George Burns, born Nathan Birnbaum (January 20 1896–March 9 1996) was an Academy Award-winning Jewish-American comedian and actor.
His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his equally legendary wife,
Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for
over three quarters of a century. Enjoying a remarkable career resurrection that began at age 79, and ended shortly before his
death at age 100, George Burns was as well known in the last two decades of his life as at any other time during his career.
From the cantor's son to the Peewee Quartet
Nathan Birnbaum was the ninth of twelve children born to Louis and Dorothy (Bluth) Birnbaum in New York City. His father was a substitute cantor at the local
synagogue but did not work very often. During the flu
epidemic of 1903, Louis had his chance to earn some real money
but contracted the flu and died. Nattie (as he was known to his family) started working in 1903 after his father's death, shining
shoes, running errands,and selling newspapers. When he landed a job as a syrup maker in a local candy shop at age seven, Nattie
Birnbaum was discovered, as he recalled many years later:
| “ |
We were all about the same age, six and seven, and when we were bored making syrup, we
used to practice singing harmony in the basement. One day our letter carrier came down
to the basement. His name was Lou Farley. Feingold was his real name, but he changed it to Farley. He wanted the whole world to
sing harmony. He came down to the basement once to deliver a letter and heard the four of us kids singing harmony. He liked our
style, so we sang a couple more songs for him. Then we looked up at the head of the stairs and saw three or four people listening
to us and smiling. In fact, they threw down a couple of pennies. So I said to the kids I was working with, 'no more
chocolate syrup. It's show
business from now on.
We called ourselves the Peewee Quartet. We started out singing on ferryboats, in
saloons, in brothels and on street corners. We'd put our hats down for donations.
Sometimes the customers threw something in the hats. Sometimes they took something out of the hats. Sometimes they took the hats.
[1]
|
” |
Burns quit school in the fourth grade to go into show business full-time. Like many performers of his generation, he tried
practically anything he could to entertain, including trick roller skating, teaching
dance, singing, and adagio dancing in small-time vaudeville. During these years, he began
smoking cigars—which became comic props—and adopted the stage name by which he would be known for the rest of his life. He
claimed in a few interviews that the idea of the name originated from fact that two star major league players (George H. Burns
and George J. Burns) were playing major league baseball (unrelated) at the time. Both men achieved over 2000 major league hits
and hold some major league records.
He normally partnered with a girl, sometimes in an adagio dance routine, sometimes comic patter. Though he had an apparent
flair for comedy, he never quite clicked with any of his partners, until he met a young Irish Catholic lady in 1923. "And all of a sudden," he said famously (and repeatedly—never failing to get a laugh from it, either), in
later years, "the audience realised I had a talent. They were right. I did have a talent—and I was married to her for 38
years."
Enter Gracie
-
Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen was born into a show business family; after being
educated at Star of the Sea Convent School in girlhood, she teamed in vaudeville with her sister, Bessie, in 1909.
She met George Burns and the two immediately launched a new partnership, with Gracie asking serious questions and George
delivering the punchlines. Burns knew something was wrong when the audience ignored his jokes but snickered at Gracie's
questions. Burns cannily flipped the act around: after a Hoboken, New Jersey
performance in which they tested the new style for the first time, Burns's hunch proved right. Gracie was the better
'laugh-getter', especially with the "illogical logic" that informed her responses to Burns's prompting comments or questions.
Allen's half of the act was known generally as a "Dumb Dora" act, named after a very early film of the same name that featured
a scatterbrained female protagonist, but her "illogical logic" style was several cuts above the Dumb Dora stereotype, as was
Burns's understated straight man. The twosome worked the new style tirelessly on the road, building a following, as well as a
reputation for being a reliable "disappointment act"; someone who could fill in for a sick performer on short notice. Burns and
Allen were so consistently dependable that vaudeville bookers elevated them to the more secure "standard act" status, and finally
to the vaudevillian's dream: the Palace in New York.
George and Gracie fell in love along the way, and married in Cleveland, Ohio on
January 7 1926, somewhat daring for those times, considering
Burns's Jewish and Allen's Irish Catholic upbringing.[2] (For her part, Allen also endeared herself to her in-laws by adopting his
mother's favorite phrase, used whenever the older woman needed to bring her son back down to earth: "Nattie, you're such a
schmuck," using a diminutive of his given name. When Burns's mother died, Allen comforted her grief-stricken husband with the
same phrase.)
