Original subtitles

[narrator] The golden age of television.

I Love Lucy didn't just change American television,

it invented American television.

[narrator] Back when one screen brought everyone together.

Watching television was a family event.

[narrator] The shows that shaped us.

[man] The Brady Bunch was part of the American soul.

It's timeless.

[narrator] The familiar faces.

[Bob Costas] Ralph Kramden was loved on The Honeymooners.

-Pow, right in the kisser! -He was a presence.

[narrator] The unforgettable moments.

[Jeff Zucker] Dynasty captured the essence

of what the 1980s were about in America.

[narrator] These are their stories.

[man] Cheers is the pinnacle of how great the sitcom can be.

[narrator] This is TV We Love.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] The year is 1955.

Dwight D. Eisenhower is in the White House,

rock and roll is in its infancy,

and music is blaring out of diner jukeboxes.

America is caught up in a booming post-war glow

and looming Cold War chill.

[man] Suburbs are packing up,

and the American dream is being sold

with every white picket-fence.

Teenagers discovered this new phenomenon

known as Elvis Presley.

While their parents, ah,

they're still watching Perry Como.

[narrator] And then, one loudmouth Brooklyn bus driver...

Are you nuts or something?

[narrator] ...changed sitcom history forever.

The Honeymooners is kind of in a class all of its own.

Oh, so you're in the championship class.

Where do you play, Kramden?

Well, The Honeymooners is one of the most interesting

comic universes ever created.

And all this stuff.

[Bob] Characters were perfect.

The characterizations were perfect.

The scripts were well-written. It was perfect.

[Jeff] The Honeymooners is my favorite show ever.

I love it, and every time I see it come on,

it just makes me smile.

At a time like this, you gotta smile,

you gotta smile.

[Robert Smigel] Jackie Gleason,

he's one of the funniest performers

in the history of comedy.

Aha!

The show that really stood the test of time,

and people still are discovering now.

As a matter of fact, one night at rehearsal,

he said that I have something that comes across the footlights

and reaches out into the audience.

You know, I think The Honeymooners

is one of the most important shows

in the history of American television.

You certainly have.

[laughter]

Jackie Gleason is not the kind of person

you would have pointed to in the streets and said,

"Now, there's a star."

And he did so much in entertainment.

And he really learned to sort of dominate the stage

in so many different vaudeville houses throughout the country.

Jackie Gleason had already established himself

as a major talent.

[Ron Simon] William Paley, the founder of CBS,

noticed Gleason and said

that we're going to create a show for him.

And that's exactly what he did.

The Jackie Gleason Show.

Gleason was an impresario,

that he had a vision not only of the sketches,

but of the entire show.

Gleason really wanted to bring song, dance, and comedy

and make Saturday night this spectacular entertainment.

He was in control of every element of the show.

It was larger-than-life.

You saw these dancers from above.

You were seeing, like, a '30s musical.

♪

They had these dancers on the show.

It was called The June Taylor Dancers.

[Brian Carney] My father and I were standing in the wings,

and The June Taylor Dancers had just finished their number.

And as they came out, my father would say,

"This is my son, Brian. This is my son, Brian."

And they were all so tall.

All I remember is rear ends and legs

going by me, you know.

[lively, grand music playing]

It's a variety show, so people are singing and dancing.

♪

The Honeymooners was a sketch within a larger show.

You know, he had other-- other characters.

Ralph Kramden was the character, but he had Reginald Van Gleason.

He had The Poor Soul. He had Joe The Bartender.

He had a dozen of these different characters.

I think the most relatable character

that he ever came up with

was probably Ralph Kramden, in The Honeymooners.

[theme song playing]

[announcer] Jackie Gleason.

The Honeymooners.

The Honeymooners is about a bus driver in Brooklyn,

Ralph Kramden, and his wife, Alice,

and their neighbors are Ed, and Trixie Norton.

And they all are getting along

in a very blue-collar environment in Brooklyn,

which is one of the most realistic

New York apartments ever shown.

[Nicole Sullivan] It's like a family show,

because it represented these people

that are often living paycheck-to-paycheck,

and are fighting their way through every day,

but with a sense of humor.

And God bless, isn't that what we all want?

