In the old days, Americans erected statues to real-life people, more often than not larger-than-life generals mounted on horses. A little over a decade ago, however, TV Land created a set, in locations around the country, for fictitious television icons, including for The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Minneapolis), The Bob Newhart Show (Chicago), Bewitched's Samantha (Salem, Mass.) Happy Days' Fonzie (Milwaukee) and The Andy Griffith Show (North Carolina).But of them all, the one accompanying this post--of Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden, carrying his lunchbox on the way to his job as a bus driver--might be my favorite. I took this shot last week at its location outside New York City’s Port Authority Building, down in midtown. (In case you're wondering: No, Ralph didn't go on a diet before I snapped this image. I cropped the shot extra close to squeeze out a lunkhead on the side of the frame who was desecrating this shrine to The Great One.)
Oddly enough, I normally pass in and out of the building directly north of the one where Ralphie Boy greets commuters, but I seldom pass this. But I was inspired (if that’s the right word) to take the short walk over by a reader of this blog, who, in responding to a post on JFK’s call to land a man on the moon, expressed the belief that The Honeymooners’ Ralph and his dearly beloved Alice had made it there first.
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