Burns eventually admitted that even their marriage suffered at least one stressful enough period that he did the unthinkable:
after the stress climaxed in an argument over a pricey silver table centerpiece Gracie coveted, he had a very brief affair with a
Las Vegas showgirl. To the day he died, he
considered it the biggest regret of his life.
Stricken by guilt, George phoned Jack Benny and told him about the indiscretion. George's housemaid told him that Gracie had
overheard the conversation. George quietly bought the expensive centerpiece and nothing more was said. Years later, it got back
to George that Gracie told one of her friends about the episode: "You know, I really wish George would cheat on me again. I could
use a new centerpiece."
Stage to screen
Getting a start in motion pictures with a series of comic short films, their feature credits in
the mid- to late-1930s included The Big Broadcast of 1932; International House in
1933; Six of a Kind in 1934; The Big
Broadcast of 1936; The Big Broadcast of 1937; A Damsel in Distress in 1937 and College Swing in 1938, in which Bob Hope made one of his early film appearances.
Burns and Allen were indirectly responsible for the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby "Road"
pictures. In 1938, William LeBaron, producer and managing director at Paramount, had a script prepared by Don Hartman and Frank Butler. It was to star Burns and Allen with
a young crooner named Bing Crosby. The story did not seem to fit George and Gracie, so LeBaron ordered Hartman and Butler to
rewrite their script to fit two male co-stars: Bob Hope and Bing
Crosby. The script was titled Road to Singapore and it made motion
picture history.
Radio stars
Burns and Allen first made it to radio as the comedy relief for bandleader Guy Lombardo, which did not always sit well with Lombardo's home audience. In his later memoir, The
Third Time Around, Burns revealed a college fraternity's protest letter, complaining that they resented their weekly dance
parties with their girl friends to "Thirty Minutes of the Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven" had to be broken into by the droll
vaudeville team.
In time, though, Burns and Allen found their own show and radio audience, first airing on February 15 1932 and concentrating on their classic stage routines plus sketch
comedy in which the Burns and Allen style was woven into different little scenes, not unlike the short films they made in
Hollywood. They were also good for a clever publicity stunt, none more so than the hunt for Gracie's missing brother; a hunt that
included Gracie turning up on other radio shows searching for him as well.
The couple was portrayed at first as younger singles, with Allen the object of both Burns's and other cast members affections.
Most notable bandleaders Ray Noble (known for his phrase, "Gracie this is the first
time we've ever been alone") and Artie Shaw played "love" interests to Gracie. While singer
Tony Martin, played an unwilling love interest of Gracie in which Gracie
"sexually harassed" him, by threatening to fire him if the romantic interest wasn't returned. In time, however, slipping ratings
and the difficulty of being portrayed as singles in light of the audience's close familiarity with their real-life marriage, the
show adapted in 1940 to present them as the married couple they actually were. For a time, Burns and Allen had a rather
distinguished and popular musical director: swing era titan Artie Shaw, who also appeared as a character in some of the show's sketches. A somewhat different Gracie also
marked this era as the Gracie character could often found to be mean to George.
George) Your mother cut my face out of the picture.
Gracie) Oh George you're being sensitive.
Georgie) I am not! Look at my face! What happened to it?
Gracie) I don't know; it looks like you fell on it.
Or
Census Taker) What do you make?
Gracie) I make cookies and aprons and knit sweaters.
Census Taker) No, I mean what do you earn?
Gracie) George's salary.
As this format grew stale over the years Burns and his fellow writers redeveloped the show as a situation comedy, focusing on the couple's married life and life among various friends, including
Elvia Allman as "Tootsie Sagwell," a man-hungry spinster in love with Bill Goodwin, and neighbours, until the characters of Harry and Blanche Morton entered the picture to stay.
Like The Jack Benny Program, the new George Burns & Gracie Allen Show
portrayed George and Gracie as entertainers with their own weekly radio show. Goodwin remained, his character as "girl-crazy" as
ever, and the music was now handled by Meredith Willson (later to be better known for
composing the play The Music Man). Willson also played himself on the show as a
naive, friendly, girl-shy fellow. The new format's success made it one of the few classic radio comedies to completely re-invent
itself and regain major fame.
