Honeymooners Episode Reviews: "Hot Tip" & "The New Bowling Ball" (Color versions):

[Frank Gannucci]

Honeymooners Episode Reviews: "Hot Tip" & "The New Bowling Ball" (Color versions):

Episode #204
DVD: Attached to "The New Bowling Ball" (and other variety show sketches.) In 2022, this was released by MPI onto DVD. It’s on Jackie Gleason’s Timeless Treasures and it is attached to “The Big Sell”, “Two Below (aka “Retreat To The Basement”), “TV Game of The Week”, “The Adoption” (‘66 version), Opening/June Taylor Dancers/Monologue from the 11/23/68 episode of the Jackie Gleason Show, “Alice’s Birthday” (Color version), “Lawsuit” (Color version), “The New Bowling Ball” (Color version), “Norton Moves In” (Color version), “The New Manager”, Jackie saying Goodnight from the 4/19/69 episode of the Jackie Gleason show episode, Ed Norton presents award to Jackie Gleason (2/25/67), a clip of the Great Gleason Express from the 9/20/65 episode of the Steve Lawrence Show & the 2006 documentary Jackie Gleason: Genius At Work.
Color Episode Title: "Hot Tip."
Lost Episode Title: "Hot Tips."
Air Date: Sat. 2/8/69

"Hot Tip":

Alice says he won't give Ralph the money. Mrs. Manicotti (played by a different woman) yells for Alice. She wants to talk to her. Alice says she is going down to Mrs. Maniicotti's. Ralph comes out. Ed comes down without knocking. Ralph: "Don't you ever knock?" Ed: "Of course not. If I did, you would think that it is the insurance man and when I do knock you will say:..." (in a falsetto voice): "'Don't come in. I am taking a bath in the sink.'" Ralph asks for money because he has a hot tip at the racetrack. Ed says he doesn't have any money. Ed asks where he got the tip. Ralph says that he got the hot tip when he went down to Pierre's Barber Shop. In the daytime, he got a call from Florida. (Gee, I wonder why he came up with Florida.) He didn't get the call after 9pm when the rates are cheap. The audience laughs. My, how times have changed as far as calling people go. He is the third horse in the seventh race. He suggests to Ed to bet on him too. Ed says no after the dream he had last night. He was in the sewer being chased by SIX allegators. All the manhole covers were locked except for the SIXTH one. He got out of that one. Than he was hit by a SIXTH Avenue bus that knocked him into the SIXTH Avenue deli. He was saved when he landed into a soup with SIX Motza balls. Ed: "Now, you know what number I am going to play." Ralph: "No. 6?" Ed: "No, number 9 because I was sleeping at the bottom of the bed so I thought all those sixes I was looking at were nines. We all know that an upside-down 6 is a 9."

Ralph & Ed go looking for the money that Alice has stashed away. One place that Ed wants to look at is in the drawer that Ralph claims has been sealed shut ever since they bought it. It must be a new dresser because the drawers where known to open from "A Woman's Work Is Never Done." The landlord comes in and asks Ralph to make a bet for Domar Ding Ding. Ralph complies. The landlord leaves. They resume searching for the money. Ralph says that Alice planned this whole thing and she is down at Manicotti's laughing at him. Ralph opens up the window and yells at Alice saying that he was going to let her in on the bet but now since she didn't lend him the money, she will get nothing. Ed has opened the drawer and found $30. Ralph is happy. Ralph yells to Alice: "It's taken me 17 years Alice but I have broken your code." I know that the Honeymooners were made 17 years prior but in the '53 version of "Honeymooners Christmas Party", Ralph says that him and Alice were married for 13 years.

The butcher comes by and asks Ralph to put $10 on Domar Ding Ding. Ralph complies. Mrs. Grogan comes in and asks a $5 bet for Domar Ding Ding. Ralph complies. Ed leaves. Mrs. Grogan leaves. The crowd cheers for some reason.

Ed comes up and says that Riley, the policeman coming up to the apartment (thinking that someone is being a bookie). Ralph and Ed panic so Ralph says to put it under the ice box, but Ed says that that won't work. The policeman knocks on the door. Norton tells Ralph to eat the list that he wrote the bets on. The cop asks for a $2 bet for the Daily Double numbers 3 & 8. He leaves. Ralph discovers that he didn't eat the list after all. (He supposedly ate the money.) I'm pretty sure Jackie didn't eat the money. All I can say is if Jackie really ate the money, I hope he didn't get sick. Ed says for Ralph to go to the track window and place the money that is in him and put it on Domar Ding Ding. Ed goes down to the landlord, the cop and Mrs. Grogan about the story. Ralph tries to tell her about the money. But, before he does it, Alice tells him that she has been saving money so she can buy a cashmere coat. She saw that one in a shop for $100. Mrs. Manicotti says that her son can get her the same coat for $40. She saved $30 so if she can get two more babysitting jobs this week, she will get $40. Alice has grandiose plans for her day of getting the coat with Ralph on a Saturday.

Ralph says that he loves Alice. He saw the coat but he says we can't pick up the coat on Saturday. Ralph says that he ate it. He rather not discuss it so he will take a $50 night. He tells her what happened. Alice says that Ralph needs to see a $10 doctor. He will make up the money by working overtime at the bus company so he will get the money for Alice so she can get the coat. They hug and kiss.

During the curtain call, Jack praises the crowd.

During the credit roll, Johnny Olsen advertises who is going to appear on next week's episode. He actually takes a break before announcing more stars on next week's show. That was odd.

