Frank Gannucci
02-24-2017, 09:26 AM
Honeymooners Episode Reviews: "XMas Party" ('52) & "Glow Worm Cleaning Powder":
Episode #37
TV: Not seen since its original airdate.
DVD: The 1952 version on the Lost Episodes DVD Box Set is attached to “Glow Worm Cleaning Powder”, “Alice Plays Cupid”, “Suspense”, “Lost Job”, “Anniversary Gift”, “Income Tax”,” “Alice’s Aunt Ethel”, “What’s Her Name”, “Lunch Box”, “Hot Tips”, “Norton Moves In”, “Ralph’s Diet”, “Dinner Guest”, “Manager of The Baseball Team” (’53 version) & “Dorsey Brothers Show.”
Air Date: Sat. 12/20/52
MPI says that the picture to the original film of the sketch is missing for the first few seconds so still frame images have been utilized. The episode opens up with Alice getting ready for Christmas. Ralph comes home with potato salad from DeVitos. She says that he should get it from Krauss'. Ralph explains that at DeVitos that Reginald Van Gleason as running a party and that a lot of people are there including people who came from Connecticut. Ralph, disgustedly, leaves to get potato salad from Krauss'. He slams the door and the set shakes.
Trixie comes in and she reveals that Ed gave her an orange juice squeezer. You squeeze the oranges on top of Napoleon’s head and the juice squirts out of his ears. Same gift that he would give her in "'Twas The Night Before Christmas." A guy knocks on the door and Trixie answers it and within a second she knows his name: Fenwick Babbit. Either Trixie saw him before or he gave her his name very softly and quickly. Fenwick is played by Jackie Gleason. After pacing his beer barrel in the apartment, he begins to cut the ice. He hits his finger and yells in Ralph Kramden fashion. Now I wonder why Alice and Trixie don't come up with the thought that Ralph and he look alike. When Trixie goes upstairs to get something for Fenwick, Fenwick asks: "Does she live nearby?" The crowd laughs. When Trixie comes back, Fenwick realizes that he is in the wrong apartment and then Alice treats him rudely and asks him to leave. He leaves WITHOUT the ice but not before he says to Trixie: "You are a nice lady."
Ed comes in and says that he has come with, Patricia Morrison. The crowd applauds for the guest star. She sings "All I Want Is You" and "Wunderbar" for Alice, Ed, and Trixie, and dances with Ed. She almost kisses Ed. Trixie intervenes much to Ed’s chagrin. Joe The Bartender comes in (also played by Gleason). Of course after hearing Joe speak, Alice, Ed and Trixie don't come up with the thought that he and Ralph look alike. Joe The Bartender reveals something that just happened some time ago at Krauss'. This poor soul comes in and takes the last bit of steak and gives it to a kitten that he bought in from the cold. Fatso Fogarty sees this and becomes mad. He sets up a nasty practical joke in which he tells him he had "won" a diamond and then handed him a cheap rhinestone that unbeknownst to the poor soul, he tore off his wife’s shirt. What made the hoax particularly pathetic was that the poor soul, totally taken in, cherished his prize. Alice, moved by the tale, tells Joe to send the poor soul up, and she'll give him a real present. Joe and Patricia leave.
The poor soul comes up (played by Jackie Gleason in pantomime) comes up and Alice gives him a real present which is a very loud tie. Once again, Alice and Trixie don't even think that he and Ralph look alike. He gives her the "diamond" and leaves. Ed leaves.
You will notice that the Kramdens have a TV. Gee, in "TV or Not TV", Alice says that the Kramdens never got a TV. Rudy the Repairman comes by (making a lot of noise in the process) to fix it. Rudy is played by Jackie Gleason and once again by looking and hearing Rudy speak, Alice and Trixie don't think that Ralph and he look alike. Alice explains all the trouble she is having with some of the channels. Some of the channels that I think she talks about: 4, 5, 7, 11, and 13. Now, since I used to live in North Jersey and about an hour away from New York, I can tell you that those channels in real life do exist. And do you know what? The channel 11 that Alice is talking about would start to carry reruns of the Honeymooners four years later and has carried them for the better part of 50 years. Rudy, after hearing Alice's strange problems, brings in Whitey. Whitey talks to Ralph in language that is not real English. But Rudy understands him anyway. Great comedy. Rudy says that his dad invented the first TV set in 1972 (better known according to Rudy as 1784. What?). According to Rudy, it didn’t work because there was no electricity. Looks like he was kidding. Rudy makes a pass at Alice and Trixie & sees the set destroyed. He said that a pair of shorts caused the problem and he and Whitey depart with the shorts. Alice tells Trixie that it doesn't really matter, since she just had the set on trial.