Supporting players
The supporting cast during this phase included Mel Blanc as the melancholy, ironically
named "Happy Postman"; Bea Benaderet and Hal March
(later more famous as the host of The $64,000 Question) as neighbors Blanche
and Harry Morton; and the various members of Gracie's ladies' club, the Beverly Hills Uplift Society. One running gag during this
period, stretching into the television era, was Burns's questionable singing voice, as Gracie lovingly referred to her husband as
"Sugar Throat." The show received and maintained a top ten rating for the rest of its radio life.
New network
They also took the show to CBS in 1948, after having spent their entire radio career to date on
NBC. Their good friend Jack Benny reached a negotiating impasse
with NBC over the corporation he set up to package his show, the better to put more of his earnings on a capital-gains basis and
avoid the punishing 80 percent taxes slapped on very high earners in the World War II era. When CBS czar William S. Paley convinced Benny to move to CBS (Paley, among other things, impressed Benny with his
attitude that the performers make the network, not the other way around as NBC chief David
Sarnoff reputedly believed), Benny in turn convinced several NBC stars to join him, including Burns and Allen. And thus
did CBS reap the benefits when Burns and Allen moved to television in 1950.
Inside and outside the box
On television, The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show put faces to the radio characters audiences had come to love. A
number of significant changes were seen in the show:
- A parade of actors portrayed Harry Morton: Hal March, The Life Of Riley alumnus
John Brown, veteran movie and television character actor Fred Clark, and future
Mister Ed co-star Larry Keating.
- Burns often broke the fourth wall, and chatted with the home audience, telling
understated jokes and commenting wryly about what show characters were doing or undoing. At times he would actually turn on a
television and watch what the other characters were saying when he wasn't there.
- When Bill Goodwin left after the earliest episodes, Burns hired veteran radio announcer Harry Von Zell to succeed him. Von Zell was cast as the good-natured, easily-confused Burns and Allen
announcer and buddy. He also became one of the show's running gags, when his involvement in yet another one of Gracie's
harebrained ideas would get him fired at least once a week by George.
- The first shows were simply a copy of the radio format, complete with lengthy and integrated commercials for sponsor
Carnation Evaporated Milk by Goodwin. However, what worked well on radio appeared
forced and plodding on television. The show was changed into the now-standard situation
comedy format, with the commercials distinct from the plot.
- Midway through the show's run, the Burns's two adopted children, Sandra and Ronald, began to feature on the show, Sandy as an occasional drama school classmate of Ronnie, and
Ronnie himself as George and Gracie's son who held his parents' comedy style in befuddled contempt and unsuitable to the
"serious" drama student. Ironically, then, in one episode Ronnie and Sandy---in a plot centered around their school's staging a
vaudeville-style show to raise money---performed a remarkable impersonation of their famous parents' stage and radio comedy
routines.
Burns and Allen also took a cue from Lucille Ball and Desi
Arnaz's Desilu Productions and formed a company of their own, McCadden
Corporation (named after the street on which Burns's brother lived), headquartered on the General Service Studio lot in the heart
of Hollywood, and set up to film television shows and commercials. Besides their own hit show, the couple's company produced such
television series as The Bob Cummings Show (subsequently syndicated and
rerun as Love That Bob); The People's Choice, starring
Jackie Cooper; Mona McClusky, starring Juliet
Prowse; and Mister Ed, starring Alan Young
and a talented "talking" horse.
The George Burns Show
The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show (home of the legendary skit where George says, "Say goodnight, Gracie" and
Gracie replies, "Goodnight, Gracie!" - a legend disputed) ran on CBS through
1958, when George at last consented to Gracie's retirement. The onset of heart
trouble had caused her to become exhausted from full-time work and she had been anxious to stop for a few years, but couldn't say
no to George.
Burns attempted to continue the show without her, but without Allen to provide the classic Gracie-isms on cue, the show
expired after a year.
Wendy and Me
Burns subsequently created a situation comedy he co-starred in with Connie Stevens,
Wendy and Me, in which he served primarily as the narrator, and secondarily as the
advisor to Stevens's Gracie-like character. The show's premise involved the middle-aged Burns watching his gorgeous young
upstairs neighbor's activities on his television set, apparently via hidden cameras, then breaking the fourth wall and commenting on them directly to viewers. The series did not last long, as Burns withdrew
because of Gracie's health.
