The Honeymooner Lost Episodes 60th Anniversary Edition (1 Viewer)

[jdee28]

The previous season I Love Lucy did a series of episodes as a trip to Europe. Perhaps that's what inspired the Honeymooners to try the same?

 

[Joe Lugoff]

That might very well be! And one of those Europe episodes, "Lucy Goes to Scotland," was a musical.

 

[Rick Thompson]

The Classic 39 are owned by CBS/Paramount, and have their own box set. So, no, they won't be part of this set.

I just lost interest in this set.

 

[jdee28]

The Classic 39 are owned by CBS/Paramount, and have their own box set. So, no, they won't be part of this set.

I've always felt CBS/Paramount should go back and do a redo on their Classic 39 release, and this time really digitally remaster and restore each episode. There was a Honeymooners special on CBS back in 2002/3 which aired some Classic 39 clips, and the clips looked much better than what was on the set; the clips actually looked digitally remastered. I don't know what happened when it came to the DVD.

 

[DeWilson]

I just lost interest in this set.

The whole point of the set is THE LOST EPISODES and not EVERYTHING!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I just lost interest in this set.

That's a shame, because there's more to "The Honeymooners" than those 39 episodes. This set will show you what led up to them and what came after. There are some really good episodes, even better than the Classic 39.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Rick, you're cutting your own throat here! Don't forget that there were a year's worth of episodes after the 39 filmed shows, including the first version of the "Trip to Europe" shows! MPI has already put out the 1960s color version of the Europe shows, but the 1956-57 originals have never been in syndication, and are making their home video debut in the box set! So this is definitely a 'must-buy'! Regarding the Classic 39, it would be a perfect opportunity for CBS/Paramonut to remaster them for Blu-ray!

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I agree -- THE LOST EPISODES are generally ciminally underrated by people who are really only "Classic 39" fans, and not true "Honeymooners Fans". Look, I love the "39" as much as everyone else, but there is much more to enjoy than just those, which I now often call "The Tired 39". If you want the typical old tired "39", there's already a CBS set for that. They couldn't be included here anyway because they are not distributed by MPI, the company that's releasing this LOST EPISODES set. I'm sure fans will enjoy many of the Lost Episodes if they give them a chance and resist the temptation to compare them to the "Classic 39", which is a mistake I think some fans make. After all, these were before the "39" (with some exceptions) and really set the template, not the other way around. I do think some of them are just as warm and charming, and some more so. In one of the lost episodes, Ralph and Norton even manage to hit upon one of their "crazy schemes" that turns out to be a success for a nice change ... which I don't believe ever happened in the "Classic 39". I myself felt the Lost Episodes were a step down from the "Classic 39" when I first saw some of them on Cable TV in 1985 or so. It took time for me to accept them on their own, and once I did I actually found that going back to the "39" felt almost TOO slick! There are "Honeymooners Fans" and there are "Classic 39 Fans". There is a difference. Most of the "Classic 39" fans do the same thing when watching a 'Lost Episode'.... they begin to comment on the weak kinescope quality ("Oh, why do they look so bad?"), and many times I've heard them get distracted by the cheap-looking paper thin walls, and what have you (it's then that I have to remind them that THE LOST HONEYMOONERS had its beginnings as skits on the Gleason show). A lot of the funniest bits we know from the "Classic 39" got their debut here, in the "Lost Episodes". There is just no way, of course, that these rough skits could have been as slick and fine-tuned as the "Classic 39" series. Of course the Lost Episodes don't hit a homerun every time like the "39" do... but there are way too many fun moments and laughs to just disregard them as a whole. So the LOST EPISODES aren't as 'tight', and are more 'hit and miss' -- but I'm not sure why that should matter. There are plenty of great Gleason and Carney moments within, and classic lines to be treasured as well. KRAMDEN: "My father's name was Ralph too. There was just Big Ralph and Little Ralph." NORTON: "Which one was he, Little Ralph"?

 

[tvgreats]

Joe, you hit it out of the ballpark. Theres not much I can add to your post. The "Classic 39" are great. No doubt about it. But most of the "Lost Episodes" are also great in their own right. Gleason and Carney are hilarous in most of these skits. There are a lot of Honeymooner fans that prefer the Lost Episodes over the classic 39. Granted, there might be a few that are so-so, but overall, MOST of the episodes are comedy at its best.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Also, being done live gives them a tension that adds to the fun. For instance, the elopement episode where Gleason decides live on camera that the ladder is too rickety to climb, so he changes the script. Or the moment when the scenery comes apart and you can see the stagehands backstage. Or my favorite, the "Beat the Clock" episode where even Audrey Meadows, who was usually right on top of things, gets all mixed up and has to say, "You've got me so mixed up, I don't know what I'm saying!" or something like that. As for that last example, I always wondered how that happened, and now I see that was the episode done live on Saturday night during the time they were all doing six live shows a day for two weeks at the Paramount Theater in Times Square, so rehearsal time must have been limited. And, oh yes --- isn't there an episode where someone calls Ralph Mr. Gleason or something? And there's one where Ralph called Norton Mr. Kramden. Live television was great.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

There's also one funny 'live' moment where Gleason has to zip up his fly. In another, Ralph hurts his hand or something and goes into his "Waaahhhhh!" pain routine around the kitchen, and Joyce Randolph as Trixie can't keep from bursting out in hysterics.

