The Burns and Allen Show
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Languages | English |
George Burns began his show business career at the age of seven but didn't make it to the big time until he teamed up with Gracie Allen in 1923. Gracie was originally supposed to be the straight woman to George's comic in baggy pants and big, red, bow tie. "The people loved Gracie the moment they saw her," Burns later wrote. "They laughed when she asked the questions and they didn't laugh when I gave the punch line.... so I gave her the jokes."
George and Gracie were married by a Cleveland justice of the peace on 7 January, 1926. Following several guest appearances on Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann Hour, they were tapped for a recurring spot on Guy Lombardo's Robert Burns Panatela Program (beginning 22 February, 1932). George and Gracie took over the series when Lombardo departed. Beginning on January 4, 1933, Gracie embarked upon a brilliant publicity campaign. Claiming to be searching for her missing brother, Gracie burst in on Eddie Cantor's program, then Jack Benny's and Rudy Vallee's, and continued her search across the dial over all the networks. Radio listeners had no idea where Gracie would turn up next.
When their radio ratings dropped in the early 1940s, The Burns and Allen Show moved away from vaudeville humor and into the format of a situation comedy. In 1942, George and Gracie appeared on their radio series as a married couple for the first time (The Swan Soap Show), and the show found new life as a domestic comedy. George worked with the team of writers but did not want their work to take over their private lives. He recalled, "Nobody brought in anything on paper. We wrote it in the office... You see, if the writers have to write at home, they write at night. When they come in in the morning they're tired, they can't think of anything. Like this, they come in; they can go out with their wives, they do anything they want, come in fresh in the morning."
The George Bums and Gracie Allen Show moved to television in 1950 where it ran through the end of the decade.
Radio Series
The Robert Burns Panatella Show: 1932 - 1933 CBS
The White Owl Program: 1933 - 1934 CBS
The Adventures of Gracie: 1934 - 1935 CBS
The Campbell's Tomato Juice Program: 1935 - 1937 CBS
The Grape Nuts Program: 1937 - 1938 NBC
The Chesterfield Program: 1938 - 1939 CBS
The Hinds Honey and Almond Cream Program: 1939 - 1940 CBS (featuring another successful publicity stunt which had Gracie running for President)
The Hormel Program: 1940 - 1941 NBC (Advertising a brand new product called "Spam" and featuring musical numbers by Artie Shaw)
The Swan Soap Show: 1941 - 1945 NBC, CBS
Maxwell House Coffee Time: 1945 - 1949 NBC
The Amm-i-Dent Toothpaste Show: 1949 - 1950 CBS
Sources
Old Time Radio's Greatest Shows, liner notes from audio cassette box set. Anthony Tollin. Radio Spirits: 1997.
Leonard Maltin, The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age. (New York: Dutton, 1997.
Radio Series courtesy of [1]