Honeymooners Episode Reviews: “Better Living Through TV” & “Pal O’Mine”:

[Frank Gannucci]

Honeymooners Episode Reviews: “Better Living Through TV” & “Pal O’Mine”:

Episode #116 (Syndicated Episode # 7)
TV: Half-hour.
VCR: Attached to "Ralph's Big Mouth" (aka "Mind Your Own Business".) On some tapes, it’s attached to “Pal O’ Mine” & “Brother Ralph.” On some tapes, it’s attached to “TV or Not TV”, “The Golfer”, “Young At Heart” & “Oh My Aching Back.”
Laserdisc: Attached to “TV or Not TV”, “Funny Money”, “The Golfer”, “Pal O’ Mine”, “Brother Ralph”, “Hello Mom”, “A Woman’s Work Is Never Done”, “The Deciding Vote”, “The Worry Wart”, “The Sleepwalker”, “Something Fishy”, “’Twas The Night Before Xmas” & “Man From Space.”
DVD: Attached to the other eight episodes of the Classic 39. The HD Blu-Ray set I believe has the exact same episodes and may include some bonus material. On the Fan Favorites DVD, it is attached to “TV or Not TV”, “Funny Money”, “The Golfer”, “The Sleepwalker”, “Man From Space”, “$99,000 Answer” & “Young At Heart.” On the Honeymooners Christmas Laughter DVD, it is attached to "'Twas The Night Before Christmas", "TV or Not TV", "The Golfer", "The Man From Space" & "The $99,000 Answer."
Air Date: Sat. 11/12/55

To see the script for "Better Living Through TV", click here: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co...episode=s04e07

Ed is reluctantly helping Trixie measure one of her dresses. Ed is upset about doing this. Trixie leaves. Ralph comes in and by looking at Ed with the dress on, he assumes it is Trixie but finds out that it was Ed. Ed takes off the dress much to Trixie's chagrin. Trixie goes down to see if Alice will help her out with the dress. Trixie: "Someday Ed, you are going to ask me to do something for you." Ed: "I am asking you right now to leave the premises." She leaves. Ralph talks to Ed about his latest money-making scheme. He shows Ed a gadget that scales fish, sharpens scissors, takes corns off your feet etc. Ralph: "What is the first thing that a person does if they want to sell something?" Ed: "They look your name (Ralph's) up in the phone book and try to sell it to you." Ralph disagrees and says that they go on TV. He knows a person that owns 2,000 of those gadgets and he can get 2,000 of those for 10 cents each and they can go on TV and sell each of them for a buck. Ralph: "We can't lose." Ed disagrees and tells Ralph of the parking space that they bought near that old movie house. Ed: "You said: 'People, who go to the movies, got to have a place to park their car.'" Ralph: "How did I know that they were going to build a drive-in theater?" Anyway, Ralph convinces Ed that selling the gadgets on TV would be a great idea. Ralph: "I'll get the money from Alice." Ed: "I think that this whole idea is going to be delayed a little. I think my TV debut will be on: 'Life begins at 80.'" Ralph says that he will get the money from Alice, who he says will act like a peasant around her. He is just like Richard the Lionhearted He rules with an iron hand Alice comes up. Ed tells Alice what Ralph is like in the Kramden household and that he has something to say to her Alice: "Go ahead Ralph. Rule with an iron hand. Tell me what you have to say." Ralph: "You think that I won't tell you. Is that what you think?" Alice: "That's right, O' Richard the Chicken-hearted." Ralph leaves.

