Although various secondary characters make multiple appearances, and occasional exterior shots are incorporated during editing, virtually all action and dialogue is "on stage" inside the normal backdrop.

Ralph enjoys bowling and playing pool; he is proficient at both and is an enthusiastic member of the Loyal Order of Raccoons (although in several episodes, a blackboard at the lodge lists his dues as being in arrears).

Alice runs the finances of the Kramden household, and Ralph frequently has to beg her for money to pay for his lodge dues or crazy schemes.

"Ralph, I knew, had absolutely no leftist connections whatever but had simply thrown himself in with a gang of actors protesting whatever it was that year, and Pert had never even voted in her life."

Some of the actors who appeared multiple times on the show include George O. Petrie and Frank Marth as various characters, Ethel Owen as Alice's mother, Zamah Cunningham as apartment building neighbor Mrs. Manicotti, and Cliff Hall as the Raccoon Lodge president.

Other settings used in the show included the Gotham Bus Company depot, the Raccoon Lodge, a neighborhood pool parlor, a park bench where Ralph and Ed occasionally meet for lunch, and on occasion the Nortons' apartment (always noticeably better-furnished than the Kramdens').

The series presents Ralph as an everyman and an underdog who struggles to make a better life for himself and his wife, but who ultimately fails due to his own shortcomings.

Based on the popular radio show The Bickersons, Gleason wanted a realistic portrayal of life for a poor husband and wife living in Brooklyn, his home borough.

[26] Ensemble cast member Art Carney made a brief appearance as a police officer who is hit with flour that Ralph throws from the window.

The Kramdens' financial struggles mirrored those of Gleason's early life in Brooklyn, and he took great pains to model the set on his memory of the apartment where he had lived.

Trixie (maiden name never mentioned), Ed's wife, was originally portrayed by Elaine Stritch as a burlesque dancer, but was replaced after just one appearance by the more wholesome-looking Joyce Randolph.

[20][26] With the colorful array of characters whom Gleason had invented, including the cast of "The Honeymooners" sketches, Cavalcade of Stars became a great success for DuMont and increased its audience share from 9% to 25%.

Gleason's contract with DuMont expired in the summer of 1952, and the financially struggling network (which suffered through ten rounds of layoffs from July through October 1953) was unable to retain him, and he moved to CBS.

In July 1952, CBS president William S. Paley sent Gleason and his cast on a highly successful nationwide five-week promotional tour, performing musical numbers and sketches (including the popular "The Honeymooners").

[28] Production was handled by Jackie Gleason Enterprises Inc., which also produced Stage Show, a program that aired directly before episodes of The Honeymooners and starred the Dorsey Brothers.

[19][26] Meadows, who later became a banker, was reportedly the only cast member to receive residuals when the "Classic 39" episodes were rebroadcast in syndication because her brother Edward, a lawyer, had inserted language to that effect into her contract.

[30] The first episode of the new half-hour series aired on Saturday, October 1, 1955, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time opposite Ozark Jubilee on ABC and The Perry Como Show on NBC.

As a result of the superior picture and sound quality afforded by the system, episodes of The Honeymooners were much more suitable for rebroadcast than were most other live shows of the era.

It consisted of a table and chairs, a chest of drawers, a curtainless window with a painted backdrop view of a fire escape and adjoining tenements, a noisy sink and an outdated icebox.

[20][26] In January 1966, Meadows returned on Gleason's American Scene Magazine variety series as Alice for "The Honeymooners: The Adoption", a reenactment of a 1955 non-musical sketch of the same name, with original songs added by Duddy and Bresler.

Young Harvey Wallstetter Jr. makes a reference to Davy Crockett, which was a pop culture sensation at the time because of ABC's 'Disneyland' TV series.

Note: The song that Ralph learns to dance to is "The Hucklebuck" which was written by Andy Gibson and Roy Alfred and sung by Kay Starr.

Production of the 24 individual volumes and the six four-disc box sets ceased in 2008, but MPI has since renewed its deal with Jackie Gleason Enterprises and has continued to release new editions of the "lost" episodes and other Honeymooners material not currently owned by CBS.

[42] In Australia (Region 4), Shock Entertainment released "The Honeymooners - Classic 39 Episodes" five-disc set in NTSC format on November 13, 2009,[43] rereleased on August 5, 2020.

[44] Because of its enduring popularity, The Honeymooners has been referenced numerous times in American pop culture, and has served as the inspiration for other television shows, most notably The Flintstones.

French Canada was entertained[citation needed] for years in the 1960s and '70s by a sitcom titled Cré Basile, with Olivier Guimond, Béatrice Picard, Denis Drouin and Amulette Garneau, which was an uncredited Quebecois version of The Honeymooners.

In 1994, the Dutch broadcasting network KRO produced a version of The Honeymooners titled Toen Was Geluk Heel Gewoon (Back then happiness was common), using translated scripts of the original series but changing its setting to 1950s Rotterdam.

After the original 39 scripts were exhausted, the series' lead actors, Gerard Cox and Sjoerd Pleijsier, took over writing, adding many new characters and references to Dutch history and popular culture.

The game involves the Kramdens and Nortons trying to earn $223 for train fare to Miami Beach, where Ralph wants to host the annual Raccoon Lodge convention, by playing a variety of mini-games related to the series.

Producers Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Eric & Kim Tannenbaum, and Jeff Greenstein were also announced as part of the development deal.