The Honeymooners Lost Episodes 1951 – 1957: 60th Anniversary
Edition (MPI DVD Box
Set)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B Episodes: A
Back in the mid-1980s, the Showtime pay cable network
score a coup when they managed to get the first tights to earlier and later
skit versions of The Honeymooners that had not been seen in then 30+
years. The classic had a great following
then as it has now, just built on its influence and the 39 half-hour episodes
filmed on 35mm film. These new reels of
old kinescopes of the live early and later versions of the skits that survived
would be dubbed The Lost Episodes
and they were a huge hit, soon moving onto VHS tape, syndicated TV and
eventually many on DVD. Now, for the 60th
Anniversary of the show and the first broadcast of the first skit, a new 15-DVD
box set from MPI has been issued and it is one of the most important DVD
releases of the year.
For those unfamiliar with the show, here is the link to my
review of the DVD set of those Classic 39
filmed episodes at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/497/Honeymooners
Since Showtime offered those skits and they hit
syndication, more Lost Episode skits have turned up and 30 here are all new to
DVD. The set has 107 of the known 128
skits (including several that were remakes) are here (the others are still
lost) including 48 shorter and 59 that are longer. This includes the latter sketches that are
the first time Gleason laced the skits with musical numbers.
The first skit back in 1951 simply has Gleason as Ralph
Kramden and Pert Kelton as his wife Alice, a grittier, darker, edgier and
rougher version of what the show became.
He was much more of a louse, she was more a product of her time and of
socio-economic circumstances. Though she
only played Alice for a season, she made for an
interesting Alice and pairing with Gleason, but
due to a mix of reasons (including the Hollywood Witchhunts of the 1950s) did
not continue in the role when Gleason moved from DuMont
to CBS. Elaine Stritch and Patricia
Morrison each played Trixie Norton briefly before Joyce Randolph took over the
role for the rest of this era of the show.
Gleason would remake many of the skits with Audrey
Meadows, though they would redo some of them again as well. Like Charlie Chaplin, Gleason shot the same
material over and over again until it became smooth, polished and ran with a
flow that delivered the best impact, though I like the roughness of older
variants where applicable. This set
offers a remarkable, rare look at a genius at work and even by the end of the
Kelton/DuMont set of sketches, you can see the show take shape into the classic
it has become. It is also amazing how
funny these are and remain, including how on the money Art Carney is as Ed
Norton, who he always played.
In a 60 Minutes
interview, Gleason said Lucille Ball was the one who dubbed him “The Great One”
and after seeing this set, you’ll agree.
The 1.33 X 1 full screen, black and white image comes from
old kinescopes (essentially the only way then to capture live TV before
videotape was invented by filming off of a low definition picture tube) so even
with some restoration, these will not look much better than they do here and
the sources are not high quality enough to justify Blu-ray high definition
release like Classic 39 episodes, so
this is the definitive release of all of them.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also as good as it is going to get with
sound varying from show to show, recording flaws, distortion, compression and
harmonic distortion varying throughout, but usually sounding good considering
the age of the productions.
Extras also include footage unseen for decades and include
two cigarette ads featuring Gleason/Carney and Meadows separately for different
brands, Carney’s funny Nescafe commercial, Carney & Meadows in a skit where
they feign being British, Meadows sending up the show on Jack Benny’s show, The Red Skelton Show sending up the
series with Peter Lorre as Ralph, six skits where Carney stays in character as
Norton dubbed The Norton Interviews,
two Lost Radio Episodes just found
where the cast recorded two radio program versions of the show to promote the
show and TV but where never broadcast, scripts for three missing episodes (not in PDF form), All About Trixie: The Joyce Randolph Interview, Dan Wingate hosting
The Lost Episodes Story and a
separate, nicely illustrated booklet with a fine essay by Robert S. Baker and
episode guide to these shows.
We look forward to the eventual Blu-ray release of the
original Classic 39 filmed episodes
and we also recommend the later videotaped color series, which you can read
more about at these links:
Collections
1 – 3
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7025/The+Color+Honeymooners+Collections
Collection
4
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7483/The+Color+Honeymooners+Collection
Second
Honeymoon/Valentine DVDs
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9923/The+Honeymooners+Specials+%E2%8
However,
this is as definitive a collection of any era of the series to date and a
terrific set. If you are a fan, you’ll
love it and if not and you see it, you will become a fan. The
Honeymooners Lost Episodes 1951 – 1957: 60th Anniversary Edition
is a must-have collection.
- Nicholas Sheffo
