When We Used To Laugh At Ourselves

Yesterday, my friend Shirley and I got to talking about TV shows and movies that couldn’t be produced today because they aren’t PC. We began laughing so hard because of how sexist or racist they were. We weren’t laughing because they made fun of people; we were laughing because we couldn’t believe they were made in the first place. Baby Boomers will remember these shows, but younger generations won’t. I’ll try my best not to offend anyone, and it’s okay if you don’t find any of it funny. We’re all different.

The Jackie Gleason Show

Jackie Gleason played Ralph Kramden on the Honeymooners starting in 1955. It was a half-hour sitcom with Audrey Meadows playing his wife Alice; Art Carney, his upstairs neighbor played by Ed Norton; and Joyce Randolph as his wife, Trixie.

The show was a huge success and ran for many years. I think if you asked most Baby Boomers if they liked watching The Honeymooners, they’d say no. The reason is that Ralph Kramden constantly yelled in Gleason’s loud baritone voice. I say constantly because Ralph was pretty much pissed about something all the time. Boomers were stuck with watching the show because there were only three stations at the time, and our parents watched it.

If you weren’t a boomer, you might be wondering what made that show politically incorrect. The show promoted spousal abuse. Whenever Ralph got mad at Alice, he would hold his fist in the air and yell:

One of these days, Alice! To the moon! To the moon, Alice!

However, Alice was no wimp. She always had great one-liners insulting Ralph and putting him in his place. It was a dysfunctional marriage, to say the least.

Recalling The Honeymooners is what set Shirley and me off to laughing hysterically about how some of the shows we grew up with and even some a little later on couldn’t be made today.

The Beverly Hillbillies

This sitcom aired from 1962 to 1971. The Clampetts were a backwoods Tennesse family who struck oil on their land and moved to Beverly Hills with all their riches. The cast included Buddy Ebsen as Jed Clampett, Irene Ryan as Granny, Donna Douglas as Elly Mae, and Max Baer Jr. as cousin Jethro Bodine.

It was among the top 20 shows for eight seasons and the number one TV series for two years. Just about everyone in the country found this show hilarious, myself included.

The Beverly Hillbillies insulted all Southerners. It portrayed them as bumbling, ignorant, idiots and it was hilarious. My mother was from Kentucky, and everyone on that side of the family found it hilarious. My mother would often comment that Southerners didn’t really act like that.

Shirley insisted that the show wasn’t about Southerners. It was about people from Appalachia. Having Southern parents, but being a native of California, I can tell you for sure that people from the North, East, and West think that’s a representation of all Southern people. Southerners are the butt of many jokes. Yes, that’s a generalization. I realize it, so no complaints, please. I’ve heard Shirley, a Jewish Californian, make jokes about Southerners.

I met a woman from Texas a short time ago whose husband’s employment transferred him to California. I asked her how she liked California. She had a long list of reasons why she didn’t like it. One reason was that the sun wouldn’t go away. This was in L.A., and the other reason: Californians think if you’re from the South, you’re stupid.

Even so, the majority of Southerners thought the Beverly Hillbillies were hilarious. At that time in history, people could laugh at themselves.

I asked my friends on Facebook what movies they thought couldn’t be made today because they are racist or sexist. I got a long list, and I will post them here for the younger people to see. If you’re curious about any of these, you might be able to find episodes on YouTube. I question some of these, and I’d like to hear your opinion:

• All In the Family
• The Jeffersons
• Sanford and Son

• Chico and the Man
• Threes Company
• Good Times
• Different Strokes
• Laverne and Shirley
• Mary Hartman Amos and Andy

If you haven’t seen the movie Blazing Saddles, you’ve missed an all-time favorite comedy. It makes fun of every race. However, if you don’t have a funny bone, maybe you shouldn’t. Keep in mind that Richard Pryor, a black comedian, was one of the writers.