Alice Kramden and Trixie Norton are "steamed" over the fact that their husbands Ralph and Ed never take them out anywhere. Hoping to make amends, Ralph invites Alice and the Nortons to join him in visiting his pal Bert Wedemeyer and Bert's sexy new wife Rita (wonderfully played by Freda Rosen, the wife of Arnie Rosen, one of Jackie Gleason's top writers). Since Bert is the new general manager of the Gotham Bus Company, Ralph hopes to curry favor by lavishing praise and compliments on Rita. Unfortunately, Alice, who has made a considerable effort to "glamorize" herself for the evening, angrily assumes that the glamorous but empty-headed Rita has swept Ralph off his feet. In a fascinating form of retaliation, the next evening Alice dresses as flashily as Rita and begins fawning all over Ralph, uttering such inanities as "I call you 'Killer' because you 'slay' me." A nonplussed Ralph is convinced that Alice has been "hittin' the rum candy again" -- but by episode's end, all misunderstandings are swept away, and a chastened Ralph reconfirms his opinion that Alice is "the greatest." Best ad lib: "Leave it there, the cat'll get it." Originally shown on June 2, 1956, "Alice and the Blonde" was written by Leonard Stern and Sydney Zelinka.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