Ed Norton comes in with a young Frankie Avalon that is going to sing at Krauss'. Frank plays a song on the trumpet that I can’t identify. He also taps dance. It's interesting that Jackie allowed this kid to sing on his show when you think about the fact that he didn't want kids to appear on his show because he thought that kids may not be able to act on cue. Both Ed & Frank leave. Alice says that Ed is always looking to help someone. Trixie begins to tell Alice of Ed’s get-rick-quick scheme that he had years ago when Ed comes back in and Reginald Van Gleason comes in (played by Jackie Gleason). He brings in gifts for Ed, Trixie, and Alice. He also brings in his band (Phil Napoleon and his Memphis 5) and June Taylor Dancers with Alice's permission. The band plays a song VERY loudly and Gleason dances with the dancers. Try doing what Reggie is doing in an ordinary apartment at night in real life and you will probably get a TON of complaints (and maybe get kicked out too.) Once again, Alice, Ed and Trixie don't come up with the conclusion that Reggie and Ralph look and probably sound alike (maybe except for Reggie's mustache). Reggie and his whole entourage leave. Ed: "Reggie is okay in my book." Ed says that in Reggie's limo, he watches wrestling. Not on TV, he watches wrestlers wrestling each other in the limo in a pro wrestling match. Oh God! Trixie is afraid to leave because another star may drop by. Alice says that she wonders where Ralph is. Ed says to Trixie that he will give her what every woman wants on her hand, that being rubber gloves. Ha!
Ed and Trixie leave. Ralph comes by with a policeman. Alice explains the whole situation to the policeman and leaves. Ralph reveals what happened. After he returned the original potato salad, he had to walk two LONG blocks to Krauss only to find out that Krauss was asleep. He kicked so hard on his door that he knocked out the window and got in trouble with the police. Alice laughs and apologizes probably for putting Ralph through so much trouble. Anyway, Alice and Ralph exchange gifts. Ralph opens his gift first and finds out that Alice gave him rubber-lined gloves. Alice gets an orange juice squeezer from Ralph. The same gift that Ralph will giver again in "'Twas The Night Before Christmas." Ralph says that this is their 13th Christmas together. 24 years later in an ABC Special, Ralph and Alice say that they are celebrating 25 years of marriage (the writers thought that that would be appropriate since that show marked the 25th anniversary of the show.) The hug and kiss.
I lot of people probably don't like this episode since it's a great departure from traditional episodes. I liked it because it's a great X-Mas episode and it offers a change of pace. Jackie Gleason must have had to do some quick costume changes in this episode since this episode (like all the other ones in the 50's) were done live.
Episode #38 (Syndicated episode #86)
TV: Attached to "The Prowler."
VCR: Attached to "The Hypnotist."
DVD: Attached to "Principle of The Thing" & "Alice's Aunt Ethel." On the Lost Episodes DVD Box Set, it is attached to “Xmas Party” (’52 version), “Alice Plays Cupid”, “Suspense”, “Lost Job”, “Anniversary Gift”, “Income Tax”,” “Alice’s Aunt Ethel”, “What’s Her Name”, “Lunch Box”, “Hot Tips”, “Norton Moves In”, “Ralph’s Diet”, “Dinner Guest”, “Manager of The Baseball Team” (’53 version) & “Dorsey Brothers Show.”
Air Date: Sat. 1/3/53
Before I begin this review, in John Katsigeorgis' book entitled: "To The Moon: The Honeymooners Book of Trivia" & in the Honeymooners Lost Episodes DVD Boxset booklet, it states that episode #19 was "Glow Worm Cleaning Powder" and it aired in January '53 and not this episode. "The Honeymooners Lost Episodes" is probably wrong when it states that "Glow Worm Cleaning Powder" didn't air until June '53 (his website said the same thing that the Lost Episode Book too.) I am willing to bet that "To The Moon" is correct because I heard that John K. went through old TV Guides. Also, at least part of this episode was (by today's standards) badly colorized in the 80s. This clip was shown on the Honeymooners Anniversary Celebration that was syndicated in the 1980s and the clip is even more uncut on that show.
The episode opens up with Alice at home. Ed comes in and Alice gives Ed the good news. Ed helps Alice by emptying the dirty contents of a pan out the window. Alice: "What happens if people who are walking down the street come in contact with the dirt?" Ed: "Its' Saturday. They have to take a bath anyway." Ha! The people who do the Glow Worm Cleaning Powder ads are going to pick Alice as next month's Glow Worm Girl. Ed is happy to hear that. Ed leaves.
