Jane Kean: The Other Trixie
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
What better autograph and celebrity encounter to share on Valentine’s Day than a star of the most romantic comedy ever to come down the pike – The Honeymooners! Jane Kean was the fourth and final actress to play the role of Trixie Norton on The Jackie Gleason Show when the show moved to Miami Beach. She remained in the show for the small handful of reunion specials in the 1970’s as well. Admittedly, the later color shows were inferior to the Classic 39 and earlier episodes from Gleason’s show. But the fact that this is one of my all-time favorite series made her autograph highly desirable, even before I had actually been able to revisit these Miami Beach episodes when a handful were finally released in 2006. Two more sets are on the way too, and I’m excited.
The Summer of 1976 was over and my Mom wanted me the hell out of the house. Okay, it probably wasn’t that drastic, but she did try to get me in to Kindergarten that Fall because she felt that I was in desperate need of a challenge. My birthday, being on October 2, was two days over the deadline to get into school, so I needed to be tested to see if I was ready to be enrolled early. I passed every test with flying colors, except for one thing: I cried for my Mom when they took me in to be tested. I had never done that before (at least since I was a toddler) and never did it again to my knowledge. 
After our tour of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum on Tuesday, October 4, 2005, Jimmy and I decided to do some exploring around Hollywood Boulevard. When we stopped by the front of the Chinese Theater, we were offered free tickets to see the Jimmy Kimmel Show filming across the street. We only had a couple of hours to kill before they began letting us in at 7:00pm, with taping commencing at 8:00, so we grabbed a bite to eat at the Hollwood and Highland Center, where we opted for the French Crepe Company. 
Following our visit with Mildred Kornman in San Diego on Tuesday, October 4, 2005, Jimmy and I hightailed it back to Hollywood to check off a few more items on my list of things to accomplish. You wouldn’t think it would take to long to go from one place to the other, both of them being hubs of Southern California, but traffic was always disastrous at any and all times of the day. It was well after 1:00pm if not later before we had reached the first of our destinations, Hollenbeck Park, the site where Laurel and Hardy filmed their two-reeler Men O’ War in 1929. This was the first time I had ever been to this great location. (More on that later). 
In addition to the autograph request I sent to