Customer Reviews

The Honeymooners Companion

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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.

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

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.

The Honeymooners' Companion, Donna McCrohan

Donna McCrohan says this book is a "Fan Letter" to the "Honeymoonies" who are fans of this show even when it is on late-night TV, and for the serious students of TV as well as the trivia addicts. This show ran for 28 years with just eight basic pieces of furniture (`Foreword'). Donna first wanted to stand in the Kramden's kitchen ('Acknowledgments'). Her research led to this 1978 book. She actually met "The Great One" during a rehearsal. Donna thanks all who helped. There is a `Contents' that lists the seven chapters, a Glossary, and an Index for its 241 pages. While intended for fans of this show, it is a history of 1950s television and worth reading for nearly everyone.

This book is so rich in details it can't be easily summarized. Listing the seven chapters will describe its layout. 1) Gleason and Company; 2) Kramden and Friends; 3) Behind the Scenes with the Honeymooners; 4) The Honeymooners Plot Synopses; 5) The Honeymooners Highlights; 6) The Honeymooners Biographies; 7) The Chauncey Street Irregulars Glossary.

Could a situation comedy be a success with a fat windbag husband, his scrappy wife, and a sewer worker? (Or a shoe salesman with a dumb wife and two misbehaving children?) It tells something about the cultural era. Do these shows present a family that the viewers could feel superior to? Would "The Honeymooners" be popular in other countries (p.77)? The episodes performed live from 1952 to 1955 are lost (p.148). The "Glossary" explains the many words used in the series. Some may remind you of nearly forgotten events.

The interesting point of this series was the portrayal of life in a cold-water flat. Compare this to most other shows of the 1950s and their middle-class furnishings. This comedy also had few relatives (except as part of a comic plot). But fewer actors kept costs down. The "Archie Bunker Show" (adapted from British TV) was similar but not equal (p.51). The fact that the show was among the top fifteen didn't save it when no corporations would sponsor it. This 1978 book couldn't refer to "Married With Children", some of whose plots could remind you of "The Honeymooners".