The Honeymooners has one of the most convoluted histories of any program ever aired on TV...but that's because it was just so spectacularly popular, it kept being revived in one form or another. It began in the early '50s as sketches of the
The Jackie Gleason Show (correction: the sketches first appeared on Gleason's earlier show on the long-defunct DuMont Network,
Cavalcade of Stars), then in 1955-56 there was the "classic 39" episodes which were the only ones formally aired under the program name "
The Honeymooners." When the show ended after that run, it was immediately replaced by a revived
Jackie Gleason Show, which once again featured Honeymooners sketches as part of the regular material. In the early '60s we saw the Kramdens and Nortons in sketches of
Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine, and by the late '60s we saw the Honeymooners in color (and in Miami) courtesy of a brand-new incarnation of
The Jackie Gleason Show...these are the episodes from which MPI got their 2006-2008 DVD releases of "
The Color Honeymooners."
It's said that in 1970 the network, CBS, wanted the show converted to a full hour of nothing except Honeymooners, while Gleason wanted to keep it only a part of the overall variety show. Since they couldn't come to agreement on this, the show ended. But a number of
Honeymooners specials would air during the mid-'70s. Ralph, Alice, Ed and Trixie would appear in
The Jackie Gleason Special (1973),
The Honeymooners: Second Honeymoon (1976),
The Honeymooners Christmas Special (1977) and
The Honeymooners Valentine Special (1978). Now 2 of these specials are scheduled to arrive on DVD this spring!
According to pre-order listings found at Amazon,
The Honeymooners: Second Honeymoon and
The Honeymooners Valentine Special will both arrive on DVD, separately, on
May 4th. Each title is $14.98 SRP, but you can pre-order them at a discount. The Great One, Jackie Gleason, stars as "Ralph Kramden," while Audrey Meadows returns as his wife "Alice." Art Carney is back as "Ed Norton," of course, while Jane Kean continues as his wife "Trixie" (after taking over the role in the mid-'60s color episodes). Both productions feature Sammy Spear and His Orchestra, The June Taylor Dancers, and announcer Johnny Olson. "
Second Honeymoon" includes Templeton Fox as "Alice's mother," while the
Valentine Special brings us Don Sebastian as "Armand." Package art isn't available yet, but stay tuned!
