You can make people laugh as Cramden and Norton did.
12:10Inner satisfaction is hard to explain.
12:13Hold it up your face.
12:14Ralph's going to be up to something.
12:16Ed Norton's going to annoy him.
12:18But there's going to be deep friendship and deep love beneath the surface of all of this.
12:25And it's palpable.
12:26I don't know if there's ever been a pair of comedians on television on the same show that were both amazing physical comedians.
12:34Art Carney was a great talent.
12:36Jackie knew that art was what everybody was laughing at.
12:39And so he knew to step back and let Ed Norton flourish with his idiosyncrasies and his over-the-top ridiculousnesses.
12:48That was just a gift.
12:49Teach me to mambo.
12:50Do exactly as I do.
12:51But these two guys, Jackie Gleason's ability to throw his body all over the place, Art Carney's looseness with his body, were hilarious.
13:12They were just, you just can't take your eyes off of them.
13:16Yes, sir.
13:17Because you know they're going to move in a funny way.
13:19They're not just going to deliver funny lines.
13:23I got it now, Horton.
13:26They were the whole package.
13:27I think one of the things people loved about The Honeymooners is the portrayals of these women as friends and as wives and partners calling their husbands out.
13:42You don't need anything to keep your weight down.
13:44You need something to hold it up.
13:46Matching them at their wits.
13:47Not being submissive.
13:49And certainly challenging them while at the same time loving them.
13:52None of the wives are going.
13:54None of the wives are going?
13:55Well, for your information, Trixie's going.
13:58Norton's on his way up the teller she can't go.
14:04Women at that time were all, hi, honey, would you like dinner?
14:08You know, they were all milquetoast.
14:10The women in most of the sitcoms are when I was growing up.
14:13Like Father Knows Best.
14:15Well, not all you met.
14:16Well, you're not going.
14:17Now you listen to me, Ralph.
14:19I am going on that fishing trip.
14:20No.
14:21She would just yell at Jackie Gleason.
14:23She didn't let him get away with anything.
14:25Interesting story with Audrey Meadows.
14:28She goes for her first interview and Gleason said no.
14:32She's way too pretty.
14:33Way too pretty to be Alice.
14:34Way too pretty to be Alice.
14:35So she went back, woke up in the morning, no makeup, looked like a mess.
14:40Had her photographer come to the house.
14:42Photographer come to the house.
14:43Snap pictures.
14:44Imposed with frying pans and coffee pots and stuff.
14:47And we got the pictures developed by four in the afternoon.
14:50And Jackie looked at the pictures.
14:52He said, my God.
14:53He said, it's Alice.
14:56Who is she?
14:56Where is she?
14:57Can we get her?
14:58And so, well, that's the girl who was in here yesterday to see you.
15:01And Jackie said, any dame with a sense of humor like that deserves the job.
15:05Hire her.
15:07And Jackie doesn't remember the specifics as the story is told.
15:10But I've seen the photos that Audrey had taken.
15:14And so I believe she knew what it took to get the role.
15:18And I think history shows that she delivered.
15:22You get this, Ralph, and get it straight.
15:25I think what Audrey Meadows brought to that show, which was way before her time, was a sense of self-empowerment.
15:32She really did.
15:33She owned her space in that relationship.
15:35She also told me something very interesting.
15:37That early on, she decided that she would play Alice stationary.
15:42Now, obviously, she had to enter sometimes and exit.
15:45But when she was in a scene, she kind of planted herself in position because Art Carney was such a physical actor.
15:55And Gleason was such an enormous, literally and figuratively, presence.
16:00And so she thought that if she just held her ground, she'd be like the eye of the storm while all this other stuff was going on.
16:07And then she'd always have some line that would just kind of cut through everything.
16:13If they ever institute a nut of the month club, I've got a very good idea who's going to be January and February.
16:22Jackie loved Audrey.
16:24Nothing ever did get by her.
