A classic movie which ironically had it's sequel, "The Color of Money" showing last night on TV.......
Posted on 06/14/2013 12:33:57 PM PDT by Borges
THE HONEYMOONERS cast was a marriage made in Heaven, but Jackie Gleason’s drinking and bizarre habits turned some days into a living hell for his co-stars, reveals Joyce Randolph, the last surviving member of the legendary sitcom’s cast.
“Working with Jackie was the toughest challenge an actress could face,” the 88-year-old, who played Art Carney’s TV wife Trixie Norton, reveals in an exclusive interview at her Manhattan apartment. “You never knew what he’d say or do. He often ad-libbed and you had to think lightning fast to keep the laughs coming.”
The classic show centered onthe antics of Big Apple bus driver Ralph Kramden (Gleason), his sewer worker pal Ed Norton (Carney) and their long-suffering wives Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows) and Trixie. The program’s 39 episodes ran from 1955 to 1956.
Joyce says she’d break into “cold sweats of fear” because Gleason, who died at age 71 in 1987, had a photographic memory and found the idea of rehearsing “loathsome. He wanted everything fresh and spontaneous. We rehearsed behind his back with someone else reading his part. Performing live with him, we never knew what was going to happen next with him – but we needn’t have worried.
“Jackie hardly looked at the script, and every line came out perfectly. You were always on your toes to keep up with him.”
Joyce says Gleason also was “terribly moody.” He’d be “fun and charming” one day, but the next “he’d be barking out orders as if he hated everyone!”
Tactfully speaking about Gleason’s legendary thirst for alcohol, Joyce says she knew his coffee was often laced with whiskey, which “affected his mood.”
After The Honeymooners, Joyce concentrated on her family. She and her wealthy marketing exec hubby Richard Charles, who died in 1997 at age 74, had one son, Randolph Charles, in 1960.
“Nowadays, I don’t want to play old lady parts,” Joyce says.
“Nor do they make shows like the Honeymooners anymore – so my acting career is definitely over.”
But not a day goes by that she doesn’t think of her costars. “It’s hard to believe I’m the last one left,” says Joyce.
“I get quite tearful when I see re-runs of The Honeymooners. I still remember every line, every joke. It’s still funny all these years later. Jackie Gleason was a comedic genius.”
Hey. Same age!
What were we? 13, 14 when that movie came out?
I think it was around 1978 or so.
Wow Liz, how neat that your dad was a screenwriter, and had a relationship with “THE GREAT ONE”.. It happens that I did as well, right up until he passed...
We were working on a screenplay clear up until he could no longer talk or even grunt.. I didn’t know him during his active days only in his last two years, and he was a wonderful man, and as sharing and giving as anyone I have ever known.. I never finished the script.. I hope to someday finish it in memory and recognition to him...
He knew people in the biz but their fame didn't mean much to him. It was the person, be it the brass or the gate guy. And he and John Wayne did NOT get along. I don't remember why anymore. Maybe that's why he had him killed off by Bruce Dern in "The Cowboys".
So 15. kewel...
Hope you get your script up and running with a good team of people to make it a success. :)
A classic movie which ironically had it's sequel, "The Color of Money" showing last night on TV.......
"THEY"? If you're including Gleason, I really doubt it...........LOL!
In 5th grade me and my buddy did a skit playing Joe the Bartender and Crazy Guggenheim.
Yow.. Seems like yesterday. But it wasn’t yesterday. It was 1966.
‘My name is Sheriff Buford T. Justice ‘
TV in its’ infancy was rather stark. Shows were live for the most part and screw-ups were a part of the show.
In the Honey-Mooners, Gleason was a force larger than life. For much of the television viewing audience at that time, WWII had been the defining event in their lives. To the viewers of the time, Gleason’s loveable, edgy busdriver character was an inspiration to many. Gleasons’ character would struggle early in the show and in the closing moments would make peace and resolve to do better.
To many people of the time, this bespoke of their own struggles yet gave them hope that in the end they too would achieve the American dream.
Don’t share your opinion on the Bandit movies. By the time Gleason did these, he was a shell of the actor that he once was. For myself, while I enjoyed the movies(what’s not to like about a young Sally Field?), it was painful to watch what Gleason had become late in his life.
thanks sends chills up and down : )
happy fathers day to one and all.
And away we go.....
Saw him from a distance in the Miami airport many many years ago...
: )
A great team of people is a pipe dream, I’m a small timer.. My relationship with Gleason was a fluke, he wasn’t looking for anything but his recovery from his health problem but loved my treatment and took me under his wing...
I sent it to him by way of a mutual friend and we hit it off.. I only wish it was under a different time and circumstances in his life not for my success but for my true admiration for him and his tremendous talents and his willingness to share...
I read an interview with Gleason where he said he viewed his character as more of a “reacter” than a jokester. He wrote the comedic lines for Carney and the sarcastic humor for Audrey Meadows. The character of Ralph Kramden drew more laughs from his reactions to situations or lines, a look, a gesture, or some wild overreaction. You’ll note how many of the Honeymooners sketches are designed to set up Ralph to react in some humorous, boffo manner, rather than utter a funny line.
Originally part of variety show
1955. Half hour series
“Daddy, my hat blew off.”
Par for the course, with heavy drinkers.
...found the idea of rehearsing “loathsome. He wanted everything fresh and spontaneous... Performing live with him, we never knew what was going to happen next with him – but we needn’t have worried.
I’ve heard Robin Williams is a lot like that.
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