Episode #205
DVD: Attached to "Hot Tip" & other variety show sketches. In 2022, this was released by MPI onto DVD. It’s on Jackie Gleason’s Timeless Treasures and it is attached to “The Big Sell”, “Two Below (aka “Retreat To The Basement”), “TV Game of The Week”, “The Adoption” (‘66 version), Opening/June Taylor Dancers/Monologue from the 11/23/68 episode of the Jackie Gleason Show, “Alice’s Birthday” (Color version), “Lawsuit” (Color version), “The New Bowling Ball” (Color version), “Norton Moves In” (Color version), “The New Manager”, Jackie saying Goodnight from the 4/19/69 episode of the Jackie Gleason show episode, Ed Norton presents award to Jackie Gleason (2/25/67), a clip of the Great Gleason Express from the 9/20/65 episode of the Steve Lawrence Show & the 2006 documentary Jackie Gleason: Genius At Work.
Color & Lost Episode Title: “The New Bowling Ball”:
Air Date: Sat. 3/22/69

"The New Bowling Ball":

Thanks to Time Life, I am FINALLY able to see these short color sketches.

While I do have the audio from atvaudio.com, I can tell that the opening theme music of the show sounds a little different.

The episode opens up with Alice coming home. Ralph comes in shortly therafter. Ralph is in no hurry to eat. Alice gave Ralph the rent money this morning. Ralph didn't give the landlord the money because he didn't see him. Ralph proposes a vacation to Miami Beach (you were expecting a different place?) Ralph shows Alice his bowling ball and says that it will take them to Miami Beach because him and Ed are entering a bowling tournament. Ralph spent the money on the bowling ball but with a few dollars left over, Alice can spend the money on a pail and shovel that she can use in the sand. Shelia was 48 at the time of the filming of this episode. If Alice was the same age, wouldn't she look weird playing with those things unless she was babysitting or had a kid or kids? Alice knows that Ralph thinks that Miami Beach is the fun and sun capital of the world. (Gee, I wonder where they got that line?) but according to her, if they didn't pay the rent, they will be thrown out onto the streets in Brooklyn which according to her is "the snow and sleet capital of the world." What about the North & South Poles?

Ed comes down and says that Trixie wants Alice to come by and look at her new drapes. Alice leaves. Ralph says that you can't please women. Ralph goes to get his jacket. Ed says that he will take some of his clothing off because he doesn't want to get overheated. Ed: "The doctor says I have a very basic metabolism." As Ed is taking things off, he cleans up. Ed (in a strange voice): "I hate a messy living room." Maybe he was imitating an actor. Ralph comes out all confident. He says that there are a lot of famous people in Miami Beach like Nixon and Agnew. Ed: "What bowling tournament did they win?" Ralph: "That is the president." Richard Nixon and the then- Vice President of the USA went to Miami Beach? Ralph shows off his new bowling ball to Ed. Ed thinks that the bowling ball is a beaut.

Ed has an idea. He has a motion picture camera and he will show footage of them warming up. When Ed starts to film Ralph, he says: "Quiet on the set." Ralph gets his ball stuck. Ed: "Have no fear. Norton is here." Ralph: "I got fitted for this two weeks ago." Ed: "That was also 40 pizzas ago." I think Ed tried to pull the bowling ball off of Ralph by putting his foot on Ralph's suit and pulling but Ralph says his suit is getting dirty. Ed: "Wear a glove. No one will notice." Ed has another idea. Ralph will turn his thumb to the left while Ed will screw the ball to the right. Care to guess what the outcome is? If you guessed "didn't work", step up and claim your prize. Ed has another idea but Ralph says he will listen but he won't do it. Ed: "It's a scientific fact that cold expands and heat contracts." So he will douse the ball with cold water. Ralph eventually obliges. Ed & Ralph are so stupid for them to think that cold expands and heat contracts. Ed puts the ball in a bucket of little cold water and I think nothing visually is happening but Ed says: "I wouldn't be surprised if it was working right now." Then they don't think that the water is cold enough. They put the bucket out of on the fire escape.

Alice comes home and knows that Ralph's hand is stuck and they are using cold water to get the finger out. Ed: "It's a scientific fact that cold expands and heat contracts." Alice: "It's the other way around." Ralph is upset. Ralph turns the bucket upside down and surprisingly the water doesn't fall out revealing the fact there wasn't any water in it in real life. Ed says that they put hot water on it. He does but I think that the water is so hot that steam comes out. Ralph coughs. Somehow, he is not screaming in pain. The finger is out. Ralph is happy. Ed or Ralph knock the ball off the table and it breaks. That was one weakly made bowling ball. Ralph is upset. Ralph (yells): "MY GORGEOUS BOWLING BALL." Ed: "You lost the bowling ball but you gained a puzzle. Ed says that he is going down to the alleys and getting himself a new partner. Ed: "I advise you to take better care of your equipment." Ralph is even more upset.

During the curtain call, Jackie praises the Miami Beach audience. Since Tiny Tim was on hand during the other part of the variety show he says that he will be introduced by the Beatles to the Queen of England. He then says "Goodnight."

Just before the curtain call, Johnny plugs next weeks show and apparently they also showed clips from next weeks show. I heard that when people went to TV tapings for Jackie's show. They tape things that not only would be played the following day (Saturday) but also for future episodes since they figured they better get the stars filmed while they were down there in Miami Beach.

Credit I think goes to (the original) Bill's 'Mooners Archives, eBay.com, the now defunct tv.com, Honeymooners Lost Episodes Book, tvguide.com, honeymooners.net, Honeymooners Lost Episodes DVD booklet, Wikipedia.org, the now defunct Yahoo Groups You're A Riot! & Amazon.com.

[Frank Gannucci]

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[Frank Gannucci]

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