[Jackie Gleason] What's more important than a man

and a woman, loving each other?

What's more important than a man and a woman trying to make it?

[Jim Colucci] Ralph is the master

of the get-rich-quick scheme.

And so he's always trying to master,

to better his station in life by doing something

that will require the least work possible.

To beat the system.

And he's always beaten down by the system instead.

I am going to make a fortune,

and I am going to let you in on a deal.

Here we go again.

You know, if you break it down to its simplest form,

it could sound pretty corny.

Get rich quick, you got a dreamer.

You could put so many different actors in that role,

and it would feel like a cliché,

but the cast is really what made it work.

I can't stand to make a fortune again.

I'm going broke.

I mean, they're really otherworldly.

[lively music]

The Honeymooners, it starts out as an occasional bit

done in an hour-long variety show.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time once again

for a visit with Ralph and Alice Kramden,

better known to you as The Honeymooners.

-[Ralph humming] -Ralph!

And then started to eat up more and more of that variety show.

And it became popular.

I guess, back in the day, you probably used to write in.

-You'd actually write a letter. -[both laughing]

Like, to say, "oh, we really like this Honeymooners skit."

My boy.

It was a 14-minute sketch when I was hired,

-just every other week. -Right.

Then it went to every week, a 14-minute sketch.

Then it went to a half-hour.

-Then it went to an hour. -Right.

-And now for the champagne. -[champagne bottle pops]

[Ron] The success of The Honeymooners

took Gleason by surprise,

but it was really the interaction

of the characters, I think,

that people responded to on The Honeymooners.

-Let me fill the glasses. -Now, come on, Ralph.

Tell me, please, what this is all about.

I think audiences loved The Honeymooners

because they could relate to it.

A toast.

[Journey] The Honeymooners was authentic.

The portrayal of families on television

prior to The Honeymooners is really idealized.

[narrator] ...In Father Knows Best.

And it's mostly middle

to upper-class families that we're seeing.

And so The Honeymooners is really the first time

we're seeing a working-class family

in a small Brooklyn apartment with modest means,

modest living, struggling to make ends meet.

We could afford it, if you'd take it a little easy,

and stop throwing the money around!

It's funny, but the underlying premise

is striving, and longing.

And I think a lot of people in that era related to that.

[fast-paced jazz music]

CBS sees the writing on the wall with The Honeymooners.

It's become popular enough

that CBS decides, let's do a series.

CBS looks at The Honeymooners and says,

"Why can't we do the same thing

that we're doing with I Love Lucy?"

[Ron] In 1955, Gleason was approached to create

two years of The Honeymooners, and put it on film.

[Jim] It's kind of like when characters on SNL

have a catchphrase or become popular,

they keep showing up more, and more, and more.

The same thing, The Honeymooners

were getting more and more popular.

And so, Jackie Gleason got offered a deal

to do The Honeymooners as its own stand-alone domestic sitcom.

Well, so, you got the news.

-Huh, fellas? -Yeah.

Well, it only goes to prove

that a good man is not hard to find.

The Honeymooners had their own individual series in 1955.

[laughter]

-[Ed laughs] -What's so funny?

There's so many things to love about the show.

It was brilliant, but not intellectually brilliant.

It was simplistically brilliant.

[Robert S.] Jackie Gleason, he's all you need, because...

[screams]

...he's one of the funniest performers

in the history of comedy.

-Ah... -[laughter]

He's just born with it.

I mean, I've known a few people who have,

they're just-- they're just born that way.

And, like, yeah, Chris Farley.

Old Matt's gonna be your shadow.

Here's you, here's Matt.

There's you, there's--

[laughter]

Jackie Gleason, he's hilarious

when he snaps, and gets really angry.

Besides, you wouldn't even fit through the manhole.

Get out!

He's hilarious when he is putting up

with somebody that's slowing him down.

[trumpet music playing]

-Come on! -[laughter]

I think that any smart lead comedian

in their own show appreciates their second banana.

And it's the same with Kramden and Norton.

Ralph is funny because he has Ed to play off of.

Hey, Ralph, that reminds me, can I use your phone?

Jackie Gleason was the great one,

but The Honeymooners doesn't work without Ed Norton.

