"Baby…you're the greatest!"

There are few people in America (at least over 30) that haven’t managed to catch an episode or two of The Honeymooners over the years. With a stellar ensemble cast, led by the enormously talented Jackie Gleason, the story of a bus driver and his dim-witted sewer-worker friend, not to mention their poor wives, would make The Honeymooners one of the most iconic television shows to ever grace the airwaves.

The concept of The Honeymooners was developed as a series of comedy sketches that aired on the popular Cavalcade of Stars show from the early 50s. The four cast members, Gleason (Ralph), Art Carney (Norton), Audrey Meadows (Alice) and Joyce Randolph (Trixie) honed in their comedic timing before being given their own series.

The Honeymooners was an instant success, that unfortunately tapered off rather quickly, due to some stiff competition from shows like The Perry Mason Show. And considering the impact this show made on the plethora of sitcoms that would eventually follow, it is hard sometimes to fathom that there are only 39 episodes of this classic series. It only lasted a single season on television in 1956, but its impact would be felt for decades. The primetime animated Hanna-Barbera series, The Flintstones, most blatantly copied its formula and characters but there was plenty of comic gold for all of its predecessors to draw upon. The show’s influence has been immeasurable.

After the show’s cancellation, The Honeymooners came back briefly in 1962, as part of Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine, a variety show. They would do sketches whenever Carney was available, but Alice and Trixie were now played by new actresses, Sue Ane Lagdon and Patricia Wilson, respectively. With the return of The Jackie Gleason Show in 1966, further sketches were performed, this time in color, and often filmed around Miami, Florida (where the show was now taped.) This time around, Sheila Macrae and Jane Kean became the third pair of actresses to portray Alice and Trixie.

A series of 68 “lost episodes” were released from Gleason’s vault in 1985, and another episode popped up as recently as 2004. Both the “Classic 39” and the “Lost Episodes” have been released in their entirety on DVD. And in 2005, an all-African American cast starred in the feature film The Honeymooners, with Ralph Kramden played by Cedric the Entertainer. The film did poorly at the box-office. The original series, however, lives on perpetually in syndication throughout the world.