Found my dad's tossers last night. You know, those kitchen thingies that mix up salads.
They're old and primitive, a wooden fork with three wide prongs and a spoon with a an indention for an egg. That's because one fresh egg was the essential ingredient in my dad's Cesar Salad, which still ranks as the best I've had.
I cleaned up the old wooden utensils (after their long stint in the garage) and applied mineral oil. Then I used the legacy tossers to make a giant salad for my children, both of them here in the house for Father's Day weekend. Yeah.
This all brought back memories of the Sixties, when mom, dad and I were back in the house in South Florida. A lot was going on any Saturday night -- family and friends rolling in; dog-and-kids shenanigans. Things more or less came to a halt, though, when the Great One made his appearance, in glorious TV color.
When roundmouthed announcer Johnny Olson promised, "From Miami Beach, the sun and fun capital of the world, it's 'The Jackie Gleason Show!' " there was hometown pride aplenty in the living room: Gleason's arrival from New York was a civic coup for sleepy South Florida. I was even born down the road from his TV show's theater, in Coral Gables.
MPI Home Video has released a trio of DVDs with "The Honeymooners" hourlong episodes from that period. The latest, "The Color Honeymooners Starring Jackie Gleason: Collection 3,"
The old "classic 39" episodes of "The Honeymooners" -- with Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph -- were mostly known to us from syndicated reruns. That show about a blustering Brooklyn bus driver and his garbage man pal lasted only one season, a ratings dud that eventually proved immortal.
The black and white "Honeymooners" was the second-go-round for the characters, following their debut on Gleason's "Cavalcade of Stars." The comedian kept the bits going for the rest of his career. MPI's next "Color Honeymooners,"
Revisiting "The Color Honeymooners" had its pleasures and disappointments. Mostly pleasures.
Meadows and Randolph didn't make the trip south with Gleason; they were replaced by Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean, both capable but ... just not the real deal. The new lineup debuted in season 1 (the first MPI DVD), as the gang won free trips to Europe.
No one confused these episodes with the originals, even if some of the material was recycled. Instead of lean half-hour sitcoms, we had hourlong color comedies with opening musical productions and a song-and-dance bit or two from the characters. The Gleason spokesmodels and the June Taylor Dancers provided beauty and froth. (June Taylor's dance company also provided me with my first lover, but that's a story for another time. ... )
Gleason wasn't much for rehearsals, with all that golf, seafood and booze to soak up in Miami. The actors screwed up a few times a show, flubbing lines and whatnot, which feels a bit odd contrasted with the Broadway-like music, dance and production elements. But the great "Honeymooners" comedy duo still had it going, their interplay sometimes better and wiser than in the old shows.
Gleason and Carney were just OK as singers (white rappers, really). The ladies brought their musical theater voices, though, and once in a while a number really connected. On Collection 3, check out Carney and Kean making a racket with a great vaudeville-like song in "Be It Ever So Humble." So good it's startling. Carney won three Emmys for his acting on the show.
Gleason's Miami series also broadcast regular variety shows, but none of those are included here.
On all three of these DVD collections, the video starts off with a thud -- the opening flying-into-Miami Beach footage remains in sorry shape. Once things move to the stage, colors look soft but generally pleasing. (The show was an early user of color video tape.) The images are full screen, of course, and the audio is just-OK mono.
Collection 1 has a short film detailing the Great One's publicity stunt train ride from N.Y. to Miami, an old fashioned whistle-stop campaign that had the nation talking. "And away we go," Gleason said, and he meant it.
Update 6/22: The man from the Times wasn't even remotely enthused. Read the "Honeymooners" DVD set pan. I think he missed the point -- the review is like dumping on a Beach Boys reunion concert for not having the magic of the 1960s band.
delivers something special. The lengthy test scenes are shot like a play, the background mostly black. Most of the main actors are present. 
," only much shorter and sillier. 
," a Jeff Bridges starrer made in 2005 and only briefly released in the U.S. last year. Aka "The Moguls."
. 
the latest installment, is projected to make $30 million in sellthrough (industry talk for sales).
” And so we have stunts such as anal-bead kite flying, fun with snapping turtles, a Russian prostate massage, a cobra-infested bed of nails, the mouth-to-butt powder “poof” and the “rattlesnake salad toss.”
comes to market Dec. 26.
." ("Mr. Hulot's Holiday" bores the hell out of me, go figure.) The Bean story has heart, lots of laughs and serves up one of the best restaurant gross-out scenes on film. (You know what they say about the first man to eat an oyster?)
," Akira Kurosawa's first film with Toshiro Mifune. 
" stomps in for the holidays on HD DVD and DVD. (This brings no joy to the Blu-ray kingdom; Paramount, as you recall, dropped Blu-ray.)
comes with Dolby Digital Plus Audio. The standard def discs come in widescreen (enhanced for 16x9) and in full screen (for those who must). Audio is your basic Dolby Digital 5.1.
. The Rob Reiner comedy classic comes with "The Official Princess Bride DVD Game," which looks like a graphic novel; and a trio of new featurettes -- "Princess Bride: The Untold Tales," "The Art of Fencing" and "Fairytales and Folklore." 
looks like a studio film done right; images are crisp and clear. The audio stays mostly front and center, good for the many choice songs on the soundtrack.
," well acted and made for nothing; Lamberto Bava's fun "
"; and William Friedkin's horror comeback "
."
." That Ed Wood classic is bad, but good for easy laughs. This time, the Film Crew -- you, know, 
." 
. The movie remained in limbo because of the usual Fab Four "rights issues," as with "Let It Be."
" on 
with a reproduction of Lester’s original annotated script, reproductions of eight lobby cards and a poster, plus a 60-page book with "rarely seen photographs" and production notes from the movie. 
