There is a certain caliber of comedy that doesn’t get greenlit for network television and mainstream film nowadays because the curse of political correctness has neutered this country’s sense of humor. Could you make a comedy where the rough around the edges protagonist makes overt threats about beating his wife using space travel metaphors? Probably not, and yet The Honeymooners is a comedy triumph of the 50s; fast forward 60 years later and its razor wit retains its edge and the series its status as a TV classic. Like many early classics though, the idea that media had a long-term lifespan wasn’t forefront in the mind of studios and consequently, for a long time, a large portion of The Honeymooners’ legacy was believed lost. Luckily, it wasn’t, and now the earliest shenanigans of Ralph, Alice, Norton and Trixie are available on DVD for the first time as part of the 60th Anniversary Edition of The Honeymooners’ complete series set.
While it’s great to finally have a large portion of The Honeymooners canon restored and available in a modern medium, it’s also a scenario of not looking a gift horse in the mouth. The Honeymooners was only its own entity during 1955 and 1956, so in actuality the bulk of the adventures for the characters took place on The Jackie Gleason Show, which is where the recently recovered live telecasts come from. The characters got their start on the Cavalcade of Stars variety show, but it was The Jackie Gleason Show where the characters got the bulk of their screen time by starring in episodes before and after The Honeymooners’ brief 39-episode run. Why The Honeymooners didn’t last longer independently is hard to surmise considering its premise is just as malleable as any other and it had brilliant comedians like Gleason, Audrey Meadows, Art Carney, and Joyce Randolph serving up doses of subversive comedy. “C’est la vie” or “that’s entertainment”, choose your platitude. The downside of all of this, however, is that even though the episodes are “restored” they’re not pristine and anywhere near the quality they could be had the original negatives received the care they deserved. In cases such as this, it’s enough that we’re able to see them at all instead of having lost them entirely to neglect.
DVD Bonus Features
Along with all 107 episodes from both the original series and The Jackie Gleason Show, the set includes 9 of their appearances on Cavalcade of stars and 8 Honeymooners musicals that haven’t seen the light of day since 1957. For fans simply hoping to finally have all of the existing Honeymooners canon on DVD, that’s where the entertaining portion of the extras ends, and the rest will be for the diehard fans. The last possible featurette that might have interest for the casual audience member is two radio episodes of the show, though it’s something of a dead art, so for younger audiences the patience level required just might not be there.
For the fans, the set also includes video tidbits like commercials, homemade behind-the-scenes videos from the set, and additional production footage. The true gem buried within are the Art Carney interviews from his guest spots on The Jackie Gleason Show when it was so easy to see the chemistry the two men had as comedy partners. After that, the extras become static with scripts for 3 missing episodes and a fan-service booklet with on-set photos.
As far as exclusives go, MPI has compiled two new featurettes. The first covers the background of these “lost” episodes including the history of the characters and how they evolved from a mere skit into a cultural phenomenon of their time. The second is an extensive interview with Joyce Randolph as she talks about her time on the set and her character Trixie.
"The Honeymooners : Lost Episodes 1951-1957 (The Complete Restored Series)" is on sale October 4, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy. Directed by Frank Satenstein. Written by Marvin Marx, Walter Stone. Starring Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, Jackie Gleason, Joyce Randolph.
