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Jackie Gleason on "Cavalcade of Stars" (1951)

Jackie Gleason on the popular 50's TV series "Cavalcade of Stars", doing a sketch called "The Honeymooners", which was later turned into a sitcom. "Cavalcade of Stars" started in 1949 and quickly became one of the most popular shows on The DuMont Television Network. "The Honeymooners" started as a series of sketches, and later became a award-winning CBS sitcom still shown in syndication today.

While the sitcom is still copyrighted, "Cavalcade of Stars" has long been public domain, since it's production company collapsed in 1956, and the Kinescope Recordings were dumped into Upper New York Bay.


This movie is part of the collection: Classic TV

Production Company: DuMont Television Network/Drug Store Television Productions
Audio/Visual: sound, Black and White
Keywords: Jackie Gleason; The Honeymooners; Cavalcade of Stars; 50's TV; 1950's Television; Classic TV; Kinescope Recording; DuMont Television Network; DuMont Network

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Reviewer: Archive fan - - August 9, 2008
Subject: I'm surprised by Art Carney
I've read of the pre-Audrey Meadows Honeymooners but have never seen one. I enjoyed Pert Kelton, especially at the end of the piece. She was quite a good actor and would have moved the series into a whole different direction than her successor. The big surprise to me was Art Carney. Jackie Gleason's Ralph is the same, Joyce Randolph's Trixie is the same, and I expected Norton to match his later persona, too. That particular characterization is very close to what Art Carney used as "Newton the Waiter," a part he played in the Morey Amsterdam show (also in the Internet Archive). But Art Carney was also known for his impressions, and in this episode of the Honeymooners, he's doing his immpression of Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom, a former-boxer-turned-comedian who set the mold for what a punch-drunk fighter sounds like. Norton looks like his old self (albeit younger) but sounds like a boxer who was hit in the head too many times. Everyone mentions the big change when Meadows took over the Alice role from Kelton, but who knew Norton started out so differently?

Reviewer: Retro_Saiyan - - July 19, 2008
Subject: Wow
Amazing to see DuMont Network footage. Almost the entire archive of the company was destroyed during the 70's.

Reviewer: Robin_1990 - - June 19, 2008
Subject: Worth Watching
If you enjoy the films in the Prelinger section, then you will enjoy this. Interesting example of a poor family during the 50's

Reviewer: Tenor madman - - March 22, 2008
Subject: Seeds of greatness
Most of the ingredients that made the Honeymooners a huge hit are here already. The big difference here is Alice. She's not played by Audrey Meadows like we're used to seeing later. She's played by Pert Kelton, the original Alice.
The reason given at the time for her replacement was that she had health problems that kept her from continuing on. But the truth was that she was kept out because of the blacklist of actors and actresses thought to be communist at the time.

Notwithstanding, I think the chemistry between Gleason and Meadows was more balanced than what you'll see here. Still, the shape of things to come is always fun to see.

TM

Credits

Cast:
Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden
Art Carney as Ed Norton
Pert Kelton as Alice Kramden
Joyce Randolph As Trixie Norton