Ralph comes home. He had a bad day on the bus. One person sat behind him and annoyed him. When he asked Ralph why he didn't shave today, Ralph threw him off the bus. A move he later regretted when he found out that person was an inspector or something like that for the Gotham Bus Company. Alice tells Ralph that she is going to become next month's Glow Worm Girl. Ralph (sarcastically): "There is the solution to all my problems." Ralph says he doesn't want Alice to be in the ad. Ralph is being mean when he says that. Ralph says something along the lines of: "I can just see kids coloring mustaches under your nose if the ad in which you are in is on the subway." Ha! When Ralph gets told that the people from he ad want him to be in the picture, Ralph changes his mind. Typical Ralph, huh?
The people from the ad arrive ready to take a picture for the new Glow Worm Cleaning ad. Ralph: "This Glow Worm Cleaning Powder is very good. It's the only thing that will get rid of that rim in the bathtub." Ralph assumes that he is going to be in the ad with Alice as her husband. Ralph gets told that he isn't going to be and that an actor is going to take the place of Alice's husband." Ralph (yells): "WAIT A MINUTE!" Ralph: "That stuff I told you about this powder is a lot of bunk. We still have that ring in the tub." Soon, Ralph wants to throw everybody out. But, he then gets told that they will use him for another ad. Ralph: "Well, I don't want to stand in your way Alice." Yeah, sure he doesn't. Ralph's picture is taken. He assumes the title of the ad is going to be: "Are you trim, slim and thirty." That is not going to be the title of the ad. The title of the ad is something like: "Are you fat, flabby and forty." D' Oh! Not something that Ralph wanted to hear. Ralph then throws everybody out before the picture of Alice can be taken for the new Glow Worm Cleaning ad.
Ralph is upset that he thought he was insulted. Alice, starting to cry, tells Ralph that they were up here to take her picture and that it would have been a great thrill for her. I hate seeing Alice cry. Ralph apologizes and Alice forgives him. They hug and kiss.
Credit I think goes to (the original) Bill's 'Mooners Archives, eBay.com, tv.com, Honeymooners Lost Episodes Book, tvguide.com, honeymooners.net, Honeymooners Lost Episodes DVD booklet, Wikipedia.org, Yahoo Groups You're A Riot! & Amazon.com.
Episode #37
TV: Not seen since its original airdate.
DVD: The 1952 version on the Lost Episodes DVD Box Set is attached to “Glow Worm Cleaning Powder”, “Alice Plays Cupid”, “Suspense”, “Lost Job”, “Anniversary Gift”, “Income Tax”,” “Alice’s Aunt Ethel”, “What’s Her Name”, “Lunch Box”, “Hot Tips”, “Norton Moves In”, “Ralph’s Diet”, “Dinner Guest”, “Manager of The Baseball Team” (’53 version) & “Dorsey Brothers Show.”
Air Date: Sat. 12/20/52
MPI says that the picture to the original film of the sketch is missing for the first few seconds so still frame images have been utilized. The episode opens up with Alice getting ready for Christmas. Ralph comes home with potato salad from DeVitos. She says that he should get it from Krauss'. Ralph explains that at DeVitos that Reginald Van Gleason as running a party and that a lot of people are there including people who came from Connecticut. Ralph, disgustedly, leaves to get potato salad from Krauss'. He slams the door and the set shakes.
Trixie comes in and she reveals that Ed gave her an orange juice squeezer. You squeeze the oranges on top of Napoleon’s head and the juice squirts out of his ears. Same gift that he would give her in "'Twas The Night Before Christmas." A guy knocks on the door and Trixie answers it and within a second she knows his name: Fenwick Babbit. Either Trixie saw him before or he gave her his name very softly and quickly. Fenwick is played by Jackie Gleason. After pacing his beer barrel in the apartment, he begins to cut the ice. He hits his finger and yells in Ralph Kramden fashion. Now I wonder why Alice and Trixie don't come up with the thought that Ralph and he look alike. When Trixie goes upstairs to get something for Fenwick, Fenwick asks: "Does she live nearby?" The crowd laughs. When Trixie comes back, Fenwick realizes that he is in the wrong apartment and then Alice treats him rudely and asks him to leave. He leaves WITHOUT the ice but not before he says to Trixie: "You are a nice lady."
