“How Sweet It Is!”

by Billy Ingram

There are two new Jackie Gleason Show compilations out and they’re both brimming with lots of Honeymooners sketches.

Jackie Gleason Television Treasures 70th Anniversary Collection brings together never before seen Gleason shows on two discs including a full hour-long edition of The Jackie Gleason Show from 1953 with musical guest Peggy Lee that includes vintage commercials and most importantly the spectacular June Taylor Dancers, who opened every show but were noticeably missing from the otherwise great Jackie Gleason Show: In Color compilation put out a few years ago by Time-Life.

The rest of the DVD’s 5 1/2 hours is packed with snippets from American Scene Magazine (what the Gleason Show was called from 1962-1966) and the 1966-1970 run of The Jackie Gleason Show in color.

Together they contain 11 Honeymooners sketches, another June Taylor Dancers routine, The Poor Sous, Reginald Van Gleason, and the hilarious Frank Fontaine as Crazy Googenheim, and lots more.

Indeed this is a treasure — and also includes the 2006 documentary Genius At Work hosted by Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm).

The Honeymooners Specials: The Complete Collection collects the four one hour Honeymooners specials broadcast on ABC in 1976-78. These have been made available on DVD before but now you have them all in one inexpensive package.

As was Gleason’s habit, these hours take a couple of old Honeymooners scripts and combines then into a single storyline. Funny? You bet!

Besides Gleason and Art Carney as Ralph and Norton, Sheila MacCrae and Jane Kean portray Alice and Trixie. It's a perfect cast.

They are:
Second Honeymoon: Ralph and Alice decide to get married again at a meeting of the Raccoon Lodge while there’s a mixup as to whether Alice is pregnant as Ralph believes.

Valentine Special: Alice is planning a surprise gift for Ralph but Ralph thinks Alice is seeing another man so he and Norton go undercover in drag to find out what she’s up too.

Christmas Special: Ralph has another get rich quick scheme and gambles away every cent he can get his hands on, then manages to get his mother in law involved, unbeknownst to her. By the way, Ralph's acerbic mother in law is played by none other than Eileen Heckhart. Hilarious stuff!

A Christmas Carol: where it made sense to someone that Ralph and the gang stage a version of the Charles Dickens classic.

The Honeymooners Specials: The Complete CollectionProduct Description
Second Honeymoon - On the Kramden’s 25th wedding anniversary, Ralph plans to remarry Alice in a special ceremony at the Raccoon lodge. However, the festivities become overshadowed when Ralph believes Alice is pregnant and old pal Ed Norton begins to teach him how to take care of a baby

Valentine Special - Alice Kramden secretly plans to buy husband Ralph a suit for Valentine’s Day but Ralph thinks she’s sizing him up for a coffin after he finds incriminating items, including a life-insurance policy. Believing Alice is seeing another man, Ralph gets pal Ed Norton to join him undercover, dressed in drag

Christmas Special - As Christmas approaches, Ralph Kramden's latest get-rich scheme risks his and Alice's life savings on the lottery. The gamble also places Alice's mother's Social Security check in jeopardy

A Christmas Carol - Ralph enlists Alice, Ed and Trixie to perform with him on stage after he agrees to supervise and star in the annual office holiday fund-raiser for a charity chosen by his boss’ wife.? Ralph ends up rewriting and reimagining Charles Dickens’ dramatic classic A Christmas Carol with comedic results when Ed serves as the inexperienced director.

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