Customer Reviews

Love, Alice: My Life As a Honeymooner

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The late Audrey Meadows was in some ways an underrated talent. True, she won an Emmy for her role as Alice on Jackie Gleason's classic The Honeymooners, which ran alternately as a sketch and for one season as an actual sitcom. If you ever want to see a TOP NOTCH comic actress at work see if you can get the Jack Benny Program (available on VHS)episode where Benny and his crew recreate the Honeymooners -- with Meadows playing Alice. No matter what the substitute cast does, she stays 100 percent in character as Alice.

This WONDERFUL book is chock full of info about her special chemistry with The Great One Jackie Gleason (to younger readers: he was the inspiration for Fred Flintstone and she was the inspiration for Wilma) both on and off the screen. This delightful book gives glimpses of the Honeymooners' stars lives on and off the screen, ,recounts key happenings on epidodes and traces the history of the show's various revivals in the late 60s and 70s.

HOWEVER: I strongly disagree with those who view this kind of book as nostalgia. It has valuable tips for anyone interested in acting and comedy. Gleason seldom rehearsed and she had a host of body language signals to help him with a line or move in a certain direction. As an entertainer (I'm a ventriloquist) I have always found one thing she said and writes here vital information for someone in a comedy team (even if your partner is wooden): When Gleason was doing key lines she generally froze. She reacted but kept movement, etc. to a minimum to keep the focus on him. Another tidbit: she was initially rejected by Gleason for the part of Alice (too pretty) so she had her picture taken when she woke up, without make up, and when it was submitted to him he KNEW this person (who he forgot he had seen and would not have recognized anyway) was his Alice.

You can sense her awe of and fondness for Gleason from start until she recounts his sad cancer death (she later died of cancer as well). She also sketches other cast members such as Art "Ed Norton" Carney so they come alive on paper. You sense the unappreciated professionalism of this actress who made doing these classic comedies actually done "by the seat of the pants" seem so easy, effortless and rehearsed.

Audrey Meadows gave a five star performance for her writing in this impossible to put down book. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed every moment of her stories of years ago. Ms. Meadows is a gifted actress as well as author. Her anticdotes are as hilarious as the series. And it's good that she respected all of her fellow actors and actresses while writing her beautiful tales of what went on behind the scenes during the run of the "Honeymooners".

Ms. Meadows tells fascinating stories of her years working with Jackie Gleason, although sometimes she heaps the praise on a bit thick. Nevertheless, this autobiography is an absorbing read and a must for any "Honeymooners" fan.

Honeymooner and Jackie Gleason fans will love this book filled with only positive stories about Gleason and the making of the show. In a series of disjointed chapters, Meadows recounts minute details from the time she was cast until the final reunion.

However, she discounts any suggestion of Gleason being less than the greatest boss, claiming to have never seen his tantrums that he was so famous for. She alludes to Sunday morning screaming matches with the staff to pick apart the previous evening's live show--but she never personally saw it. She talks about being banned from the writers' room, where they were locked in and kept away from the performers. She even says that she didn't mind Gleason only rehearsing a script once, a few hours before each live show.

Another concern is that she seems unable to distinguish between the season-long Honeymooner series and the sketches on the Jackie Gleason Show. She mixes them all together like they are the same thing when they were quite different. She also overstates the success of the sketches (claiming the Gleason show was #1 in the ratings for three years, which isn't true) and loves to name drop people who supposedly wanted to be on the show (Cary Grant? He always said he would never appear on TV!).

So you have to take this book for what it's worth--a faithful stage wife putting on her best face for the public. It is so much about him being so great that you learn almost nothing about Meadows, who had a fascinating background and family. This is purely about the show if that's what you are looking for.

"Love Alice" offers a lot of insight to the man himself, Jackie Gleason. Along with stories about Gleason's friends and drinking buddies, cast members, writers, and crew members during the Golden Age of Television, the 1950's. It also includes a number of shared memories concerning the filming and production of the earliest episodes of the "Honeymooners", of which she was such an intrical part. The only thing I wish Ms. Meadows had included in her book, would be a chapter or two of backstories dealing with each episode of the "Classic 39" Honeymooners, sharing behind-the-scenes production trivia of each episode, since I have them all on DVD and enjoy watching them repeatedly.

"Love, Alice: My Life as a Honeymooner" is described by its author as a love letter to Jackie Gleason, and indeed it is. At times defensive, always revealing, this glimpse into the classic Gleason show satisfies both as a source of technical information and a study of The Great One. Miss Meadows is generous with details, and also with photographs, including the "dreary housewife" photos that got her the job. A superior memoir, and a must-have for Gleason fans.

Audrey Meadows is one of the greatest actresses of all time and is a definite legend. This book tells of her times while filming The Honeymooners and then some. An absolute must-have for all die hard Honeymooners fans like myself!