In the middle of the night, Ralph and Alice are arguing over Ralph's idea. Ralph: "I don't care if I wake up the whole world. Don't you understand? Norton and I sell 3000 of these gadgets for a buck on TV and we get $2,000." I think Jackie messed up and said 3,000 when he should have said 2,000. Ralph: "$2,000 is big. This is probably the biggest thing that I ever got into." Alice: "That would be your pants." Ha! I'm pretty sure that $2,000 was a lot of money when this episode was made. Ralph gives up. He thinks that Alice doesn't want to be rich. Alice: "Every week since we have been married, I hear one of these hair-brained schemes of yours." Ralph: "How about when I proposed to you?" Ralph regrets that last comment. He said he wants to give Alice a lot of things with the money. Alice says that he doesn't have to because she "got" them already and mentions every one of them and the scheme that helped them "get" it. The schemes that she mentions are: the Uranium field in Asbury Park, no cal-pizza etc. Ralph: "Nobody is 100% Alice." Ralph: "You are. You have been WRONG every time." Ha! Ralph is upset. He is going to walk out that door and he mentions that only reason Alice married him is because she fell in love with his uniform.

At rehearsal, Ralph and Ed are in their respective uniforms. They go through the rehearsal of the Handy Housewife Helper (as Ralph calls it). As Ed rehearses his lines, you can tell that Ed is not reading the commercial script word-for-word (that was planned) while Ralph's lines looked forced (that was planned too.) They go through the rehearsal. In the mid 90's or so, Braun made a commercial about a kitchen appliance and they used digital technology to make it look like that that Ed and Ralph are plugging that appliance and at the end Ralph says: "This is going to be big Norton." Ed: "Yeah Ralph, bigger than your pants." They go through the rehearsal and at the end, a piece flies off the Handy Housewife Helper (that was not planned) so Ralph retrieves it. Then its show time and Ed reminds Ralph of how many people are going to watch the commercial causing Ralph to get frightened. Ralph: "Stop talking Nervous, you are going to get yourself all Norton." It's show time. Ed goes through his part without a hitch while Ralph is at first is too frightened to come in and when he goes on the set, at first he immediately goes backstage and then goes back on the set. Ralph looks VERY nervous and is having all sorts of trouble during the commercial and him and Ralph plug the product so badly that I don't think anybody would want to buy it Ed: "If Trixie says: 'I told you so', I will belt her right in the mouth." At the end, when Ralph is coring the apple, he hit's his finger and yells in pain and knocks the one of the walls down. That was no supposed to happen either. Ed closes the commercial which in turn closes this episode.

Episode #117 (Syndicated Episode #8)
TV: Half-hour.
VCR: Attached to "The Sleepwalker." On some tapes, it’s attached to “Brother Ralph” & “Better Living Through TV.” On some tapes, it’s attached to “On Stage”, “A Matter of Life & Death”, “The Sleepwalker” & “Ralph’s Big Mouth (aka “Mind Your Own Business.”)
Laserdisc: Attached to “TV or Not TV”, “Funny Money”, “The Golfer”, “Better Living Through TV”, “Brother Ralph”, “Hello Mom”, “A Woman’s Work Is Never Done”, “The Deciding Vote”, “The Worry Wart”, “The Sleepwalker”, “Something Fishy”, “’Twas The Night Before Xmas” & “Man From Space.”
DVD: Attached to the other first eight classic 39 episodes of the classic 39. The HD Blu-Ray set has the exact same episodes (with two versions of "The Golfer" in which one has the original ads) as well as two promos.
Air Date: 11/19/55

To see the script of this episode, click here: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co...episode=s04e08

