Because We Have To

What analysis would be complete without at least a cursory discussion of advertising? None; so here ya go.

The above image was released as a newspaper ad for the show in May 2001 which highlights the enduring popularity of the show beyond what the producers would have originally imagined. The show only aired for one season in 1955-1956 yet the show still airs weekly reruns on TV Land weeknights at 11 (as shown by the ad above). This advertisement also hits on the reason that the 1950’s sitcom has remained so popular throughout the decades: “Times Change. Great TV Doesn’t.” The Honeymooners is still just about a group of working class people, living in the city, and trying to make a better life for themselves. These themes are just as relevant today as they were in the 1950’s.

Not only were advertisements for the show released in magazines and newspapers, but the show was based on a three-act structure that allowed for two commercial breaks (Raw, 2009). These commercial breaks featured typical commercials, and ran as part of the CBS network which regulated the times and types of advertisements that were permitted on the show. The use of advertising as a means of income on television shows was not new in the 1950’s, and remains tightly regulated to this day.

The Method Behind the Madness

Three factors illuminate the unique personality of The Honeymooners. Firstly, the autobiographical nature of the main character, Ralph Kramden. Secondly, the many different ways that the story was presented to the public. And thirdly, the urban, working-class environment stands in stark contrast with the majority of sitcoms in 1950’s portraying the idyllic suburban lifestyle that followed World War II.

Many people suspect that the reason that Gleason worked so tirelessly with this show for so many years – and tried on so many occasions to revive the short-lived program – is that the character of Ralph Kramden is practically autobiographical (Sheehan, 2010).  Gleason not only celebrated Ralph for his values – hard working, and optimistic – but also brought to light the many faults of Gleason’s own personal life (Simon, Museum of Broadcast Communications). Things such as  a distance from his family, and an insatiable need for money were often central themes in episodes of The Honeymooners as well as aspects for which Kramden is mocked by his friends and family.

Arguably the most significant aspect of the 1950’s sitcom was the fact that it portrayed working class urban life. Dr. Simon, of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, notes that this distinct form of comedy is the result of the autobiographical nature of the character of Ralph Kramden. He also writes that while to the outside public it would seem that Jackie Gleason is not working but upper class. Because of his insatiable monetary goals, he viewed himself as part of the working class, always struggling to make a buck.

Jackie Gleason presented this sitcom through several platforms including: black and white, sketch, television show, color,  even a movie in 2005. The show has also been taped, aired live, produced as situation comedy, and the show even tried its hand at musical. These many different guises gave the show an enduring sense of popularity while hiding the fact that the show was short lived, but in an era of change. The shift from black and white to color was inevitable during the time period that the show was produced, and the transition from sketch comedy to television show was simply a production decision to try to make the most money from the program – though it would fail, as the show only lasted 39 episodes.

The 60 Year Honeymoon

It may seem a little crazy that the TV show that so perfectly captured the working class livelihood of the 1950’s is still so popular today, but in many of our modern shows and in pop culture there are still signs of The Honeymooners enduring legacy. Even on the 50th anniversary of the TV show, the movie version reached the stage (although most agree that it was an utter failure).

Just a few of the many examples of TV shows whose inspiration may be traced back to The Honeymooners include: The Flintstones, as well as specific parody episodes in Looney Tunes, The Simpsons, and Futurama. These continuations of the programs legacy show that regardless of the shows initial popularity, The Honeymooners captured a part of the American story that is relevant throughout generations.

Along the same lines, references to famous aspects of the show are still seen in pop culture references today. Just one example is the youtube clip “Trump Meets The Honeymooners” wherein Trump goes on and on in one of his recorded speeches and at the end, in a famous scene originally featuring Alice’s mother, Ralph calls Trump a “Blab! Ber! Mouth!”. Obviously the clip was intended to convey that the maker felt that Trump went on and on about a given topic, but the choice to use an iconic episode from a 1950’s sitcom shows just how important The Honeymooners can be in pop culture today.

What’s All the Chatter about?!?

Everyone knows that people love to gossip and chat about the newest things on the television (or the internet!). What is interesting about the way that people talk about the TV show The Honeymooners is that the critics – supposedly more knowledgeable at analyzing a work – find the show to be “loose”, unpopular, and even poorly rehearsed (Sullivan 1997). Popular reviews however describe the show as relatable, and enduring (Tropiano, 2003).