Is it an important call?

Look, would-- would-- would I ask if it wasn't important?

They worked so well together

because they really both had impeccable timing.

Will you make the call?

[laughter]

They'd wait that split-second

before they reacted, or they said a line.

Thank you.

[laughter]

Was that the important call you had to make?

And Ed can be dumber than Ralph.

I'm leaving you my bowling shoes.

And so that makes Ralph look good, and look smart,

and have something to be frustrated with.

I was just gonna go out and buy myself

a new pair of bowling shoes.

This couldn't happen at a better time.

And yet, have a willing accomplice in his schemes.

This solves the whole problem.

I mean, neither of them would be considered smart,

but Ralph Kramden was incredibly intense,

and Ed Norton was comparatively laid back,

and that combination of energies really worked.

[laughter]

Gleason obviously saw him on The Morey Amsterdam Show,

and thought, "He's got talent."

And he had him in to read for a part on The Honeymooners.

I don't possess a mansion, a villa in France,

a yacht, or a string of palopony.

What makes Art Carney so special?

He was such a talented man. He was musically talented.

[upbeat piano music playing]

He really could play the piano.

[fast-paced piano music]

Comedically talented.

You told me that every time

you'd turn around, I'd make money.

Well, so far, you ain't been exactly no pinwheel!

He was versatile. A serious actor, could do it all.

Go ahead, right here. See?

So we're just a couple of kids, really.

And we acted like a couple of kids, too.

Cover up your face, Ralph. Cover up your face.

When you can make people laugh, as Kramden and Norton did,

inner satisfaction is hard to explain.

Cover up your face.

[Bob] Ralph's gonna be up to something,

Ed Norton's gonna annoy him,

but there's gonna be deep friendship and deep love

beneath the surface of all of this, and it's palpable.

I don't know if there's ever been a pair of comedians

on television, on the same show,

that were both amazing physical comedians.

[Craig Horwich] Art Carney was a great talent.

Jackie knew that Art was what everybody was laughing at,

and so he knew to step back

and let Ed Norton flourish with his idiosyncrasies,

and his over-the-top ridiculousnesses.

-That was just a gift. -Teach me to mambo.

Do exactly as I do, huh?

But these two guys, Jackie Gleason's ability

to throw his body all over the place...

[laughter]

...Art Carney's looseness with his body...

♪ A-do the Hucklebuck, a-do the Hucklebuck ♪

♪ If you don't know how to do it, boy, you're outta luck ♪

[Robert S.] ...were hilarious.

They were just-- you just can't take your eyes off of them.

Yes, sir!

Because you know they're gonna move in a funny way.

They're not just gonna deliver funny lines.

♪ The lights are down low ♪

-I got it now, Norton. -[laughter]

[Robert S.] They were the whole package.

Will you come on, Ed!

♪ A-do the Hucklebuck ♪

I 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.

You don't need anything to keep your weight down.

You need something to hold it up.

Matching them at their wits, not being submissive,

and certainly challenging them,

while at the same time loving them.

-None of the wives are going! -None of the wives are going?

Well, for your information, Trixie's going.

Norton's on his way up to tell her she can't go.

-Ah! -[thudding]

[laughter]

Women at that time were all,

"Hi, honey, would you like dinner?"

You know, they were all milquetoast.

The women in most of the sitcoms when I was growing up.

Like Father Knows Best.

-Well, not Audrey Meadows. -Well, you're not going!

Now you listen to me, Ralph. I am going on that fishing trip.

No, she would just yell at Jackie Gleason.

She didn't let him get away with anything.

[Louie] Interesting story with Audrey Meadows.

She goes for her first interview and Gleason said no.

[Joe] She's way too pretty to be Alice.

So she went back, woke up in the morning,

no makeup, looked like a mess.

Had her photographer come to the house,

snap pictures.

And posed with frying pans, and coffee pots, and stuff.

And we got the pictures developed

by 4:00 in the afternoon.

And Jackie looked at the pictures.

He said, "My God," he said, "It's Alice."

Who is she? Where is she? Can we get her?

And Bob said, "Well, that's the girl

who was in here yesterday to see you."

And Jackie said, "Any dame with a sense of humor like that

deserves the job, hire her."