Alice is busy in the kitchen when Trixie comes in. She mentions that the party Ed is giving on such short notice to Jim McKeever because he was just made foreman. Trixie: "Ed has said for them to come formal. White tie and black boots." Ed comes in "all dressed up" (he's wearing a new white T-shirt). He asks Alice is he can borrow a chair. He also shows the new ring that he is going to give to Jim and asks Alice to gift-wrap it for him. He would have had the store which had the ring gift-wrap it for him but they have a rule saying: "No gift-wrapping for any purchase less than $3." Gee, some gift to give to a guy who's been made foreman. Ed would have gotten him suspenders (because Jim's pants keep falling down) but Trixie said that a ring would be better. They leave. Ralph comes in very tired from working a double-shift and says that he's going into the bedroom and hit the sack for the rest of his life. Ralph: "You couldn't get me out of this chair even if Jane Russel was running a party and couldn't get started until I arrived." He sees the ring that Ed left for Jim and reads the inscription: "To a great pal from Ed Norton." Ralph thinks that the ring is from him and puts it on. Alice tells Ralph that the ring is for Ed's friend Jim McKeever and that he was going to give him the ring at his party tonight (that they weren't invited to) Ralph is ticked. He starts to get the ring off but it's stuck. Alice: "Now you will never get it off." Ralph: "Do you have to put the whammy on it?" Ralph tries running his finger from the water from the sink but manages to hurt his finger due to the hot water. He uses the soap in the bathroom. Ed comes down and gets told the whole story and asks if he can bring the boys down to this apartment right now (since they are handing out the gifts). Alice says: "Yes." Ed: "I should have gotten Jim suspenders." He leaves. Ralph says that the soap didn't work and gets told that Ed will bring a lot of people down to see the ring on Ralph's finger. Much to Ralph's chagrin, Ed brings every man from the party down to the Kramden apartment, holds Ralph's finger that has the ring on it and gives a speech (which reveals that Jim McKeever's nickname is "Old Muck and Mire.") This is too much for Ralph to bear so he kicks everybody from the party out (and embarrasses Ed.)

The next day, Ed says that the party was good and asks if Jim and his wife can come down on Sunday and see the ring. Alice says that that would not be a good idea. Ed mentions that he and Ralph are supposed to bowl tonight. He leaves. Ralph comes home with the ring on his finger. Ralph says that he will bowl with his new good friend Teddy Oberman and not Ed in aisle 3 in the bowling alley (which is the same alley that he and Ed bowl.) Ralph: "Teddy washes cars and uses the water before it gets to Norton." Ralph also mentions some of Ed's bad points like not taking his hat off when he's in another person's home. Alice is going out so she goes into the bedroom. Ed comes down and gets told of Ralph's plans and is upset. Trixie comes down and says that the sewer called and asks if Ed can work a shift tonight. Ed says yes and leaves. Teddy shows up and does not take his hat off. He even asks if he can have some food. Isn't that like Ed Norton? Alice leaves. Ralph and Teddy talk about who they are going to bowl against tonight and that they are not going to bowl with Ed Norton (which Ted calls a "clam.") Ralph says that he and Ed are not friends. His and Ed's wife are friends and he would see Ed every now and then just to be nice. Of course. A person from Ed's sewer comes down and says that Ed was hurt in an accident on the sewer on Hemrod Street and that he is in the hospital. Ralph feels bad so she goes down to the hospital. Jim: "I thought that you said that you and he aren’t pals." Ralph: "What I say about Ed is one thing. How I feel about him is another." Ralph leaves. Jim continues his feast in the Kramden apartment.

At the hospital, Ed is revealed to be all right. The only thing that happened to him was that a manhole cover fell on his head. That is an occupational hazard down the sewer. The wives come down and immediately are relieved to find that Ed is all right. Ed and Trixie kiss. Alice: "Why don't we get some coffee?" Ed says that he will but he has to get his watch from the hospital room that he was in and he has to get doctor's permission to come in there now that he's out. Trixie: "Seeing you alive is like finding $1,000,000." Upon hearing that, Ed says that his wife can pay for the coffee. Trixie doesn't mind. Ed gets doctor's permission to get the watch. Ralph comes in thinking that Ed is hurt and when he sees a patient coming out the room that Ed was supposed to be in, he gets more upset. A nurse says that the patient that came by will need a transfusion. Ralph says that he will give him the transfusion. Ralph gets ready and when he comes out with a white robe on and sees Ed is okay, he gets upset. Ed, upon hearing what Ralph planning to give him a transfusion because of the accident says that he is one of nature's noblemen. Ralph says good-bye to Ed as he prepares to give the patient that he saw a transfusion. Ed: "Doctor, while he's in there, could you get the ring off his finger?" Ralph gets upset when he hears that and gives the patient the transfusion. The episode ends without anyone hearing about the ring coming off Ralph's finger.

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