‘The Honeymooners’: An Iconic Wardrobe Item Came From Art Carney’s Personal Collection

In the grand scheme of television history, The Honeymooners didn’t air for terribly long. The show was filmed over a single calendar year. Still, the iconic sitcom has a cult following and has provided the world with plenty of pop culture references. Fans of the series might have noticed that the cast often wore the same wardrobe, but not many people realize one staple wardrobe piece came from an actor’s personal collection. Art Carney portrayed Ed Norton in The Honeymooners and provided the character’s iconic porkpie hat.  

Norton’s ‘The Honeymooners’ ensemble is iconic 

Art Carney’s wardrobe for The Honeymooners was very specific. Ed Norton, Ralph Kramden’s upstairs neighbor, traditionally wore a white tee shirt, and a vest. He paired them with a pair of slacks. Norton’s outfit was non-descript, except for one aspect of it. The sitcom character always wore a porkpie hat. 

A porkpie hat was first popularized in the 1930s and 1940s. Buster Keaton, a silent film actor, popularized the hat style. Keaton took fedoras and altered the brim to get the signature porkpie look. Ed Norton wore the hat in the 1950s, but it was in Art Carney’s wardrobe years before he landed his The Honeymooners role. 

The porkpie hat in Norton’s wardrobe belonged to ‘The Honeymooners’ actor, Art Carney

Carney’s hat was a staple of his wardrobe in high school. In the 1980s, Carney sat down for an interview with People and revealed that the hat his character constantly wore was one he had purchased in the 1930s when he was still a high school student. He pulled it out for his character in The Honeymooners. 

When the series ended, Carney moved on to other projects but never got rid of his famed hat. While chatting with People, he admitted that he still kept the iconic wardrobe staple in a closet in his home. 

After The Honeymooners, Carney spent most of his career appearing in films. His final film credit, The Last Action Hero, came in 1993. After his retirement, Carney spent much of his time in Westbrook, Connecticut, where he lived with his family. Carney died in 2003 at the age of 85. 

There is a member of The Honeymooners cast who is still alive

The Honeymooners aired in the 1950s, and a lot has changed since then. Most of the cast has died. Carney was the third member of the main cast of The Honeymooners to die. His 2003 death came seven years after Audrey Meadows, the actor who played Alice Kramden, died. Jackie Gleason, famed for his role as Ralph Kramden, died in 1987. 

Joyce Randolph, the actor who played Norton’s wife, Trixie, is still alive. She turned 98 in October 2022. Randolph last acted in 2000, appearing as a dog walker in Everything’s Jake. She’s still active, though. During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, she chatted with The Daily News. She was still living in New York City.