Joyce Randolph, who we know as Thelma “Trixie” Norton, the sensible wife of wacky Ed Norton (Art Carney) on The Honeymooners is celebrating a birthday. And today we wish Ms. Randolph a very happy 99th celebration.
Jackie Gleason, Audrey Meadows, Art Carney and Joyce Randolph, of course, have entertained generations of fans as the Kramdens and the Nortons on those 39 episodes of The Honeymooners from 1955 to 1956. Prior to The Honeymooners, and after, the escapades of the quartet were featured as sketches, first on DuMont network’s variety series Cavalcade of Stars, which Jackie Gleason hosted, and subsequently on CBS’ The Jackie Gleason Show.
The foursome also played their iconic roles in a sketch on variety staple The Ed Sullivan Show.
The Honeymooners sketches were later revived in that same format in Gleason’s variety hour – with Jane Kean assuming the role of Trixie – from 1966 to 1970. Yet, Gleason, Meadows, Carney and Randolph are in everyone’s vocabulary when you think of the golden age of television.
“I guess my favorite episodes of The Honeymooners were the ones I was in,” Ms. Randolph once jokingly told me.
Joyce Randolph’s association with Jackie Gleason began after he saw her in a commercial for Clorets gum in 1951. Gleason asked her to appear in a skit in the aforementioned Cavalcade of Stars. Shortly later, she was cast as Trixie.
Technically, Miss Randolph was not the first actress to portray Trixie. That distinction goes to the late Elaine Stritch, who appeared as a tougher burlesque dancer version of the Kramden’s sensible and dutiful neighbor in a sketch on Cavalcade of Stars.
“That first Trixie certainly did not resemble my much more wholesome version of her,” said Miss Randolph. “The pacing was frantic when we did The Honeymooners. The script was delivered to my apartment in Manhattan and a few days later we went and did the show live. Jackie was against doing rehearsals. He wanted everything to be spontaneous, which for me was no issue. I never had that many lines, after all. But it was a much bigger deal for Art and Audrey.”
At the time, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph gathered without Jackie Gleason to review each script.
“When Jackie moved production of the show to Miami Beach when his variety show returned, it was just not convenient for me,” she added.
After The Honeymooners, Randolph, then an accomplished Broadway actress, appeared in summer stock musicals, made commercials, and had a few guest appearances on various TV shows. In 1991, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph reprised their Alice and Trixie characters in an episode of syndicated comedy Hi Honey, I’m Home.
“People loved The Honeymooners when we did it, but we had no idea that new generations of fans would would enjoy it all these years later,” she said. “We can all still relate to these characters. It is just timeless.”
Inspired by The Honeymooners was the web series The Honeyzoomers, which was filmed remotely during the pandemic in 2020. And, on occasion, those Honeymooners sketches from Gleason’s variety series are available. But, it are those 39 episodes of that one season of The Honeymooners as a standalone sitcom that remain on everyone’s radar.
Jackie Gleason died in 1987, marking the first loss of the show’s famed quartet. Next was Audrey Meadows in 1996, followed by Art Carney in 2003. But, today, we celebrate the 99th birthday of the show’s last surviving cast member, Joyce Randolph.
Bang! Zoom! And a very Happy Birthday to Joyce Randolph.
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