99 Fun Facts About The Honeymooners

Ralph Kramden was employed as a driver by which fictional New York firm?

Gotham Bus Company employs him for the whole run, yet Ralph is never once seen driving a bus on screen, only turning up at the depot.

Ed Norton, Ralph's upstairs neighbour and best friend, worked for which New York City department?

The sewers nearly cost Ralph his best friend in one episode: the two fall out over a ring, and make up only after Norton is hurt in an explosion underground.

Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton were both enthusiastic members of which fraternal lodge?

The Raccoon Lodge made Ralph its treasurer, but in 'The Loudspeaker' he writes a speech, sure he is Raccoon of the Year, and the honour goes to Norton.

Who played Alice Kramden in the Classic 39 episodes of 1955-56?

Audrey Meadows made Alice so real that viewers mailed her aprons and curtains by the hundred to brighten the Kramdens' bare kitchen.

Which actor played Ed Norton in every Gleason version of The Honeymooners?

Art Carney was the one piece Gleason refused to change: he recast both wives in the 1960s but would only revive the sketch when his Norton was available.

Who played Trixie Norton in the Classic 39 episodes?

Joyce Randolph was hired after Gleason spotted her in a live Clorets commercial on his own variety show; the sketch's first Trixie had lasted a single outing.

The Honeymooners began as a sketch on Cavalcade of Stars, on which struggling early network?

DuMont watched Gleason's sketches turn Cavalcade of Stars into a hit, then lost him: in 1952 CBS lured him and his staff away with a much larger budget.

In the first filmed episode of The Honeymooners, what do Ralph and Norton buy together and then fight over?

A TV set: Ralph, too cheap to pay full price, talks Norton into going halves, then tricks him into keeping it in the Kramdens' apartment.

Which car maker sponsored The Honeymooners during its one season as a filmed sitcom?

Buick bankrolled the filmed series in one of the biggest contracts television had seen, and its name was cut from the opening when the show went into reruns.

What was the address of the Kramdens' and Nortons' apartment building?

328 Chauncey Street: Gleason gave the Kramdens the address he had grown up at, and had their kitchen built from his memory of the family apartment.

The Kramdens' neglected tenement apartment was in which New York City borough?

Brooklyn was Gleason's own home borough: he had grown up poor there, and he told his writers to make the Kramdens live the way such families really did.

Ralph's most famous hollow threat to Alice was to send her where?

To the Moon: 'Bang, zoom!' was as far as it ever went, and the rows ended with Ralph telling Alice, 'Baby, you're the greatest.'

Who was the first actress to play Alice Kramden, in the original sketches of 1951-52?

Pert Kelton came back to the sketch in the 1960s colour episodes, no longer as Alice but as Alice's mother.

Why did the original Alice lose the role when Gleason moved to CBS in 1952?

She had been blacklisted, though the public was told she had heart trouble. Arthur Miller later traced it to her husband once marching in a May Day parade.

How did Gleason's new Alice of 1952 convince him she was not too glamorous for the part?

Photos with no makeup did it: she had herself shot at dawn in a torn housecoat with her hair undone, and Gleason, not recognising her, said, 'That's our Alice.'

Ralph Kramden was the model for the lead character of which Hanna-Barbera cartoon?

The Flintstones borrowed so much that Gleason's lawyers thought he could have it taken off the air, but he did not want to be the man who took Fred away from children.

Ed Norton's voice and mannerisms are said to have inspired which Hanna-Barbera cartoon character?

Yogi Bear is said to borrow Norton's breezy delivery, because Hanna-Barbera liked to model its characters on popular stars of the day.

Instead of a fuzzy kinescope, which system filmed the Classic 39 as they were performed?

Electronicam put film and television behind one lens, so these episodes looked good enough to rerun for decades when most live shows of the time did not.

What did Gleason all but refuse to do before filming The Honeymooners?

Rehearse the scenes: he held that comedy stops being funny once it is rehearsed, so the cast got one run-through on the day, lines were often fluffed, and the actors learned to cover for one another.

What did Gleason do on stage to signal to the cast that he had forgotten a line?

Patted his stomach: lines were often dropped during filming, so the cast agreed on silent cues like this one to call for help.

In one Classic 39 episode, what does Ralph pitch as a gourmet appetizer, unaware that Alice bought it for a pet?

Dog food: Norton finds it in the icebox and tucks in, Ralph loves it too, and he is pitching it to his boss as a mystery appetizer when an executive recognises the taste.

In 'Better Living Through TV', Ralph freezes with stage fright while trying to do what on live television?