[Craig] And Jackie doesn't remember the specifics

as the story is told.

But I've seen the photos that Audrey had taken.

So, I believe she knew what it took to get the role.

And I think history shows that she delivered.

You get this, Ralph, and get it straight.

I think what Audrey Meadows brought to that show,

which was way before her time, was a sense of self-empowerment.

She really did, she owned her space in that relationship.

She also told me something very interesting,

that early on, she decided that she would play Alice stationary.

Now, obviously, she had to enter sometimes and exit,

but when she was in a scene,

she kind of planted herself in position,

because Art Carney was such a physical actor

and Gleeson was such an enormous,

literally and figuratively, presence.

And 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.

And then she'd always have some line

that would just kind of cut through everything.

If they ever institute a nut-of-the-month club,

I've got a very good idea who's gonna be January and February.

[Craig] Jackie loved Audrey.

Nothing ever did get by her, and she was very comfortable

playing a rather authoritative, wise counterpart to Ralph.

She knew how to have Alice go toe-to-toe with Ralph.

Audrey Meadows was a great compliment to Jackie Gleeson

because every time Ralph gets excited about anything,

she's just seen it too many times

for her to care even an iota.

Har-har-har-dee-har-har.

She played her role beautifully, and she was iconic.

What's the matter with me, Trixie, don't I get nothing?

-I'm too tired. -How do you like that?

I've been working down in the sewer

all day long, and she's tired.

That's another reason.

[Craig] Joyce Randolph was a wonderful woman.

She was brought aboard to The Gleason Show

as a bit actress, and Jackie respected and knew that.

Jackie was confident with her.

Someday you're gonna ask me to do something for you.

Joe Cates is on the phone, and he asked me

had I seen something they were doing called The Honeymooners,

and I said, "No, I don't know what that is."

He said, "Well, Art Carney's playing the sewer worker,

and now they've written a wife called Trixie

for the sewer worker, and Mr. Gleason said,

'Get me that serious actress.'"

Ed Norton, I wouldn't stay

another minute in this house with you.

I'm going downstairs to spend the night with Alice.

The Honeymooners can be hard to watch to a modern audience,

because Ralph threatens his wife

with physical violence.

"One of these days," and he actually puts up the fist,

the whole threatening to send her to the moon.

Do you want to go to the moon?

But, you also have

in both his wife, and his best friend's wife,

these characters who are really

independently-minded, empowered.

The girls are really gonna be in for some shock

when they find out that we left without them.

Ralph, I ain't got the courage to look back there.

Is Mrs. Norton back there?

[laughter]

-Right behind you. -[Ed exclaims]

Certainly Ralph's threats of violence

are really part of his comedic bluster.

The show makes it very clear

that Alice is unafraid, and in control.

Tell her I ran off and joined the circus.

What as, an elephant?

I loved her reaction to it.

Audrey Meadows just wouldn't put up

with any [bleep], it was fabulous.

You're the type that would bend way over

and pick up a pocketbook on April Fool's Day.

-I wouldn't. -You couldn't.

There'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.

Go ahead, say it Alice, say it!

Now, that never flies today,

but it was uproariously funny in the moment.

Go ahead, tell me I'm a maniac, go ahead!

It's really a testament, too, to Jackie Gleason,

and the writing, because Ralph, played by someone else,

could be a terrible, abusive bully...

I don't care!

[Jim] ...but the fact that you see

that he's never going to do it.

Oh, Ralph.

And 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.

I love you.

Baby, you're the greatest.

[applause]

[upbeat music playing]

Gleason's writers were very interested

in creating catchphrases.

-All right with you, Ralph? -Humina-humina...

-Humina-humina. -Humina-humina-humina.

-Humina-humina. Humina-humina. -Oh, humina-humina.

They knew that they would resonate

with the American public if there were certain words

they said over and over again.

"To the moon, Alice."

-"One of these days." -One of these days.

"One of these days, Alice, to the moon, to the moon."

"One of these days, Alice."

-To the moon! -"To the moon, Alice!"

Bang-zoom!

"Bang-zoom!"

And every character had their own catchphrase,

and certainly Ed Norton's "Ralphie Boy."

