Meet Trixie and Norton

March 26, 2018 • 10:00 am

I believe that among the names suggested by readers for my new ducks were “Trixie” and “Norton.” If you’re of a certain age (i.e., if you’re OLD), you’ll remember those names as belonging to the neighbors of Ralph and Alice Kramden in the famous “Honeymooners” television show, which ran for but a year (1955-1956). Ralph, a New York bus driver, was of course played by Jackie Gleason, and Alice, his take-no-nonsense wife, by Audrey Meadows. Their neighbors were Ed and Trixie Norton, played respectively by Art Carney and Joyce Randolph (Ed worked in the sewers).

Rather than “Ed” and “Trixie”, I decided to call the male “Norton” and the female “Trixie”.  They’ve been around the last two days, and her are some photos. As I don’t have children, you’ll have to look at my ducky equivalents.

Their breakfast of corn. They’ve learned to hop out of the pond for their corn, and then plop back in for the second course of mealworms.

Norton is a very handsome lad. Look at those curly little pintail feathers!

Trixie is of course my favorite, and perhaps she’ll lay a clutch of eggs soon (the hatching time after laying is about four weeks):

42 thoughts on “Meet Trixie and Norton”

  1. I took our cats outside for our morning ritual of fetching the newspaper and the cats doing their business. They were surprised to see a pair of ducks just like Norton and Trixie drinking from the rainwater in the gutter. I noticed that the female has a bad leg and was hobbling along. One of our cats immediately ran at them but they easily flew away from him.

  2. I like to think I saw the Honeymooners live, first time back in 55. I was only 5 years old so I am not sure how much I got from the first viewing. Certainly saw it over and over in reruns so it is hard to pin down. Ralph drove a bus and Norton worked in the sewers and they lived in the same building. It was a classic of early television. The ducks should tune in.

    1. I pick the Honeymooners as one of the three best sitcoms along with I Love Lucy and the Andy Griffith show (before Don Knotts left). I guess my picks show my age. However, about a year ago I watched a Honeymooners episode with two millennials. It was the episode where Ralph tried to convince his boss that he knew how to play golf. The millennials laughed their heads off.

      The Honeymooners TV show (as opposed to the segments on the Jackie Gleason show) lasted only one year (the classic 39). Some works of art are timeless and people will be watching this show 50 years from now.

      2. Yes, there were moments in those early days when a great quality and originality was experimented with, although we did not know it at the time. Where talent and writing came together for a short time and then disappeared, never to be found again.

        1. In today’s world, the Honeymooners would be accused of condoning spousal abuse because Ralph is always threatening to send Alice “over the moon.”

          Good comedy is impossible now.

          1. Even as a child, it always bothered me that everyone seemed to think that Ralph threatening Alice was funny! I did understand it was an idle threat, but still…

          2. It was not the “moon” part that was disturbing but the balled, raised fist that went with it. I remember as a kid thinking it was a bit much but that he really didn’t mean it so it must be ok.

          3. That is what happens when modern liberal minds see a comedy from 60 years ago. If you paid any attention to Alice in these segments – what do you see. Do you see someone who is worried, or frightened in any way. Please give me a break. It is more likely that Alice sends Ralph to the moon.

          4. I was talking about my reaction when I was a child. My father raising a clenched fist to my mom would have been shocking back around 1960. Of course, I did see the humor in it. Even back then I could harbor both thoughts simultaneously. And this really has nothing to do with being liberal, or shouldn’t anyway.

    1. The way you wrote that made me notice for the first time that “moon” was in the title. Pow, one of these days! I know it’s not intentional, but I like it nonetheless.

    1. The D.A.? Sometimes used (appropriately & not) interchangeably with District Attorney?

    2. My parents used to refer to those as ‘drake’s curls’. They are diagnostic, as far as I know.

  5. I’m nowhere close to old enough to have watched that show, but those are good duck names. They feel very duck-y.

    2. I’ve never even heard of it. I’ll have to check it out on YouTube as Historian recommends. Does anyone have any suggestions for where I should dip my toe in first?

      1. That is a tough one. Could not remember enough about any specific one myself to say. The story is mostly always the same. Ralph is always the loser, the guy on the bottom but with big ideas on how to make it big or at least improve his position. There is always an angle but it doesn’t work out for him and he is destined to live the life he has. A guy with ambition but few brains.

  8. I do believe that I get credit for the Trixie and Norton suggestion. Go to comment 13 from Saturday’s duck update. Not the comment (where I said Donald and Daisy) but the reply where I suggested either of the Honeymooner couples.
    https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/duck-update-my-hen-isnt-honey/#comment-1593524

    I did make many more suggestions – and was rooting for Barack and Michelle. I already have signed (with cat doodles) copies of both of PCC(e)’s books. And I had my Sandhill crane pix published on Saturday. So what can I possibly get for winning the duck naming contest? Even though there was never a contest. Maybe I can join PCC(e) for a duck feeding this summer.

    1. Indeed you do! Pity there wasn’t a prize. Barack and Michelle are too much of a mouthful for ducks.

      You’re welcome to help me come feed them, but there are no other post facto prizes!

  10. PCC[E}. Trixie & Norton left a message on my ductaphone – a lot of quacking from Trixie, but Norton thanks you for the Dusty & Otter episode yesterday & then he says “where’s the promised tomatoes *faint quack in background*?”

    PS I found out the curly tail feather is a male adornment:

  12. You’ve no one to blame but yourself if you wake up to cries of “Lulu” coming from the pond.

  13. This handsome pair will have a nice fleet of ducklings for sure. Hopefully your regular feeding of delicious noms will encourage them to nest at Botany Pond. I wager that there will be 7 ducklings. 🙂

  14. Just an interesting aside for old-timers. Did anybody ever notice that the characters in the Flintstones cartoon show (Fred ans Wilma, Barney and Betty) are modeled after the characters in the Honeymooners?

  16. It’s a pity you can’t band the ducklings then you would know who came back! Great photos.

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