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Artist:

George Burns

George Burns

Born:
Jan 20, 1896 in New York City

Died:
Mar 09, 1996 in Beverly Hills, California

Representative Songs:

"The Burns and Allen Show," "I Wish I Was Eighteen Again," "Fixing a Hole"

Representative Albums:

Best of George Burns, Young at Heart, Musical Trip

Similar Artists:

Gracie Allen, Bob Hope

A Member of the Group:

Burns & Allen

Worked With:

Bing Crosby
  • Birth Name: Nathan Birnbaum
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Active: '20s - '90s
  • Instrument: Vocals

Biography

George Burns had two distinct careers, one an outgrowth of the other. After the death of his beloved wife and partner for 40 years, Gracie Allen, George Burns went back to work in show business as a single. This wasn't the first time, as Burns had a checkered career pre-Burns and Allen when he first started in vaudeville, doing any kind of an act that would keep him in front of audiences. "Show business had a lot of appeal to me," Burns once said, "you got to wear nice clothes, you got to travel, sometimes you got paid, and it didn't require heavy lifting. You didn't really need much talent to get started in vaudeville, and if there was one thing I had, it wasn't much talent." He worked as Glide in "Goldie, Fields, and Glide," Jose of "Jose and Dolores," Eddie Delight, Jed Jackson of "Jackson and Malone," Harris of "Harris and Dunlop," Maurice Valentine of "Maurice Valentine and his Trained Dog," Captain Betts of "Captain Betts and his Trained Seal," and -- at various times -- both Brown and Williams of "Brown and Williams." This kind of non-stop non de plume action would dismay most performers, but as Burns -- born Nathan Birnbaum in 1896 -- so saliently pointed out, "The only things all of my acts had in common is that they weren't very good. I only had one rule: I only worked with people who would work with me. It was tough, but I loved every minute of it. I was in show business and that was all I cared about. There was always another theater, or a new act, or a new name. I never cared what name I was working under, as long as I working. And why should I have felt bad about changing my name? Even my real name wasn't my real name." But now-almost 60 years after he started singing with the Pee Wee Quartet for street corner change in New York-he was on his own again, this time as George Burns, former straight man to one of the most revered comediennes in show business history. This would normally start the descent of most any performer, starting from square one in their 70s. But the single most amazing fact of this story is not only did Burns take those odds, but ended up ultimately becoming the longest running act in show business with a solo career that even eclipsed his 40 years feeding straight lines to Gracie Allen.

Of course all that time spent in the trenches, both pre and post success, had informed Burns with a show business savvy second to no one. He was the behind the scenes brains behind Burns and Allen, writing all of their early material, working on Gracie's character until he had honed the act into a well oiled and incredibly successful machine. He knew what worked and what didn't and had his phalanx of writers groove all their material in a singular direction that never varied, but only embellished, the public's perception of their characters. Burns kept the machine up and running, scoring major successes in vaudeville, the movies and radio for the next 20 years. When that machine landed on television in the early 50s, Burns started his own company, producing other shows besides his own. The first of these was The People's Choice, a sitcom starring former child star Jackie Cooper, who worked with a talking basset hound as a co-star. This talking animal gimmick reached its television apogee with another show Burns' company later produced, Mister Ed.

After Gracie put an end to the act, announcing her retirement in 1958 (see Burns and Allen entry), George was quickly back on the air appearing with Connie Stevens in the half hour comedy, Wendy and Me. He also started working live again, teaming up with both Stevens and Carol Channing as well as giving newcomer Ann-Margret her first big break as a featured performer in his Vegas act. He appeared on or starred in television specials like there was no tomorrow, among them, George Burns In Nashville?, George Burns' Early, Early, Early Christmas Special and the funny and touching A Love Letter To Jack Benny. Burns suddenly became the darling of the late night talk show circuit (Johnny Carson in particular), regaling audiences with one great show business story and old song-which he would deliberately never finish-after another. He had achieved legendary status, a true show biz veteran who could still get in there and mix it up. But unlike many an old vaudevillian who could only dredge up former glories, George was smart enough to update his act to keep current with the times and always making sure his material-like his toupees-fit his age. He started appearing in movies again, doing everything from inane guest shots in the execrable Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band (making him certainly the only performer in show business history to work with both Al Jolson and Aerosmith), to playing God in two hit movies. He cut hit records ("I Wish I Eighteen Again," "It's The Only Way To Go"), he did one man shows to packed houses. The older he got, the better his act got.