16:26And she was very comfortable playing a rather authoritative, wise counterpart to Ralph.
16:32She knew how to have Alice go toe-to-toe with Ralph.
16:36Audrey Meadows was a great compliment to Jackie Gleason because every time Ralph gets excited about anything, she's just seen it too many times for her to care even an iota.
16:47Ha, ha, ha, dee, ha, ha.
16:50She played her role beautifully.
16:52And she was iconic.
16:53What's the matter with me, Trixie?
16:55Don't I get nothing?
16:55I'm too tired.
16:58How do you like that?
16:58I've been working down the sewer all day long and she's tired.
17:01That's another reason.
17:03Joyce Randolph was a wonderful woman.
17:05She was brought aboard to the Gleason show as a bit actress.
17:10And Jackie respected and knew that.
17:12Jackie was confident with her.
17:13Someday you're going to ask me to do something for you.
17:16Joe Cates is on the phone and he asked me had I seen something they were doing called The Honeymooners.
17:21And I said, no, I don't know what that is.
17:23And he said, well, if Art Carney's playing The Sewer Worker, and now they've written a wife called Trixie for The Sewer Worker.
17:29And Mr. Gleason said, get me that serious actress.
17:33Ed Norton, I wouldn't stay another minute in this house with you.
17:36I'm going downstairs and spend the night with Al.
17:38The Honeymooners can be hard to watch to a modern audience because Ralph threatens his wife with physical violence.
17:48One of these days, and he actually puts up the fist, the whole threatening to send her to the moon.
17:54Do you want to go to the moon?
17:55But you also have in both his wife and his best friend's wife, these characters who are really independently minded, empowered.
18:06The girls are really going to be in for some shock when they find out that we left without them.
18:12Ralph, I ain't got the courage to look back there as Mrs. Norton back there.
18:18Right behind you.
18:20Certainly, Ralph's threats of violence are really part of his comedic bluster.
18:27The show makes it very clear that Alice is unafraid and in control.
18:33Tell her I ran off and joined the circus.
18:37What as, an elephant?
18:39I loved her reaction to it. Audrey Meadows just wouldn't put up with any ****. It was fabulous.
18:44You're the type that would bend way over and pick up a pocketbook on April Fool's Day.
18:49I wouldn't.
18:50You couldn't.
18:52There's certain things you probably could not get away with today, but ultimately, you know that they love each other and that the frustrations of the marriage is something that everyone can share as long as the love is there.
19:04Go ahead, say it, Alice, say it.
19:06Now, that never flies today, but it was uproariously funny in the moment.
19:13Go ahead, tell me I'm a maniac, go ahead.
19:15It's really a testament, too, to Jackie Gleason and the writing, because Ralph, played by someone else, could be a terrible, abusive bully.
19:23I don't care.
19:24But the fact that you see that he's never going to do it.
19:28Oh, Ralph.
19:29And the fact that many shows ended with a big hug and a big kiss and, baby, you're the greatest, it was a love story at its core.
19:37I love you.
19:38Baby, you're the greatest.
19:42Please and his writers were very interested in creating catchphrases.
19:57All right with you, Ralph.
19:58I'll be a hum-na-hum-na.
19:59Hum-na-hum.
19:59Hum-na-hum-na-hum-na.
20:00Hum-na-hum.
20:01Oh, hum-na-hum-na.
20:02Hum-na-hum-na-hum-na-hum.
20:02They knew that they would resonate with the American public if there were certain words they said over and over again.
20:08To the moon, Alice. One of these days.
20:12One of these days.
20:13One of these days, Alice. To the moon. To the moon.
20:17One of these days, Alice.
20:18To the moon.
20:19To the moon, Alice.
20:21Bang, zoom. Bang, zoom.
20:24And every character had their own catchphrase, and certainly Ed Norton's Ralphie boy.
20:30You stay there, Ralphie boy.
20:32And Alice was really funny about Ralph and his weight.