Sell a kitchen gadget: Ralph, sure it will make his fortune, plays the Chef of the Future to Norton's Chef of the Past, then goes rigid the moment the commercial is live.

In 'Young Man with a Horn', which instrument from his boyhood does Ralph refuse to let Alice throw away?

A cornet: finding it sets Ralph brooding on the chances he missed, so he resolves to better himself and sits a civil service exam, which he fails.

During the run of The Honeymooners, Ralph Kramden was made an honorary member of which real organisation?

The Transport Workers Union represents New York's real bus drivers, and in 1988 one of the city's bus depots was renamed after Gleason as well.

A bronze statue of Gleason as Ralph Kramden stands outside which New York landmark?

Port Authority Bus Terminal got him when the cable channel TV Land began putting up statues of its characters as publicity; the plaque calls Ralph a 'Dreamer'.

In 'Here Comes the Bride', whose marriage does Ralph nearly wreck with his advice?

Alice's sister Agnes turns up in tears on her wedding night after the groom takes Ralph's advice to be king of his castle; he soon admits he should never have listened.

What did the childless Kramdens name the baby girl they briefly adopted in a 1955 sketch?

Ralphina did not stay: her birth mother asked for her back, and Gleason kept both couples childless for the rest of the run.

Which actress played Trixie Norton as an ex-burlesque dancer in one Honeymooners sketch before the role was recast?

Elaine Stritch played Trixie as a brassy former burlesque dancer; Gleason thought better of it after one sketch and had the part rewritten as a wholesome housewife.

In the celebrated episode 'The $99,000 Answer', Ralph flubs the composer of which song?

Swanee River was the warm-up Norton had played at the piano all week before every practice song, so when it came up as the first question Ralph could only offer, 'Ed Norton?'

In 2002 TV Guide ranked The Honeymooners third among the greatest shows ever, behind I Love Lucy and which 1990s sitcom?

Seinfeld took first place, which left a one-season sitcom from 1955 ranked ahead of every drama, news programme and variety show in television's first half-century.

Why was the Classic 39's Alice reportedly the only cast member paid for the reruns?

Her brother's contract clause is the reported reason: a lawyer, he wrote rerun payments into her deal, and it went on to make her a fortune.

What reason did Gleason give for ending the filmed Honeymooners after one season?

Ideas running dry: he said the material could not stay excellent and he was too fond of the show to cheapen it, so he went back to live variety and sold the 39 films to CBS for $1.5 million.

Which rival NBC programme steadily drained the audience of The Honeymooners during its one season as a sitcom?

The Perry Como Show won the head-to-head: Gleason's variety hour had been the country's No. 2 programme a year earlier, but the sitcom ended its season 19th, one place behind Como.

The 1966-70 colour Honeymooners musicals were produced from Gleason's new base in which city?

Miami Beach cost the sketch half its cast: the actresses who had played Alice and Trixie would not move south, so both wives were recast.

The hour-long musical episodes of 1956-57 sent the Kramdens and Nortons on a contest-winning trip where?

Europe: Gleason remade the whole trip in colour a decade later, expanded with new material.

The 'lost episodes' from Gleason's private vault were first broadcast in 1985-86 on which channel?

Showtime got them after a museum turned up four forgotten sketches in 1984 and Gleason then revealed that he had dozens more locked in his own vault.

Who played Ralph Kramden in the 2005 feature-film remake of The Honeymooners?

Cedric the Entertainer could not sell the remake: it cost $25 million and took only about $13 million worldwide.

The actor who played Ed Norton won the Best Actor Oscar for which 1974 film?

Harry and Tonto cast him as an old man crossing America with his cat, and the man best known as a sitcom sidekick took the Oscar ahead of Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino.

An imaging instrument named Ralph after Kramden flies on which NASA space probe?

New Horizons carries a spectrometer called Alice, so the camera built to work beside it was named Ralph, and the pair studied Pluto together in 2015.

In one Classic 39 episode, what does Ralph find on his bus that makes him briefly rich?

A case of counterfeit cash: Ralph quits his job and goes on a spending spree before he learns the money is fake and the forgers come looking for it.

Which 1980s detective series staged a fantasy sequence with its two leads as Ralph and Alice Kramden?

Moonlighting opened its fourth season with the spoof: David and Maddie, at odds over where their affair was going, turn up as Ralph and Alice, with Bruce Willis doing the bluster.

Ralph Kramden's other empty threat to Alice was a 'Pow!' aimed right at what?

The kisser was never in danger: Gleason vetoed his writers' title 'The Beast' because he saw, under the bluster, a man with a great need for affection.

