Love, Alice

In an engaging, often humorous memoir, the Emmy-winning actress recalls her years playing Alice Kramden opposite the inimitable Jackie Gleason on one of the most popular TV series of all time, The Honeymooners. 175,000 first printing. Tour.

Jackie Gleason originally rejected Meadows as too glamorous to pass as a Brooklyn bus driver's wife. When she "dressed down" to be Alice, he reversed himself and cast her in The Honeymooners. There are stories about Norton (Art Carney) and Trixie (Joyce Randolph), but the star of this book is Gleason, who could out-eat, out-drink and smoke more-up to six packs a day- than anybody. But he was also a brilliant actor and comic, a practical joker and, according to Meadows, a loyal and financially generous friend (in the last matter, Meadows runs counter to the contentions of most Gleason biographers). Gleason's penchant for the big hit or miss extended as well to the bottom line, where he could make the big score, like rediscovering the "lost" episodes of The Honeymooners, and let the big one get away, as when he turned down a 50% share in a young singer named Elvis Presley. Filled with anecdotes that capture the time (the 1950s) and the place (New York City), Meadows and freelancer Daley have written a book that will send fans of Ralph, Alice, Norton and Trixie straight to the moon. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A brisk, amusing memoir of one of everybody's favorite TV classics, ``The Honeymooners.'' When Jackie Gleason first saw actress Audrey Meadows, he immediately rejected her as a possible Alice Kramden, saying, ``She's too young and too pretty.'' The determined Meadows had a photographer come to her house first thing in the morning to take pictures of her newly awake, disheveled, and without makeup. Gleason didn't recognize the woman in the pictures and, when told who she was, hired her on the spot. The rest, of course, is TV history--so much so that nearly 40 years after the last of the original ``Honeymooners'' was filmed, Audrey Meadows still answers fan mail and is recognized as Alice wherever she goes. Now, with Daley, she has written her memories of the years with Gleason, Art Carney, and company. Devout ``Honeymooners'' fans know that Meadows will say nothing negative about Gleason, and her book is clearly intended in part as a corrective to two recent biographies (The Great One by William A. Henry III and Jackie Gleason by W.J. Weatherby, both 1992) that she feels were unduly harsh. Those looking for hot gossip will have to look elsewhere. But despite some rambling and repetitions (the text cites Gleason's composing and conducting record albums as an example of his creative strengths in four separate places), this is, by and large, a very entertaining book, gracefully written, with a wealth of funny anecdotes. Meadows's rosy portrait of Gleason might seem questionable--although, to her credit, she never pretends that what she saw was necessarily the whole story--but her account leaves little doubt that she is a nice person as well as a gifted comedienne. Meadows brings her own wit and charm to backstage stories that will be a treat for her many fans. (b&w photos, not seen) (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Instead of being Meadows' as-told-to autobiography, this is more a homage to The Honeymooners and a politely intimate look at the show's creator--the Great One, Jackie Gleason. A New Yorker through and through, Meadows was at first turned down for the role of Alice, feisty wife of Gleason's blowhard bus driver character, Ralph Kramden. Too smart, poised, and chic, they said. But she knew exactly how to show she could play the role of a tenement queen. She called a photographer to her apartment early in the morning to take pictures of her as Alice, then had the pictures delivered to Gleason, who knew his Alice on sight. The rest is TV history. Meadows recounts that first and other Honeymooners anecdotes in a breezy, conversational manner that carries the narrative along at a merry pace. Neither whitewashing nor scandalmongering, her showbiz memoir informs and entertains while adding to our knowledge of the inner workings of the television industry in its formative days--and of one of its classic shows. Mike Tribby

Meadows details life behind the scenes of The Honeymooners.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.