The famous picture...

[Bill S.]

Has anyone ever figured out if the famous picture attached to this post is from any specific episode? It does seem a little staged, so it could very well have been a promotional shot, but it would be interesting to know the origin of it either way.

[DizzyDean]

It does look very staged, so I'm pretty sure it is, especially since we all have seen about every sketch & episode released and unreleased. I'm wondering if the picture might be a collage of photos of each character put together to fit one scene? It's one of the most famous photos, outside of the bus pics. It also appears in the begining of the 1978 movie "Grease."

[ChrisTV]

This scene must be a promo shot. I have scanned thru every Classic 39 episode and this scene does not appear, as well as this table cloth. The table cloth in every Classic 39 has squares 1/2 the size & is cloth, this 1 here looks nylon/plastic. However, Alice's apron appears to be the same here & in every episode.

[The Great One]

It does look like a promo shot.

[W.B.]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

Has anyone ever figured out if the famous picture attached to this post is from any specific episode? It does seem a little staged, so it could very well have been a promotional shot, but it would be interesting to know the origin of it either way.

It appears to have been taken in late 1954 (probably some time in November), and was part of the group of photos taken for a Life magazine article about Gleason that was published in its Feb. 21, 1955 issue. And it was indeed staged - if based on nothing else but Gleason's shirt and tie, which he never would've worn with the bus driver's uniform in any episode. (And that tie, in any case, would've been replaced by the next year with the striped one he wore in such episodes as "The $99,000 Answer.")

The variation of the Kramden kitchen itself is a key to dating this picture, given its predominant use in the 1954-55 season.

[The Great One]

Originally Posted by W.B.

It appears to have been taken in late 1954 (probably some time in November), and was part of the group of photos taken for a Life magazine article about Gleason that was published in its Feb. 21, 1955 issue. And it was indeed staged - if based on nothing else but Gleason's shirt and tie, which he never would've worn with the bus driver's uniform in any episode. (And that tie, in any case, would've been replaced by the next year with the striped one he wore in such episodes as "The $99,000 Answer.")

The variation of the Kramden kitchen itself is a key to dating this picture, given its predominant use in the 1954-55 season.

I think the article that you're referring to appears in the January 24, 1955 issue.

Life Magazine January 24, 1955 : Cover - Tahitian Girl Bathing. Full page color Aunt Jemima Buckwheat pancakes ad featuring woodstove illustration by Robert Addison. Jackie Gleason profile by Leonard McCombe. Practical plan for a space satellite - illustrations by Rolf Klep. Costa Rican revolt, or is it an invasion? Richard Burton stars in Prince of Players movie. Voyages to Paradise - photos of the south seas by Eliot Elisofon. Two page color Hilton Hotel ad featuring the Waldorf-Astoria. Skiers adopt the light look - trim fashion silhouette from Europe. New Agatha Cristie thriller - Witness for the Prosecution. Gardner Dickinson challenges Ben Hogan for golf championship. The Braveness to be herself - Greta Garbo photos and profile by John Bainbridge. Full page color Jell-o ad featuring multicolored zebra. Debut of Diane Carroll Jones. Full page two color Kleenex ad featuring Little Lulu in the snow. Back page color Post Toasties ad with cute girl and empty box.

Life Magazine February 21, 1955 : Color Cover - Margaret in Trinidad. Full page color Argus camera ad with the C-4, A-4 and projector. Hilarious comics of manlike machines by Boris Artzybasheff. Margaret of England visits the British West Indies photos by Leonard McCombe. Georgi Malenkov and Nikita Khrushchev vie for leadership of Soviet Union. Two page color Sun-Main Raisins ad featuring circus clowns and animals. New young basketball stars - Pete Corbett, Pearl Pollard, Charles Buxton, Wilt Chamberlain, Travis Slaton, Bill Hathaway. Rare surgery saves Michael Stansberry. Full page color Kellogg's Frosted Flake ad featuring Groucho Marx. New musical Plain and Fancy with Katie Yoder and Peter Reber. Full page two color Kleenex ad featuring Little Lulu on the phone. Crazy gadgets from Russell E. Oakes. New movie - the Long Gray Line about West Point, starring Tyrone Power and Harry Carey Jr. Five houses constructed for LIFE - photo gallery across the country. GI and Japanese marriage between Frank Pfeiffer and Sachiko Pfeiffer by James Michener. Back cover Chesterfield cigarettes ad.

[W.B.]

See, that's what happens when one Googles and ends up with something jumbled. Funny thing is, I actually have that '55 Life issue. Except it's stored away someplace, along with other Gleason- and Honeymooners-related material. But Mr. McCombe was actually the photographer on that piece (the wording was actually "Photographed for LIFE by Leonard McCombe"). So we now have info on who took that iconic shot of Mr. Gleason, Mr. Carney, Miss Meadows and Miss Randolph. This article is now online here.