Frank Gannucci
10-27-2017, 07:51 AM
Honeymooners Episode Reviews: "Boys & Girls Together" & "Principle of The Thing":
Episode #105 (Syndicated Episode #70)
TV: Half-hour.
VCR: Attached to "Anniversary Gift."
DVD: Attached to "Anniversary Gift", "Pickles" & "This Is Your Life." On the Restored Lost Episodes DVD Box Set, it is attached to “Principal of The Thing”, “Songs & Witty Sayings”, “Letter To The Boss” (‘’55 version), “Stand-In For Murder” (’55 version), “Double Anniversary Party”, “The Check-Up” & “Forgot To Register.”
Color Episode Title: “Follow The Boys.”
Air Date: Sat. 4/23/55
When I recorded this episode in 1997, I really thought it was a two-parter, but I was proved wrong. Also, you want to talk about edits, nearly half this episode is cut when it is shown on TV.
Alice is planning to go out to dinner with Ralph. Ralph has other plans. He and Ed are bowling for The Hurricanes. If they win this "very important" game, the team will tie another team for eighth place. Alice is upset. Another family (the Fallons) move in. Ralph welcomes Mr. Fallon by inviting him to join him and Norton for pool, bowling, and lodge meetings, but Fallon is busy all the nights Ralph and Norton go out together--he spends all those nights with his wife. Later, Trixie tells Alice that she read in a magazine that the reason men spend so much time apart from their wives is because the wives let themselves go and allow their marriages to become dull and predictable. The girls make a pact to bring romance back to Chauncey Street.
This is the first scene that you will see on TV. The next day, Alice is all dressed up and turns of the lights, lights a candle and welcomes Ralph. Ralph: "So you forgot to pay the electric bill, huh?" That is funny. Alice says that with the lights off and a candle lit, it is romantic. Ralph: "Who do you think we are, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds?" Alice tries to do more romantic things for Ralph like hugs and kisses, a bushel of compliments, a roast-beef dinner, and romantic music, but Ralph doesn't change. Alice dances and offers Ralph to dance with her. He doesn't and says to Alice a line that would be repeated in "Mama Loves Mambo": "You want to wiggle? Wiggle over to the stove and get my supper." Soon each is pouring out fourteen years of frustration. Alice is complaining about him playing Skee-Ball tournaments. Gee, a Skee-Ball tournament. I didn't know that they EVER existed. Ralph: "It's the money that I won in the Skee-Ball tournaments that practically furnished this whole apartment. It's the prizes that I won in the pie-eating contest that got you that dress. What do I have to show for it?" (yells): "DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT!"
Then Alice lays down the law: Ralph will be allowed out alone one night a week; any other night he goes out he has to take her with him. Alice: "From now on, you are going to act like Mr. Fallon." Ralph: "So that's the bum that's behind all this." Since this is the first scene that you will see on TV, the viewer will say: "Who's Mr. Fallon?" Ralph objects but it falls on death ears.
Ralph talks to Ed the next day. After four nights out with Alice, Ralph is invoking the Constitution and his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Ed: "But the marriage license is an amendment to the Constitution." Ed has an idea: They will walk faster than the girls and eventually the girls will lose them." Ralph thinks that that idea is stupid. Alice and Trixie have said they want to spend time with their husbands but not spoil their fun, so Ralph figures the way for him and Norton to win back their freedom is to keep the girls out so late that they ask to go home, thus "spoiling" their husbands' night out and disqualifying themselves from participating in the boys' activities. When I watched this episode with a friend of mine, he said that Ed's idea was better.
Hours later--after pool, rowing boats, visiting Roseland and Coney Island, and bowling--the girls are invigorated and the boys are walking zombies. They stop in a restaurant and Ralph and Norton can't even stay awake. Ralph: "We are going to stay out and enjoy ourselves." Half asleep, Ralph and Ed wind up dancing together (which gets an ovation from the crowd), and then fall asleep standing up. The girls give up trying to keep them awake. Alice: "All right Bellows and Yolanda." They ask to go home. Ralph and Norton drag themselves home, victorious, but not before Ralph has trouble going through the revolving door because of lack of sleep.
Episode #106 (Syndicated episode #47)
TV: Half-hour.
VCR: Attached to "Alice's Aunt Ethel."
