Who Was Jackie Gleason Friend On The Honeymooners?

The Honeymooners, a sitcom created by Jackie Gleason, follows the lives of New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden, his wife Alice, Ralph’s best friend Ed Norton, and his wife Trixie. The show, which began as a skit on the variety show Cavalcade of Stars in the early 1950s, was later revived in the 1960s with Jane Kean as Trixie. The show was made up of one of the greatest ensemble casts in television history, with Gleason replacing his friend Sammy Birch as master of ceremonies.

Art Carney, an Academy Award-winning comic actor who played Ralph Kramden in the TV classic The Honeymooners, died in 2003. Gleason once stated that Carney was 90% responsible for the success of The Honeymooners. The show was originally 5 to 10 minutes long, with co-stars including Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Joyce Randolph. The show was a perennial rerun favorite in syndication, and Gleason later revived it in the 1960s with Jane Kean as Trixie.

In summary, The Honeymooners, a sitcom created by Jackie Gleason, follows the lives of Ralph Kramden, his wife Alice, Ed Norton, and his best friend Trixie. The show was a hit with viewers and was a staple in the 1950s and 1960s.

Who was Jackie Gleason’s neighbor?

By far the most memorable and popular of Gleasons characters was blowhard Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden, featured originally in a series of Cavalcade skits known as The Honeymooners, with Pert Kelton as his wife Alice, and Art Carney as his upstairs neighbor Ed Norton. These were so popular that in 1955 Gleason suspended the variety format and filmed The Honeymooners as a regular half-hour sitcom (televisions first spin-off), co-starring Carney, Audrey Meadows (who had replaced the blacklisted Kelton after the earlier move to CBS), and Joyce Randolph. Finishing 19th in the ratings, these 39 episodes were subsequently rerun constantly in syndication, often five nights a week, with the cycle repeating every two months for decades. They are probably the most familiar body of work from 1950s television with the exception of I Love Lucy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

The shows original variety format and title returned in September 1956 and continued until June 1957. Then, in October 1958, Gleason debuted a half-hour version of The Jackie Gleason Show, with Buddy Hackett as a sidekick, but it was short-lived, cancelled in January 1959.

In 1961, Gleason began an ill-fated stint as host of a game show called Youre in the Picture, which lasted only one episode, and was so poorly received that it led to Gleason offering an on-air apology to his viewers the following week. Committed to filling a quota of episodes, Gleason renamed the series The Jackie Gleason Show and turned it into a short-lived talk show, featuring one-on-one informal interviews with Art Carney, Jayne Mansfield, Bobby Darin, and other friends and celebrities. It ran for eight episodes.

Who was Jackie Gleason’s friend?

Carney was first paired with fellow actor Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) in 1950, in a comedy sketch appearing in the variety series Cavalcade of Stars (1949-1952). Gleason appeared as lunchroom loudmouth Charlie Bratten, and Carney as mild-mannered victim Clem Finch. Due to good chemistry between the two actors, Carney became a show regular and appeared in several other comedy sketches with Gleason. Cavalcade of Stars was eventually reworked into The Jackie Gleason Show (1952-1957), with Gleason as the lead actor and Carney as his sidekick.

The most notable of the recurring sketches was the Honeymooners, pairing the verbally abusive Ralph Kramden (Gleason) with his optimistic best friend Ed Norton (Carney). The sketch eventually was eventually given its own series, The Honeymooners (1955-1956). The series only lasted for 1 season, and a total of 39 episodes. The sitcom was canceled due to low ratings, but found success in syndication. Its depiction of the American working class was popular and influenced several other sitcoms. The popular animated sitcom The Flintstones (1960-1966) started as a Honeymooners parody, with the character Barney Rubble based on Ed Norton.

Due to his popularity as Gleasons sidekick, Carney was offered a number of lead roles in television. He starred in the television special Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf, adapted from the story Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. He was eventually given his own show Art Carney Special (1959-1961), which was not particularly successful.

What did Art Carney pass away from?

Carney was married three times to two women: Jean Myers, from 1940 to 1965, and again from 1980 to his death, and Barbara Isaac from December 21, 1966 to 1977. He had three children with Jean Myers: Brian, Eileen & Paul. Carney died November 9, 2003 of natural causes at a rest home near his home in Westbrook, Connecticut. Carney is interred at Riverside Cemetery in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

• Amzn_assoc_placement = adunit0
• amzn_assoc_tracking_id = hwof05-20
• amzn_assoc_ad_mode = search
• amzn_assoc_ad_type = smart
• amzn_assoc_marketplace = amazon
• amzn_assoc_region = US
• amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = Art Carney
• amzn_assoc_default_category = All
• amzn_assoc_linkid = 55eff95a50b66e89ff63cd2b2fd4e0af
• amzn_assoc_search_bar = false
• amzn_assoc_title = Shop Art Carney

Who is Ralph Kramden’s friend on The Honeymooners?

