I DON’T HAVE THIS…but Honeymooners “Episode” Reviews: “Incredible World of Ed Norton”

[Frank Gannucci]

I DON’T HAVE THIS…but Honeymooners “Episode” Reviews: “Incredible World of Ed Norton”:

Episode #221????? (Considering this is a pilot for a Honeymooners spinoff, not everyone considers this a Honeymooners episode.)
TV: Not been seen since its original airdate. (Phil Gries of atvaudio.com says it did. Some people say it didn’t.)
VHS & DVD: Never been released.

Once again, I DON’T HAVE this sketch. I know I posted this before but since I have more information, I am going to cut and paste this description from https://theracoonlodge.tumblr.com/honeymoonersspinoff

“To the best of the principals’ recollections, the two-scene pilot opens on Norton down in the sewer brushing his teeth and singing. Norton banters with coworkers Carey and Leeds, whose character always had a cold beacause he never wore the proper sewer gear. Then Lewis enters as Norton’s irascible Irish boss. One of the writers remembered a scene taking place in a restaurant, although he wasn’t sure why or how this related to the Norton plot.

“According to one insider, the live taping was chaos. Art was dead drunk and obviously hadn’t bothered to learn his lines. To remedy this situation, Ron Carey’s character entered with a clipboard that was, in context of the scene, ostensibly for Norton to peruse. The clipboard really contained a copy of the script, and when Art tried embellishing and doing shtick, he accidentally dropped the clipboard, scattering the pages - and his lines - all over the stage floor. So there was Art, center stage, reading lines from different pages in random order. His co-stars were confused, and the audience, dumbstruck, watched in amazement as Art fell apart onstage.”

Note: Now there are some people who state that the pilot wasn’t bad after all so if that’s the case, I am almost certain that what Art did in the above scene didn’t happen. Who knows? Now, the episode of the Jackie Gleason Show that aired on 1/17/70 In place of the above sketch has a musical number done by Max Bygraves and if you watch it it ends very abruptly to another scene where Jackie does the curtain call where he praises the Miami Beach crowds and then the closing credits where Johnny Olson plugs the “next weeks” episode of the Jackie Gleason Show episode with the Honeymooners sketch “The Match Game” “The Match Game” episode aired on 11/29/69 (though to be fair, it might’ve repaired on 1/24/70) so the Max Bygraves might’ve aired on 11/22/69. The reason? Why? Well, this is what I found out curtesy of what sitcomsonline.com member cloggedmind wrote on the Trading Post section:

"Well, it is all speculation and I, for one, do not believe the "it was so awful Gleason cut it to protect Carney's reputation," and so on. What I do believe is that, having traded, bought and sold a few collector prints of various films, and having owned (and still do!) a few obscure homebrew telecine copies of third and fourth-hand films, it could be:

a) A Mistake. Simply, when cobbling together a full-length program to dupe for armed forces, personal archiving, or overseas sales, mis-matched elements were used. Hell, I got a couple of 16mm Stooges film prints that have The End titles spliced in from the wrong eras, and even some of those Screen Gems logo plastered hack jobs (a widescreen era Columbia Pictures logo, tacked on one!).

b) A rights issue. Quite often, for unspecified reasons (usually involving $$) authors may choose to not allow programs to be shown, sold, traded or otherwise. It happens, and it could have happened when JG's folks were making these film copies.

c) Lost elements. Broken or ruined footage may have been replaced. Or, with so few copies in circulation, someone may have taken a shine to that particular footage, hoping to retire upon its later "discovery" and subsequent sale to the right person. So they put in something else laying around to fill time. This kind of cut and paste leads to the next possibility:

d) Hoarding. This happens too often in the film collectors' circles. One gets hold of rare footage and is scared to let anyone near it for fear of devaluing the material. Best examples I know of are things like the Three Stooges Cartoon/live action combo films "Stooges Scrapbook" and "The Spain Mutiny". People have them but will not share, sell or allow viewing. 2 people have also claimed in the last 12 years to have superior 16mm copies of the Stooges' swansong "Kook's Tour" but allegedly could not agree on a ransom price.

