The Honeymooners: Classic 39 Episodes Blu-ray Review
Because the show was filmed in a theater with the audience sitting in seats rather than on a soundstage with the audience in bleachers, there is a far more theatrical feel to The Honeymooners than, say, I Love Lucy, one of its contemporaries of the 1955-56 season. With most (but not all especially the early ones) of the episodes, there is entrance applause for the stars, and obvious mistakes like forgotten lines or actors stepping on one another’s lines did not stop the filming giving each episode the appearance of a play that simply goes on despite any mishaps. Also, there seems to be a tendency for the actors to milk the expected bits of business that worked for them (Carney won an Emmy this season for his performance; Gleason and Meadows were nominated), and improvisation within limits seems to have been encouraged. (Years later, Gleason revealed the handcuff scene in “Unconventional Behavior” was completely improvised.) While none of the shows would come anywhere near dud status, some of the episodes are true classics of the genre: “The Golfer,” “A Matter of Life and Death,” “Better Living Through TV,” “A Matter of Record,” “The $99,000 Answer,” “Dial J for Janitor,” along with the aforementioned “Unconventional Behavior.” And Gleason’s little stock company including George Petrie and Frank Marth along with a couple of hilarious turns by Ethel Owen as Alice’s mother who finds Ralph obnoxious in the extreme can always be counted on for solid support.
Here are the thirty-nine episodes contained on five Blu-ray discs in this Blu-ray set. Those episodes marked with an asterisk (*) are shows which have two versions available: the familiar syndicated versions or the ones with original sponsor material contained in the original opening credits and in Gleason’s closing plugs for Buick cars.
1 – TV or Not TV
2 – Funny Money
*3 – The Golfer
4 – A Woman’s Work Is Never Done
5 – A Matter of Life and Death
6 – The Sleepwalker
7 – Better Living Through TV
8 – Pal o’ Mine
9 – Brother Ralph
*10 – Hello, Mom
11 – The Deciding Vote
12 – Something Fishy
13 – “Twas the Night Before Christmas
14 – The Man from Space
15 – A Matter of Record
16 – Oh My Aching Back
17 – The Baby Sitter
*18 – The $99,000 Answer
19 – Ralph Kramden, Inc.
20 – Young at Heart
*21 – A Dog’s Life
*22 – Here Comes the Bride
23 – Mama Loves Mambo
*24 – Please Leave the Premises
*25 – Pardon My Glove
*26 – Young Man with a Horn
27 – Head of the House
28 – The Worry Wart
*29 – Trapped
30 – The Loudspeaker
*31 – On Stage
*32 – Opportunity Knocks But
33 – Unconventional Behavior
34 – The Safety Award
35 – Mind Your Own Business
36 – Alice and the Blonde
*37 – The Bensonhurst Bomber
38 – Dial J for Janitor
*39 – A Man’s Pride
Best Buick Yet (20:53, HD): a dealer slide show of the new 1956 Buick models with Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and Audrey Meadows offering commentary on the new features for that year’s models.
60 Minutes Interview (15:15, HD) Morley Safer interviews Jackie Gleason in a 1984 piece on the venerable news magazine show.
60 Minutes Outtakes (22:35, HD): in many ways even more fascinating than the interview are the segments left out of the piece including Gleason’s views on Chaplin’s likely inability to handle TV’s hectic pace and stories about his work other than The Honeymooners.
American Scene Magazine (52:38, SD): the 1966 episode of Gleason’s variety show featuring “The Adoption,” a musical Honeymooners episode that showed all three stars in a funny and touching story of the Kramden’s adopting a child and showing off Audrey Meadows’ surprisingly impressive singing voice.
35th Anniversary Special (21:35, SD): hosted by Audrey Meadows with clips and reminiscences.
50th Anniversary Special (42:00, SD): hosted by Kevin James and with vintage interviews with Gleason and (then) current comments from Carney and Randolph and stars Tom Hanks, Carol Burnett, Dennis Franz, and John Ritter adding their own congratulations.
Person to Person (10:39, SD): a 1956 segment of the show with Jackie Gleason not the subject of the interview but the interviewer talking with a real Brooklyn bus driver and his family.
Ralph Kramden: the lovable, rotund bus driver from Brooklyn with his unfettered pride, hair-trigger temper, and eternal dreams of making it big was an on and off fixture on television for more than two decades. First seen in a series of sketches on Cavalcade of Stars and through various incarnations of The Jackie Gleason Show, the loud but deep down gentle giant and his TV family found immortality in thirty-nine classic episodes of the situation comedy known as The Honeymooners which ran from October 1955 through September 1956. The standalone series was originally to be the first of two thirty-nine episode seasons (with options for a third), but star Jackie Gleason pulled the plug after the first group and went back to the variety show format with “The Honeymooners” as merely sketches contained within it. Thus, this tri-baker’s dozen of episodes which were filmed in the Adelphi Theater in New York are the best record we have of the brilliance of this one-of-a-kind ensemble and their hilarious, unpredictable antics.