Ed comes in and says that he has come with, Patricia Morrison. The crowd applauds for the guest star. She sings "All I Want Is You" and "Wunderbar" for Alice, Ed, and Trixie, and dances with Ed. She almost kisses Ed. Trixie intervenes much to Ed’s chagrin. Joe The Bartender comes in (also played by Gleason). Of course after hearing Joe speak, Alice, Ed and Trixie don't come up with the thought that he and Ralph look alike. Joe The Bartender reveals something that just happened some time ago at Krauss'. This poor soul comes in and takes the last bit of steak and gives it to a kitten that he bought in from the cold. Fatso Fogarty sees this and becomes mad. He sets up a nasty practical joke in which he tells him he had "won" a diamond and then handed him a cheap rhinestone that unbeknownst to the poor soul, he tore off his wife’s shirt. What made the hoax particularly pathetic was that the poor soul, totally taken in, cherished his prize. Alice, moved by the tale, tells Joe to send the poor soul up, and she'll give him a real present. Joe and Patricia leave.
The poor soul comes up (played by Jackie Gleason in pantomime) comes up and Alice gives him a real present which is a very loud tie. Once again, Alice and Trixie don't even think that he and Ralph look alike. He gives her the "diamond" and leaves. Ed leaves.
You will notice that the Kramdens have a TV. Gee, in "TV or Not TV", Alice says that the Kramdens never got a TV. Rudy the Repairman comes by (making a lot of noise in the process) to fix it. Rudy is played by Jackie Gleason and once again by looking and hearing Rudy speak, Alice and Trixie don't think that Ralph and he look alike. Alice explains all the trouble she is having with some of the channels. Some of the channels that I think she talks about: 4, 5, 7, 11, and 13. Now, since I used to live in North Jersey and about an hour away from New York, I can tell you that those channels in real life do exist. And do you know what? The channel 11 that Alice is talking about would start to carry reruns of the Honeymooners four years later and has carried them for the better part of 50 years. Rudy, after hearing Alice's strange problems, brings in Whitey. Whitey talks to Ralph in language that is not real English. But Rudy understands him anyway. Great comedy. Rudy says that his dad invented the first TV set in 1972 (better known according to Rudy as 1784. What?). According to Rudy, it didn’t work because there was no electricity. Looks like he was kidding. Rudy makes a pass at Alice and Trixie & sees the set destroyed. He said that a pair of shorts caused the problem and he and Whitey depart with the shorts. Alice tells Trixie that it doesn't really matter, since she just had the set on trial.
Ed Norton comes in with a young Frankie Avalon that is going to sing at Krauss'. Frank plays a song on the trumpet that I can’t identify. He also taps dance. It's interesting that Jackie allowed this kid to sing on his show when you think about the fact that he didn't want kids to appear on his show because he thought that kids may not be able to act on cue. Both Ed & Frank leave. Alice says that Ed is always looking to help someone. Trixie begins to tell Alice of Ed’s get-rick-quick scheme that he had years ago when Ed comes back in and Reginald Van Gleason comes in (played by Jackie Gleason). He brings in gifts for Ed, Trixie, and Alice. He also brings in his band (Phil Napoleon and his Memphis 5) and June Taylor Dancers with Alice's permission. The band plays a song VERY loudly and Gleason dances with the dancers. Try doing what Reggie is doing in an ordinary apartment at night in real life and you will probably get a TON of complaints (and maybe get kicked out too.) Once again, Alice, Ed and Trixie don't come up with the conclusion that Reggie and Ralph look and probably sound alike (maybe except for Reggie's mustache). Reggie and his whole entourage leave. Ed: "Reggie is okay in my book." Ed says that in Reggie's limo, he watches wrestling. Not on TV, he watches wrestlers wrestling each other in the limo in a pro wrestling match. Oh God! Trixie is afraid to leave because another star may drop by. Alice says that she wonders where Ralph is. Ed says to Trixie that he will give her what every woman wants on her hand, that being rubber gloves. Ha!
Ed and Trixie leave. Ralph comes by with a policeman. Alice explains the whole situation to the policeman and leaves. Ralph reveals what happened. After he returned the original potato salad, he had to walk two LONG blocks to Krauss only to find out that Krauss was asleep. He kicked so hard on his door that he knocked out the window and got in trouble with the police. Alice laughs and apologizes probably for putting Ralph through so much trouble. Anyway, Alice and Ralph exchange gifts. Ralph opens his gift first and finds out that Alice gave him rubber-lined gloves. Alice gets an orange juice squeezer from Ralph. The same gift that Ralph will giver again in "'Twas The Night Before Christmas." Ralph says that this is their 13th Christmas together. 24 years later in an ABC Special, Ralph and Alice say that they are celebrating 25 years of marriage (the writers thought that that would be appropriate since that show marked the 25th anniversary of the show.) The hug and kiss.