Hey there, Ralphie Boy! [chuckling]

And Alice was really funny about Ralph and his weight.

This is probably the biggest thing I ever got into.

The biggest thing you ever got into was your pants.

And these lines really resonate with the audience.

Gleason got frustrated with some of the fat jokes.

You got it here. And you got it here.

-[laughter] -And you got it here.

But the writers knew they connected with the audience.

-Ralph. -"Ralph."

Ralph, how can you talk like that?

I still, to this day, sometimes,

when my wife makes a droll comment to me,

I go, "Ralph."

-Ralph. -[laughing]

It was so theatrical, claustrophobically theatrical.

For the most part, those 39 episodes

took place in one room.

It's the ugliest set in the history of television.

[Robert T.] This one room was the kitchen,

but it also served as the living room,

the dining room.

It was the room. We never see their bedroom.

Would you like to see the other rooms?

We don't get to leave.

What is the bedroom doing in the kitchen?

It's got a real sense of life not able to break free.

How does the Friends song go? "Always stuck in second gear."

All I know is I can't make Alice quit her job.

I can't get a maid, and I gotta break my back

cleaning up this house on my day off.

Ralph felt that way.

Everything he did, it hadn't been his day or even his year.

Failed again.

There are certain episodes of The Honeymooners,

the dancing bit.

[cheering]

You know, all these classic comedy things

that you can show students today,

and they're like, "I've noticed that in 100 movies."

They're like, "Yeah, that's when they did it first."

[announcer] A show that gives away $99,000!

Now tell me, sir, are you married?

-Yes. -You're married.

And what is your wife's name?

Mrs. Kramden.

Probably my favorite episode is the one titled

"$99,000 Answer."

Which American audiences could really relate to,

because of the prevalence of quiz shows

and the popularity of quiz shows at the time.

When he wants to be on the $99,000 Answer

and Ed Norton has to play "Swanee River" every time.

[laughs]

And the more times he does it, the funnier it gets,

because Ralph is just so focused on memorizing all these facts.

[playing "Swanee River"]

And all he can do is suffer in silence

and try to maintain his composure.

That's often when he's funniest, when he's not saying anything

and you just know he's-- he's just suffering.

Like... [huffing]

[laughter]

Come on!

That's amazing writing, because they planted this joke

where Ed has to warm up

and you just think it's some silly device.

All right, Mr. Kramden, for $100,

"Who is the composer of 'Swanee River'?"

[laughter]

-"Swanee River"? -That's right, "Swanee River".

Can we have a few bars of Swanee River, Jose?

[Robert S.] And then it ends up paying off the entire episode.

-[piano playing "Swanee River"] -[laughter]

That's Swanee River?

One of the greatest endings of any episode, ever.

-Ed Norton? -[laughter]

Oh, I'm terribly sorry.

My favorite was when Ralph comes up with his housewife,

handy helper, a kitchen device.

Look at all these attachments.

Here, it opens up cans,

it takes corks out of bottles,

it cores apples, it scales fish.

In one of his countless ways that he was going to break out

and become rich, and he does a TV commercial

and of course, becomes stage-struck.

[laughter]

What-- Who are you?

That's the funniest version

of Jackie Gleason panicking.

[laughter]

The fact that they rehearsed it so many times

for it to just completely fall apart,

and in this case, it only falls apart

because he just freezes.

Chef of the future!

Oh, hello.

I'm glad to have you aboard, Chef of future!

-I'm the Chef of the future! -[laughter]

Hello, I'm glad to have you aboard again,

Chef of the future!

Ralph really panics and blanks

with Ed so loyally by his side.

-What's it say in the book? -[laughter]

The golf swing.

First step up, plant your feet firmly

on the ground and address the ball.

My favorite episode is probably "The Golfer,"

the episode where Jackie Gleason,

Ralph Kramden, wants to learn how to play golf

so he can impress his boss.

What do they mean by "address the ball?"

How should I know? That's what it says here.

Read a little further, maybe it explains it.

And Norton takes a little textbook on golf.

That's all it says, "address the ball."

Step up, plant your feet firmly.

-Hello, ball! -[laughter]

It's one of the funniest episodes

of American television comedy ever.

