View Full Version : THE HONEYMOONERS - Jackie Gleason


JHS2RT
02-13-2009, 02:25 PM
After the thread on "Married With Childen" which that show was gross.
I thought I ask this question ----------- Wasn't "The Honeymooners" the greatest?
What a show !! Art Carney , Jackie Gleason , Audry Meadows , Joyce Randolf --What a team !
To The Moon...................... I have a collection of all --the 39 shows from the 50's plus the lost ones also.
Jackie Gleason --- "Baby --He was the greatest!!"
James :thmbsp:

Twenty20Man
02-13-2009, 02:36 PM
when you watch the tripe they call comedy...like rita rocks, still standing then you see "the honeymooners" you appreciate it that much more. todays junk is just a series of risque one liners that were old before they uttered them. i watch spongebob with my grandson and TCM

BroonsBane
02-13-2009, 02:56 PM
Agreed. Comedy that was actually funny. I think 99% of the jokes on sitcoms these days are sexual. It's pathetic the drivel the networks shove down the throats of the masses. The trouble is, the masses eat it up.

Shows like The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show etc had geniuses for writers and casts of actors that could actually act. It seems that TV used to be about the shows. Now it's about having something on to kill the time in between commercials.

jetblack
02-13-2009, 03:49 PM
Classic comedy! I can't put my finger on why, but the 'magic' was there.

bighairydude
02-13-2009, 05:46 PM
when you watch the tripe they call comedy...like rita rocks, still standing then you see "the honeymooners" you appreciate it that much more. todays junk is just a series of risque one liners that were old before they uttered them. i watch spongebob with my grandson and TCM

IMHO Spongebob will go down as this generations equivalent of good old Looney Tunes. Fun for the kids to watch and the humor that makes grown ups laugh...

JHS2RT
02-14-2009, 09:09 AM
My favorite show was from 1956--- "Alice Learns To Mambo".
Gosh !!! I loved that show and Jackie Gleason was the great one!!.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE SHOW FROM THE SERIES?
James

MarkD
02-14-2009, 12:26 PM
My favorite one is "A Weighty Problem". The first few scenes in that are hilarious.

prisoners
02-14-2009, 12:27 PM
I have favorite lines more than favorite episodes. A few: "Ralph..do you mind if smoke?" "I don't care if you burn."

When Alice's mother comes to visit and spills the beans about a play Ralph was going to: "She's a BLABBERMOUTH!!"

They all go over to Burt Weidermeyer's house for dinner and meet his flashy wife Rita:
Alice: "I call you killer 'cause you slay me..." Ralph: "And I'm calling Bellevue cause you're NUTS!!"
Then she blows the cigarette smoke in his face.."Oh look out now!!"

So many!

electronjohn
02-14-2009, 02:09 PM
A big second on "The Honeymooners". Gotta love the B&W episodes of Andy Griffith, too. Cast changes and the switch to color took a lot of the magic out of the show, IMHO. There was a bit of tripe on 50s TV, too..."The Gale Storm Show" comes to mind.

wrat
02-14-2009, 02:33 PM
To the Moon!!! fantastic show. no set to speak of just acting and writing

AnalogDigit
02-14-2009, 02:40 PM
Best sitcom ever! I watch them every night on channel 23 in Chicago. My top five episodes in order:

1. Better Living Through TV - It's zipping the modern way! Ha! Ha!
2. TV Or Not TV - Heads you win, tails you lose.
3. Alice and the Blonde - If he keeps this up, he's going to be a buried treasure!
4. The Maid - The chubby one is going to be trouble.
5. Dial J for Janitor - Eureka, my garbage can is full!

ekmanning5
02-14-2009, 03:04 PM
Who wrote, "Swanee River"!?

Hamada,hamada, hamada...Ed Norton?

:lmao::lmao::lmao:

Brian
02-14-2009, 04:25 PM
Topper
The Burns and Allen Show
Bilko

JHS2RT
02-14-2009, 06:54 PM
who wrote, "swanee river"!?

Hamada,hamada, hamada...ed norton?

:lmao::lmao::lmao:

Steven Foster

JHS2RT
02-14-2009, 07:13 PM
best sitcom ever! I watch them every night on channel 23 in chicago. My top five episodes in order:

1. Better living through tv - it's zipping the modern way! Ha! Ha!
2. Tv or not tv - heads you win, tails you lose.
3. Alice and the blonde - if he keeps this up, he's going to be a buried treasure!
4. The maid - the chubby one is going to be trouble.
5. Dial j for janitor - eureka, my garbage can is full!

Great Lines --- Thanks

jayk
02-14-2009, 07:18 PM
yeah, bilko was great too!

'the color honeymooners' was on american life tv, a channel like tvland and i made dvd-rs of all the episodes.
in june of '07, right after comcast bought out adelphia, they yanked american life tv off :tears:along with hdnet/movies:tears:. pissed me the ef off.

and just before that happened, american life tv started up with mary tyler moore:yes:(still waiting to see a rerun of chuckles the clowns funeral:yes:) and 'newhart:yes:', the one in vermont.

piss on some of these :uzi::pistols: cable cos!

at least we still got m.a.s.h. and a few others.

ekmanning5
02-14-2009, 10:41 PM
Steven Foster

Of course he did. I was referring to the episode ; $99,000 Answer.

Dave1384
02-14-2009, 11:44 PM
:smlove:Bang........................zoom

Dave1384
02-14-2009, 11:47 PM
My favorite show was from 1956--- "Alice Learns To Mambo".
Gosh !!! I loved that show and Jackie Gleason was the great one!!.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE SHOW FROM THE SERIES?
James

"Racoon of the year"..... and loses.

