Ralph Kramden

''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom which originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It follows the lives of New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden (Gleason), his wife Alice (Audrey Meadows), Ralph's best friend Ed Norton (Art Carney) and Ed's wife Trixie (Joyce Randolph) as they get involved with various schemes in their day-to-day living.

Most episodes revolve around Ralph's poor choices in absurd dilemmas which frequently show his judgmental attitude in a comedic tone. The show occasionally features more serious issues such as women's rights and social status. The sketches first aired on the DuMont network's variety series ''Cavalcade of Stars'', which Gleason hosted, and subsequently on the CBS network's ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' which was broadcast live in front of a theater audience.

The popularity of the sketches led Gleason to rework ''The Honeymooners'' as a filmed half-hour series which debuted on 1 October 1955 on CBS, replacing the variety series. It was initially a ratings success as the No. 2 show in the United States, facing stiff competition from ''The Perry Como Show'' on NBC. Gleason's show eventually dropped to No. 19, and production ended after 39 episodes (now referred to as the "Classic 39 episodes").

The final episode of ''The Honeymooners'' aired on 22 September 1956, and Gleason sporadically revived the characters until 1978. ''The Honeymooners'' was one of the first U.S. television shows to portray working-class married couples in a gritty, non-idyllic manner, as the show is mostly set in the Kramdens' kitchen in a neglected Brooklyn apartment building.Conner (2010)
Sitcoms Often Reinforce Racial Ethnic Stereotypes
One of the sponsors of the show was Buick.

Cast and characters

The majority of ''The Honeymooners'' episodes focus on four principal characters and generally use fixed sets within their Brooklyn apartment building. Although various secondary characters make multiple appearances and occasional exterior shots are incorporated during editing, virtually all action and dialogue is "on stage" inside the normal backdrop.

Ralph Kramden

Played by Jackie Gleason—a bus driver for the fictional Gotham Bus Company based in New York City. He is never seen driving a bus (except in publicity photos), but he sometimes is shown at the bus depot. Ralph is frustrated by his lack of success and often develops get-rich-quick schemes. He is very short-tempered, frequently resorting to bellowing, insults, and hollow threats. Well hidden beneath the many layers of bluster, however, is a softhearted man who loves his wife and is devoted to his best pal, Ed Norton. Ralph enjoys bowling and playing pool; he's proficient at both, and he is an enthusiastic member of the Loyal Order of Raccoons (although in several episodes, a blackboard at the lodge lists his dues as being in arrears). Ralph's mother rarely is mentioned, although she does appear in one episode. Ralph's father is only mentioned in one episode ("Young Man with a Horn") as having given Ralph a cornet he learned to play as a boy, and Ralph insists on keeping the cornet when Alice suggests it be thrown away.

The Ralph character was given honorary membership in the real New York City bus drivers' union (Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union) during the run of the show, and a Brooklyn bus depot was named in Gleason's honor after his death. Ralph Kramden was the inspiration for the animated character Fred Flintstone.Fischer, Stuart ''Kids' TV: The First Twenty-Five Years'' "The Flintstones" An eight-foot-tall bronze statue of a jolly Jackie Gleason in the bus driver's uniform was also erected in 1999 in front of Manhattan's midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal. TV Land funded the statue in cooperation with Gleason's estate and the Port Authority.

Alice Kramden

Alice (née Alice Gibson), played in the first nine skits from 1951 to January 1952 by Pert Kelton, and by Audrey Meadows for all remaining episodes, is Ralph's patient but sharp-tongued wife of 14 years. She often finds herself bearing the brunt of Ralph's tantrums and demands, which she returns with biting sarcasm. She is levelheaded, in contrast to Ralph's pattern of inventing various schemes to enhance his wealth or his pride. She sees his schemes' unworkability, but he becomes angry and ignores her advice (and by the end of the episode, her misgivings almost always prove correct). She has grown accustomed to his empty threats—such as "One of these days, POW!!! Right in the kisser!", "BANG, ZOOM!" or "You're going to the Moon!"— to which she usually replies, "Ahhh, shaddap!" Alice runs the finances of the Kramden household, and Ralph frequently has to beg her for money to pay for his lodge dues or crazy schemes. Alice studied to be a secretary before her marriage and works briefly in that capacity when Ralph is laid off. Wilma Flintstone is based on Alice Kramden.

Another foil for Ralph is Alice's mother, who is even sharper-tongued than her daughter and despises Ralph as a bad provider. Alice's father is occasionally mentioned, but never seen. Alice's sister Agnes appears in episode 22, "Here Comes The Bride". (Ralph jeopardizes his newlywed sister-in-law's marriage after giving some bad advice to the groom, but it all works out in the end). Ralph and Alice lived with her mother for six years after getting married before they got their own apartment. In a 1967 revival, Ralph refers to Alice (played by Sheila MacRae in 1966–70 and once more in 1973) as being one of 12 children, and to her father as never working.

''The Honeymooners'' originally appeared as a sketch on the DuMont Network's ''Cavalcade of Stars'', with the role of Alice played by Pert Kelton (1907–1968). When his contract with DuMont expired, Gleason moved to the CBS network where he had ''The Jackie Gleason Show'', and the Alice role went to Audrey Meadows because Kelton had been blacklisted. According to playwright Arthur Miller, a family friend, writing many years later in his autobiography ''Timebends: A Life'', extensive inquiries finally revealed that her blacklisting was due to the fact that her husband Ralph had, many years earlier, marched in a May Day parade. “Ralph, I knew, had absolutely no leftist connections whatever but had simply thrown himself in with a gang of actors protesting whatever it was that year, and Pert had never even voted in her life”.

The character's name is mentioned in the 1998 American stoner comedy film ''Half Baked'' in the lyrics to the song by the movie's character “Sir Smoka-Alot”.

Edward Lillywhite/E