Young at Heart (The Honeymooners)

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“Young at Heart”
The Honeymooners episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 20
Written by Marvin Marx and
Walter Stone
Directed by Frank Satenstein
Guest stars Ronnie Burns (Wallace)
Production no. n/a
Original airdate February 11, 1956
Episode chronology
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"Ralph Kramden, Inc." "A Dog's Life"
List of The Honeymooners episodes

Young At Heart is the 20th episode of the TV series The Honeymooners. Ralph tries to prove to Alice that he's not a 'Fuddy-Duddy'.

[edit] Plot

Alice answers the door and lets in Judy, a teenage neighbor from downstairs. Judy needs a favor from Alice - her boyfriend Wallace is coming over, but she doesn't want him to run into her parents, so she told Wallace to meet her at the Kramden apartment and asks Alice to call down to let her know when Wallace shows up. Judy tells Alice about the date they're going to go on - they'll go to the amusement park, through the tunnel of love, and go roller skating. Alice thinks it sounds wonderful, and tells Judy she'll let him know when Wallace comes.

When Ralph and Norton come to the apartment, Wallace comes in a few moments later, looking for 'angel cake'. Alice soon explains that he's waiting for Judy. Wallace tells them that tonight is going to be a special night - he's planning on giving 'my pin' to Judy, which indicates that he wants her to go steady with him. Judy shows up and the two leave. Alice sighs about how cute they are, but Ralph and Norton take the opportunity to make fun of them. Alice gets angry, stating that there's nothing wrong with bop contests and roller-skating - it's a way of keeping young, but apparently they're 'too old' to have fun anymore. Ralph realizes that Alice is right, and endeavors to have a night of fun with Alice.

The next day, Ralph shows up in his old fraternity uniform. Norton comes down with his phonograph player and plays "The Hucklebuck" for Ralph. Ralph at first thinks the dance described in the song is crazy, but soon finds his own manner of dancing. Alice soon comes into the apartment and thinks that Ralph has "flipped his lid", until he tells her that he wants to take her out to the amusement park and go roller-skating, which Alice happily agrees to.

At the amusement park, Alice, Trixie and Norton come out on their roller skates, but Ralph struggles to stay in balance on his. Alice and Trixie sit on a bench while Norton goes off to have his skate fixed (he thinks there's something loose in one of the wheels), leaving Ralph to get drinks for the wives. Ralph struggles to get to the counter, gets some coffee, and struggles to get back to Alice and Trixie. Somehow, he manages to get back to the bench in one piece - but he quickly slips, spilling coffee over everyone. Norton comes out, and soon everyone starts slipping on the coffee and each other.

Back at the apartment, Ralph is in an angry mood, feeling that he was tricked into going roller-skating. When Norton, followed by Alice and Trixie start laughing about the falling down, Ralph soon joins them in laughing. He quotes from George Bernard Shaw that 'youth is wasted on the young', and concludes that as long as you feel young, you'll always stay young.

[edit] Facts

  • The scene where Ralph struggles on roller-skates to keep coffee in balance was taken from a sketch he did earlier in his variety show, where the silent character The Poor Soul was the one struggling with the coffee. During this scene on this episode, you can hear someone in the audience yell out "Steady Now, Steady!" to Gleason's Kramden when he struggles with the coffee.