The Honeymooners
In the late 1940s, Jackie Gleason hosted a variety show, The Cavalcade of Stars, on the DuMont Television Network. There he created skits of The Honeymooners with another DuMont performer, Art Carney. The skits became so popular that CBS offered Gleason an opportunity to produce and star in a series of The Honeymooners in 1955, resulting in 39 episodes. Gleason retained the rights to the reruns which became extremely popular with an almost cult-like following. Reference has also been made to so-called "lost episodes," which were reportedly unearthed in the 1980s, and may or may not be the fifteen minute skits originally broadcast on DuMont. The show spawned popular catch phrases such as "to the moon!" and "Hey, Ralphie Boy!"
The Honeymooners starred Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, Art Carney as Ed Norton, Audrey Meadows as Alice Kramden, and Joyce Randolph as Trixie Norton. Their characters were popular and enduring enough to be successfully transplanted to the stone age as The Flintstones two decades later.
As it debuted on The Cavalcade of Stars, The Honeymooners can be considered television's first spin-off.
See also