DVD: Attached to "Alice's Aunt Ethel," "Glow Worm Cleaning" & "The Hypnotist." On The Best of Lost Episodes Volume 1, it is attached to “Stand-In For Murder” (’55 version), “A Weighty Problem”, “A Little Man Who Wasn’t There” & “Songwriters.” On the Restored Lost Episodes DVD Box Set, it is attached to “Songs & Witty Sayings”, “Boys & Girls Together”, “Letter To The Boss” (‘’55 version), “Stand-In For Murder” (’55 version), “Double Anniversary Party”, “The Check-Up” & “Forgot To Register.”
Air Date: Sat. 4/30/55
The Kramdens' apartment is going to pot--the pipes leak, the walls are cracking, the sink won't work, doorknobs are falling off. Ralph is going mad. Ed Norton comes in and says: "You are now looking at the mystery guest on What's My Line?" Ralph: "This (Ed) is another thing that needs fixing." Ed turns on the faucet and says that there is the trouble: No water. Ralph: "Did you hear that? He said that there is no water..." (yells): "I KNOW THAT THERE IS NO WATER." Ed: "Now you are getting the word from an expert." Ha! Ed, with a stethoscope, listens to the water in the wall and as he is listening to it, some sounds are heard. You can tell that the sounds that Ed is listening to are not real and plus why should we hear them when Ed is the only one that has a stethoscope? Ed: "You got a pretty sick pipe Ralph." Ed lies down with a blanket to fix the pipe. Ralph: "You wouldn't want a pair of pajamas while you are down there, would you?" Ed's work causes the pipe from the wall to burst and Ralph gets a face full of water. Ed says that the problem is solved. All Ralph has to do is put the sink in the middle of the wall. Ralph is now madder than ever. He says he will sue the landlord.
While in the poolroom, Ralph tries to seek out Shaughnessy, the neighborhood lawyer. While waiting Ralph & Ed play pool. Their usual pool game hi-jinks follow. Shaughnessey comes by. Ralph tries to best explain his situation. Only thing is, he doesn't say that he (meaning Ralph) is the one with the problem but his friend is. The reason why Ralph substituted his name is because he learned that if he did, Shaughnessey would ask that he would be paid because Ralph is getting his advice from him for his (meaning Ralph's) situation whereas by substituting the names, the lawyer would not ask for money. Shaughnessey advises him to withhold his rent until the landlord makes repairs. Shaughnessey also automatically knows that Ralph is the one with the problem, so he asks Ralph to give him a check in the morning. Ralph spends the rent money on paint, wallpaper and a new bathtub. Ralph shows the wallpaper that is too gaudy for Norton. Alice even describes it as: "early Halloween." I couldn't really get a picture perfect look at the wallpaper because the show is in black and white. But, the look I got from it, I can determine that it is stupid. Can you imagine what would happen if the group from "Trading Spaces" or "While You Were Out" decided to dress up somebody's home with that wallpaper. Those shows would probably get a bad rapport. Alice: "The only thing that is crazier than that wallpaper is the person who picked it out (meaning Ralph.) Ralph: "This wallpaper is an exclusive design. Nobody else has it and I will give you the word from the store manager: 'If you find this wallpaper in any other house, I will give you your money back.'" Gee, shouldn't that tell Ralph that the wallpaper is stupid? Ralph tells her that a clause in his lease allows him to withhold rent money and use it for repairs. Alice leaves but not before seeing the new tub. Ralph: "At last, I got a bathtub that I could be comfy in." Alice: "What did you order, a round one?" Ha! Ed helps out with the paint. Ralph tries to climb the ladder to paint a spot on the ceiling but because of his weight, he ends up falling down. Ed advised him not to climb up the ladder but of course, Ralph didn't listen.
Ralph papers the apartment. A painter comes in and undoes the damage. He wonders how the person, who did the wallpaper, got the wallpaper on the ice box. Ralph mentions the story but as he is mentioning it, he slips by saying that he managed to get the paper on the box, but corrects himself by saying that he didn't to save face as far as the painter is concerned. Painter: "If you ask me, the guy who did that wallpaper should be run out of town." He leaves. Alice loves the remodeling job. Finally the showdown with the landlord. He comes and he is played by Jack Benny which gets an applause from the crowd. Two Jacks in on the same set? Ralph rips into the landlord by saying that the landlord squeezes a penny so hard that when he's through, both heads and tails appear on the same side. Okay, that does not make sense. Ralph rails at him for being a cheapskate and a tightwad, and tells him that a clause in his lease allows him to withhold rent money and use it for repairs. The landlord tells Ralph that another clause in the lease allows the landlord to cancel the lease entirely, and that Ralph is now an ex-tenant. The landlord says he'll renew the lease if Ralph agrees to pay an additional fifteen dollars per month--a figure that reflects the increased value of the apartment now that Ralph has fixed it up. D'oh! Not something that Ralph wanted to hear.
