Ed Norton was the lovable pal of Ralph Kramden on the classic television sitcom, "The Honeymooners." Award-winning actor, Art Carney, played Norton and the legendary actor, Jackie Gleason, played Kramden. Carney was born Arthur William Matthew Carney in Mount Vernon, New York on Nov. 4, 1918, and passed on Nov. 9, 2003. Carney joined the cast of "The Honeymooners" in 1950 and remained with the show until it left to go to Hollywood for production. His character, Ed Norton worked as a maintenance man in the New York City sewer system . Carney won five Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Ed Norton.
"One Day At a Time" was a situation comedy that ran from 1975 to 1984 on the CBS television network about a divorced single mother starting life over and raising her two daughters. The Duane Schneider character was the building superintendent and maintenance man for the apartment building. Schneider was the 'funny man' in story lines and plots full of classic slap-stick-style bumbling and mischief. Despite his antics, Schneider always came through to help the mother (played by Bonnie Franklin) and her daughters (played by Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli) and treated them like family. Actor, Pat Harrington, Jr., played Schneider. In real life, Harrington was quite the opposite of his tool-belt wearing character. He held a bachelor's and a master's degree in political philosophy from Fordham University.
Nathan Bookman was the building superintendent for the housing project complex where the Evans family, the central characters for "Good Times," lived. Actor/comedian/singer, Johnny Brown played the role of Bookman from 1977 until the show ended in 1979. Initially, the Bookman character was a foe of the Evans family and tried every way possible to get them evicted. Cast members, including J.J. 'Dy-no-mite' Evans (played by Jimmy Walker), nicknamed the portly Bookman character Buffalo Butt. In the fourth season, James Evans (the father, played by John Amos) died; Bookman occasionally showed a softer side and became the family friend. "Good Times" was created and developed by legendary producer Norman Lear.
One maintenance man became an icon in the world of television commercials -- "The Maytag Repairman." Actors Tom Pedi, Jesse White Gordon Jump and Hardy Rawls were cast as pitchmen over the years. But no actor was as memorable as the second pitchman, Jesse White. His doleful eyes, chubby cheeks and slightly crackly voice were perfectly cast to play the loneliest repairman in the world. White sat at his desk in commercial after commercial from 1967 to 1989, waiting for someone to call him to repair a Maytag washing machine.