I lot of people probably don't like this episode since it's a great departure from traditional episodes. I liked it because it's a great X-Mas episode and it offers a change of pace. Jackie Gleason must have had to do some quick costume changes in this episode since this episode (like all the other ones in the 50's) were done live.
Episode #38 (Syndicated episode #86)
TV: Attached to "The Prowler."
VCR: Attached to "The Hypnotist."
DVD: Attached to "Principle of The Thing" & "Alice's Aunt Ethel." On the Lost Episodes DVD Box Set, it is attached to “Xmas Party” (’52 version), “Alice Plays Cupid”, “Suspense”, “Lost Job”, “Anniversary Gift”, “Income Tax”,” “Alice’s Aunt Ethel”, “What’s Her Name”, “Lunch Box”, “Hot Tips”, “Norton Moves In”, “Ralph’s Diet”, “Dinner Guest”, “Manager of The Baseball Team” (’53 version) & “Dorsey Brothers Show.”
Air Date: Sat. 1/3/53
Before I begin this review, in John Katsigeorgis' book entitled: "To The Moon: The Honeymooners Book of Trivia" & in the Honeymooners Lost Episodes DVD Boxset booklet, it states that episode #19 was "Glow Worm Cleaning Powder" and it aired in January '53 and not this episode. "The Honeymooners Lost Episodes" is probably wrong when it states that "Glow Worm Cleaning Powder" didn't air until June '53 (his website said the same thing that the Lost Episode Book too.) I am willing to bet that "To The Moon" is correct because I heard that John K. went through old TV Guides. Also, at least part of this episode was (by today's standards) badly colorized in the 80s. This clip was shown on the Honeymooners Anniversary Celebration that was syndicated in the 1980s and the clip is even more uncut on that show.
The episode opens up with Alice at home. Ed comes in and Alice gives Ed the good news. Ed helps Alice by emptying the dirty contents of a pan out the window. Alice: "What happens if people who are walking down the street come in contact with the dirt?" Ed: "Its' Saturday. They have to take a bath anyway." Ha! The people who do the Glow Worm Cleaning Powder ads are going to pick Alice as next month's Glow Worm Girl. Ed is happy to hear that. Ed leaves.
Ralph comes home. He had a bad day on the bus. One person sat behind him and annoyed him. When he asked Ralph why he didn't shave today, Ralph threw him off the bus. A move he later regretted when he found out that person was an inspector or something like that for the Gotham Bus Company. Alice tells Ralph that she is going to become next month's Glow Worm Girl. Ralph (sarcastically): "There is the solution to all my problems." Ralph says he doesn't want Alice to be in the ad. Ralph is being mean when he says that. Ralph says something along the lines of: "I can just see kids coloring mustaches under your nose if the ad in which you are in is on the subway." Ha! When Ralph gets told that the people from he ad want him to be in the picture, Ralph changes his mind. Typical Ralph, huh?
The people from the ad arrive ready to take a picture for the new Glow Worm Cleaning ad. Ralph: "This Glow Worm Cleaning Powder is very good. It's the only thing that will get rid of that rim in the bathtub." Ralph assumes that he is going to be in the ad with Alice as her husband. Ralph gets told that he isn't going to be and that an actor is going to take the place of Alice's husband." Ralph (yells): "WAIT A MINUTE!" Ralph: "That stuff I told you about this powder is a lot of bunk. We still have that ring in the tub." Soon, Ralph wants to throw everybody out. But, he then gets told that they will use him for another ad. Ralph: "Well, I don't want to stand in your way Alice." Yeah, sure he doesn't. Ralph's picture is taken. He assumes the title of the ad is going to be: "Are you trim, slim and thirty." That is not going to be the title of the ad. The title of the ad is something like: "Are you fat, flabby and forty." D' Oh! Not something that Ralph wanted to hear. Ralph then throws everybody out before the picture of Alice can be taken for the new Glow Worm Cleaning ad.
Ralph is upset that he thought he was insulted. Alice, starting to cry, tells Ralph that they were up here to take her picture and that it would have been a great thrill for her. I hate seeing Alice cry. Ralph apologizes and Alice forgives him. They hug and kiss.
Credit I think goes to (the original) Bill's 'Mooners Archives, eBay.com, tv.com, Honeymooners Lost Episodes Book, tvguide.com, honeymooners.net, Honeymooners Lost Episodes DVD booklet, Wikipedia.org, Yahoo Groups You're A Riot! & Amazon.com.