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 #105 (Syndicated Episode #70)
TV: Half-hour.
VCR: Attached to "Anniversary Gift."
DVD: Attached to "Anniversary Gift", "Pickles" & "This Is Your Life." On the Restored Lost Episodes DVD Box Set, it is attached to “Principal of The Thing”, “Songs & Witty Sayings”, “Letter To The Boss” (‘’55 version), “Stand-In For Murder” (’55 version), “Double Anniversary Party”, “The Check-Up” & “Forgot To Register.”
Color Episode Title: “Follow The Boys.”
Air Date: Sat. 4/23/55
When I recorded this episode in 1997, I really thought it was a two-parter, but I was proved wrong. Also, you want to talk about edits, nearly half this episode is cut when it is shown on TV.
Alice is planning to go out to dinner with Ralph. Ralph has other plans. He and Ed are bowling for The Hurricanes. If they win this "very important" game, the team will tie another team for eighth place. Alice is upset. Another family (the Fallons) move in. Ralph welcomes Mr. Fallon by inviting him to join him and Norton for pool, bowling, and lodge meetings, but Fallon is busy all the nights Ralph and Norton go out together--he spends all those nights with his wife. Later, Trixie tells Alice that she read in a magazine that the reason men spend so much time apart from their wives is because the wives let themselves go and allow their marriages to become dull and predictable. The girls make a pact to bring romance back to Chauncey Street.
This is the first scene that you will see on TV. The next day, Alice is all dressed up and turns of the lights, lights a candle and welcomes Ralph. Ralph: "So you forgot to pay the electric bill, huh?" That is funny. Alice says that with the lights off and a candle lit, it is romantic. Ralph: "Who do you think we are, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds?" Alice tries to do more romantic things for Ralph like hugs and kisses, a bushel of compliments, a roast-beef dinner, and romantic music, but Ralph doesn't change. Alice dances and offers Ralph to dance with her. He doesn't and says to Alice a line that would be repeated in "Mama Loves Mambo": "You want to wiggle? Wiggle over to the stove and get my supper." Soon each is pouring out fourteen years of frustration. Alice is complaining about him playing Skee-Ball tournaments. Gee, a Skee-Ball tournament. I didn't know that they EVER existed. Ralph: "It's the money that I won in the Skee-Ball tournaments that practically furnished this whole apartment. It's the prizes that I won in the pie-eating contest that got you that dress. What do I have to show for it?" (yells): "DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT!"
Then Alice lays down the law: Ralph will be allowed out alone one night a week; any other night he goes out he has to take her with him. Alice: "From now on, you are going to act like Mr. Fallon." Ralph: "So that's the bum that's behind all this." Since this is the first scene that you will see on TV, the viewer will say: "Who's Mr. Fallon?" Ralph objects but it falls on death ears.
Ralph talks to Ed the next day. After four nights out with Alice, Ralph is invoking the Constitution and his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Ed: "But the marriage license is an amendment to the Constitution." Ed has an idea: They will walk faster than the girls and eventually the girls will lose them." Ralph thinks that that idea is stupid. Alice and Trixie have said they want to spend time with their husbands but not spoil their fun, so Ralph figures the way for him and Norton to win back their freedom is to keep the girls out so late that they ask to go home, thus "spoiling" their husbands' night out and disqualifying themselves from participating in the boys' activities. When I watched this episode with a friend of mine, he said that Ed's idea was better.
Hours later--after pool, rowing boats, visiting Roseland and Coney Island, and bowling--the girls are invigorated and the boys are walking zombies. They stop in a restaurant and Ralph and Norton can't even stay awake. Ralph: "We are going to stay out and enjoy ourselves." Half asleep, Ralph and Ed wind up dancing together (which gets an ovation from the crowd), and then fall asleep standing up. The girls give up trying to keep them awake. Alice: "All right Bellows and Yolanda." They ask to go home. Ralph and Norton drag themselves home, victorious, but not before Ralph has trouble going through the revolving door because of lack of sleep.
Episode #106 (Syndicated episode #47)
TV: Half-hour.
VCR: Attached to "Alice's Aunt Ethel."
DVD: Attached to "Alice's Aunt Ethel," "Glow Worm Cleaning" & "The Hypnotist." On The Best of Lost Episodes Volume 1, it is attached to “Stand-In For Murder” (’55 version), “A Weighty Problem”, “A Little Man Who Wasn’t There” & “Songwriters.” On the Restored Lost Episodes DVD Box Set, it is attached to “Songs & Witty Sayings”, “Boys & Girls Together”, “Letter To The Boss” (‘’55 version), “Stand-In For Murder” (’55 version), “Double Anniversary Party”, “The Check-Up” & “Forgot To Register.”