Played by Art Carney; a New York City municipal sewer worker and Ralphs best friend (and upstairs neighbor). He is considerably more good-natured than Ralph, but nonetheless trades insults with him on a regular basis. Ed (typically called Norton by Ralph and sometimes by his own wife, Trixie) often gets mixed up in Ralphs schemes. His carefree and rather dimwitted nature usually results in raising Ralphs ire, while Ralph often showers him with verbal abuse and throws him out of the apartment when Ed irritates him. In most episodes, Ed is shown to be better-read, better-liked, more worldly and more even-tempered than Ralph, despite his unassuming manner and the fact that he usually lets Ralph take the lead in their escapades. Ed and Ralph both are members of the fictional Raccoon Lodge. Like Ralph, Ed enjoys and is good at bowling and playing pool. Unlike Ralph, Ed is good at ping-pong.13.

Ed worked for the New York City sewer department, and described his job as a Sub-supervisor in the sub-division of the department of subterranean sanitation, I just keep things moving along. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and used his G.I. Bill money to pay for typing school, but felt he was unable to work in an office because he hated working in confined spaces. The relatively few scenes set in the Norton apartment showed it to have the same layout as the Kramdens but more nicely furnished. Though Norton makes the same weekly $62 salary as Ralph (roughly $710 in 2023 dollars), their higher standard of living might be explained by Nortons freer use of credit; at one point he admits to having 19 charge accounts.14.

Ed is the inspiration for Barney Rubble in The Flintstones,9 and for Yogi Bear (in terms of design, clothing, and mannerisms).15 In 1999, TV Guide ranked him 2nd on its list of the 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time.11 According to Entertainment Weekly, Norton is ranked 8th of the greatest sidekicks ever.16.

Why was The Honeymooners cancelled?

In 1955 the Buick Motor Company offered Gleason six million dollars to produce The Honeymooners as a weekly situation comedy for two years. The corpulent comedian formed his own production company and used a new film technology, the Electronican process, to record the series live on film. The program was shot two times a week before an audience of 1,100 people. During the first season Gleason was disturbed by the amount of rehearsal time and felt that these recorded episodes lacked the spontaneity and originality of the live sketches. He discontinued the series after 39 programs and decided to return to the live, variety format. He sold the films and syndication rights to CBS for a million and half dollars.

The Honeymooners remained a prominent part of Gleasons succeeding variety series with the writers trying to do something unusual with the trusted material. During the 1956-1957 season of The Jackie Gleason Show, the Kramdens and the Nortons took a live musical trip to Europe. At the end of the season, Carney left the series, and Gleason did not revive the sketch until his 1960s extravaganza, The American Scene Magazine. When Carney was available, Gleason revived the sketch on videotape, often with new cast members. Sue Ane Langdon and Sheila MacRae played Alice, while Patricia Wilson and Jean Kean were recruited for Trixie. Despite the changes, the familiar catchphrases remained: One of these days…Pow! Right in the kisser!; and Bang! Zoom, Ralphs stock phrases to Alice as well as Eds greeting to Kramden, Hiya there, Ralphie boy.

After his variety series ended in 1970, Gleason produced four more Honeymooner specials with Carney and the returning Meadows. But Ralph Kramden remained fixed in the popular imagination because the 39 episodes of The Honeymooners were a perennial success in syndication. For over 20 years a local station in Manhattan played them every night. There was great celebration among fans when The Museum of Broadcasting and Jackie Gleason unearthed thelive sketches during the mid-1980s. Those lost episodes found another life on cable television and the home video market.

Why was The Honeymooners canceled?

In 1955 the Buick Motor Company offered Gleason six million dollars to produce The Honeymooners as a weekly situation comedy for two years. The corpulent comedian formed his own production company and used a new film technology, the Electronican process, to record the series live on film. The program was shot two times a week before an audience of 1,100 people. During the first season Gleason was disturbed by the amount of rehearsal time and felt that these recorded episodes lacked the spontaneity and originality of the live sketches. He discontinued the series after 39 programs and decided to return to the live, variety format. He sold the films and syndication rights to CBS for a million and half dollars.

The Honeymooners remained a prominent part of Gleasons succeeding variety series with the writers trying to do something unusual with the trusted material. During the 1956-1957 season of The Jackie Gleason Show, the Kramdens and the Nortons took a live musical trip to Europe. At the end of the season, Carney left the series, and Gleason did not revive the sketch until his 1960s extravaganza, The American Scene Magazine. When Carney was available, Gleason revived the sketch on videotape, often with new cast members. Sue Ane Langdon and Sheila MacRae played Alice, while Patricia Wilson and Jean Kean were recruited for Trixie. Despite the changes, the familiar catchphrases remained: One of these days…Pow! Right in the kisser!; and Bang! Zoom, Ralphs stock phrases to Alice as well as Eds greeting to Kramden, Hiya there, Ralphie boy.

After his variety series ended in 1970, Gleason produced four more Honeymooner specials with Carney and the returning Meadows. But Ralph Kramden remained fixed in the popular imagination because the 39 episodes of The Honeymooners were a perennial success in syndication. For over 20 years a local station in Manhattan played them every night. There was great celebration among fans when The Museum of Broadcasting and Jackie Gleason unearthed thelive sketches during the mid-1980s. Those lost episodes found another life on cable television and the home video market.

