"The Honeymooners Lost Episodes: Complete Restored Series" Coming To DVD

Indeed!
everytime I read the additional details of this set I'm glad I did not buy the previous DVD overpriced releases...

 

I agree 110%!!!

I'm curious to see what "complete" means, hoping that means complete Jackie Gleason Shows included. One of my favorite TV shows in my collection is the complete April 4, 1955 Gleason show with the Honeymooners "Stars Over Flatbush," opening, June Taylor Dancers, monologue, and sketch and commercials. I have yet to watch "Stars Over Flatbush" on TV reruns or video/DVD because the way I have it is just so ... perfect!

I'm curious what these "radio shows" are! Anyone have additional information on that?

What gets me is that the number of DuMont skits keep going up, which is a good thing! In the early to mid-1990s we had 7 skits, Disney aired them on specials. When this set was announced a few months back the number was 8, and now it is up to 9! That is a GREAT thing indeed!

Once we know all episodes included on this set, the only skits I can think of that may be missing from circulation include:

- whatever lost DuMont shows still missing
- 2 Honeymooners from Spring 1952 (with Pert Kelton) performed on Toast of the Town (though they are available via the collectors market)
- Gleason and Carney appearing as Ralph and Ed on Gleason's "The Big Sell" TV special from 1960
- October 22, 1962 when Carney guest starred on Gleason's American Scene Magazine. (One skit is available via Goodtimes Home Video release of the first episode, but the second skit from a few weeks later has not been released.)
- January 1966 with Gleason, Carney, and Audrey Meadows doing a musical remake of "The Adaption." This aired on TV Land about 10 years ago, but has not been officially released.
- The missing "8" skits (I think that is the number) from the 1968-1969 season of Gleason's variety show when the cast performed shorter sketches instead of the musical, hour-long shows as they did the previous seasons. When MPI released the color shows, these shorter skits were not included in that release.
- The 1977 Christmas Special, not released by MPI when the other three reunion shows were released on DVD last year.

 

An early review of the disc, including some additional information on the bonus features. Looks like two missing Honeymooners radio shows that were never broadcast. Could be interesting ... but 107 out of 128 episodes are included. This must mean that some shows like the first one to feature the Dorsey Brothers from the 1952-1953 season probably is not included. We shall see in one week.

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/revie...57:+60th+Anniversary+Edition+(MPI+DVD+Box+Set

 

Sounds like some good bonus features. Really happy about the Norton interview segments being included. Can't wait to see that and also the Red Skelton and Jack Benny clips. MPI obviously put some thought into this release this time around!

I'm a little confused by the "107 sketches out of 128." They must have figured out how many sketches were performed on "Cavalcade" and added that to the 103 CBS total.

This is going to be the longest week!

 

Amazon has this up for $80.99...I'd like to see it lower.
I have it on pre-order...so, if they lower it I'm good.

 

I've heard something like this before. I don't know why they didn't take the syndicated prints, which are obviously in better shape, and use the audio from those.

Oh well....

 

shipping soon! can't wait!

 

What are you talking about? I think you misunderstood what happened...

 

Yeah, it WAS the syndicated prints that supposedly had some bad spots re-dubbed. As far as I know, these versions were never released on home video by MPI, and there's been no indication they will be part of the new release. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Roger, you're right. I was unaware of this until it was pointed out somewhere on here. I took the message over to sitcomsonline.com on the Honeymooners board and someone informed me that "Lawsuit" was one of the skits that had the dubbing done for syndication. I have this on VHS from the MPI release on tape and the audio quality is horrendous near the end of the skit, it goes to almost nothing but hums and scratches. Why it wasn't held back instead who knows. Maybe on the new set both the original and the dubbed will be available?

As much as I love The Honeymooners, I gave up on watching reruns on TV and stick to the videos/DVDs. This is why I've never seened the dubbed Honeymooners before!

 

guess we'll all have to see the result of this fabulous box set...a few more days.

 

I don't get it either since other skits that seem to have been fine were held back for no apparent reason. Such is the convoluted history of these shows!