20:37This is probably the biggest thing I ever got into.
20:40The biggest thing you ever got into was your pants.
20:42And these lines really resonate with the audience.
20:45Gleason got frustrated with some of the fat jokes.
20:47You got it here.
20:49And you got it here.
20:51And you got it here.
20:54But the writers knew they connected with the audience.
20:57Ralph.
20:57Ralph.
20:58Ralph, how can you talk like that?
20:59I still, to this day, sometimes when my wife makes a droll comment to me, I go, Ralph.
21:07Ralph.
21:08It was so theatrical.
21:16Claustrophobically theatrical.
21:17For the most part, those 39 episodes took place in one room.
21:24It's the ugliest set in the history of television.
21:27This one room was the kitchen, but it also served as the living room, the dining room.
21:34It was the room.
21:35We never see their bedroom.
21:36Would you like to see the other room?
21:38We don't get to leave.
21:39What is the bedroom doing in the kitchen?
21:41It's got a real sense of life not able to break free.
21:45How does a friend's song go?
21:47Always stuck in second gear.
21:49All I know is I can't make Alice quit a job.
21:51I can't get a maid.
21:52And I got to break my back cleaning up this house on my day off.
21:54Ralph felt that way.
21:57Everything he did, it hadn't been his day or even his year.
22:01Failed again?
22:03There are certain episodes of The Honeymooners, the dancing bit.
22:11You know, all these classic comedy things that you can show students today, and they're like,
22:17I've noticed that in a hundred movies.
22:19They're like, yeah, that's when they did it first.
22:21A show that gives away $99,000!
22:26Now tell me, sir, are you married?
22:28Yes.
22:29You're married.
22:29And what is your wife's name?
22:32Mrs. Cramden.
22:33Probably my favorite episode is the one titled,
22:36$99,000 Answer, which American audiences could really relate to because of the prevalence
22:41of quiz shows and the popularity of quiz shows at the time.
22:44When he wants to be on the $99,000 Answer and Ed Norton has to play Swanee River every time.
22:55And the more times he does it, the funnier it gets because Ralph is just so focused on memorizing
23:03all these facts, and all he can do is suffer in silence and try to maintain his composure.
23:12That's often when he's funniest, when he's not saying anything, and you just know he's just suffering.
23:19Like, that's amazing writing, because they planted this joke where Ed has to warm up,
23:32and you just think it's some silly device.
23:35All right, Mr. Cramden, for $100, who is the composer of Swanee River?
23:42Swanee River?
23:43That's right, Swanee River.
23:44Can we have a few bars of Swanee River, Jose?
23:45And then it ends up paying off the entire episode.
23:51That's Swanee River?
23:53One of the greatest endings of any episode ever.
23:57Ed Norton?
24:00Oh, I'm terribly sorry.
24:02My favorite was when Ralph comes up with us at the housewife handy helper, a kitchen device.
24:08Look at all these attachments.
24:09Here, it opens up cans.
24:11It takes corks out of bottles.
24:13It cores apples.
24:14It scales fish.
24:16In one of his countless ways that he was going to break out and become rich, and he does
24:22a TV commercial, and of course, becomes stage drunk.
24:29Wait, who are you?
24:31That's the funniest version of Jackie Gleason panicking.
24:34The fact that they rehearsed it so many times for it to just completely fall apart.
24:42And in this case, it only falls apart because he just freezes.
24:45Chef of the future.
24:47Oh, hello.
24:48I'm glad to have you aboard, chef of the future.
24:51I'm going to chef of the future.
24:53Hello.
24:54I'm glad to have you aboard again, chef of the future.
24:57Ralph really panics and blanks with Ed so loyally by his side.
25:02What's it say in a book?
25:09The golf swing.
25:10First, step up.
25:12Plant your feet firmly on the ground and address the ball.
25:15My favorite episode is probably The Golfer.
