We ran an article a while back saying that all Fred Astaire’s dancing partners were not as famous as Ginger Rogers. Oh yes, there were Rita Hayworth and Cyd Charisse. And Gene Kelly.
We also noted a few not so famous, such as Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dare.
Well, oops, we forgot to mention George Burns and Gracie Allen (there they are above with Fred, and there she is solo below). Yes, believe it or not they made movies, and they danced, and sang.
Although they are best remembered for their successful radio and television programs, Burns and Allen made many pictures. Gracie was the bigger star, even appearing in films without George.
Burns outlived her by 32 years, and worked in films (including 1975’s The Sunshine Boys and 1977’s Oh, God!) almost until his death at the century mark in 1996. Their time together — 42 years as comedy partners and 38 as a marital duo — was prolific, spanning four entertainment platforms: vaudeville, radio, television and, yes, the movies.
The 27-year-old Grace Allen of San Francisco met the former Nathan Birnbaum of New York City when his vaudeville comedy act was falling apart in New Jersey. She liked him from the start, and the two decided to team up in 1922.
Burns soon noticed two things: vaudeville audiences fell in love with Gracie (as did he), and that her daffy non sequiturs delivered in an insistently innocent high-pitched voice quickly became the crux of their act. George would dryly deliver the opening monologue chocked with one-liners only to be interrupted at will by Gracie. Audiences loved his impeccable comic timing balanced by her dizzy observations.
Success in radio followed and, in 1950, in television when the CBS domestic comedy series, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show began its astonishingly durable eight-year run. (How many other tube shows can claim such longevity?)
The series featured Bea Benaderet as the neighborly Blanche Morton, Fred Clark as her husband, and Harry Von Zell as the show’s announcer. It concluded on Sept. 22, 1958, when Gracie retired from show biz (six years before her death of a heart attack). As noted in Les Brown’s Encyclopedia of Television, the show lived on via 239 syndicated reruns, and became a staple of local station programming for years later.
Burns continued with a comedy series of his own, The George Burns Show on NBC, but the show expired in 1959 after a single season. But many subsequent appearances over three decades followed in a variety of tv formats.
Then, there were the Hollywood movie appearances of the classic era, mostly featuring Gracie and George together — notably RKO’s Damsels in Distress in 1937 with Astaire, and the Paramount comedies, College Holiday in 1936 and College Swing two years later with Bob Hope and Martha Raye.
But what may surprise today’s classic movie fan is the fact that Gracie was considered a bigger attraction than her husband, and appears solo in such titles as MGM’s Mr. and Mrs. North (in 1942 opposite William Post Jr.) and 1944’s Two Girls and a Sailor (with Van Johnson and June Allyson). Paramount actually worked her name into the title of 1939’s The Gracie Allen Murder Case.
No doubt that George and Gracie were among the most engaging couples in show business, ever. One reason was their shared humor. Gracie once said that George “would never chase another woman. He’s too fine, too decent, too old.”
Say goodnight, Gracie. And you too, George.
GEORGE BURNS & GRACIE ALLEN were very much an iconic team of American comedy, their movies made it to Britain, but their radio and TV shows didn’t unfortunately.
The basis of their act was literally simplicity, that plus perfect timing.
You don’t get their kind of class act anymore.
And even after Gracie died, George re-invented his act and went on to new acclaim.
And back in December 14, 1938 was indicted along with close friend Jack Benny in a bizarre con-man case where they and other celebs were duped.
As the Los Angeles Times relates-
“Quite a few stars of the 1930s were questioned in the investigation, including Sophie Tucker, Katharine Hepburn and Kenny Baker (he’s the love interest in the Marx Bros. “At the Circus”). But the main figures were radio comedians George Burns and Jack Benny.
Burns was indicted on charges of smuggling two bracelets and a ring valued at $4,885 ($71,206.15 USD 2007). Faced with 18 years in prison and a fine of $45,000, Burns pleaded guilty, saying that he didn’t know the items were smuggled.
Unlike the others, Benny pleaded not guilty and went to trial on charges of buying $1,200 in smuggled jewelry for his wife, Mary Livingston.
In the end, Burns was fined $8,000 and given a suspended sentence. Benny was fined $10,000 and also received a suspended sentence. The judge told him: “Sometimes men who are prominent in pictures and radio are just easy marks for smart people. But you should have been smart enough not to fall in with such a plan.”
With that trauma well behind him, George went on to play God in OH GOD, got to be a geriatric bank robber in GOING IN STYLE, and of course got to be seen in the company of so many beautiful women like Ann-Margret who he personally discovered and mentored…
And as the IMDB relates-
“In the early 1940s, during the height of their popularity, he had a brief extramarital affair. He apologized to Gracie Allen by giving her a new coffee table, and nothing more was said about it. However, years later, when Gracie was serving coffee to a friend in their living room, George overheard her say, “You know, I wish George would have another affair. I really need a new coffee table.”
And all the while smoking one of those big cigars of his!
What more excitement in one hundred years of life, could you want than that?
Gracie was already an accomplished dancer when she and George worked with Astaire in “Damsel in Distress”.