Episode Reviews: “Norton Moves In” & “New Manager”:

[Frank Gannucci]

Episode Reviews: “Norton Moves In” & “New Manager”:

Episode #202
DVD: Due to licensing issues, this episode may never be released.
Color & Lost Episode Title: "Norton Moves In":

I haven't seen the 60s version but I am assuming it's the same as its Lost Episode counterpart except for the end.

If you haven't seen this episode yet, it does look funny on paper, doesn't it?

Trixie comes down to the Kramden apartment at 3am. Trixie reveals that their apartment was painted today, though it was technically yesterday since it is 3am. The paint smells awful. So she wonders is her and Ed could come own and stay for the night. Alice obliges. Ed Norton comes down and says thanks. He and Trixie go to get the cot.

Alice wakes up Ralph. Ralph thinks it's time to go to work, but Alice tells him its 3am. Ralph: "Why did you get me up at this time for?" Alice: "The Nortons had their apartment painted today." Ralph: "Did the news flash come across the radio?" Alice explains the paint smells awful in their house. Ralph: "Boy, that's a hot one. Norton works in the sewer all day and he can't stand the smell of paint." Hey everyone has a smell that they can and can't stand. Ralph has to sleep in the kitchen with Ed. Ralph and Alice said the exact things to each other in this argument in other episodes like "King of The Castle” & “Battle of The Sexes.”

Ed Norton comes down with the folding cot. Ed: "I hope I didn't disturb your sleep." Ralph: "No, you didn't disturb my sleep. I get up every morning at 3am to make sure I get a seat on the subway going to work." The same sentences that Ralph and Ed just spoke were said in other episodes like "King of The Castle" & “Battle of The Sexes.”

Alice & Trixie go into the bedroom. Ed: "Hey Alice, if Trixie puts her cold feet on your back, va va va voom." Ed sets up the cot that he claims that he put up and took down 100 times. As he is setting it up, you can see two of the front legs are not standing up straight. Gee, I wonder what will happen when both men lie down on the cot. Ralph lies down and because of the two front legs are not straight, the cot collapses. Ralph: "I thought you put this up and took it down 100 times." Ed: "I do and the same thing always happens." Ed lies down without taking his hat off. Gee, I didn't know that sleeping at night with a hat like that was normal.

Ed gets Ralph up to get a cigarette and then a match. Ralph is trying his best to not get angry. When Ed drops the match and Ralph feels it, Ralph yells: "YEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Ralph gets up and does everything to make the pain go away. Ralph ends up throwing paint all over his own place to drive Norton out. Alice & Trixie come out.

Ralph says the smell of paint never bothered him so it shouldn't bother the Nortons. Ralph says to Ed: "Take your Erector set (the cot) and get out of here." Alice says to Ralph that he will wake up the neighbors because of his yelling. Ralph: "I hope they have to have their apartments painted too. We will grab a brush and have a ball." Gee, Ralph is sure being nice. Alice says that the Nortons are going upstairs over her dead body. Ralph: "Don't tempt me." Ralph insults Ed. So Trixie says: "Ed, are you going to stand there and let this meat head talk to you like that." Ed: "Of course not. Ralph, I am mad at you." Ed says that without an angry tone in his voice which makes it funny.

The Nortons leave angry at Ralph. Ralph says that Ed was never a friend to him. Ralph says Ed always imposed on him, but when he realizes that Ralph has always imposed on Ed, Ralph feels remorseful. Ralph tries to go upstairs to get Ed and apologize. Ed comes in and says: "I forgive you pal." Ralph says that they can spend the night here after all. Ralph and Alice kiss and embrace.

Episode #203
DVD: Due to licensing issues, this episode may never be released.
Color Episode Title: “The New Manager.”
Lost Episode Title: “Manager of The Baseball Team”

Before I start this review, let me say this. MPI has received a lot of complaints about accidentally attaching the 1953 version to "Hero" (where on the box, it advertises the 1957 version). They also have gotten a lot of complaints when they accidentally attached the 1953 episode to the DVD release that has "Teamwork Beats The Clock", "Quiz Show" & "The Wit & Wisdom of Ed Norton" (where once again on the box, it advertises the 1957 version.) MPI probably did it by mistake since the both versions of this episode are very much alike. In 2002, I managed to get the MPI cassette Vol. 28 that has the 1957 version of this episode (even though some versions of Vol. 28 have the '53 version on it.) There are very few differences between the '57 version and the '53 version.

I haven’t seen the 60s version, but I am assuming as far as the script goes, it’s the same as the lost episode versions.

The episode opens up with Alice worrying about where Ralph is. Ed and Trixie come down. Alice says that she is worried about Ralph. He was supposed to come home a while ago. So, Trixie asks Ed to go outside and come back when he comes home. Ed says no because what's going to happen if he is in the hospital, he would have stayed out for nothing. Ed also says that because Ralph is married, he probably ran away. Ha! That's a very nice thing to say. Ed brings up a story about what happened to a person he knew. That person ran away and when the cops asked him questions, he didn't know anything. He was 3 years old. Ha!

Ralph comes home and has champagne for everyone. In fact, in the 1953 version of this episode, Ralph tires to open the bottle, but has a hard time doing so. That wasn't supposed to happen, so to cover it up, he says: "We will be drinking champagne if I can ever get this bottle open." He does. Ralph says that he is now the new manager of the Gotham Bus Depot. He always knew that he had the right qualifications. Yeah, sure he did. When Alice asks Ralph, how he found out, Ralph says he heard it while walking by the president of the bus company's office. He later hears that a telegram will come tonight to confirm the whole thing. Ralph mentions that with him becoming the manager, he might even become the president. When he does become president, he's going to make some changes like having pretty stewardess on each bus and to make sure that those people who happened to miss the bus by one minute; he's going to make sure every bus starts a minute late. Question: Wouldn't that rule make some people a little angry that they might be one minute late to go to whatever they are going to? Just a thought. Ralph says that the salary he gets for being a manager is big. He says that with the money, he and Alice are going to go on a second honeymoon with Ed and Trixie and that Alice is going to get that bunion removed off her foot.

After Ralph leaves, the telegram arrives saying that Ralph has become the manager all right. The manager of the Gotham City Baseball Team. Alice, Ed, and Trixie are all upset thinking that Ralph was becoming manager of the company and that all the plans that Ralph had for becoming president were not going to come to fruition for a while.

Ralph comes home and mentions about the respect Alice will get when she goes down to the store Ralph was just at. Ralph also says that now that he's in the money, should he and Alice move out of this joint. He later says no. That place has been awful lucky to them. Yeah, sure it has. Alice presents Ralph with the telegram and when Ralph reads it he' disappointed and apologizes to Alice. Alice says that Ralph is the most important thing in her life. They hug and kiss.

When I rented the video entitled: "Cupid/Manager of The Baseball Team (1953version)" in 1996, I originally thought I was going to get a thirty-minute episode of Ralph being the baseball manager. (Imagine how funny that would be.) You can imagine my disappointment when I found out that the episode was less than fifteen minutes long.