The Honeymooners

Dear Erica,

I Love Lucy is obviously one of my favorite TV shows ever, and this year in particular I have been catching up on everything Lucille Ball. I watched Mame for the first time and despite all the bad reviews and rotten reputation, I found it to be delightful. The Lucy Show has arrived, at long last, on DVD. I've also been going through episodes of Here's Lucy, her last success on the tube. That one co-stars her two children, who are not exactly trained thespians. Yet there's a certain charm about seeing her enthusiastically try and make them seem somewhat decent. What I noticed, however, is the lack of any good Christmas episodes on any of these shows. She tried, but not a single one of them are as funny as a typical Lucy episode. So instead I like to watch the Christmas episode of The Honeymooners, which despite only having the opportunity to air one December, nailed the sentiment of Christmas.

Ralph and Alice Kramden lived in a run-down apartment and had very little money to throw around at Christmas, or any time of year for that matter. This leads to a variation on the Gift of the Magi story that is often regurgitated at least once in the run of every TV show. Heck, even Bert and Ernie had their turn over on Sesame Street. Remember that one? Bert sells his paper clip collection to get Ernie a dish for his rubber duckie, but Ernie sells his duckie to get Bert a box for his paper clips. It's really cute, too. But back to the Kramdens.

Ralph has been a schmuck and spend the money he had saved on a bowling ball for himself. He realizes on Christmas Eve that the gift he picked out for Alice is truly lousy, so he takes the ball to a pawn shop to buy her a better gift. But what has Alice gotten for Ralph? You guessed it! A bowling ball bag. Or as he puts it in a flubbed line, "a bowling bag ball." Okay, okay. You might be saying to yourself that this story is lame and you've seen it a million times. And you would be right. What you don't know is that you have never seen it as sweet and genuine as played by the incomparable Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows.

Jackie Gleason is known for being a bellowing loud mouth jerk most of the time, with a pompous demeanor and aggressive walk. But what he really was deep down was a giant teddy bear with the generous heart of a five year old. At the end of the episode he professes his love for Alice in what I think is the most lovely delivery of any speech ever captured on film. Laurence Olivier was great in all of his many Shakespeare roles, but even he would be envious of the honesty that comes from the lips of one Jackie Gleason in this truly beautiful scene. I get all choked up just thinking about it. I wish The Honeymooners would have gotten as much international play as I Love Lucy has over the last 60 years because it broke as much ground and plays as well today as it ever did.

Till next time,
Bradley