Approaching his 80s, he suddenly decided to start putting his wit and wisdom down on the printed page. With a ghost writer taking it all down, the man who barely finished the fourth grade ended up writing eight books -- all of them best sellers -- including a marvelous tome on the love of his life, entitled Gracie: A Love Story. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys at the age of 79. He was one of the pioneers who helped invent modern show business, there at the dawn of recordings, movies, radio and television. He lived to be 100 and then some, his career spanning almost the entire 20th century. George Burns was truly one of the all time greats and it is safe to say that we will never see his likes again. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
 
 
Actor:

George Burns

  • Born: Jan 20, 1896 in New York City, New York
  • Died: Mar 09, 1996
  • Occupation: Actor, Writer
  • Active: '30s, '70s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Musical
  • Career Highlights: George Burns in Concert, Going in Style, Oh, God!
  • First Major Screen Credit: Lambchops (1929)

Biography

American comedian George Burns had a taste for show business from his youth on New York's Lower East Side, and by the time he was seven he and his buddies had formed a singing group called the Pee Wee Quartet. Amateur shows led to small-time vaudeville, where Burns faced rejection time and again, often gaining jobs from people who had fired him earlier through the simple expedient of constantly changing his professional name. Usually working as part of a song-and-snappy-patter team, he was in the process of breaking up with his latest partner Billy Lorraine in 1922 when he met a pretty young singer/dancer named Gracie Allen. The game plan for this new team was to have Gracie play the "straight man" and George the comic, but so ingenuous and lightheaded was Gracie's delivery that the audience laughed at her questions and not at George's answers. Burns realized he'd have to reverse the roles and become the straight man for the act to succeed, and within a few years Burns and Allen was one of the hottest acts in vaudeville, with George writing the material and Gracie garnering the laughs. George and Gracie married in 1926; thereafter the team worked on stage, in radio, in movies (first in a series of one-reel comedies, then making their feature debut in 1932's The Big Broadcast) and ultimately in television, seldom failing to bring down the house with their basic "dizzy lady, long-suffering man" routine. Though the public at large believed that Gracie had all the talent, show business insiders knew that the act would have been nothing without George's brilliant comic input; indeed, George was often referred to by his peers as "The Comedian's Comedian". Gracie decided to retire in 1958, after which George went out on his own in television and in nightclubs, to less than spectacular success. After Gracie's death in 1964, George concentrated on television production (he had vested interests in several series, among them Mr. Ed) and for a nervous few years tried using other comic actresses in the "Gracie" role for his club appearances. But it wasn't the same; George Burns would be first to admit there was only one Gracie Allen. Though he never retired, Burns was more or less out of the consciousness of moviegoers until he was hired at the last minute to replace his late friend Jack Benny in the film version of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys (1975). His performance as a cantankerous old vaudeville comic won him an Oscar, and launched a whole new career for the octogenarian entertainer as a solo movie star. Perhaps his most conspicuous achievement in the late 1970s was his portrayal of the Almighty Spirit - with distinct Palace Theatre undertones - in Oh, God! (1977). Even after reaching his centennial year, Burns remained as sharp-witted as ever. Less than three months after his 100th birthday Burns passed away. But fans can take comfort because Burns has gone beyond the realm of Show Business Legend; he is practically an immortal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

 
Biography: George Burns

Comedian and actor George Burns (1896-1996) is a show business legend. When he died at the age of 100 in 1996, he had spent 90 years as a comic entertainer, making numerous television and film appearances and earning an enduring popularity with his obligatory-cigar-in-hand comedy routines.

In his ninety years in show business, George Burns had time for three careers. His first two decades were spent as a small-time vaudeville performer. Later, as part of a comedy duo with his wife, Gracie Allen, he achieved wide popularity on the stage, radio, television, and in films. Finally, after Allen's death, Burns performed as a stand-up comedian and comic actor, winning an Academy Award at the age of 80.

George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum on January 20, 1896, the ninth of twelve children of an Orthodox Jewish family. The Birnbaums, recent immigrants from Eastern Europe, lived on New York City's impoverished lower East Side. His father was a cantor (a painfully out-of-tune one, according to Burns's account), who worked as a last-minute substitute at various New York synagogues.

After his father's death, Burns began a career in show business at the age of seven. To help support the family, he formed the Pee Wee quartet, a group of child performers who sang and told jokes on street corners. He and his brothers also helped out by stealing coal from a nearby coal yard - earning the nickname the Burns Brothers. He would later settle on this as a stage name, changing his first name to George after an idolized older brother.

Burns's early performing years were spent doing whatever he could to earn money. In 1916, under the name Willy Delight, he performed as a trick roller-skater on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit. Later, as Pedro Lopez, he taught ballroom dancing. Over the years, he tried several other names - Billy Pierce, Captain Betts, Jed Jackson, Jimmy Malone, Buddy Lanks - appearing in a wide range of vaudeville acts with many different partners. "When I first started in vaudeville I was strictly small-time," he reminisced in his book, How to Live to be 100 - or More. "I'd be lying if I said I was the worst act in the world; I wasn't that good."

