About where does Alice’s mother live? Near or far to the Kramdens? In one episode, Alice says she saw her mother at the market making it seem like she’s nearby; yet, I was sure I recall in another episode, Alice begs Ralph to be nice because her mother goes to the trouble of taking a bus to come for a visit. What does the wisdom of the SD say?
That continuity was not a pressing concern for the writers?
I have to assume that Alice didn’t even really have busfare to splurge (unless she got a bus pass as a perq for her husband’s job) and probably walked to the nearest market, and if her mother had to take a bus to visit them, why would she go to a market so far away from her own place (and then not stop by the apartment)?
In one of the early episodes Ralph and Alice receive a telegram to inform them that “Mother” is coming to stay. For the rest of the episode Ralph complains about Alice’s mother coming to stay and tries to move in with the Norton’s. Of course he has the wrong end of the stick but nonetheless the impression is that mother is some distance away.
OK, that’s good to know that I’m not totally nuts! 
This is certainly the answer. In TV shows from that time, continuity was not much of a concern. Since there was no home recording technology, a show would be seen only once, unless it was rerun, and the writers didn’t worry much about viewers remembering small details from earlier shows. If any consistent narrative can be constructed about where Alice’s mother lived, it’s probably accidental and not necessarily intended by the writers. Heck, the Kramden’s address is not even consistent between episodes (usually 328 Chauncey Street, but sometimes 728 or 358).
Not that big of a concern now either. It would be unusual for any continuity lapse to cause a show’s ratings to fall. In some cases it improves the ratings if the mistake is publicized. Removal of characters and different actors in roles haven’t done in any series, changes in address are rarely noticed at all.
But what about episode 2F09, when Itchy plays Scratchy’s skeleton like a xylophone? He strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
Any time you see that, a wizard did it.
Anyway, apparently the Honeymooners was one of the first shows, maybe the first, that showed what living in poverty really was like. The Kramdens were really poor and lived like it.
Eventually they blamed it on Poochie and fired him.
I would think a bus driver in the 50s made decent money. And they had no kids. And certainly not much in the way of luxuries.
There was not only no home recording technology, there was also no commonly used recording technology at the TV studio, either, other than “kinescopes” which were low-quality films taken directly from a TV monitor screen. The first Ampex commercial videotape recorder was introduced just as The Honeymooners series ended in 1956.
The Honeymooners, like most other TV shows at the time, was broadcast live. The reason we have high quality copies of the “original 39” episodes today is that the Dumont network used the ingenious Electronicam system they had developed, which was a combination TV camera for live broadcast and also a film camera, using a beam splitter behind a single lens. The Honeymooners was broadcast and simultaneously filmed as a multi-camera production with three Electronicam cameras. It’s one of the rare series from that era that survive in that level of video quality.
Dunno about the bus driver money, yet I do recall one episode where we see the interior of the Norton’s apartment - and they’ve got a pretty nice TV (probably not 3D) set and decor that either means sewer guys got a lot of money or something. Ed and his wife have it pretty good - as good goes back in the 50’s Brooklyn.
I don’t think there was ever an explanation in the story line about why Norton’s apartment was nicer than Ralph and Alice’s. As with some of the other story elements, I don’t think an explanation was necessary; the fact that Ralph and Alice were living in very basic conditions made for some good plot points, like Alice having to get a job when Ralph was laid off, or Alice secretly getting a phone that Ralph thought they couldn’t afford, or Ralph’s desperate money-making schemes! 
Not a reality show. The audience seemed to accept it as presented, and I guess it was necessary for some of the comedy, especially the get-rich-quick schemes that Ralph was always falling for.
Oh, I found a source that says he made $62/week. That’s inflation-equivalent to $732/week today – not sure how well one would be doing at $38K/year in Brooklyn today. There’s a link there to the actual wages in 1954: $1.56/hour, which is $62.40 for 40 hours, so I guess that was right. One does wonder where the money went. Was there a housing shortage, so their rent was higher than we would expect?
When I saw these as a child, I was always uncomfortable about how they lived compared to how I lived (which was middle class but far from luxurious). They seemed to be still in the Depression.
Yeah I guess it could have been a kind of one-off to see the Norton’s place. And it was just kind of tasteful, I suppose. Clearly the starkness of the Kramden’s apartment with a table and two chairs was “The Set”
By design. Almost everyone in Brooklyn would have had a TV set and been able to see either the Honeymooners or the Jackie Gleason show, besides all the other channels like Dumont offered.
So many cigarette ads. Which one has the best taste? And is filtered, for my health.
People watching would have loved the “not buying a black and white TV ever. Nor a color TV. Not till they are in 3D!” I did (and do).
I don’t think they were supposed to be that poor. Not at all well off though. According to my father their apartment was representative of post-war life in the late 40s to early 50s for a city employee like Ralph. The sketches began in the early 50s on the Jackie Gleason Show, a variety show the preceded the Honeymooners series.
Dunno if anyone could figure out what Fred Flintstone made at the Quarry, yet that line of work would tend to be high paying (and did the Flintsones have a TV too? They had a record player and phone)
I recall reading how the Simpsons, with Homer’s sole take home pay (he really had no Nuclear skills and they kinda waver on whether he’s the head of sector 7G or just pushes random buttons) yet the takeaway is the Simpsons could not afford - even wherever Springfield is - a home on just his salary.
Seconded (thirded?). Didn’t it only last one season? No time (or inclination) really for the writers to care about canon or backstory.
The average salary for a quarry worker in the United States is $57,906 per year, or $28 per hour. The average salary range for a quarry worker is between $41,808 and $69,488.
In California, the average annual pay for quarry jobs is $66,129, or about $31.79 per hour. The majority of salaries in California range from $49,300 to $75,500, with top earners making $91,288 annually.
This is for quarry workers using heavy machinery and equipment to extract aggregates from quarries and mines, often for use in construction. Their duties include:
- Operating mechanical equipment (dinosaurs)
- Using rock crushers and stone graders
- Handling drilling equipment
- Conducting health and safety checks
- Maintaining vehicles and machinery
- Setting and detonating explosives
- Moving materials in large trucks
You are on your own WRT de-justing for inflation.