What at first glance may appear irreconcilable is actually not quite so. The differing opinions of the show may be likened to the difference between time and space. Critics may be said to look at a piece of work at it exists in space; that is to say, what impression does it make on them? How are the ratings? How much did it cost to produce in comparison with how much the program made? In these ways, it may have seemed as if The Honeymooners was not a very successful program.

Popular reviews on the other hand may take the side of looking through a time perspective. Families are still sitting down to watch the show 5, 6, and 7 decades after the show was first aired, and the show is just as easily understood as it was then. The plight of the working class and their attempts to improve their life situation are timeless themes.

Therefore, while the show was never hugely successful in space (at one point in time, in a material way), the program has endured longer than many concurrent programs. Shows like December Bride and Private Secretary were all more highly rated among the “professionals”, alas they sit in some network vault while The Honeymooners lives on in the television screens of many modern American homes.

Big-Brother is Watching

Okay, so that title is not completely accurate. In fact, much of the regulation of television shows at this time was imposed by the individual broadcasting companies, rather than by state or federal governments; although, the FCC, Federal Communication Commission, had the job of regulating all commercial communications and broadcasts. The most important regulatory factor during the time of The Honeymooners was the Code of Broadcasting was instuted by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).

The corporate regulation of televisions shows – in effect from 1951 to 1983 – consisted on a code created by the industry that was called simply the Code of Broadcasting, or the Seal of Good Practice. Simple, right? Wrong. The code was comprised of 8 different rules. 4 of the rules dealt with advertisements and is stark evidence of the concern for over-commercialization (Limberg, 1994). The other rules dealt with general operations, responsible programming, public issues, and the like. The code prohibited the use of profanity, portraying law enforcement officials – and others- in a negative way, detailed crime techniques, as well as setting strict guidelines for for actor’s dress and behavior on stage.

As far as government regulation, the important point is that they had the power and chose not to use it. From the birth of television through the 50’s and until about the 60’s, the FCC attempted to regulate on-air appearance by issuing vague, sweeping statements about decency, but rarely actually enforced their “regulations” (Levi, 2008). There passive nature is attributed the fact that at this time, the broadcast industries themselves self-regulated the decency, and proper management of their own business, rendering any government intervention practically redundant.

Gleason Never Saw It Coming

When Gleason first aired The Honeymooners as an independent TV show in 1955, he never would have suspected that decades later the television show is more popular than it ever was while it was airing for the first time.

Gibron argues that the reason Gleason returned The Honeymooners to a variety show format was because the show wasn’t successful, whereas Gleason himself wrote that the reason he cancelled the show after one season was because the writing team could not maintain the same quality (2003). Regardless of the reason for the premature cancellation of the program, decades later the show still has a substantial following.

Over the years, Gleason has released some never aired episodes of the show, called The Lost Episodes (in contrast with The Classic 39).

Masculinity in the 1950’s

Every American knows that life was considerably different before and after World War II. With the emergence and growing popularity of new technologies the American home was increasingly filled with items such as televisions, refrigerators, and canned goods. Along with these technological changes, significant social change accompanied the end of World War II. Specifically, gender roles were forever altered, and in the home, the expectations of men and women changed to fit the needs of a new way of life.

As detailed in the previous post about post-war consumerism, masculinity in post-war America was increasingly defined not only by what a man earned, but also by the way he spent it. Men were expected to bring home big-ticket items like televisions, refrigerators, and freezers (instead of ice boxes). These changes were reflected in all parts of society, but the unique personality of The Honeymooners is in part because the show looks at the working class urban population who may be incapable of meeting society’s expectations of the consumer man.

The representation of Ralph Kramden as man who was unable to meet the consumer ideal of masculinity manifested itself in two ways. First, it highlighted the new version of man as a “frustrated, lonely failure” (Sheehan, 2010). Second, the show highlights the common in American society at this time wherein if a man was unable to fulfill his so called “masculine duty” of participating in the production-consumption cycle, he would take his frustrations out in his home life; in this case, his wife, Alice, was the victim of Ralph’s all too frequent attempts to regain authority in his life (Sheehan, 2010).

Ralph often threats to “Pow — Right in the kisser!” or “One of these days, Alice… Straight to the moon!”

Post-War Consumerism

Everyone in modern America knows that in order to be in the “In group” you have to have the newest phone, the biggest (flattest) television set *with* a surround sound stereo system, and the list goes on and on. This is most definitely not a new concept. When the soldiers returned from World War II there developed a new pressure on men to not only be the earners but also the spenders of the household (Sheehan, 2010).