25:17The episode where Jackie Gleason, Ralph Cramden, wants to learn how to play golf so he can
25:23impress his boss.
25:24What do they mean by address the ball?
25:26How should I know?
25:27That's what it says here.
25:29Read a little further.
25:29Maybe it explains.
25:31And Norton takes a little textbook on golf.
25:34Oh, that's all it says.
25:35Address the ball.
25:37Step up.
25:38Plant your feet firmly.
25:42Hello, balls.
25:43It's one of the funniest episodes of American television comedy ever.
25:49Hello, ball is like one of those iconic lines.
25:52Yes.
25:52Hello, ball.
25:53You're making this direction.
25:55Yes.
25:55It's just not resonating with the person who's being directed at.
25:58Right.
25:58And it's just funny.
25:59Hello, ball.
26:01Hello, ball.
26:02Hello, ball.
26:03Hello, ball.
26:05Hello, ball.
26:07There's nothing better.
26:09I think it was very difficult working with Jackie Gleason.
26:12It really was, it could be a bit chaotic if you hadn't had enough rehearsal.
26:18Jackie Gleason, you would like to change things.
26:21And sometimes the writers weren't all for it, but he's in control.
26:26It was shot live.
26:27Everybody had to memorize their lines.
26:29They didn't have repeat takes.
26:32It was basically like seeing a theater production that changed every week.
26:36That's a lot of pressure.
26:38You were just doing it live, straight through.
26:42They never were done with single cameras, stop and start.
26:46They were done live.
26:49They filmed two shows a week.
26:51It was exhausting, especially with Gleason not rehearsing.
26:55Gleason was famous for not wanting to rehearse.
26:58And then Art Carney was famous for the opposite.
27:00And they didn't use cue cards.
27:02Not at all.
27:04It would have been awful.
27:05He was, I think, used to getting things his way.
27:08And he may have been a little bit of a temperamental artist.
27:11And Gleason obviously had a bigger-than-life personality and occasionally a temper.
27:16So I'm sure he wasn't always the easiest person to get along with.
27:21He would also throw out a scene at about quarter to eight and call all of us in his dressing room.
27:26And he'd say, that last scene, it's no good.
27:29We're not going to play it.
27:29So he'd say, Frank, just shoot us all Civil War style.
27:33And that meant photograph whoever was talking.
27:36And he would say to me, now I'll start at odd and you just go along with me.
27:39Improvise.
27:40Improvise.
27:40Few people realize that The Honeymooners itself as a TV show only ran for one season.
27:45And The Honeymooners got mixed reviews when they were initially seen on film in 1955.
27:53Over the course of the season, it actually goes down in the ratings.
27:58It's not this huge hit by the end.
28:01It's up against the Perry Como show.
28:03I know that may not impress you now, but going up against Perry Como was hard to do back then.
28:09Gleason, I think, was a little frustrated that they were putting all this hard work into these filmed episodes.
28:14But it didn't have the connection, so they thought.
28:19Back in those days, one year was 39 episodes, which is incredible to think of today.
28:23It's like a meat grinder.
28:25And now the network's doing 13.
28:26But that's the way we did The Honeymooners.
28:29And that's tough writing and very difficult to do.
28:34At the end, CBS wanted to renew it.
28:38Technically, it was planned for a two years and a third year option.
28:42And the story goes, Jackie thought it had done its best and that it would be compromised if it went any further.
28:50We were running out of ideas.
28:52And I like The Honeymooners.
28:54I like doing it.
28:55Yeah.
28:55And I didn't want to denigrate them by, you know, forcing scenes that didn't mean anything.
29:01Right.
29:02So I wanted to quit.
29:03And they didn't believe me.
29:05They thought I had another job someplace.
29:07Yeah.
29:07But I didn't.
29:08And I'm glad I did stop then.
29:12He said that they thought they were beginning to repeat themselves.
29:16But that's not quite in the material.