Which sport does Ralph Kramden falsely claim to play well to impress his boss, then try to learn from a book?

Golf: Norton reads out the manual while Ralph practises at home, and when the boss's injury seems to cancel the game Ralph brags again, only to learn that a vice president will play him instead.

In 'The Worry Wart', why does the tax office summon Ralph Kramden?

A missing signature: Ralph spends the night combing his return for mistakes with Norton, sure he is in trouble, and learns in the morning that he simply forgot to sign it.

Wrongly convinced he is dying, how does Ralph Kramden raise money for Alice?

Sells his story: a magazine buys the dying bus driver's tale before Ralph learns that the report he read came from the vet and described his mother-in-law's pet.

The sketch was modelled on which popular radio comedy about a squabbling married couple?

Gleason wanted a realistic poor couple in his own home borough who argued constantly but clearly loved each other.

In the first Honeymooners sketch in 1951, the future Ed Norton actor appeared as what?

A policeman: he had only a cameo in a sketch that ran just six minutes, and Norton the neighbour was written in later.

Which of Gleason's catchphrases is inscribed on his tomb?

And away we go! was the shout that launched his variety shows, so the line that opened his evenings now marks his resting place.

A stage musical of The Honeymooners had its world premiere in September 2017 at which New Jersey theatre?

Paper Mill Playhouse staged a new story: Ralph and Norton win a jingle contest and are swept into Madison Avenue advertising, where success threatens their friendship.

In 'Ralph Kramden, Inc.', a rich passenger's will leaves Ralph her 'Fortune', which turns out to be what?

A parrot named Fortune is all Ralph inherits from an estate worth $40 million. He had already promised Norton 35 percent of the windfall.

In 'Head of the House', Ralph Kramden and Norton act drunk after their wives secretly swap the wine for what?

Grape juice fills the bottle, yet the two men get tipsy, sing and pass out all the same. Ralph was toasting a newspaper item that named him boss of his household.

In The Honeymooners Christmas episode, what does Ralph pawn at the last minute to buy Alice a present?

His bowling ball goes to the pawnshop, and on Christmas morning Alice hands him a new bag to carry it in. His first gift, a hairpin box, had proved a cheap trinket.

On the train to a convention in The Honeymooners, which novelty item leaves Ralph and Norton stuck together overnight?

Trick handcuffs from Norton's bag of gags refuse to open, so the pair must share one sleeping berth. They then learn they have boarded the wrong train.

Which Nickelodeon sitcom about two scheming Chicago teenagers was partly inspired by The Honeymooners?

Kenan & Kel has Kenan forever hatching get-rich-quick schemes that drag in his best friend, much as Ralph does with Norton. It ran from 1996 to 2001.

Honeymooners star Gleason earned an Oscar nomination as pool shark Minnesota Fats in which Paul Newman film?

The Hustler brought Gleason a Best Supporting Actor nomination, and he made all of his own shots on camera. Ralph Kramden was handy with a cue too.

As the last Honeymooners specials aired, Gleason was playing Sheriff Buford T. Justice in which hit road comedy?

Smokey and the Bandit put Gleason back on top in 1977, with free rein to improvise his lines as the sheriff. The roadside diner encounter was his own suggestion.

Who played Ralph Kramden when Saturday Night Live's first season spoofed The Honeymooners in bee costumes?

John Belushi took the part in a Killer Bees sketch, with Gilda Radner as Alice and Jane Curtin as Trixie. Dan Aykroyd played Norton.

Fans who pitied Alice Kramden's shabby apartment on The Honeymooners mailed the actress hundreds of what?

Curtains and aprons arrived by the hundred from viewers who wanted Alice to have a fancier life. The Kramdens' own window stood bare.

Which Kevin James sitcom about a parcel delivery driver and his wife was partly inspired by The Honeymooners?

The King of Queens even parodied its model outright in a dream sequence in the episode 'Inner Tube'. Its hero Doug drives for the fictional International Parcel Service.

Before settling on The Honeymooners, Gleason's team rejected which blunt title for the marital-squabble sketch?

The Beast was thrown out along with The Lovers before the staff found the right name. The sketch finally went on air in 1951 as a six-minute segment of a variety hour.

On what did Gleason carefully model the Kramdens' bleak two-room flat in The Honeymooners?

His boyhood home was rebuilt from memory, and he took great pains over the details. The Kramdens' money troubles mirrored those of his own early life.

Honeymooners scriptwriter Leonard Stern later co-created which best-selling word game with Roger Price?