Formed Partnership with Gracie Allen

By 1923, he was appearing at the Union Theatre as George Burns, comedian, when he met his future partner, Gracie Allen. Allen, ten years younger than Burns, came from a San Francisco show business family, and had also been performing since she was a child. However, by the early 1920s, she had given up her fledgling career in entertainment to train as a stenographer. Allen was accompanying a friend on a backstage visit at the theater when she was introduced to Burns. In tune with her scatterbrained image, she confused him with someone else, and called him by the wrong name for several days.

Burns and Allen made their performing debut in 1924. In his previous act, Burns was both the writer and the comedian, while his partner played the straight man. Burns initially stuck to this format in his act with Allen, but quickly learned that she was the funny one. "Even her straight lines got laughs," Burns was quoted as saying in The Guardian. "She had a very funny delivery …. they laughed at her straight lines and didn't laugh at my jokes."

Soon Burns and Allen developed the act that would make them famous: he played the bemused, cigar-smoking boyfriend and comic foil to her dizzy, muddled girlfriend. In a distracted, little-girl voice, Allen told rambling stories about her family, while Burns asked questions. "I just asked Gracie a question, and she kept talking for the next 37 years," he later recalled (quoted in The Daily Telegraph).

After performing together in vaudeville for three years, Burns and Allen were married in Cleveland on January 7, 1926. Theirs was a famously happy marriage. "I'm the brains and Gracie is everything else, especially to me," Burns once said (quoted in The Daily Mail). Later, they adopted two children, Sandra Jean and Ronald John.

Around the time of their marriage they were signed to a six-year contract with Keith theaters, which took them on tours of the United States and Europe. In 1930 Burns and Allen joined Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, and others in a headline bill marking the end of vaudeville at the Palace Theatre in New York. After this appearance, as well as appearances on the Rudy Vallee and Guy Lombardo shows, CBS signed the team for their own radio program.

Launched Successful Radio Show

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show debuted on February 15, 1932. The team became famous for one exchange that ended that show, and every show. After a program filled with one non sequitur after another, Burns would say, long sufferingly, "Say goodnight, Gracie" and Allen would respond brightly, "Goodnight, Gracie."

During nineteen years in radio, Burns and Allen attracted an audience estimated at more than 45 million listeners. In 1940 their salary was reported to be $9,000 a week. Always modest about his role in the series, Burns claimed that Allen was solely responsible for their enduring success. "With Gracie, I had the easiest job of any straight man in history," he said (quoted in The Guardian). "I only had to know two lines - 'How's your brother?' and 'Your brother did what?"'

Meanwhile, in 1931 they signed a contract with Paramount Studios to star in short films and, when not making pictures, to play on the stage of the Publix theaters. Their first full-length movie was The Big Broadcast of 1932. In addition to many short films, the team made an average of two films a year for Paramount. Their last film for Paramount was Honolulu (1939), which starred Eleanor Powell and Robert Young.

To attract attention for their radio show, Burns masterminded several publicity stunts. In 1933, Allen appeared on radio shows throughout the country, searching for her imaginary lost brother. The joke was so convincing that her real brother, an accountant in San Francisco, had to go into hiding until public interest in him had waned. During the 1940 election, Allen declared herself a nominee for the "Surprise Party," and campaigned on various radio shows, even holding a three-day convention in Omaha. She received several thousand write-in votes.

In October 1950, The Burns and Allen Show made the transition to television. The program used the same format as the successful radio program. The following exchange was typical of their humor: "Did the maid ever drop you on your head when you were a baby?" "Don't be silly, George. We couldn't afford a maid. My mother had to do it" (quoted in The Independent).

Began to Perform as Solo Act

In 1958, angina forced Allen to retire - an event that merited the cover of Life magazine. At the time, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show was then television's longest-running sitcom. Burns continued to perform in The George Burns Show, but the series only lasted one season. "The show had everything it needed to be successful, except Gracie," Burns recalled (quoted in The Independent).

Six years later, Allen died of cancer at the age of 59. Burns was devastated, and made almost daily visits to her grave. "The good things for me started with Gracie and for the next 38 years they only got better," he was quoted as saying in The Guardian. "But everything has a price. It still doesn't seem right that she went so young, and that I've been given so many years to spend without her."

After Allen's death, Burns devoted his time to McCadden, his television production company, which made such popular programs as The People's Choice (1955-58) and Mr. Ed (1961-66). Burns also appeared as a guest in various television specials throughout the sixties. However, his attempts to develop a new double act failed; he was unacceptable to the public with new partners like Carol Channing or Connie Stevens.