"Hello, ball" is like

-one of those iconic lines. -Yes.

Hello, ball!

You're making this direction,

it's just not resonating

with the person who's being directed at,

-and it's just funny. -Right.

Hello, ball.

"Hello, ball."

-"Hello, ball." -"Hello, ball."

"Hello, ball."

There's nothing better.

I think it was very difficult working with Jackie Gleason.

It really was, like, it could be a bit chaotic

if you hadn't had enough rehearsal.

Jackie Gleason, he would like to change things,

and sometimes the writers weren't all for it,

but he's in control.

It was shot live, everybody had to memorize

their lines, they didn't have repeat takes.

It was basically like seeing a theater production

that changed every week.

That's a lot of pressure.

You were just doing it live, straight through.

They never were done with single cameras,

stop and start, they were done live.

[applause]

They filmed two shows a week, it was exhausting,

especially with Gleason not rehearsing.

Gleason was famous for not wanting to rehearse,

and then Art Carney was famous for the opposite.

And they didn't use cue cards, not at all.

It would have been awful.

He was, I think, used to getting things his way,

and he may have been a little bit of a temperamental artist.

And Gleason obviously had a bigger-than-life personality

and occasionally a temper, so I'm sure

he wasn't always the easiest person to get along with.

He would also throw out a scene at about quarter to eight

and call all of us in his dressing room, and he'd say,

"That last scene, it's no good,

we're not gonna play it," so he'd say,

"Frank, just shoot us all Civil-War style."

And that meant photograph whoever was talking.

And he would say to me, "Now I'll start it,

Aud, and you just go along with me."

-Improvise. -Improvise.

Few people realize that The Honeymooners

itself as a TV show only ran for one season.

And The Honeymooners got mixed reviews

when they were initially seen on film in 1955.

Over the course of the season,

it actually goes down in the ratings.

It's not this huge hit by the end.

It's up against the Perry Como show.

I know that may not impress you now,

but going up against Perry Como was hard to do back then.

Gleason, I think, was a little frustrated

that they were putting all this hard work

into these filmed episodes, but it didn't have

the connection, so they thought.

Back in those days, one year was 39 episodes,

which is incredible to think of today.

It's like a meat grinder,

and now the networks do 13.

But that's the way we did The Honeymooners,

and that's tough writing, and very difficult to do.

[Robert T.] At the end, CBS wanted to renew it.

Technically, it was planned for

a two-years and a third-year option,

and the story goes, Jackie thought it had done

its best and that it would be compromised

if it went any further.

We were running out of ideas, and I liked The Honeymooners,

I liked doing them, and I didn't want to denigrate them by,

you know, forcing scenes that didn't mean anything.

So I wanted to quit, and they didn't believe me,

and they thought I had another job someplace.

-Yeah. -But I didn't,

-and I'm glad I did stop then. -[applause]

He said that they thought they were beginning to repeat

themselves, but that's not quite in the material.

It'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.

I think the ratings weren't what he wanted.

And I think Gleason always wanted to be on top.

But for whatever reason, it stops after the big 39.

Jackie 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.

So he wanted to go back and provide the audiences

with one hour of performances, one hour of guest stars,

of The June Taylor Dancers, and that's why the second year

of that two-year contract was a return

to the one-hour Jackie Gleason Show.

Well, the show's over, the curtain came down,

and the audience is filing out!

[mellow music playing]

[Ron] You know, it's really hard to know exactly

why Jackie Gleason decided

to only do 39 filmed episodes.

But for CBS, he went back to the variety show,

and The Honeymooners filmed episodes,

and in September he immediately does

live Honeymooners in October.

So it's as if he's going back to where he was.

[announcer] And away we go!

-How sweet it is! -[laughter]

The classic 39 were first rerun on CBS,

and then they were syndicated

to local stations throughout the country.

[upbeat music playing]

Especially here in New York City,

one station, WPIX, ran The Honeymooners

for many, many decades.

It was always on somewhere in the reruns,

but it didn't become popular again

until they went into that 11 o'clock time slot on WPIX.

[Louie and Joe] Channel 11 in New York.

Where we watched it on.

Just started watching it, friends started watching it.

Friends, pal, friends.

