A Honeymooners correction, still needed

Three weeks after publication, a factual error in the New York Times obituary for Joyce Randolph stands uncorrected:

As Trixie, Ms. Randolph played the upstairs wife who crossed her arms and commiserated with her best friend, Alice, over addlepated husbands who somehow got drunk on grape juice, found a suitcase of the mob’s counterfeit cash, invented a “handy” kitchen tool that could “core a apple” and, after waiting all year for the convention of their International Order of Friendly Raccoons, took the wrong train.

Those choice — or, in Brooklynese, cherce — details make me think that the writer, Robert D. McFadden, loves The Honeymooners , so much so that he may have been writing from memory. But in the Honeymooners episode “Better Living Through TV” (November 12, 1955), Ralph and Ed do not invent the Handy Housewife Helper. The brother of one of Ralph’s fellow bus drivers has a Bronx warehouse in which someone left 2,000 of the gadgets. Ralph and Ed buy the lot for $200 and try to sell them via a television commercial.

I’ve written to the Times twice about the error. I included a link to the episode at YouTube, pointing out where the relevant dialogue may be found (at the 3:58 mark). Still no correction.

As Edward L. Norton might say, Sheesh.

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All OCA Honeymooners posts (Pinboard)