America after World War II is what Elizabeth Cohen calls “A Consumers’ Republic” meaning that both national and personal identities are increasingly defined by what one can produce, purchase, and accumulate. In this society, a man needs to be able to not only maintain and income, but also spend that income on consumer pleasure items which fuel the production-consumption cycle upon which the American nation is becoming increasingly dependent (Sheehan, 2010).

While most of the 1950’s sitcoms featured middle class families conforming to the production-consumption model of American society, The Honeymooners is not only a working-class portrayal of the majority of society at this time who were unable to afford many of the “necessities”. Ralph is often featured belittling his neighbor, Ed Norton, for buying big-ticket items using credit. He also comments frequently on the burdensome nature of material goods (Sheehan, 2010). However, many have speculated that his unique status among the conforming patriarchs of the 1950’s was not a bold statement against society, but rather a ploy – a way for him to keep his male dignity and dominance even though he was unable to meet the standards of society (Sheehan, 2010).

The Jackie Gleason Show

Jackie Gleason hosted a variety show on Dumont television network. Called Cavalcade of Stars, the most popular sketch on the program was The Honeymooners. Jackie Gleason started The Honeymooners as just one of many sketches (short comedy routines) on the variety program. After he realized that the particular sketch was exceptionally popular, he decided to take The Jackie Gleason show- and The Honeymooners-  to CBS in 1952 (Sheehan, 2010).

With the growing popularity of the sketch from 1951 onward, Gleason pushed for the sketch to become its own half hour program independent of the variety show for the television season 1955-1956 (Sheehan, 2010). When he first moved to CBS, Gleason signed a three-year contract with the company, which translates to three seasons (The Honeymooners Explained). This contract was one of the largest in show business history, valued at almost $11 million. Gleason was scheduled to make $65,000 per episode in the first season, and $70,000 in the second season (Gibron, 2003). However, all of this changed when  Gleason announced that “the excellence of the material could not be maintained” (Simon, Museum of Broadcast Communications), and the show was ended after only one season of thirty-nine episodes now referred to as “The Classic 39”. When Gleason ended the contract pre-maturely he was forced to pay back all of the production costs.

So the iconic television show that started off as a humble sketch on a variety show came to tragic ending after only one season, 39 episodes. However, because of the enduring legacy of the show, Gleason later sold these 39 episodes to CBS for $1.5 million (Simon, Museum of Broadcast Communications). Throughout the years the show has periodically been revived (often with different actors playing the major roles), and there was even a movie produced in 2005. None of these attempts at revival can be categorized as “successful” and the movie in fact was deemed almost a complete disaster with an IMDB rating of only 3.1/10.

 

Bibliography

Brown, S. (2005). The Honeymooners. Entertainment Weekly, (825), 58-59.

Gibron, B. (November 25, 2003). “The Honeymooners: The Classic 39 Episodes”. DVD Verdict. Retrieved from https://dvdverdict.com.

The Honeymooners Explained. (2009). Everything. Explained. Today. Retrieved from https://everything.explained.today.

Kaplan, Peter W. (January 26, 1985). “75 ‘Honeymooners’ Episodes Found”. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com.

Levi, L. (2008) The FCC’s Regulation of Indecency. First Amendment Center, 7(1), 1-103. Retrieved from https://www.firstamendment center.org.

Limberg, V. E. (1994). Ethics and Television. Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved from https://www.museum.tv.

Meyers, C. B. (2011). The problems with sponsorship in us broadcasting, 1930s-1950s: perspectives from the advertising industry. Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television, 31(3), 355-372. doi:10.1080/01439685.2011.597994

Raw, L. (2009). Form and Function in the 1950s Anthology Series. Journal of Popular Film & Television, 37(2), 90-96.

Sheehan, S.T. (2010). “Pow! Right in the Kisser”: Ralph Kramden, Jackie Gleason, and the Emergence of the Frustrated Working-Class Man. Journal of Popular Culture, 43(3), 564-582. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2010.00758.x

She’s the greatest. (1996). U.S. News & World Report, 120(7), 90.

Simon, R. The Honeymooners: U.S. Situation/Sketch Comedy. Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved from https://www.museum.tv.

Sullivan, R. D. (1997). The Honeymooners (TV). Boston Phoenix. Retrieved from https://filmvault.com.

Tropiano, S. (2003). The Honeymooners Classic 39 Episodes: A Honeymoon that Never Ends. Popmatters. Retrieved from https://popmatters.com.