Kramden's window...let's settle this once and for all

[Bill S.]

Alright, now I've been wondering about this for years and to this day I cannot positively figure this out. There are several episodes, "Move Uptown," and "Goodbye Aunt Ethel," to be exact, where someone will be out in the street and another character will be talking to them from a window in the Kramden's apartment. I'd assume this is a view of the front of the building. Now we all know that the Kramdens sometimes have a fire escape and sometimes don't (depending on the episode). In this case however, from an outside view, there is no fire escape in site.

With this information I tend to believe that it's not the kitchen window. Another big clue of this is in "Move Uptown," when they get a closer shot of Norton in the window and there is a curtain visible at the top of the window. But if this is the bedroom, that makes me wonder where the kitchen window is? On the other side of the building? That wouldn't make sense because Ralph has yelled from the window at people who just left the apartment on numerous occasions. Either the people working on the set never made things perfect or the Kramdens live in a really confusing apartment. Anyone else who has noticed this or thinks they've figured it out please let me know. If not, this will just be another one of those Honeymooners mysteries...

[Bill S.]

I was searching through old posts and noticed that no one ever responded to this. I know back in the 50's they probably didn't bother to make everything 100% perfect but I was kind of hoping somebody had a theory on how it could work.

I dunno, just trying to keep the board alive. :)

[T-Greg]

I was searching through old posts and noticed that no one ever responded to this. I know back in the 50's they probably didn't bother to make everything 100% perfect but I was kind of hoping somebody had a theory on how it could work.

I dunno, just trying to keep the board alive. :)

Bill. I think you answered your own question. The writers were not too concerned with making sure things flowed logically. It was more of what they thought was funny. Although I can't think of any specific shows at the moment, there have been many shows over time, that when you look at them as a whole over a period of years, you scratch your head and wonder why things happened the way they did. For instance, a particular scene might take a couple of days to shoot. A character might comb his/her hair differently on each day, but when in its in final form, viewers will notice this. It's all supposed to have happened at the same time, but it was not shot that way. I guess that's called a goof. I'm not sure if that's a good analogy or not.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...that those scripts for the LIVE Gleason variety show were hammered out within a week's time- from idea right up to show time. The writers were working under a deadline...they certainly couldn't remember "little details"
that were mentioned or demonstrated one week, and remember them a few weeks or months later. Okay, let's say...MAYBE 'Ralph Kramden' had a brother named 'Denny' who visits him and makes a nuisance of himself and the entire household before he gets Ralph hauled off to jail for something HE was responsible for....and a few weeks or months later, YOU NEVER HEAR OF 'DENNY KRAMDEN' AGAIN.* Well, that's how the writers worked under a deadline.


*this fictional plotline NEVER occured in ANY "Honeymooners" episode, so don't even try asking me why YOU never saw it...it's just an example!


:tv:

[treky]

then that would also explain why, in the "lost" episodes (which were never really "lost"-Jackie knew they existed, but he was planning to anounce their "discovery" "when the time was right". Right, TV KNOWLEDGE FAN? I'm sure you also know this!) sometimes, the Kramdens door opens from the right, sometimes from the left and sometimes they have a sliding bolt lock on it, other times they don't.

I'm not sure if this is in any of the "classic 39" though.

[Bill S.]

The door opened to the left side in every sketch that aired before the Classic 39. "TV Or Not TV" was the first episode in which the door opened to the right side...so from 1951 to 1955, the door opened to the left, and from 1955 to 1957, it opened to the right. I'm not sure about the sliding lock though, that changed more from episode to episode. It seems as though it was really only there when the script called for it.