Among all the situation comedies of the 1950s, “The Honeymooners” presented the most unconventional depiction of American family life. Living far from the comfortable upper middle class suburbia of the Cleavers or the urban comfort of the Ricardos, the Cramdens and Nortons were close to squalor. Ralph Cramden drove a bus and Ed Norton worked in the sewers and gave off the appearance of just getting by. Both families were childless. And the wives, Alice and Trixie, were considerably smarter than their husbands. Maritial arguments were sharp and loud.
In the 1970s, Jackie Gleason returned to “The Honeymooners” for the last time, producing several one-hour specials for television. Two of them, “Second Honeymoon” and “Valentine Special,” are out on DVD.
It’s clear from the setting that the upward mobility of the American middle class had left the couples behind. Ralph (Gleason) and Alice (Audrey Meadows) still lived in the same Early Depression two-room apartment with an Edward Hopper view through the kitchen window. Ralph and Ed (Art Carney) are older but no wiser in the specials. Carney is spot on as the amiable fool and Gleason is brilliant as the bully with a soft underbelly, the swaggering braggart with clay feet. The scripts for the latter day shows were consistently funny, but much of the humor shines from Gleason and Carney’s expressively comical body language.