Mad Libs was invented by the pair in 1953 but went unnamed for five years, until they overheard a restaurant argument about ad-libbing. Stern wrote many of Ralph and Alice's scripts.

In 'The Baby Sitter', what does Alice Kramden secretly have installed that Ralph says they cannot afford?

A telephone is Alice's secret, and she takes on babysitting to cover the bill. Ralph had been glad to live without one, because the depot could never call him in.

In 'Young at Heart', which youthful pastime leaves Ralph Kramden sore after he tries it while carrying coffee?

Roller-skating ends in a mess when Ralph wobbles across the rink with coffee for the wives. Guest star Ronnie Burns, son of comedian George Burns, plays a teenager's date.

In The Honeymooners episode 'Trapped', what does Ralph wave at two armed bank robbers holding Alice hostage?

A water pistol left behind by a neighbour's boy is all Ralph has, and the bluff fails when the boy knocks to ask for it back. Ralph ends up beating one crook with his fists.

In The Honeymooners episode 'A Matter of Record', why does Ralph throw a visiting in-law out of the apartment?

She spoils a play's ending, giving away the Broadway murder mystery Ralph holds tickets for that very night. Alice walks out as well and stays away for days.

Ralph Kramden's bus route ran along which famous Manhattan street, where a surplus of buses once got him laid off?

Madison Avenue had too many buses once the company adopted a suggestion Ralph had made himself, one that had just won him a $10 prize. The layoff proved temporary.

When the actress who first played Ralph Kramden's wife returned to The Honeymooners in 1967, which role did she take?

Alice's mother was the part, a neat return for the woman who had created the daughter 16 years earlier. It was among her last performances before her death in 1968.

Gleason also produced Stage Show, the lead-in to The Honeymooners, hosted by which pair of musical siblings?

The Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, fronted the programme that gave Elvis Presley his first national television appearances. It held the slot just before Ralph and Alice.

In The Honeymooners episode 'Pal o' Mine', which gift meant for Norton's new foreman gets stuck on Ralph?

A ring jams on Ralph's finger after he assumes the present is for him, and the mix-up sours the friendship. He relents on hearing that Norton has been hurt in an explosion at work.

In 'The Deciding Vote', which faulty appliance costs Ralph Kramden his election as convention manager?

A vacuum cleaner that Ralph had talked a fellow member into buying broke down, and the man switched sides in revenge. Ralph had wrongly blamed Norton for the defeat.

In 'Please Leave the Premises', what finally makes the evicted Ralph Kramden give up his rent strike on the street?

It starts to snow moments after Ralph vows to fight on, and he caves at once, claiming he is only thinking of Alice's health. The whole row was over a $5 rise.

In 'Pardon My Glove', the stray glove that makes Ralph Kramden jealous belongs to a man in which job?

An interior decorator named Andre was due to redo the flat free of charge for a store's advertising campaign. Ralph bursts in from the fire escape and frightens him off.

In The Honeymooners Christmas episode, Norton gives Trixie an orange squeezer shaped like which historical figure?

Napoleon it is, and by the closing scene Alice owns one as well. Ralph grabs the same novelty in a hurry after his first choice of present falls flat.

Gleason's 1956 Emmy nomination for playing Ralph Kramden lost out to which star of an army-camp sitcom?

Phil Silvers won as the scheming Sergeant Bilko, whose series took four major awards that night. The actor behind Ed Norton did collect a supporting trophy.

The Honeymooners' Ed Norton actor originated the fussy Felix on Broadway in which Neil Simon comedy?

The Odd Couple opened in 1965 with him as the neat-freak Felix opposite Walter Matthau's Oscar. Jack Lemmon took over the part for the 1968 film.

The first Alice Kramden of The Honeymooners later created Mrs. Paroo in which Meredith Willson musical?

The Music Man opened on Broadway in 1957 with her as Mrs. Paroo, and she repeated the part in the 1962 film. It was her first big-screen role in many years.

The Classic 39's Alice Kramden was the sister-in-law of which late-night television pioneer?

Steve Allen was married to her elder sister Jayne, a fellow actress. Alice even turned up in character for a sidewalk interview on his programme.

Which cartoon series spoofed The Honeymooners in three shorts starring a blustering mouse named Ralph Crumden?

Looney Tunes director Robert McKimson began the trio with The Honey-Mousers in 1956. In it Ralph's big dream is to find enough cheese to impress Alice.

Ed Norton of The Honeymooners spent his G.I. Bill money on which training, only to find offices too confining?

Typing school took his veteran's benefits after wartime naval service, but he never worked at a desk. He claimed to hate confined spaces, an odd complaint given the job he took.