The Sunshine Boy
Gracie Allen's death of a heart attack in 1964
devastated Burns, who immersed himself in work. McCadden Productions co-produced the television series No Time for Sergeants, based on the hit Broadway
play. At the same time, he toured the U.S. playing nightclub and theater engagements with such diverse partners as
Carol Channing, Dorothy Provine,
Jane Russell, Connie Haines, and Berle Davis. He also performed a series of solo concerts, playing university campuses, New York's
Philharmonic Hall and winding up a successful season at Carnegie Hall, where he wowed a capacity audience with his show-stopping songs, dances, and jokes.
Then, in 1974, Jack Benny signed to play one of the lead roles in the film version of
Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys
(Red Skelton was originally the other). Benny's health had begun to fail, however, and he
advised his manager Irving Fein to let longtime friend Burns fill in for him on a series of nightclub dates to which Benny had
committed around the U.S.
Burns, who enjoyed working, accepted the job. As he recalled years later:
- "The happiest people I know are the ones that are still working. The saddest are the ones who are retired. Very few
performers retire on their own. It's usually because no one wants them. Six years ago Sinatra announced his retirement. He's still working." [1]
But Benny was not even able to work on The Sunshine Boys, as he'd been diagnosed at last with pancreatic cancer, of which he died soon thereafter (December 26, 1974). Burns, heartbroken, said that
the only time he ever wept in his life other than Gracie's death was when Benny died. He was chosen to give one of the eulogies
at the funeral and said, "Jack was someone special to all of you but he was so special to me…I cannot imagine my life without
Jack Benny and I will miss him so very much." Burns then broke down and had to be helped to his seat. People who knew George said
that he never could really come to terms with his beloved friend's death.
Burns replaced Benny in the film as well as the club tour, a move that turned out to be the one of the biggest breaks of his
career: his performance as faded vaudevillian Al Lewis earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and secured his career resurgence for
good. At age 80, Burns was the oldest Oscar winner in the history of the Academy Awards, a
record that would remain until Jessica Tandy won an Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.
The Droll Deity
In 1977, Burns made another hit film, Oh, God!,
playing the omnipotent title role opposite singer John Denver as an earnest but befuddled
supermarket manager, whom God picks at random to revive His message. The image of
Burns in a sailor's cap and light springtime jacket as the droll Almighty ("Oh, every now and then I work a little miracle just
to keep my hand in. My last miracle was the 1969 Mets. Before that, I think you'd have to go back to the Red
Sea—aaahh, that was a beauty") influenced his subsequent comedic work, as well that of other comedians. At a celebrity
roast in his honor, former actor and future U.S. president Ronald Reagan adapted a Burns
crack: "When George was growing up, the Top Ten were the Ten Commandments."
Oh, God! inspired two sequels Oh, God! Book Two (in which
the Almighty engages a precocious schoolgirl (Louanne Sirota) to spread the word) and
Oh, God! You Devil — in which Burns played a dual role as God and the Devil, with the soul of a would-be songwriter (Ted Wass) at stake.
Burns (as God): Oh, you're impossible!
Burns (as the Devil, to the audience): No, believe me . . .I'm possible!
Later Films
Burns also starred in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band, the ill-advised film based on the Beatles' album of the same name.
Burns continued to work well into his nineties, writing a number of books and appearing in television and films. One of his
last films was 18 Again, based on a half-novelty, country music based hit single he enjoyed, "I Wish I Was 18 Again."
("Why shouldn't I be a country singer?" he deadpanned. "I'm older than most countries.") In this film, he played a self-made
millionaire industrialist who switched bodies with his awkward, artistic, eighteen-year-old grandson (played by Charlie Schlatter). Classically, Burns delivered one of his typical droll observations, when he
realises he and his grandson have switched bodies: "Oh, David, did you get the short end of this deal!"
His last feature film role was the cameo role of Milt Lackey, a 100 year old stand-up comedian, in the comedy mystery
Radioland Murders.