29:19It's strange that Jackie Gleason cut off The Honeymooners after 39 episodes because he actually had a deal to do at least one more season.
29:25I think the ratings weren't what he wanted.
29:27And I think Gleason always wanted to be on top.
29:31But for whatever reason, it stops after the big 39.
29:37Jackie recognized that there was only so many times Ralph could have his expectations and his ambitions and some sort of failure or some sort of calamity.
29:48So he wanted to go back and provide the audiences with one hour of performances, one hour of guest stars of The June Taylor Dancers.
29:58And that's why the second year of that two-year contract was a return to the one-hour Jackie Gleason show.
30:06Yeah, well, the show's over.
30:07The curtain came down and the audience is filing out.
30:09You know, it's really hard to know exactly why Jackie Gleason decided to only do 39 filmed episodes.
30:26But for CBS, he went back to the variety show.
30:29And The Honeymooners filmed episodes, and in September, he immediately does live Honeymooners in October.
30:36So it's as if he's going back to where he was.
30:40And away we go!
30:44Oh, sweet it is!
30:47The classic 39 were first rerun on CBS, and then they were syndicated to local stations throughout the country.
30:56Especially here in New York City, one station, WPAX, ran the Honeymooners for many, many decades.
31:04It was always on somewhere in the reruns.
31:08But it didn't become popular again until they went into that 11 o'clock time slot on WPIX.
31:14Channel 11.
31:14Channel 11 in New York.
31:16Where we watched it on.
31:17We started watching it.
31:18Friends started watching it.
31:19Friends are friends.
31:21And then we started talking about it.
31:22I have a big ball!
31:24Now, when we're doing our podcast, so many times, we run scenes back four or five times.
31:33Put nine on a driver.
31:35Or just to catch a line.
31:36And those 39 live on.
31:40And they would come on after the Yankee games.
31:44So in the summertime, I'd ask to stay up.
31:47And I remember watching the baseball games with my dad, and then the Honeymooners would come on.
31:51So baseball and the Honeymooners were part of the way that I bonded with my dad.
31:56Mr. Cramden, do you think you could cover second base?
31:59My boy, you are looking at a man that could cover the infield, the outfield, and four sections of the preacher.
32:05Nick at night became a phenomenon that really introduced the young generation to classics.
32:11People developed a new appreciation for Ralph and company.
32:14And that made perfect timing, almost suspicious timing,
32:18when additional episodes of the Honeymooners were then unearthed in CBS's vaults.
32:24People had rediscovered the Honeymooners, those 39 episodes.
32:27It was doing huge on independent TV stations.
32:30People my age were watching those black and white repeats late at night on their local independent TV station.
32:36The Honeymooners had a renaissance of sorts.
32:39Just let it flow. Thank you.
32:40And especially once cable started, where there was this huge appetite for stuff.
32:44There were only 39 episodes. We wanted more.
32:47Well, I got one more thing to say.
32:49Well, there were more.
32:50And there's more where I came from.
32:57These weren't traditional episodes, though.
33:03These were sketches that were on the Jackie Gleason show.
33:06Just a while ago.
33:07So I did as much research as possible, just seeing when these live sketches might have aired.
33:14Then I worked very closely with the engineers at CBS.
33:18We went into the vaults where they preserved the live Jackie Gleason shows.
33:24And we were able to find four.
33:27It was just a revelation.
33:29Finally, you can see some new Honeymooners.
33:33All is lost!
33:34So, some smart folks decided to put those episodes and those sketches together and turn them into the quote-unquote lost episodes.
33:42Well, they weren't really episodes.
33:45Sketches often were not produced in the same way and in the same quality as the classic of 39.
33:51And that's because of the way TV was shot, particularly in the early days.
33:54There was no way to take something that was being broadcast live from a camera over the airwaves and also have it committed to a strip of film.
34:00So, when things were broadcast for later time zones, they used something called a kinescope.
34:06And that was not a very good quality.
34:09They just thought it was disposable.