What happened to Joyce Randolph?

Death. Randolph was the last surviving cast member of The Honeymooners. She died of natural causes at age 99 at home in Manhattans Upper West Side on January 13, 2024.

Joyce Randolph (née Sirola; October 21, 1924 – January 13, 2024) was an American actress of stage and television, best known for playing Trixie Norton on The Jackie Gleason Show and the television sitcom The Honeymooners.

Early life and careeredit. Randolph was born in Detroit on October 21, 1924, and was of Finnish descent.123 As a teenager, she acted with the Wayne University Workshop. After she finished high school, she began working in retail sales for a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Detroit. When a touring company of Stage Door played in Detroit, she auditioned, got a part, and performed for the rest of the tour.4 She moved to New York City in 1943 to pursue an acting career. She took roles on Broadway and landed various television roles.3.

In 1951, she was seen in a Clorets commercial by Jackie Gleason and was asked to appear in a skit on Cavalcade of Stars, Gleasons variety show on the DuMont Television Network. Soon after, she was cast as Trixie in The Honeymooners.3 Several New York columnists referred to her as the Garbo of Detroit. Thats still a mystery… I was a nobody in Detroit. Why Garbo? Well, she was Scandinavian—and so was I, responded Randolph.3.

Was Jackie Gleason rich?

Have you ever heard someone say, I dont care about money? Jackie Gleason said this before, and he meant it.

The Honeymooners star was worth millions, but being rich is not what gave him the drive to follow his dreams. Of course, it gave him the finer things and an upscale lifestyle, but Gleason cared about success.

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, the actor talked about the connection between success, money and his life.

I dont care about money, Gleason said. Success is like a blue serge suit. You pick up the lint of your critics behavior. People seem to think I should be ashamed of making $11,000,000. Im not. I didnt rob a bank. This is America.

Did Jackie Gleason get along with Richard Pryor?

In his autobiography Pryor Convictions, Pryor wrote that he and Gleason got along like kindred souls. He stated the stories Gleason told between setups were funnier than the film itself. Moreover, in a 1982 Los Angeles Times interview Pryor stated he had loved Jackie Gleason for years.4 A national talent search was held to find an actor to play Gleasons son.5.

Pryor cast Annazette Chase to portray Angela after they worked together in The Mack.6 The film was shot on location in Baton Rouge, Louisiana during the summer of 1982.7.

In May, during filming, Pryor was hospitalized with pneumonia. He was released after a week and resumed filming.8 Donner blamed this on the air pollution in Baton Rouge which he said was the worst he had ever experienced. The director said he would never work in the city again.9.

Who were the neighbors on The Honeymooners?

Randolphs character was married to Art Carneys Ed Norton on “The Honeymooners.” They were the neighbors of Ralph and Alice Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows.

Born Joyce Sirola to a Finnish American family in Detroit, she got her start in show business when she joined a touring production of “Stage Door” while working at a department store, then moved to New York where she acted in theater and on television in shows such as “Buck Rogers.”

Gleason noticed her in a commercial and cast her in “The Honeymooners” in 1951. It first appeared as a sketch on “Cavalcade of Stars” and “The Jackie Gleason Show,” then ran as a standalone sitcom in 1955 and 1956 on CBS. Though the show produced just 39 episodes, its popularity has endured and it influenced generations of sitcoms with its portrayal of squabbling working class families.

Who did Jackie Gleason leave his money to?

The entertainers will, which was filed in Broward Probate Court, leaves his estate to his third wife and two daughters from his first marriage. The value of the estate has not yet been estimated.

He appointed his third wife, Marilyn, to be the executor of his will. As such, she can make all decisions regarding the disposition of his assets.

Gleason died of liver and colon cancer on June 24 at his home in the Inverrary section of Lauderhill. He was 71.

Gleason made out the will in April 1985. He said Marilyn Gleason was to receive one-half his estate. The balance was to be divided equally between his daughters, Geraldine Chatuk of Los Angeles and Linda Miller of Santa Monica, Calif. He also specified that his secretary of 29 years, Sydell Spear of Hialeah, would get $25,000.

Who played Jackie Gleason’s sidekick in The Honeymooners?

Art Carney, 85, the great American comic actor who was hilarious opposite Jackie Gleason on television in the 1950s and who won an Oscar in 1974 for an affecting movie role, died Nov. 11 in Connecticut. No cause of death could be immediately learned.

As Ed Norton, the sewer worker in the porkpie hat who was Gleasons best friend in the classic Honeymooners series, Mr. Carney demonstrated a touching loyalty and unswerving support to Gleasons tempestuous character of the bus-driving Ralph Kramden.

An endearing if slightly dim Everyman, Mr. Carneys uncomplaining Brooklynite wore a vest over an undershirt. He played a man amusingly unaware of the essential absurdity of the predicaments and get-rich-quick schemes in which he and Gleason found themselves, often to the despair of their wives.