Trixie Norton's nickname on The Honeymooners hides which real first name, shared with a maid the Kramdens once hire?

Thelma the maid quits the Kramdens after one row with Ralph and ends up working for the Nortons instead. Trixie shares her given name.

On The Honeymooners set, the actress playing Alice would glance at which fixture to cue a castmate's forgotten prop?

The icebox was her signal that somebody had forgotten to fetch something from it. The cast worked out such silent cues because slips were common in front of a live audience.

In 'Brother Ralph', why does Alice Kramden tell her new boss that her husband is her brother?

Married women were not hired at the office, so Alice hides Ralph in plain sight while he is laid off. He turns jealous when the handsome boss comes calling.

In 'Something Fishy', where are Alice Kramden and Trixie when their husbands try to sneak off fishing early?

Asleep in the back seat is where the men discover them. When the engine will not start, Alice gets it going and refuses to say how unless the wives come along.

Which illness sweeps the Kramdens' building in 'A Matter of Record', keeping Alice away after she forgives Ralph?

Measles breaks out in the building, and a doctor brings the news moments after Alice has forgiven Ralph. She has to stay away from him a while longer.

After losing his job in The Honeymooners episode 'Mind Your Own Business', what does Ed Norton sell door to door?

Steam irons prove a hard sell, and he shifts just one on his first day. He then boasts of fat commissions so that Ralph and Alice will stop worrying about him.

In The Honeymooners episode 'The Bensonhurst Bomber', whom does Ralph actually knock out cold at the gym?

A total stranger bumps into Ralph, who floors him in the belief that he is the friend Norton arranged to take a dive. The real bully watches and backs out of the fight.

In the last Classic 39 Honeymooners episode, Ralph's boastful old rival for Alice turns out to work as what?

An assistant plumber is all the bragging Bill Davis really is, while Ralph has been posing as head of his firm. Neither can pay the restaurant bill, so they pool their cash.

In The Honeymooners episode 'The Safety Award', the driver Ralph collides with turns out to be whom?

The judge presenting it is the other motorist, and he admits that the crash was his own fault before handing over the prize. Ralph had been driving a borrowed vehicle to City Hall.

In The Honeymooners, the head of Ralph and Norton's fraternal order holds which grandiose title?

Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler is the office, held by one Morris Fink. In 'The Loudspeaker' he phones Ralph, who wrongly assumes he is about to be named member of the year.

Which office does Ralph Kramden hold at his lodge, a duty also listed on the plaque of his bronze statue?

Treasurer is his post, a worrying choice given that the lodge is going broke and nobody pays their dues. The statue's plaque ranks the job between driver and dreamer.

Who took over as Alice Kramden for the colour Honeymooners musicals that Gleason made from 1966 to 1970?

Sheila MacRae played Alice in 52 episodes, her first continuing role on television. She went on to front a short-lived series under her own name.

Which actress played Trixie in the colour Honeymooners musicals and held the role longer than her predecessor?

Jane Kean took the part in 1966 and was still playing it in the final specials of the 1970s. Her 2003 memoir joked that she had a life before becoming a Honeymooner.

The four final Honeymooners specials of 1976 to 1978 aired on which network, a first for the Kramdens?

ABC carried the four hour-long reunions, with the Classic 39's Alice returning to the part. They were the last original Honeymooners productions ever made.

Before The Honeymooners, Gleason spent one season as a blue-collar father in the TV version of which radio sitcom?

The Life of Riley cast him as aircraft worker Chester A. Riley only because radio star William Bendix was tied up by a film contract. It was cancelled after a single year.

A long-running Dutch remake of The Honeymooners reset the story in the 1950s in which city?

Rotterdam was the home of Toen Was Geluk Heel Gewoon, which began with translated scripts of the 39 episodes. Its two stars then took over the writing and reached 229 episodes.

Which country's remake of The Honeymooners, set in its capital, took a title meaning 'Honey Years'?

Poland's Miodowe lata ran from 1998 to 2003 in modern Warsaw, mixing translated scripts with new ones. The title works because a honeymoon in Polish is literally a honey month.

Who played Alice Kramden in the 2005 big-screen remake of The Honeymooners, with Mike Epps as Norton?

Gabrielle Union played Alice in a version built around a predominantly African American cast. It flopped with critics and took only about $13 million worldwide.

Which cable channel paid for the bronze statue of Gleason as Ralph Kramden unveiled in Manhattan in 2000?

TV Land funded the eight-foot figure in cooperation with Gleason's estate. It shows a jolly Ralph in his driver's uniform, and the plaque calls him a dreamer.