50 Fun Facts About The Honeymooners

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

Ralph is never actually seen driving a bus in the show, apart from publicity photos, though he turns up at the depot now and then.

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

He described the job as 'sub-supervisor in the sub-division of the department of subterranean sanitation, I just keep things moving along.'

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

A blackboard at the lodge shows Ralph's dues in arrears in more than one episode.

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

Meadows was the third actress to play Alice; she later became a banker.

Which actor played Ed Norton throughout every version of the show?

Gleason recast both wives when the show moved to Miami but insisted Norton should never be played by anyone else.

Who played Trixie Norton in the Classic 39 episodes?

Randolph did not appear in every episode and was paid $500 a week, against Carney's $3,500.

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

Gleason's sketches lifted Cavalcade of Stars' audience share from 9% to 25%, but the network still could not afford to keep him.

The Honeymooners' filmed sitcom lasted one season. How many episodes were made, giving the run its nickname?

Gleason's contract actually called for 78 episodes over two seasons, with an option for 39 more.

Which car maker sponsored the 1955-56 series ('Brought to you by your ___ dealer')?

The sponsor plugs were cut when the show entered syndication in 1957.

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

Gleason himself grew up on Chauncey Street, and modelled the set on the apartment he remembered.

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

The real 328 Chauncey Street is in Stuyvesant Heights, about eight miles from where the show pretends it is.

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

He never once carried it out, and Alice never once backed down.

Who played Alice in the first nine sketches of 1951-52?

Kelton was nine years older than Gleason, and the early sketches were far darker than the later series.

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

Arthur Miller later wrote that the blacklisting traced to her husband marching in a May Day parade years earlier.

Gleason feared his new Alice was too attractive for the part. How did she change his mind?

When Gleason learned the frumpy woman in the photos was Meadows, he reportedly said any dame with that sense of humour deserved the job.

Ralph Kramden was the model for the lead character of which 1960 Hanna-Barbera cartoon?

Gleason considered suing but decided that being 'the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air' was bad publicity.

Ed Norton's design, clothing and mannerisms also inspired which Hanna-Barbera cartoon character?

Ed also became Barney Rubble, just as Trixie became Betty Rubble.

Who composed the show's instrumental theme, 'You're My Greatest Love'?

Lyrics were written for it but never sung; Ray Bloch's orchestra performed it.

The Classic 39 were captured live on film using which early-1950s system?

The superior picture and sound is why the episodes rerun so well compared with other live shows of the era.

All 39 episodes were filmed before an audience of 1,000 at which Manhattan venue?

Gleason refused full rehearsals, believing they robbed the show of spontaneity, so flubbed lines were common.

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

Meadows had her own cue: a glance at the icebox when someone else was supposed to fetch something from it.

Ed Norton served in which branch of the US military during World War II?

He spent his G.I. Bill money on typing school but could not stand working in confined spaces.

Ed once admitted to holding how many charge accounts, which helped explain his nicer apartment?

He earned exactly the same $62 a week as Ralph but lived noticeably better.

Ralph's father is mentioned in only one episode, as having given the young Ralph what?

The episode is 'Young Man with a Horn', and Ralph refuses to throw the instrument away.

During the show's run, Ralph Kramden was made an honorary member of which real organisation?

A Brooklyn bus depot was later renamed for Gleason, and its buses carry a 'face on the Moon' sticker from the opening credits.

A bronze statue of Gleason in bus driver's uniform stands outside which New York landmark?

TV Land paid for it in 1999; the plaque calls Ralph 'Bus Driver — Raccoon Lodge Treasurer — Dreamer'.

What was the name of Alice's sister, whose new marriage Ralph nearly wrecks in 'Here Comes the Bride'?

Ralph's bad advice to the groom causes the trouble, but everything works out by the end.

In an early sketch the childless Kramdens briefly adopted a baby girl. What did they name her?

The biological mother asked for the baby back; Gleason insisted the couples stay childless.

Which actress played Trixie in a single sketch as an ex-burlesque dancer before the role was recast?

Gleason rewrote Trixie as a wholesome housewife after just one appearance.

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

TV Guide ranked the episode No. 6 on its 1997 list of the 100 greatest episodes of all time.

In 2002, where did TV Guide place The Honeymooners on its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time?

The Writers Guild of America later ranked it No. 31 among the 101 best-written series.

Why was the actress playing Alice reportedly the only cast member paid Classic 39 rerun residuals?

Randolph got royalties only when the lost episodes were released decades later.

Gleason sold the films of the Classic 39 to CBS for how much?

He walked away from the show with $7 million still left on his contract, saying he was too fond of it to cheapen it.

Which rival programme on NBC steadily drained the sitcom's audience during its one season?

The Honeymooners started as the No. 2 show in the country and finished the season at No. 19.

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

Meadows and Randolph declined to move, so Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean took over as Alice and Trixie.

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

Eight full-hour musicals were written by Lyn Duddy and Jerry Bresler, riding the vogue for live TV musicals after Peter Pan.

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

They were kinescopes of the 1952-57 variety-show sketches, cut into 68 22-minute episodes.

Who played Ralph in the 2005 feature-film remake?

Gabrielle Union, Mike Epps and Regina Hall co-starred; the film took a little over $13 million worldwide.

How many Emmy Awards did the actor who played Ed Norton win for the role across the show's incarnations?

Gleason himself never won for Ralph; in 1956 he lost Best Actor to Phil Silvers.

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

It sits alongside an instrument called Alice, though that name was not a Honeymooners reference.

A Dutch remake using translated Classic 39 scripts, set in 1950s Rotterdam, ran for how many years?

After the 39 scripts ran out, the two lead actors wrote the show themselves; it ended at 229 episodes in 2009.

Which 1980s detective series parodied the show as 'The Bluemooners', with Bruce Willis as Ralph?

Cybill Shepherd played Alice, Charles Rocket was Norton and Allyce Beasley took Trixie.

Which New York station has aired the show for five decades, with a marathon starting in New Year's Eve's last hour?

The station also runs it every Thanksgiving, followed by March of the Wooden Soldiers.

What was Alice Kramden's maiden name?

She studied to be a secretary before marrying Ralph, and briefly worked as one when he was laid off.

What was Ed Norton's unusual middle name?

His full name is given as Edward Lillywhite Norton, though 'Ethelbert' also turns up.

Before the title was settled, Gleason and his writers rejected which of these names for the sketch?

'The Lovers' and 'The Couple Next Door' were also thrown out.

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.

How long was the very first Honeymooners sketch, broadcast on October 5, 1951?

Art Carney appeared only as a policeman who gets hit with flour Ralph throws out of the window.

Which phrase, Gleason's sign-on catchphrase, is inscribed on his gravestone?

The announcer used it to close the sponsor plug at the top of every Classic 39 episode.

A stage-musical adaptation of the show premiered in September 2017 at which New Jersey theatre?

Michael McGrath played Ralph and Laura Bell Bundy played Trixie; John Rando directed.