Handy Housewife Helper - Multi-purpose tool mentioned on episode "Better Living Through TV" (aired 11/12/1955) of the classic sitcom THE HONEYMOONERS/CBS/1955-56.

Ralph and Norton in "The Chef of the Future" TV spot

In one of his many get rich schemes, Bus Driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) paid $100 to make a TV commercial ("The Chef of the Future" with his friend Ed Norton (Art Carney) to sell the "Handy Housewife Helper," a sort of all-purpose kitchen tool (a la the Swiss army knife).

The attachments on the Handy Housewife Helper featured a:

• bottle opener

• screwdriver

• combination Boy Scout knife and glass cutter

• corkscrew

• combination nail-clipper and corn remover

• scissor sharpener

• razor

• can opener

• self-propelled spear-fishing attachment

• pencil sharpener

• fish scaler

• tweezer

• combination potato peeler and apple corer

• cheese grater

• skate key

To get one of these marvelous devices TV viewers were asked to call Bensonhurst 5-6698 (number in original script was Bensonhurst 5-6832). Ralph's supply of 2000 Handy Housewife Helpers cost him 10 cents each and sold for a dollar each.

By the end of the commercial, however, Ralph posing as the Chef of the Future botched every demonstration and even knocked over the wall of the mock TV kitchen set.

External Links

•  The Honeymooners (IMDb)

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