Laurel & Hardy + wives & a studio audience = The Honeymooners?

[Bill S.]

It's no secret that Jackie & Art were inspired by Laurel & Hardy. They imitated them and reused old bits of theirs on numerous occasions...most notably in "Songs & Witty Sayings." Even some of the mannerisms and facial expressions they used on the show regularly were very reminiscent of Stan & Ollie...Ralph fidgeting with his tie whenever he was nervous and Norton's "sad face," like in "Oh My Aching Back," for example, when he was waiting for Ralph to come to his senses and go bowling with him. I remember reading somewhere (possibly in Audrey's book) that Jackie & Art would often imitate Laurel & Hardy in their spare time backstage, in between rehearsals and whatnot. Now, I don't think Jackie really had Laurel & Hardy on his mind when he first came up with the concept for The Honeymooners, since the character of Norton didn't exist in the first episode, but I'd say that they definitely served as a blueprint for the relationship between Ralph & Norton. What do you think? I think if you took Laurel & Hardy, gave them wives and threw them in an apartment building in Brooklyn, you'd have a show VERY similar to The Honeymooners.

[Mikado]

Seems plausible to me.....I do know that the relationship between Cliff and Norm on Cheers was also partly paterned on L&H.
On a similar note, Don Adams' acting style ( especially his manerisms) is extremely similar to that of silent film star Harold Lloyd, although, Don Adams never admitted to it, as far as I know.....Watch any ep of Get Smart then watch the first ten mins of Lloyds "Milky Way" ( One of his 2 sound films ) and youll think youre seeing the same actor!

[Mikado]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

Oh, and going back to Jackie for a minute...I always thought that one of the reasons he never decided to take legal action against the creators of The Flintstones was because it dawned on him that the characters Fred & Barney were based on were actually based on Laurel & Hardy (not to mention the numerous ideas The Honeymooners & I Love Lucy borrowed from each other over the years).

Not according to the Flinstones FAQ: http://www.topthat.net/webrock/faq.htm

Henry Corden, a friend of Jackie Gleason and voice of Fred Flintstone ( until his death in 2005 ), recalled:
Jackie's lawyers told him he could probably have "The Flintstones" pulled right off the air. But they also told him, "Do you want to be known as the guy who yanked Fred Flintstone off the air? The guy who took away a show that so many kids love, and so many of their parents love, too?" And apparently Jackie thought it over and decided against it.

Henry Corden actually overdubbed Jackie's "swear words" on the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" for viewing on TV

[Mikado]

BTW, I didn't know about Henry Corden overdubbing Jackie's words in "Smokey & The Bandit," or that he and Jackie were friends...thanks for the info.

Yup, he did quite a bit of dubbing for Jackie over the years, also, while Corden was the man who took over as Fred Flintstone after Alan Reed's death, he actually worked on the original Flintstones, as Fred's singing voice ( Alan Reed couldnt sing, so Henry Corden did Fred's singing voice 15 years before taking over the character )...When Fred becomes a Rockstar Singing: "In Bedrock, yeah yeah yeah ", the voice youre hearing is Corden, not Reed.

[Mikado]

Oh yeah, and speaking of the whole Flintstones/Honeymooners thing, that reminds me of a line from that Honeymooners movie that came out a few years ago that really annoyed me...Gabrielle Union (who plays Alice in the movie), says to Cedric the Entertainer (Ralph), after he mentions something about the lodge, something to the extent of, "What are you Fred Flintstone?"

He should have answered, no, Fred Flintstone is ME! ( Now THAT would have been a funny line! )

[Mikado]

Also, do you know what Flintstones episode that was where Fred becomes a rock star? I'd like to check it out, but I haven't seen The Flintstones on TV in years.

According to the internet there were 2 eps where Fred became a rockstar:Girl's Night Out" and "The Twitch.".... THE GIRLS' NIGHT OUT
Fred cuts a record at an amusement park and becomes teen singing idol Hi-Fye.
THE TWITCH
Fred tries to get a Rock Roll star to perform at Wilma's ladies club benefit...In this spoof of the 1960s dance craze "The Twist", pop singer Rock Roll comes to town to perform his newest hit tune, "The Bedrock Twitch." Thanks to a chance meeting, Fred brags about being to be close pals with Rock Roll. The trouble begins when Fred promises to talk the singer into performing at Wilma's Ladies Auxiliary Benefit Show--and we bet you can't guess who ends up going on in Rock Roll's place! ( Fred, duh!) < this is the ep i was thinking of last night

in both cases, Henry Corden does Fred's singing.....im not sure if he's credited or not. As far as I know, whenever Jackie had no time to overdub himself, Henry Corden would do it for him. (S&TB being the best-known example)

[Mikado]

Haha, yeah...that would've been good. Too bad Cedric probably wouldn't have understood it himself, considering he hadn't even seen an episode of The Honeymooners until he signed on to play Ralph in the movie.

From what i've heard, they never should have made that movie in the first place