The Honeymooners Companion [Paperback]

Donna McCrohan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 1978

The first book to trace the 25-year history of TV's longest-running situation comedy, complete with summaries and plots of more than one hundred episodes, and with more than one hundred rare and nostalgic photographs.

For serious students and fans, notes on how the show was created, written and filmed. (Mostly in chaos and exclamation points. The failsafe: get back to the kitchen table.) For lovers of detail, the Hong Kong Garden Chinese Restaurant, the Bushwick Hospital (where Ed went when a manhole cover landed on his head) and an exhaustive list of 500 Honeymooners references, from Aberdeen Proving Grounds to Ziggy.

Scrapbook-style, with essays, reminiscence, photos, songs ("You're My Greatest Love"), note son Chauncy Street today, and updates on Ralph and Ed and all the Alices and all the Trixies. Plus selected sewer jokes and favorite fat jokes, interviews with Jackie Gleason and his real-life boyhood pals, comments by Audrey Meadows and Art Carney and original contributions by Imogene Coca, Bob Hope, Norman Lear, Sam Levenson, Bob Cummings, Joan Rivers. And away we go! 53,000 copies in print.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

ATTENTION HONEYMOONIES: YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURS!

The first book to trace the 25-year history of TV's longest-running situation comedy, complete with summaries and plots of over 100 episodes, including dozens never seen in reruns. More than 100 rare and nostalgic photographs.

For serious students and fans: Notes on how the show was created, written, and filmed. (Mostly in chaos and exclamation points. The failsafe: Get back to the kitchen table.)

For lovers of detail: The Hong Kong Gardens Chinese Restaurant, the Bushwick Hospital (where Ed went when a manhole cover landed on his head.) An exhaustive list of 500 Honeymooners references, from Aberdeen Proving Grounds to Ziggy.

Updates on the Kramdens and the Nortons: Ralph and Ed and all the Alices and Trixies. A trip back to Chauncey Street today. Lyrics to the Honeymooners songs. Selected sewer jokes and favorite fat jokes. Saturday Night Live's Honeymooners Script.

Plus: Original contributions by Imogene Coca, Bob Hope, Norman Lear, Sam Levenson, Bob Cummings, Joan Rivers. And away we go!

Product Details

• Paperback: 241 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (January 6, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0894800221
• ISBN-13: 978-0894800221
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #927,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensively Informative and Astonishingly Complete, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Honeymooners Companion (Paperback)

For the avid Honeymooners fan, this book has it all. Donna McCrohan and her research staff have left no stone unturned to find every fact from the original 39 episodes. Photos, stories, plot synopses, terminology, character names and references abound in this fantastic book. If you really love the Honeymooners, you've got to own this book. You'll find yourself unable to put it down. Getting through a chapter won't be easy when you come across a reference to one of the shows' characters or memorable lines, and finding yourself going to the glossary of terms to look up it's meaning. Almost every conceivable item is listed and defined.

Thank you, Donna for taking me on an unforgettable "HONEYMOON" with one of television's greatest comedy shows of all time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Honeymooners Fans Of All Ages, May 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Honeymooners Companion (Paperback)

Great book for Honeymooners fans of all ages. This book focuses on the 'Classic 39' episodes of the show due to it's being published before the 'Lost Episodes' were found. Also includes a lot of information on the cast and the events leading to the show's success. Overall, it is highly informative and very entertaining. The follow-up book by the same author and R.A.L.P.H. co-founder Peter Crescenti titled 'The Honeymooners Lost Episodes' contains all the newfound stuff on the lost episodes

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brooklyn's First Family of the Fifties, June 15, 2004

By 

Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Honeymooners Companion (Paperback)

Donna McCrohan has put together a massive amount of data and organized it wonderfully in her book, "The Honeymooners' Companion: The Kramdens and the Nortons Revisited". I know I'm going to repeat what others have said, but there's no avoiding it really. For anyone who is a fan of the show, there is no substitute for this book. It has synopses of all 39 episodes, a little bit of trivia, a good deal of biographical information, and scores of great photographs. Donna McCrohan has written this book with authority, diligent research, and not a little bit of nostalgia--but that's quite alright. When she asserts that the characters of The Honeymooners have reached an icon status in American culture, she's not exaggerating. The Honeymooners was a wonderful show and this book does it justice.