Comprehensive information and links about The Honeymooners

The Honeymooners "Cover of a book about the Honeymooners. The image used is a colourized version of the photo that became iconized by the media, as the definitive image of the show." Cover of a book about the Honeymooners. The image used is a colourized version of the photo that became iconized by the media, as the definitive image of the show. is a 1950s television situation comedy and one of the best-loved (and most-imitated) television programs of all time. It is based on a series of skits by the same name that appeared on ), Gleason enacted a number of recurring characters in comedic skits; the most popular of these involved featured Gleason as a Brooklyn bus driver named Ralph Kramden; Pert Kelton (and later Audrey Meadows) as his long-suffering wife, Alice; and Art Carney as Ralph's sewer-worker pal, Ed Norton. Critics agree that the earlier sketches with Kelton were much darker, featuring a young fat man married to a middle-aged woman whose looks had faded, with harrowingly realistic arguments, but this was softened after the move to CBS.

Kelton was blacklisted and forced out of the cast when her name turned up in the infamous list of supposed "Communists." She later gained a measure of professional redemption as a member of the original Broadway cast of the smash musical hit

The skits became so popular that CBS offered Gleason an opportunity to produce and star in a half-hour sitcom with the characters, titled . Meadows and Carney (along with Joyce Randolph, who had replaced Elaine Stritch as Norton's wife Trixie) followed Gleason to the new show, and the first episode aired on October 1, 1955.

In all, 39 episodes were created by the time the series ended in 1956. Despite the skits' popularity as a segment of the Gleason show, the stand-alone dropped from second in the ratings to number nineteen. At the end of the season CBS cancelled the show. Gleason retained the rights to the reruns, which became extremely popular with an almost cult-like following. He later sold the series to CBS for a reported sum of $1 million.

That was hardly the end of the "Honeymooners" skits, which remained popular segments of Gleason's CBS variety show into 1957 (when Carney left), and again in the 1960s. The final lineup had Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean performing as Alice and Trixie in a one-hour musical version of the show, "like doing half a Broadway musical every week," as Gleason put it at the time. The Gleason variety show continued until 1970. Meadows appeared with Gleason, Carney and Kean on ABC specials during the mid-1970s.

In the 1980s, Gleason released a number of so-called "lost episodes" (never lost, in reality - just sitting in Gleason's vault for decades), which were kinescopes of Gleason's live shows for CBS during the 1950s. These episodes were released on home video and sometimes show up in syndication alongside what are known as "The Classic 39". In September 2004 another "lost" episode (this time one that had indeed been misplaced years ago) was reported discovered, with plans for video release pending. This episode, "Love Letter", aired on cable television in October 2004.

Notable episodes: (where Ralph and Ed share a TV set, not having the money to get each their own, only to have the TV turn out to be more trouble than it was worth) and (where Ralph and Ed try to sell a household appliance on live TV, only to make a mess of the proceedings).

As it debuted on debuted; many critics and viewers noted the close resemblance of that show's premise and characters to that of . It figures into a series of dreams that Doug Heffernan (Kevin James) has while he is sick. After Doug saw The Honeymooners on a TV screen at a bar, he end up daydreaming into Ralph Kramden's role, and his wife Carrie (Leah Remini) steps in for Alice. Additionally, Ed Norton's role is filled by Deacon Palmer (Victor Williams). True to the original , the sequence was filmed in black-and-white and the audio quality (including the audience) matches a 50's . Kevin James is a big fan of Jackie Gleason.

The show was also parodied in a series of Warner Bros. animated cartoons, in which the principal characters are depicted as mice and Ralph's "big dream" is to get enough cheese to impress Alice with. These cartoons are (1960). Human caricatures of Ralph and Ed are pitted against Bugs Bunny in the 1956 Warner cartoon .

Comedian Eddie Murphy impersonated Ralph in an infamous stand-up routine depicting Kramden and Norton as gay lovers. The bit can be seen in Murphy's 1983 concert film in its character dynamics and story structures; the series acknowledged its roots by presenting its entire second season live, and by using the signature closing line "Baby, you're the greastest!" on at least one occasion.

In 1994 the Dutch broadcasting network KRO produced a version of s were all used up the series' lead actors, Gerard Cox and Sjoerd Pleijsier, took over writing, adding many new characters and references to Dutch history and popular culture. The series was a hit in the Netherlands and continues to run.

The short-lived HBO comedy series . (For example, in one episode, the Kramden-esque protagonist and his friend join a fraternal organization only to discover belatedly that it's the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.)

The instrumental theme song for , "You're My Greatest Love", was composed by Gleason and performed by an orchestra led by Ray Bloch (who had previously served as orchestra leader on Gleason's variety show, as well as Because of the popularity of The Honeymooners, and the fact that Ralph Kramden was a New York City bus driver, one of the terminals in Brooklyn was renamed The Jackie Gleason Bus Depot. All buses that originate from the bus depot bear a sticker on the front that has a logo which is derived from the 'face on the moon' opening credits.