Joyce Randolph? Say what?
It seems impossible that Joyce Randolph could still have been alive. The Honeymooners went off the air 68 years ago and her co-stars have all been dead for at least 20 years. (Close to 40 years in Gleason’s case.) She was an adult during WW2. Of course, other people from The Greatest Generation have died recently, like Kissinger, Norman Lear, Tony Bennett and Sandra Day O’Connor, but Joyce Randolph is different. Since The Honeymooners, she has been basically out of sight, so unlike those others, she seems like someone from the very distant past. It’s like hearing that Charles De Gaulle just died.
In fact, De Gaulle seems more recent to me. I saw De Gaulle in person in 1967, and I probably haven’t even see an episode of The Honeymooners since the 50s. I’ll never forget seeing Le Grand Charles in person at Expo 67 in July of that year in Montreal. He sailed a good chunk of the French fleet up the St. Lawrence, then addressed the crowd from the top floor of the French pavillion, inciting them to a chant of Vive le Quebec Libre. He pulled the same stunt on the steps of city hall in Montreal!
Good thing Canada is a peaceful, polite land. Imagine if DeGaulle had done that in 1967 in New Orleans, urging a free Louisiana! What would LBJ have done to him? When Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson simply dared to make a Vietnam speech on American soil, LBJ actually manhandled him physically! LBJ grabbed Pearson by the shirt collar, lifted the prime minister off the floor and shouted, “You pissed on my rug!” Imagine that happening today between the heads of sovereign states that are supposed to be close allies.
Yeah, that LBJ was pretty macho, all right! You probably know that Lyndon was a creep and a bully. Pearson wore a bow tie, smoked like a chimney, and was nearly 70 years old at the time. He looked like Les Nessman. David Spade could have kicked his ass.
You think these are contentious times? The sixties were not much different. Lester Pearson, although a career diplomat and the only Canadian Nobel Peace Prize winner, somehow always seemed to be in the middle of the controversies. After LBJ grabbed his lapels and shook him, he would never enter the USA again in an official capacity.
That said, Pearson was not a total wimp. After DeGaulle made his controversial speech in Montreal, Pearson told DeGaulle to get out of Canada and stay the hell out – and by golly, he did!
Anyway, back to The Honeymooners! I mean I’m an old coot, and even I don’t remember the original broadcasts of that show. I know it only from the syndicated reruns in the following few years, and I probably haven’t even seen those since I was in elementary school. I do remember that my dad thought that Ed Norton (Art Carney) was hilarious. I guess that’s true. I don’t remember the show that well, but I remember that Carney would make rubbery, loose-limbed moves, so he was like the original Kramer.
To the moon, Alice.
You too, Trixie.
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