34:11And that's why other shows of the 50s that weren't catalogued and weren't archived are lost to time.
34:18The Lost Honeymooners were met with quite fanfare.
34:21How about you and me taking a second honeymoon?
34:23Finding a treasure trove of those sketches and episodes was unbelievable for people who loved The Honeymooners.
34:30They love it.
34:31Jackie was surprised.
34:32These kinescopes were really all but forgotten, other than the monthly and annual charges for storage.
34:39From his chair, there was no value in them.
34:41So, those Lost Honeymooners have taken on a life of their own.
34:44Beautiful.
34:45Just like it is with all new ones, you know?
34:47Finding all of that gave us all insight into the development of early American television.
34:53This is a history-making occasion I'd like to pull.
34:56All right, I'll put this on and you can apply to Hot Town.
34:59And you saw how television evolved with the way programs were shot and character development.
35:09And two of the greatest characters on American television, Ralph Cramden and Lucy Ricardo,
35:16were seen on television within 10 days of each other.
35:19We first experienced Ralph Cramden on October 5th, 1951.
35:25And 10 days later, I Love Lucy debuts.
35:27So, it's amazing that Ralph Cramden and Lucy came to us almost the same time.
35:34And it would just continue as Gleason went into his vault.
35:40Other people found more programs.
35:42I was contacted by the daughter of one of Gleason's writers, Snagwaris.
35:49And the daughter, Wendy, had in her basement kinescopes of the very first episode.
35:56My finger's so swollen, I can't get it out.
35:58It's stuck.
36:00Ralph, why don't you put some butter on it?
36:02I don't want to eat it.
36:03I don't want to get it off.
36:04And Wendy told me that her father traded bourbon to Jackie Gleason for the kinescopes.
36:11We've got this whole generation of people raving about the Honeymooners.
36:14Hopeful's vying for the top prize in the Honeymooners Look-A-Like Contest
36:17will mimic Ralph Cramden and Ed Norton.
36:19That was a frame of reference with a lot of these guys.
36:21If you didn't understand what that was, what planet did you live on?
36:26You don't know all this stuff from the Honeymooners?
36:28It's definitely cultish.
36:30There's definitely a cultish thing about it
36:32to where we almost feel like we're a special group of people
36:35that literally have seen each episode at least 500 times.
36:39You know, it kind of goes to our mental illness,
36:41but it also goes to how much we really appreciate the show.
36:46I appreciate that.
36:48Well, now maybe you realize that I'm all for you.
36:56Why don't you wear one of your regular white shirts?
36:58What's the difference anyway?
36:59I think the legacy of the Honeymooners was,
37:01this was a really early example of relationship comedy
37:06and of a couple and how you could do a show
37:10that was about relationships, was about adult relationships.
37:14Put on there purposely.
37:16They say hurricane.
37:18Anyone who wonders why the Honeymooners
37:20still hold a place in our heart,
37:21if they are curious, get married.
37:23All right, Miss Dorothy Dix, fixer of marriage problems.
37:27It's just a lot of that.
37:28Well, Ralph, can't you sleep on something out here?
37:32Sure I can.
37:33Sure, I'll bring the bed from in there,
37:34put it out here, and I'll sleep out here.
37:37I think it holds up because it's incredibly relatable.
37:40The reality is it's just a guy with big dreams
37:43that almost never come true,
37:45who loves his wife,
37:46even though they fight and bicker all the time.
37:49It's just relatable all these years later.
37:51And you know what else?
37:52It's funny.
37:54I could sleep in a sink if you want me.
37:56It was incredibly funny,
37:58but there was pathos there.
38:01It wasn't written so much into the script in words spoken.
38:05It was just felt.
38:07It was hysterically funny,
38:08and it could also be touching.
38:13Many modern sitcoms borrow from
38:15the blueprint of the Honeymooners.
38:17Certainly, The Flintstones was directly inspired by it.