Won Academy Award at Age 80

It was not until 1975 that Burns was given the opportunity to re-launch his performing career. After the death of Jack Benny, a contemporary and close friend from the vaudeville days, Burns took Benny's role opposite Walter Matthau in Neil Simon's film, The Sunshine Boys. The role of the ancient straight man, coming out of retirement for one last get-together with his shambling former partner, could not have been more perfect for Burns. At age 80, he won an Academy Award for best supporting actor - the oldest person to do so. "My last film was in 1939," he said at the time (quoted in The Daily Telegraph). "My agent didn't want me to suffer from over-exposure."

He followed his success with Oh God!, in which he played the deity wearing baggy pants, sneakers, and a golf cap. Two sequels followed, Oh God! II (1980) and Oh God! You Devil (1984), as well as several other comedies. None of these films was very successful, but Burns was undisturbed. "I just like to be working," he was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.

Throughout the 1980s, Burns appeared often on television, hosting 100 Years of America's Popular Music (1981), George Burns and Other Sex Symbols (1982) and George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business (1983). By this time, his comic material, mostly one-liners, centered almost exclusively on his age and longevity.

Burns also published various books, including Dr. Burns' Prescription for Happiness (1985) and a tribute to his wife, Gracie, A Love Story (1988), in which he revealed that Allen was actually his second wife. During his vaudeville days, Burns had formed a dancing act with Hannah Siegel, whom he had rechristened Hermosa Jose, after his favorite cigar. When their act was booked for a 26-week tour, her parents refused to let her travel the country with Burns unless he married her. The marriage lasted as long as the tour, and then was dissolved.

Although Burns never remarried, during his 80s and 90s he developed an enthusiasm for taking out young women - which became another endless source for comic material. At 97, Burns was still writing, making stage appearances, and numbering Sharon Stone among his escorts.

Burns had planned shows to celebrate his 100th birthday at the London Palladium for January 20, 1996. However, after a bad fall in 1994, his health declined, and the performances were canceled. A few days before his 100th birthday, he was suffering from the flu, and was unable to attend a party in his honor. Burns died at his home in Los Angeles on March 9, 1996.

Further Reading

Daily Mail, March 11, 1996, p. 23.

The Daily Telegraph, March 11, 1996, p. 23.

The Guardian, March 11, 1996, p. 12.

The Independent, March 11, 1996, p. 16.

The Times (London), March 11, 1996.

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: George Burns

(born Jan. 20, 1896, New York, N.Y., U.S. — died March 9, 1996, Beverly Hills, Calif.) U.S. comedian best known for his collaboration with Gracie Allen (1902 – 64). Burns and Allen formed a comedy team in 1925 and were married in 1926. They performed on radio in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1932 – 50), with Burns playing the straight man to Allen's malaprop-prone chatterbox, before their show moved to television (1950 – 58). They made 13 films together, including The Big Broadcast films of 1932, 1936, and 1937. Burns returned to the screen in films such as The Sunshine Boys (1975, Academy Award) and Oh, God! (1977) and its sequels. Famous for his wry humour and his cigars, he continued performing into his late 90s.

For more information on George Burns, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Burns, George,
1896–1996, b. New York City as Nathan Birnbaum, and his wife Gracie Allen, 1906–64, b. San Francisco, American comedy team (1923–58). In vaudeville in the 1920s, on radio (1932–50) and television (1950–58) and in films, they played an endlessly patient husband and scatterbrained wife. Although he continued to perform after his wife's retirement, his solo career did not flourish until he won an Academy Award for The Sunshine Boys (1975). Subsequently, Burns enjoyed great success as a cigar-puffing nightclub entertainer and as a film actor, becoming particularly well-known for his role as God in three motion pictures.

Bibliography

See his Gracie: A Love Story (1988) and All My Best Friends (1989).

 
Quotes By: George Burns

Quotes:

"By the time you're eighty years old you've learned everything. You only have to remember it."

"How can I die? I'm booked."

"You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old."

"It's good to be here. At 98, it's good to be anywhere."

"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city."

"Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair."

See more famous quotes by George Burns

 
Wikipedia: George Burns
For other persons named George Burns, see George Burns (disambiguation).
George Burns
Birth name Nathan Birnbaum
Born January 20 1896(1896--)
New York, New York, U.S.
Died March 9 1996 (aged 100)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Other name(s) Nattie
Spouse(s) Gracie Allen (1926- 1964; her death); Hannah Siegal
Official site Official website of George Burns

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

Main article: Gracie Allen

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

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  • 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.