I saw this movie for the first time yesterday on the Fox Movie Channel. Ronnie Burns was so gorgeous! I remember him from the Burns and Allen Show and from one episode of The Honeymooners. I just read that he passed away two years ago from cancer. What a shame.
shareThere is a background story that concerns Ronnie's appearance with Jackie Gleason on that episode of the Honeymooners in which he played Wallace the crazy teenager whose antics inspire Ralph (Gleason) to try to relive his youth. George Burns and Jackie Gleason were apparently quite friendly. Not only did Ronnie appear as stated, but the following also occurred.
On the Burns and Allen show George told a story about how he had lost his wallet by dropping it in the sewer. The punch line being that things turned out well, because 3 days later Art Carney returned it to him. A reference to Carney's sewer worker character Ed Norton. Also about that time the following took place during a Honeymooners episode. Norton is doing a crossword puzzle and is stuck for a three letter word meaning insect. Ralph tells him the word is nat, n-a-t. Alice tells him that bug is a better choice because gnat is spelled g-n-a-t. Ralph and Alice argue the point and then Norton chimes in that he is going with nat, because a fellow worker in the sewer, Nat Birnbaum, does not spell it with a G. This was payback for the Art Carney mention on the Burns and Allen show. It was a wonderful inside joke because George Burns' birth name was Nat (Nathan) Birnbaum.