I would guess it is a combination of A and D, with someone subbing in some footage and selling the print as is. I'd bet somewhere long ago, someone knew they had something rare and cannibalized the footage. The kinescope ends with Johnny Olsen reminding you to tune in to the Honeymooners next week, and it has the Bressler/Duddy song credit which hints at it maybe coming from another Honeymooners episode, which would be incorrect, as well, and flown in from separate elements

AND, the print just runs out as broken film. Poof. Proving (?) that the elements were kinda iffy anyway.

Frustrating, but there you have it."

In contrast, I will post what is supposedly the original version of “The Incredible World of Ed Norton”, “The Private Life of A Sewer Worker (aka “Man Under The Street”):

This interview is actually a very sought after piece of footage. One belief that I had was that I thought this was a rarely seen “Honeymooners sketch” that didn’t involve Jackie because of his broken leg as well as during the sketch Ed sang “Song of The Sewer.” I also thought that this sketch was “remade” in 1970 as “Incredible World of Ed Norton” with various changes (like the previous title was “The Private Life of A Sewer Worker.”) I also thought that this was filmed in the spring of ’55. After Jackie broke his leg, various people substituted for him. This was filmed on Feb. 6, 1954.

Ed Sullivan is on the street at the manhole in which Ed works. Ed Norton rises up. Ed Sullivan: “I’m from CBS. I need to ask you a few questions. What is your name?” Ed Norton reveals that he had an uncle that worked on as a painter on a skyscraper for a long time and nothing happened to him while he worked 20 to 30 feet in the air. He slipped on a cake of soap while he was working up all the way in the air. Ed Sullivan: “That is the way it goes. It’s light boy.” Ed: “No, it was Ivory.” Ed Sullivan gives Ed Norton a look which causes Ed to say: “What a grouch.”

Ed Sullivan wants to know what happened to his uncle. Ed Norton says that he fell 17 feet but he didn’t get hurt because he landed on two old ladies. Ed Sullivan asks Ed Norton how long he has been working in the sewer. Ed Norton says 10 years (despite the fact that he said 17 years in “Teamwork Beats The Clock.”). Ed Norton revealed that despite being lucky, he got the job because his old man worked in the sewer. Ed Sullivan then asks did he have any trouble getting this job. Ed Norton: “They made 50 applicants take an intelligence test and the guy with the five lowest scores got the job.” Ha! Question: In the lost episode and radio versions of “Letter To The Boss”, didn’t Ed Norton say that in order for Ralph to work in the sewer that he would have to pass the floating test?

Bruce from the yells to Ed that he needs help fixing the busted water main. Ed Sullivan says that the public has never appreciated the heroism of the people who work under the New York streets. Ed doesn’t know about that because they made a picture about them called: “Hell & High Water.” Ed Sullivan gives him a look which causes Ed Norton to say: “This guy is worse than Ed Sullivan.” Ed Sullivan shoves him.

Ed Norton says that his job can be real dangerous especially when it pours and it starts gushing. When that happens, all the workers hook a rope around each other. One guy’s rope snapped and he got washed into Newark. It wasn’t a tragedy because he lives in Newark. He also says that it does get boring but they have a radio. Ed Norton’s favorite band is Chepfielder’s Rippling Rhythm. Ed Sullivan: “I am happy to find out a man who is happy to be working in the sewer.” Ed Norton: “What am I supposed to do, open my own sewer?” Ed Sullivan is laughing during this. Bruce says that the water is causing a problem. Ed Norton sees this and puts his hat on his chest. Ed Norton: “That is what I get for working with a man who is 4’11.” Ed Sullivan says that he is sorry that he lost his friend but thanks him for the interview. Ed calls Ed Sullivan a sweet kid. Shouldn’t they be more concerned about Bruce? That is the end of that sketch. The “remade” version was probably longer. As far as the earlier sketch, I think somebody on the old board said that during this interview, Ed Sullivan gets told by Ed Norton that they pay for things on time and when the creditors come, Trixie scares them by playing the piano badly. This piece of information is not on the DVD.

Credit I think goes to catchycomedy.com, zap2it.com, the Honeymooners Lost Episodes DVD Box Set, tvguide.com, the old honeymooners.net, tvland.com & John K's Book To The Moon.