Burns and Allen
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Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television.
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[edit] Vaudeville
They met in 1922 and first performed together at the Hill Street Theatre in Newark, New Jersey, continued in small town vaudeville theaters, married January 27, 1926, and moved up a notch when they signed with the Keith circuit in 1927. Burns wrote most of the material, and played the straight man. Allen played a silly, addleheaded woman, a role often attributed to the "Dumb Dora" stereotype common in early 20th-century vaudeville comedy. Both attributed their success to the other, to the ends of their lives. Early on, the team had played the opposite roles until they noticed that the audience was laughing at Gracie's straight lines, so they made the change.
[edit] Radio
In 1929 they made their first radio appearance in London on the BBC. Back in America, they failed an audition with NBC in 1930. After a solo appearance by Gracie on Eddie Cantor's radio show, they were heard together on Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann Hour and in February 1932 they began regulars on The Guy Lombardo Show on CBS. When Lombardo switched to NBC, Burns and Allen took over his CBS spot with The Adventures of Gracie, beginning September 19, 1934.
The title of their top-rated show changed to The Burns and Allen Show on September 26, 1936. When ratings began to slip in 1940-41, they moved from mere comedy dialogues into a successful sitcom format, continuing with shows on NBC and CBS until May 17, 1950.
Burns and Allen had several regulars on radio, including Toby Reed, Gale Gordon, Bea Benaderet, Mary 'Bubbles' Kelly, Ray Noble, singer Jimmy Cash, Tony Martin, Elliot Louis, musician Meredith Willson and Artie Shaw. Their couple's son Ronny also turned up on the show from time to time. Their daughter Sandy, was somewhat shy and not too fond of show business, declined any attempt to get her on the show as a regular cast member, though she appeared in a few episodes as a classmate of Ronnie. Bill Goodwin and Harry Von Zell were the show's announcers.
[edit] Television
When The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (aka The Burns and Allen Show) began on CBS television October 12, 1950, it was an immediate success and had a long run, continuing until 1958.
Historians of popular culture have often stated that Allen was a brilliant comedian, whose entire career consisted of engaging in dialogues of "illogical logic" that left her verbal opponents dazed and confused and her audiences in stitches. During a typical 23-minute episode of the Burns and Allen show, the vast majority of the dialogue and speaking parts were written for Allen, who was credited with having the genius to deliver her lengthy diatribes in a fashion that made it look as though she was making her arguments up on the spot.
One running gag on the TV show was the existence of a closet full of hats belonging to various visitors to the Burns household, where the guests would slip out the door unnoticed, leaving their hats behind, rather than face another round with Gracie. Another running gag showed George watching all the action (standing outside the proscenium arch in early live episodes; watching the show on TV in his study at the end of the series) and breaking the fourth wall by commenting upon it to the viewers.
Burns would always end the show with "Say goodnight, Gracie" to which Allen simply replied "Goodnight." She never said "Goodnight, Gracie," as legend has it.[1] (This "false memory" may be caused by the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ending: "Say goodnight, Dick." "Goodnight, Dick!") Burns was once asked this question and said it would've been a funny line. Asked why he didn't do it, Burns replied, "Incredibly enough, no one ever thought of it."
[edit] Notes
- ^ Burns 18
[edit] Listen to
[edit] References
- Blythe, Cheryl and Sackett, Susan. Say Good Night, Gracie!: The Story of Burns and Allen. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1986. ISBN 0525243860
- Burns, George. Gracie: A Love Story. Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-399-13384-4