My God, there's my cat again.

Tapehead47
02-14-2009, 11:52 PM
Of course he did. I was referring to the episode ; $99,000 Answer.

That's the one where they were on a "$64,000" quiz show and Ralph ignored Norton's suggestions.

Where's my $99,000? :D

Rick

Tapehead47
02-15-2009, 12:00 AM
Oh, was it ever The Greatest show! We get WGN here in Tampa Bay and I watch it whenever I can.

As 'Prisoners' mentioned, "Blabbermouth" made me laugh more than any other episode.

Also, "The Chef of the Future" was a riot.

I also liked The Dick Van Dyke Show. Andy Griffith was great when Don Knotts was on it (and okay afterwards). The Lucielle Ball show was great, too.

Jack Lord
02-19-2009, 04:24 PM
Yea Blabbermouth might be my favorite as well.

I got into the Honeymooners back in college in NYC. I did not like it at first, but it came on Channel 11 in between the Odd Couple and Star Trek, so I would not move. Soon enough I was hooked.

Classic stuff.

Cactus Bob
02-19-2009, 05:03 PM
How about "Kranmar's Delicious Mystery Appetizer". In the episode "A Dog's Life"

Honeymooners was absolutely the best sitcom ever!

danj
02-21-2009, 03:26 PM
IMHO, The Honeymooners was the best sitcom of all time. I Love Lucy and Bilko are right on its heels. Great stuff! We do forget that there was a lot of junk on fifties tv and we only remember the best.

Gleason was a comic genius and one of tv's greatest characters - not just as Ralph Kramden but as just plain Jackie.

Pert Kelton was the original Alice and a great personal friend of Jackie's. The network didn't like her and insisted she be replaced. She was, with the immortal Audrey Meadows. Still, Pert was a great Alice. She played Alice's mother on the 60s version of The Honeymooners. She's probably best remembered for her tour-de-force performance as Marion the Librarian's mother in the classic musical "The Music Man."

One reason the fifties are considered "the golden age" of American television is talent - the sheer volume of it. Yes, there was a lot of junk then but the quality stuff was frequent and well remembered. I present a small list of names as examples why it was the golden age:

1. Rod Serling
2. Sid, Imogene, Carl, and Howard
3. Nate Hiken and Phil Silvers
4. Jackie, Audrey, Art, and Joyce
5. Lucy, Desi, Vivian, and Bill
6. Paddy Chayesky
7. Richard Boone
8. Ed Sullivan
9. Milton Berle
10.Fran Allison
11.Andy Griffith
12.Eve Arden
13.Nanette Fabray
14.Nat "King" Cole
15.Burns & Allen
16.Jack Benny
17.James Arness
18.Dick Powell
19.Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner (again)
20.Abbott and Costello

Dave1384
02-21-2009, 04:45 PM
Groucho Marx.

Mystic
02-21-2009, 08:09 PM
There is a sadness to the struggle of the families and ancillary characters depicted in The Honeymooners, especially Gleason's hapless Ralph, that I have always found very moving, even as a young boy of, what, 7-8 years old. The only show I've seen that comes even close to rivaling the class struggle and personal despair presented in The Honeymooners is, in my opinion, Roseanne. Let the flaming ensue.

outshined
02-21-2009, 08:34 PM
There is a sadness to the struggle of the families and ancillary characters depicted in The Honeymooners, especially Gleason's hapless Ralph, that I have always found very moving, even as a young boy of, what, 7-8 years old. The only show I've seen that comes even close to rivaling the class struggle and personal despair presented in The Honeymooners is, in my opinion, Roseanne. Let the flaming ensue.

I second Roseanne.

A somewhat deeper show than given credit for. And funny as hell, to boot.

Mystic
02-21-2009, 08:47 PM
I second Roseanne.

A somewhat deeper show than given credit for. And funny as hell, to boot.

Oh yes, wayyyy deeper than it is credited. But, Roseanne herself is, um, polarizing (to say the least), which prevents many from being able to make an unbiased assessment & evaluation of series' merits. Not unlike Gleason, from what I have read in the critical literature of the period.

Plumberboy1
02-22-2009, 06:50 AM
Ralph actually did it!

danj
02-25-2009, 12:09 AM
I don't care much for Ms. Barr as a comedian but "Roseanne" was a very good and truthful show for which she can take much of the credit. It kinda died a slow death at the end but for several seasons it was classic.

SOTA
02-25-2009, 12:25 AM
Address the ball...

"Hellooo ball":D

J.R.

JHS2RT
02-25-2009, 08:59 PM
The Honeymooners is, in my opinion, Roseanne
NO WAY IN HELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOTA
02-25-2009, 09:27 PM
The Honeymooners is, in my opinion, Roseanne
NO WAY IN HELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pound for pound:D, The Honeymooners was far funnier and original to boot!

J.R.

Toasted Almond
02-27-2009, 04:23 PM
The last good show was F Troop.

JHS2RT
02-27-2009, 10:24 PM
There is a sadness to the struggle of the families and ancillary characters depicted in The Honeymooners, especially Gleason's hapless Ralph, that I have always found very moving, even as a young boy of, what, 7-8 years old. The only show I've seen that comes even close to rivaling the class struggle and personal despair presented in The Honeymooners is, in my opinion, Roseanne. Let the flaming ensue.

ROSEANNE --------- NO WAY !!! That show was the pits and was not funny at all. The worst show depicting family life. DOES NOT HOLD A CANDLE TO THE HONEYMOONERS !!!!:thumbsdn::thumbsdn::thumbsdn:
James