Va-Va-Voom

17 November 2003


Art Carney Passes On

It falls to few actors to be forever identified with a character they have played, and often, that blessing becomes a curse that kills a career. In the case of Art Carney, a man who shall forever be Ed Norton of TV's "The Honeymooners," the secret to such sweet success was over-whelming talent coupled with hard work. The world became a slightly sadder place when he died at the age of 85 last week, but it is a far happier place because of his work.

Although he won an Oscar for best actor in the film "Harry and Tonto" and appeared on Broadway in plays like "The Odd Couple," to see Art Carney was to see Ed Norton, the goofy sidekick and warm hearted goofball who set up punchlines so that Jackie Gleason a/k/a Ralph Kramden could knock them down. But Mr. Gleason himself said that the first time he ever saw Mr. Carney act, "I know that I would have to work twice as hard for my laughs." The Great One knew he could be upstaged.

Granted the writing of the scripts gave the ensemble a virtual arsenal of comedic weapons, but it took masters of the genre like Mr. Carney to spend a good minute getting ready to sign his name while Mr. Gleason grew every more anxious until he exploded on the small screen in a rage that would have been scary were it not for Mr. Carney's preparation. And who could forget the episode of the golf lesson? First, address the ball -- "Hello, ball."

American culture is, for better or worse, the dominant one as the twenty-first century opens. Blue jeans, McDonald's, rock and roll have gone global. But definitely for better, one of the products America has exported is "The Honeymooners," which combines the universal themes of everday life with a vision of Americans as they really were -- no high powered attorneys, nor gajillionaires, but a bus driver, a sewer worker and their ever-suffering, but ever loving, wives.

At the end of a performance, the applause from the live studio audience on the set of "The Honeymooners" was genuine. Were there an audience to respond to the life of Art Carney, a standing ovation would be in order. Ralph Kramden was always saying it to Alice, but he should have said it to Ed, too -- "You're the greatest."

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