And then we started talking about it.

I have a big mouth!

Now when we're doing our podcast,

so many times we run scenes back four or five times.

[tape whirring]

With nine other drivers.

-Just to catch a line. -[chuckles]

And those 39 live on,

and they would come on after the Yankee games.

So in the summertime, I'd ask to stay up.

And I remember watching the baseball games with my dad,

and then The Honeymooners would come on.

So baseball and The Honeymooners

were part of the way that I bonded with my dad.

Mr. Kramden, do you think you could cover second base?

My boy, you are looking at a man that could cover the infield,

the outfield, and four sections of the bleachers.

Nick at Nite became a phenomenon that really

introduced the young generation to classics.

People developed a new appreciation

for Ralph and company, and that made perfect timing,

almost suspicious timing, when additional episodes

of The Honeymooners were then unearthed in CBS's vaults.

People had rediscovered

The Honeymooners, those 39 episodes.

It was doing huge on independent TV stations.

People my age were watching those black-and-white repeats

late at night on their local independent TV station.

The Honeymooners had a renaissance of sorts.

-Just let it flow. -Thank you.

And especially once cable started,

there was this huge appetite for stuff.

There were only 39 episodes. We wanted more.

Well, I got one more thing to say.

Well, there were more.

And there's more where that came from.

[mellow music playing]

These weren't traditional episodes, though.

These were sketches that were on The Jackie Gleason Show.

Just a while ago.

So I did as much research as possible,

just seeing when these live sketches might have aired.

Then I worked very closely with the engineers at CBS.

We went into the vaults where they preserved

the live Jackie Gleason shows,

and we were able to find four.

It was just a revelation.

Finally, you can see some new Honeymooners.

All is lost!

So some smart folks decided to put those episodes

and those sketches together and turn them into

the quote-unquote "Lost Episodes."

Well, they weren't really episodes.

Sketches often were not produced in the same way

and in the same quality as the classic 39,

and that's because of the way TV was shot,

particularly in the early days.

There 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.

So when things were broadcast for later time zones,

they used something called a kinescope.

And that was not a very good quality.

They just thought it was disposable.

And that's why other shows

of the '50s that weren't cataloged

and weren't archived are lost to time.

The lost Honeymooners were met with quite fanfare.

How about you and me taking a second honeymoon?

Finding a treasure trove of those sketches and episodes

was unbelievable for people who loved The Honeymooners.

-They love it! -Jackie was surprised.

These kinescopes were really all but forgotten

other than the monthly and annual charges for storage.

From his chair, there was no value in them.

So those lost Honeymooners

have taken on a life of their own.

Beautiful, just like it is

with all newlyweds, you know.

Finding all of that gave us all insight

into the development of early American television.

This is a history-making occasion,

-I 'd like to put-- -All right,

I'll put this on and you can apply the hot towel.

And you saw how television evolved

with the way programs were shot

and character development.

And two of the greatest characters

on American television, Ralph Kramden and Lucy Ricardo,

were seen on television within ten days of each other.

We first experienced

Ralph Kramden on October 5th, 1951.

And ten days later, I Love Lucy debuts.

So it's amazing that Ralph Kramden and Lucy

came to us almost the same time.

And it would just continue.

As Gleason went into his vault,

other people found more programs.

I was contacted by the daughter

of one of Gleason's writers, Snag Werris.

And the daughter, Wendy, had in her basement

kinescopes of the very first episode.

My finger's so swollen, I can't get it out, it's stuck.

Ralph, why don't you put some butter on it?

I don't want to eat it, I want to get it off.

And Wendy told me that her father traded bourbon

to Jackie Gleason for the kinescopes.

We've got this whole generation of people

raving about The Honeymooners.

Hopefuls vying for the top prize

in The Honeymooners Look-alike Contest

will mimic Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton.

That was a frame of reference with a lot of these guys.

If you didn't understand what that was,

what planet did you live on?

You don't know all this stuff from The Honeymooners?

It's definitely cultish.

There's definitely a cultish thing about it

to where we almost feel like we're a special group of people

that literally have seen each episode

at least 500 times.

It, you know, kind of goes toward mental illness,

but it also goes to how much

we really appreciate the show.