Author
Burns was also a bestselling author and wrote a total of 10 books. They include:
- I Love Her, That's Why (1955)
- Living It Up (1976)
- The Third Time Around (1980)
- How to Live to be 100 or More (1983)
- Dr. Burns' Prescription for Happiness (1984)
- Dear George (1986)
- Gracie, A Love Story (1988)
- All My Best Friends (1989)
- Wisdom of the 90s (1991)
- 100 Years 100 Stories (1996)
Final Years
Burns's stage persona in his final phase of professional life was that of an amorous senior citizen ("I'd love to date women
my own age — but there are no women my own age") that became a running gag for the rest of his career.
Burns never remarried, nor did he elect to perform Burns and Allen-style routines again, with the exception of one such
performance he consented to do with Bernadette Peters. According to They Still Love
Me in Altoona, he found it impossible to sleep until he decided one night to sleep in the bed that Gracie used during her
illness. He also visited her grave at least once a month, professing to talk to her about whatever he was doing at the time —
including, he said, trying to decide whether he really should accept the Sunshine Boys role Jack Benny had had to abandon
because of his own failing health.
George Burns received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1988.
In time, however, the likelihood that Burns would live to see his 100th birthday became a running gag in his (and plenty of
other admiring comedians') stage work, but he indeed intended to live that long, even booking himself to play the
London Palladium as a 100th birthday celebration. (This supplied another joke for his
act, with Burns commenting "I can't die; I'm booked.")
Death
These plans were dashed, however, when he suffered a serious fall in July 1994. Burns had fallen in his bathtub and had
suffered injuries to his head. This was the beginning of the end for Burns, as he started to decline in health considerably. In
December 1995, Burns attended a Christmas party hosted by Frank Sinatra where he
reportedly caught the flu, which weakened Burns even more. Although he reached his one hundredth birthday in 1996, Burns was no
longer mobile enough to perform. All of his engagements were canceled.
On March 9, 1996, just forty-nine days after his milestone
birthday, Burns died in his Beverly Hills home. His funeral was held on March 12th at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather church in
Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale. [3]
As much as he looked forward to reaching age 100, Burns also stated that he looked forward to death, saying that the day he
died he would be with Gracie again in heaven.
Trivia
- Burns and Allen were the subjects of Rupert Holmes' play Say Goodnight, Gracie.
- When Gracie Allen was buried, her tomb marker read "Gracie Allen Burns—Beloved Wife and Mother." After George was interred
with her, this was replaced with one saying "Gracie Allen and George Burns—Together Again."
- In the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the two
humpback whales are named George and Gracie after Burns and Allen. Their routine was also
referenced by Commander Data in a second season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The
Outrageous Okona".
- A recording exists of Burns and other comedians "working blue" in front of a stag
audience at a Masquers Club roast in the mid-1950s.
- During Burns's lifetime, a Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson depicted a futuristic city with flying cars, space helmets, and a billboard that said
"Performing tonight: George Burns"
- Hooters restaurants have a sign that prior to George's death read "We even card George Burns" and following his death were
changed to read "We even carded George Burns".
- Burns was one of the residents of Hell in the South Park episode,
"Hell on Earth 2006."
- Burns was 11 days short of living as long as Bob Hope.
- The Hip Hop artist Dr. Dre mentions George Burns' name in the song Guilty Conscience, he raps about an old store clerk and claims "she looks older then George Burns".
The song features on Eminem's album The Slim Shady
LP
Filmography
Features:
Short Subjects:
- Lambchops (1929)
- Fit to Be Tied (1930)
- Pulling a Bone (1931)
- The Antique Shop (1931)
- Once Over, Light (1931)
- 100% Service (1931)
- Oh, My Operation (1932)
- The Babbling Book (1932)
- Your Hat (1932)
- Let's Dance (1933)
- Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933)
- Walking the Baby (1933)
- Screen Snapshots: Famous Fathers and Sons (1946)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Grows Up (1954)
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Beauty (1955)
- All About People (1967) (narrator)
- A Look at the World of Soylent Green (1973)
- The Lion Roars Again (1975)
Radio series
- In their debut series, George and Gracie shared the bill with Guy Lombardo and his
orchestra. The pair launched themselves into national stardom with their first major
publicity stunt, Gracie's ongoing search for her missing brother.
- This series featured another wildly successful publicity stunt which had Gracie running for President of the United States.
- Advertised a brand new product called Spam; this show featured musical numbers by
jazz great Artie Shaw.