I could never figure out what made the set designers for THE HONEYMOONERS make Ralph and Alice Cramden’s apartment so
devoid of pictures or much furniture, while Ed and Trixie have a very decorative place! Onetime there are at least some flowers out in a box on the landscape that Alice waters, but that’t only so she is out there to overhear a conversation essential to the plot development. There’s nothing about Alice’s character that would make her have anything against ornaments or other apartmental amenities.
I feel that someone made a decision at some point but never explained it. Is it supposed to be their poverty? Ed isn’t rich either.
Also, does the Mrs. Manicatti who is often mentioned ever actually appear? And why did they make it a Mrs.
something else instead of Manicatti in the episode about the neighbor and Alice hiding the neighbor’s husband’s surprise birthday cake and turkey (!) in the Cramden’s dresser??//// (When Ralph eats a lot of the cake he discovers, Alice just tells the neighbor to go down to the store and get another cake and turkey, a preposterous touch, as even nowadays you can’t just go get a roasted turkey anywhere!)
If you’d ever seen the episode in whcih Mrs. Manicotti (along with Alice, Trixie and the other women in the building) took mambo lessons from the suave dancer Carlos, you’d never forget it! (She probably inspired Joe Tex’ “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More With No Big Fat Woman”).
As for the Kramdens’ stark apartment, I believe it was Jackie Gleason himself who spelled out exactly how the apartment should look. He wanted it to resemble the tiny, dingy apartment he’d grown up in.