I appreciate that.

Well, now maybe you realize that I'm all for you.

Why don't you wear one of your regular white shirts?

What's the difference anyway?

I think the legacy of The Honeymooners,

was a really early example of relationship comedy

and of a couple and how you could do a show

that was about relationships, was about adult relationships.

...put on there purposely!

They say "hurricane!"

Anyone who wonders why The Honeymooners

still hold a place in our heart,

if they are curious, get married.

All right, Miss Dorothy Dix, fixer of marriage problems.

It's just a lot of that. [laughs]

Well, Ralph, can't you sleep on something out here?

Sure I can, sure.

Bring the bed from in there, put it out here,

and I'll sleep out here!

I think it holds up because it's incredibly relatable.

The reality is it's just a guy with big dreams

that almost never come true, who loves his wife,

even though they fight and bicker all the time.

It's just relatable all these years later.

And you know what else? It's funny.

I could sleep in a sink if you want me!

It was incredibly funny, but there was pathos there.

It wasn't written so much into the script in words spoken,

it was just felt.

It was hysterically funny, and it could also be touching.

[applause]

[heartfelt big band music playing]

Many modern sitcoms borrow from the blueprint

of The Honeymooners.

Certainly, The Flintstones

was directly inspired by it.

It wasn't enough that Wilma, her delivery,

was exactly like Audrey Meadows'

delivery on The Honeymooners.

Where do you want it, Fred?

Just set it down where I can reach it.

-[grunts] -And remember, if you sink,

don't let my best dishes go down with the ship.

[laughing] And they'd even ripped off Ralph and Norton.

I'm gonna pack a spear fishing.

[Fred] Don't point that thing at me!

-It's loaded! -Oops!

-[flippers screeching] -[water burbling]

No use wasting the lunch. [munching loudly]

So The Flintstones clearly

are a takeoff of the Kramdens,

and Jackie was well aware of it, but he didn't want to be

the man that was going to sue The Flintstones.

What else can happen?

Yogi Bear. You ever see Yogi Bear?

He's got the hat with the front pushed up.

And he goes, "Hey, Boo Boo."

-See what I mean, Boo Boo? -Hey Ralphie Boy!

Boo Boo boy!

That was a rip-off of Ed Norton.

I do think that many shows

owe a debt of gratitude to The Honeymooners.

I would say Roseanne.

I remember her working in the plastic cutlery factory.

And from there, King of Queens, with the play

on the relationship between Alice and Ralph.

Obviously Kevin James and Leah Remini

are pretty close comparisons

in that Kevin

was a very physical actor.

[laughter]

And played dumber...

-You ate my cake? -Was that yours?

...than Jackie Gleason's character.

We should go on a diet together,

so I can take some of this off.

We?

You know, I feel bloated, you know,

very disgusting right now, and I just really feel

if we went on a diet, that...

would really do the trick.

And is there a reason you keep saying "we?"

Yeah, it's-- it's just like, "Wee!"

But I almost find that there's more repetition

of character between Leah's character and Audrey Meadows'.

All right, all right, this is stupid.

You don't need to lose weight,

you're fine the way you are.

No, no, no, I'm doing this.

Here, let me give you some spaghetti.

No, no, please, would you just leave me alone?

But if you do any type of frustration where

you begin to yell at your family and your life...

Stop with the diet book!

...that draws a direct parallel to The Honeymooners.

And you take a look at Archie Bunker,

John Goodman in Roseanne, Homer Simpson...

Marge, I never put my foot down

-about anything. -No.

But I am severely tempted to do it over this.

-No, Homer. -Marge,

I'm sorry, the foot has spoken.

All of these characters have the same frustrations

of Ralph Kramden.

It seems audiences related to The Honeymooners very easily,

I think, because there were a lot of people that lived

like them and talked like them and dressed like them.

I mean, they could relate to it.

With The Honeymooners, it's become a template.

You've got this bare, simple husband and wife and a friend.

You have very simple, fundamental ambitions

of success and of love, a little ego,

something that we can always relate to.

Bang, zoom!

So in some ways,

there's a little Honeymooners

in virtually every story we ever see.

Baby, you're the greatest.

[theme music playing]