38:21It wasn't enough that Wilma,
38:23her delivery was exactly like
38:25Audrey Meadows' delivery on The Honeymooners.
38:28Where do you want it, Fred?
38:30Uh, just set it down where I can reach it.
38:34And remember, if you sink,
38:36don't let my best dishes go down with the ship.
38:40And they even ripped off Ralph and Norton.
38:43I'm gonna pack a spearfishing.
38:45Don't point that thing at me.
38:46It's loaded.
38:48Oops.
38:54No use wasting the lunch.
38:57So The Flintstones
38:58clearly are a takeoff
39:00of the Cramdons.
39:02And Jackie was well aware of it.
39:04But he didn't want to be
39:05the man that was going to sue the Flintstones.
39:08What else can happen?
39:12Yogi Bear.
39:13You ever see Yogi Bear?
39:15He's got the hat
39:15with the front pushed up.
39:18And he goes,
39:19Hey, boo-boo.
39:20See what I mean, boo-boo?
39:21Hey, that's a boy.
39:22Boo-boo boy?
39:23That was a ripoff of Ed Norton.
39:28I do think that many shows
39:30owe a debt of gratitude
39:31to the Honeymooners.
39:32I would say Roseanne.
39:34I remember her working
39:35in the plastic cutlery factory.
39:38And from there,
39:39King of Queens
39:40with the play on the relationship
39:43between Alice and Ralph.
39:46Obviously, Kevin James and Lee Remini
39:47are pretty close comparisons
39:49in that Kevin
39:51was a very physical actor.
40:02And played dumber.
40:04You ate my cake?
40:06Was that yours?
40:07Than Jackie Gleason's character.
40:09We should go on a diet together
40:10so I can take some of this off.
40:12We.
40:13You know, I feel bloated,
40:15you know, very disgusting right now.
40:16And I just really feel
40:19if we went on a diet,
40:20that's...
40:22to really do the trick.
40:24And is there a reason
40:25you keep saying we?
40:26Yeah, it's just like...
40:28We!
40:30But I almost find
40:31that there's more repetition
40:33of character
40:34between Leah's character
40:35and Audrey Meadows.
40:37All right, Cagliar,
40:38this is stupid.
40:39You don't need to lose weight.
40:40You're fine the way you are.
40:41No, no, no.
40:42I'm doing this.
40:43No, here.
40:43Let me give you some spaghetti.
40:45No, please.
40:45Would you just leave me alone?
40:47But if you do
40:47any type of frustration
40:49where you begin
40:50to yell at
40:51your family
40:52and your life...
40:53Stop with a diet talk!
40:55...that draws
40:56a direct parallel
40:57to The Honeymooners.
40:58And you take a look
40:59at Archie Bunker,
41:01John Goodman
41:01in Roseanne,
41:03Homer Simpson.
41:05Marge,
41:06I never put my foot down
41:08about anything.
41:09No.
41:09But I am severely
41:10tempted to do it
41:12over this.
41:12No, Homer.
41:13Marge, I'm sorry.
41:14Your foot is broken.
41:16All of these characters
41:17have the same frustrations
41:18of Ralph Cramden.
41:20It seems audiences
41:21related to The Honeymooners
41:23very easily, I think,
41:25because there were
41:26a lot of people
41:26that lived like them.
41:28and talked like them
41:29and dressed like them.
41:32I mean,
41:32they can relate to it.
41:34The Honeymooners,
41:36it's become a template.
41:37You've got this
41:38bare, simple
41:39husband and wife
41:40and a friend.
41:41You have very
41:42simple, fundamental
41:44ambitions of success
41:46and of love.
41:47A little ego.
41:49Something that we
41:50can always relate to.
41:51Bang!
41:51So in some ways,
41:53there's a little Honeymooners
41:54in virtually every story
41:56we ever see.
41:57Baby,
41:59you're the greatest.
42:00You're the greatest.
42:00We'll see you next time.
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