Air Date: Sat. 4/30/55
The Kramdens' apartment is going to pot--the pipes leak, the walls are cracking, the sink won't work, doorknobs are falling off. Ralph is going mad. Ed Norton comes in and says: "You are now looking at the mystery guest on What's My Line?" Ralph: "This (Ed) is another thing that needs fixing." Ed turns on the faucet and says that there is the trouble: No water. Ralph: "Did you hear that? He said that there is no water..." (yells): "I KNOW THAT THERE IS NO WATER." Ed: "Now you are getting the word from an expert." Ha! Ed, with a stethoscope, listens to the water in the wall and as he is listening to it, some sounds are heard. You can tell that the sounds that Ed is listening to are not real and plus why should we hear them when Ed is the only one that has a stethoscope? Ed: "You got a pretty sick pipe Ralph." Ed lies down with a blanket to fix the pipe. Ralph: "You wouldn't want a pair of pajamas while you are down there, would you?" Ed's work causes the pipe from the wall to burst and Ralph gets a face full of water. Ed says that the problem is solved. All Ralph has to do is put the sink in the middle of the wall. Ralph is now madder than ever. He says he will sue the landlord.
While in the poolroom, Ralph tries to seek out Shaughnessy, the neighborhood lawyer. While waiting Ralph & Ed play pool. Their usual pool game hi-jinks follow. Shaughnessey comes by. Ralph tries to best explain his situation. Only thing is, he doesn't say that he (meaning Ralph) is the one with the problem but his friend is. The reason why Ralph substituted his name is because he learned that if he did, Shaughnessey would ask that he would be paid because Ralph is getting his advice from him for his (meaning Ralph's) situation whereas by substituting the names, the lawyer would not ask for money. Shaughnessey advises him to withhold his rent until the landlord makes repairs. Shaughnessey also automatically knows that Ralph is the one with the problem, so he asks Ralph to give him a check in the morning. Ralph spends the rent money on paint, wallpaper and a new bathtub. Ralph shows the wallpaper that is too gaudy for Norton. Alice even describes it as: "early Halloween." I couldn't really get a picture perfect look at the wallpaper because the show is in black and white. But, the look I got from it, I can determine that it is stupid. Can you imagine what would happen if the group from "Trading Spaces" or "While You Were Out" decided to dress up somebody's home with that wallpaper. Those shows would probably get a bad rapport. Alice: "The only thing that is crazier than that wallpaper is the person who picked it out (meaning Ralph.) Ralph: "This wallpaper is an exclusive design. Nobody else has it and I will give you the word from the store manager: 'If you find this wallpaper in any other house, I will give you your money back.'" Gee, shouldn't that tell Ralph that the wallpaper is stupid? Ralph tells her that a clause in his lease allows him to withhold rent money and use it for repairs. Alice leaves but not before seeing the new tub. Ralph: "At last, I got a bathtub that I could be comfy in." Alice: "What did you order, a round one?" Ha! Ed helps out with the paint. Ralph tries to climb the ladder to paint a spot on the ceiling but because of his weight, he ends up falling down. Ed advised him not to climb up the ladder but of course, Ralph didn't listen.
Ralph papers the apartment. A painter comes in and undoes the damage. He wonders how the person, who did the wallpaper, got the wallpaper on the ice box. Ralph mentions the story but as he is mentioning it, he slips by saying that he managed to get the paper on the box, but corrects himself by saying that he didn't to save face as far as the painter is concerned. Painter: "If you ask me, the guy who did that wallpaper should be run out of town." He leaves. Alice loves the remodeling job. Finally the showdown with the landlord. He comes and he is played by Jack Benny which gets an applause from the crowd. Two Jacks in on the same set? Ralph rips into the landlord by saying that the landlord squeezes a penny so hard that when he's through, both heads and tails appear on the same side. Okay, that does not make sense. Ralph rails at him for being a cheapskate and a tightwad, and tells him that a clause in his lease allows him to withhold rent money and use it for repairs. The landlord tells Ralph that another clause in the lease allows the landlord to cancel the lease entirely, and that Ralph is now an ex-tenant. The landlord says he'll renew the lease if Ralph agrees to pay an additional fifteen dollars per month--a figure that reflects the increased value of the apartment now that Ralph has fixed it up. D'oh! Not something that Ralph wanted to hear.
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.