Anyway, just got the notice that mine shipped. Yay!

 

where did you order your box set from?

 

I pre-ordered from amazon.com. Supposedly it will arrive on the release date or they refund the shipping charge. We'll see.

 

I was hoping to find an early preview/review of the set, but so far the only one I know about was the one linked above. I guess at this point a couple of more days won't kill me!

 

I saw two more reviews that give no new info except that the bonus features also include "original introductions" and "curtain calls" - and that the book contains an episode guide with airdates.

 

I bet if MPI would just spend the money, there are companies that can recover acceptable quality from bad optical tracks. But it ain't cheap. (Probably cheaper than dubbing fake voices, though.)

 

looking forward to reading some reviews on this...since I preordered won't really matter, but I'm curious to see what others think.

 

gotcha...thanks

 

This info gathered from booklet scans posted to Sitcoms Online:

The 2 never-before-seen Dumont sketches are:
"Alice & Ralph Get Dressed for a Date Last Night" (11/30/51)
"The Ring Salesman" 2nd version (Spring 1952)
...for a total of 9 Dumont sketches.

The 15 never-before-seen CBS sketches are:
"The Turkey" 9/27/52
"Halloween Party" 10/25/52 (previously reported as "Masquerade/Question Mark")
"Christmas Party" 12/20/52
"The Dorsey Brothers Show" 5/23/53
"Fortune Teller" 4/3/54
"Santa and the Bookies" 2nd version 12/18/54
"Letter to the Boss" 2nd version 5/21/55
...and the 8 Trip to Europe hours.

Other CBS sketches new to DVD:
"The New Bowling Ball" 9/20/52 - 1st Audrey Meadows sketch
"Six Months to Live" 12/13/52
"Sprained Thumb" 9/19/53 (a.k.a. Bus Accident)
"What's the Name?" 2nd version 5/15/54
"Love Letter" 1st version 10/16/54
"Manager of the Baseball Team" 2nd version 6/1/57
(Additionally, the 2nd version of "Stand in for Murder" quietly appeared on the Best of Lost Episodes release.)

Still lost:
"The Missing Pair of Pants" 12/6/52
"Easter Hats" 4/4/53
"Alice's Birthday" 5/16/53
...But scripts of these 3 sketches are included!

And alternate performances of "Sprained Thumb," "Halloween Party," and "Six Months to Live" are lost.

The biggest surprise to me is the inclusion of the Dorsey Brothers episode that was supposedly lost - and it's over 30 min. in length! I've read that their appearance on the Gleason show that evening was a big deal since it was the debut of their combined big band after re-uniting.

 

I can see it now....down the road new lost episodes discovered...brand new edition of the complete box set!

 

If one is lucky. If they're found, we may not have any physical media releases by then. I'd like to think they'll turn up - but then I'm still hoping for Marco Polo.

 

I've been skimming through the first few discs. Watching bits and pieces of these sketches just reminds me of how classic this stuff is. The fact that we now have all these episodes in one place is just amazing that I can't help but forgive the widely varying quality of the kinescopes and any other imperfections.

Some things I like so far: One of the never-before-seen sketches, "Christmas Party" 1952 version, is missing a few seconds of video at the beginning, but they did a nice job of sticking in a few stills while the audio plays.
"Lawsuit" does NOT use the dubbed version. The audio is spotty near the end, but you can make out the dialogue. Gleason was hilarious trying to explain the ending to the previous week's show "Stand In For Murder" which ran long and was cut off abruptly by CBS. I briefly looked at the first Trip to Europe episode, and it includes the opening and closing titles with on-screen sponsor ads and the announcer explaining the premise of the show.

 

I have dozens of movies as well that never made it to digital yet...

you do have a point there...let's hope for the best.

 

The whole wait for the possible end of physical media is a sad wait. Sad for us who enjoy owning it and being able too see and use what we enjoy. Let's hope the few new discoveries now and down the road of The Honeymooners make it to a disc or three.