 

[Rick Thompson]

Joe, you hit it out of the ballpark. Theres not much I can add to your post. The "Classic 39" are great. No doubt about it. But most of the "Lost Episodes" are also great in their own right. Gleason and Carney are hilarous in most of these skits. There are a lot of Honeymooner fans that prefer the Lost Episodes over the classic 39. Granted, there might be a few that are so-so, but overall, MOST of the episodes are comedy at its best.

Don't agree. I bought most of the "Lost" episodes on VHS, and most just sat there like a dead flounder. The exceptions (ex: "The Letter") I dubbed to DVD. I don't much care for the quality of the "Classic 39" DVD, and would have gone for this to get a better transfer of the 39 and the "Lost" ones I liked. As for the color "trip to Europe" episodes, that was (for me, anyway) dead flounder territory again, so the idea of getting them in b/w (granted without the songs, which would be an improvement) is no incentive. As for those who want this set, I say "Go with God" and enjoy every minute of these. But count me out.

 

[moviepas]

The 39, at least screened and screened in Australia in those 39 days and like a few other series of the time were extremely popular here. The likes of Ozzie & Harriett(as The Nelsons here because of the ads around the original openings & closings for Kodak etc), Burns & Allen, Our Miss Brooks, Mickey Mouse(with a local wraparound & club to win prizes of Disney products) & the same network still has the Disney contract to this day, England's Richard Greene Robin Hood and so on. We also had the later Jackie Gleason Show "American Scene Magazine" and away we go with Frank Fontaine etc.This aired on Saturday nights. If it was not for Jackie Gleason little might have survived to this day. Dumont was criminal in what they did with their kines when they closed shop. MPI have been working on this set for a good length of time and put it on the back burner due to more important projects 7 the economy. I, myself, issued an LP of a Jackie Gleason show from the 1950s with a great photo of the Honeymooners kitchen set and cast for the cover. My Mom found this at the time in a TV magazine I had brought home from USA during this time. I used to live in Detroit on and off during the 1970s. I have a lot of family there in the suburbs. They have never moved away for any reason.

 

[tvgreats]

Originally Posted by Rick Thompson



Don't agree.

I bought most of the "Lost" episodes on VHS, and most just sat there like a dead flounder. The exceptions (ex: "The Letter") I dubbed to DVD. I don't much care for the quality of the "Classic 39" DVD, and would have gone for this to get a better transfer of the 39 and the "Lost" ones I liked. As for the color "trip to Europe" episodes, that was (for me, anyway) dead flounder territory again, so the idea of getting them in b/w (granted without the songs, which would be an improvement) is no incentive. As for those who want this set, I say "Go with God" and enjoy every minute of these.

But count me out.

To each their own.. I'm just saying MANY Honeymooner fans like the "Lost Episodes" as well or better than the "Classic 39". And as someone else pointed out, MPI does not have the rights to the "Classic 39", hence the title of this new release is the "Lost Episodes" 1951-1957. Hopefully somewhere down the road (soon) a blu-ray release of the "Classic 39" will be put out by CBS/Parmamount.. BUT in the meantime, i will indeed enjoy every single minute of these great (restored) Lost Episodes.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Also, I think that the technology in regards to transferring old kinescopes to home video has greatly improved in the past two decades, so the chances are the new transfers of the DuMont/CBS kinies are many times better than what we first saw on VHS! Thanks to comupters images can be sharpened and soundtracks be made clearer.

 

[Rick Thompson]

Wouldn't help in my case. I had no problem with the quality of the tape transfers. It was the shows themselves that were mostly dead flounders for me. Again, though, I hope all who buy the set enjoy every minute of it. It just isn't for me.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Well, people sure loved them back in the '50s. For the 1954-55 season, "The Jackie Gleason Show" was the second-highest rated show on television. The ratings plummetted when he changed to the half-hour format the next season, and it was regarded as a big mistake. So ironically, what we now call The Classic 39 were looked on as inferior by many people when they were first shown. I'm lucky -- I like all of it.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

What you said about the failure of the "39" initially is true, Joe. And like you, I enjoy all of it. I just cannot understand how fans of Gleason and Carney, or of Kramden and Norton in general, do not find SOMETHING funny at least here and there during the LOST EPISODES .. or, to a lesser degree, even the '60s COLOR HONEYMOONERS. Rick - have you watched EVERY SINGLE episode of the "Lost Honeymooners"? Some of them, at least, are unquestionably just as good as the Classic 39. Just off the top of my head - the episode where Kramden and Norton move in together and Ralph makes Ed sign a 99 year lease -- and another where Ralph tries to sneak out of his apartment in the middle of the night to move without the landlord knowing it ("MY FAIR LANDLORD"). There are just too many laughs here and there in many episodes for them to be totally "dead flounders".

 

[Rick Thompson]

No, I haven't watched every "Lost" episode, just the ones that were for sale. I'm sorry if I offend you by not loving every minute ever done of any Honeymooners and not buying this set. Get over it. Live with it. That's my last word on this thread.

 

[TonyD]

i doubt I'll buy these lost episodes before seeing some of them as a rental first. I watched a good bit of the color trip around the world shows and for the most parth thought they were pretty boring.