Studio: Paramount
Distributed By: N/A
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: English PCM 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Rating: Not Rated
Run Time: 16 Hr. 57 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
keep case with leaves in a slipcoverDisc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: All
Release Date: 05/06/2014
MSRP: $129.99
The Production Rating: 4.5/5
Because the show was filmed in a theater with the audience sitting in seats rather than on a soundstage with the audience in bleachers, there is a far more theatrical feel to The Honeymooners than, say, I Love Lucy, one of its contemporaries of the 1955-56 season. With most (but not all especially the early ones) of the episodes, there is entrance applause for the stars, and obvious mistakes like forgotten lines or actors stepping on one another’s lines did not stop the filming giving each episode the appearance of a play that simply goes on despite any mishaps. Also, there seems to be a tendency for the actors to milk the expected bits of business that worked for them (Carney won an Emmy this season for his performance; Gleason and Meadows were nominated), and improvisation within limits seems to have been encouraged. (Years later, Gleason revealed the handcuff scene in “Unconventional Behavior” was completely improvised.) While none of the shows would come anywhere near dud status, some of the episodes are true classics of the genre: “The Golfer,” “A Matter of Life and Death,” “Better Living Through TV,” “A Matter of Record,” “The $99,000 Answer,” “Dial J for Janitor,” along with the aforementioned “Unconventional Behavior.” And Gleason’s little stock company including George Petrie and Frank Marth along with a couple of hilarious turns by Ethel Owen as Alice’s mother who finds Ralph obnoxious in the extreme can always be counted on for solid support.
Here are the thirty-nine episodes contained on five Blu-ray discs in this Blu-ray set. Those episodes marked with an asterisk (*) are shows which have two versions available: the familiar syndicated versions or the ones with original sponsor material contained in the original opening credits and in Gleason’s closing plugs for Buick cars.
1 – TV or Not TV
2 – Funny Money
*3 – The Golfer
4 – A Woman’s Work Is Never Done
5 – A Matter of Life and Death
6 – The Sleepwalker
7 – Better Living Through TV
8 – Pal o’ Mine
9 – Brother Ralph
*10 – Hello, Mom
11 – The Deciding Vote
12 – Something Fishy
13 – “Twas the Night Before Christmas
14 – The Man from Space
15 – A Matter of Record
16 – Oh My Aching Back
17 – The Baby Sitter
*18 – The $99,000 Answer
19 – Ralph Kramden, Inc.
20 – Young at Heart
*21 – A Dog’s Life
*22 – Here Comes the Bride
23 – Mama Loves Mambo
*24 – Please Leave the Premises
*25 – Pardon My Glove
*26 – Young Man with a Horn
27 – Head of the House
28 – The Worry Wart
*29 – Trapped
30 – The Loudspeaker
*31 – On Stage
*32 – Opportunity Knocks But
33 – Unconventional Behavior
34 – The Safety Award
35 – Mind Your Own Business
36 – Alice and the Blonde
*37 – The Bensonhurst Bomber
38 – Dial J for Janitor
*39 – A Man’s Pride
Video Rating: 4/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 4/5
Special Features Rating: 3/5
Best Buick Yet (20:53, HD): a dealer slide show of the new 1956 Buick models with Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and Audrey Meadows offering commentary on the new features for that year’s models.
60 Minutes Interview (15:15, HD) Morley Safer interviews Jackie Gleason in a 1984 piece on the venerable news magazine show.
60 Minutes Outtakes (22:35, HD): in many ways even more fascinating than the interview are the segments left out of the piece including Gleason’s views on Chaplin’s likely inability to handle TV’s hectic pace and stories about his work other than The Honeymooners.
American Scene Magazine (52:38, SD): the 1966 episode of Gleason’s variety show featuring “The Adoption,” a musical Honeymooners episode that showed all three stars in a funny and touching story of the Kramden’s adopting a child and showing off Audrey Meadows’ surprisingly impressive singing voice.
35th Anniversary Special (21:35, SD): hosted by Audrey Meadows with clips and reminiscences.
50th Anniversary Special (42:00, SD): hosted by Kevin James and with vintage interviews with Gleason and (then) current comments from Carney and Randolph and stars Tom Hanks, Carol Burnett, Dennis Franz, and John Ritter adding their own congratulations.
Person to Person (10:39, SD): a 1956 segment of the show with Jackie Gleason not the subject of the interview but the interviewer talking with a real Brooklyn bus driver and his family.
Overall Rating: 4/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
Support HTF when you buy this title:
