Gracie Allen

Gracie Allen (July 26, 1902 - August 27, 1964) was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner of husband George Burns. Burns himself phrased it perfectly, in a gag that got laughs no matter how often he repeated it for the rest of his life: "One day, the audience realised I had a terrific talent. They were right. I did have a terrific talent. And I was married to her for 38 years."

The Burns drollery and the Allen malaprops and definitional contortions made for classically understated comic dialogue. It also made for very few true imitations, because the team's style was itself inimitable. Goodman Ace and his wife Jane, in their own radio show, Easy Aces, approached it differently, with Jane Ace's classic word mangling a distinct contrast to Allen's "logically illogical" style. By the time Allen retired, she was half a national institution.

Life and Early Career

Allen was born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen in San Francisco, California to parents George and Margaret (Darragh) Allen, into an Irish Catholic show-business family. As a girl, Gracie Allen was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent School, and she and her three sisters were known as The Four Colleens.

She became a vaudeville performer with her sister Bessie in 1909. She teamed up with George Burns in 1922, and married him in 1926, a controversial matter at the time, as Burns was a Jew and Allen was Catholic.

Double act

It was when the couple noticed Gracie was the likelier laugh-getter that their fortunes changed. George cannily flipped the act over---he made himself the straight man and made Gracie the designated laugh-getter. George summed the new act up in a classic bit that stayed with him for life: "All I had to do was say, 'Gracie, how's your brother?' and she talked for 38 years. And sometimes I didn't even have to remember to say 'Gracie, how's your brother?'" This time, the couple clicked and became vaudeville stars.

Radio

In the early 1930s, like many vaudeville stars of their era, they graduated to radio. In time, their radio show developed from their original "flirtation act" (as their vaudeville and short film routines had been) into the situation comedy vehicle that most identifies them: a working show business couple negotiating ordinary problems through the pocket disasters of Gracie's "logical illogic", usually with the help of various friends and neighbours, at least until the characters of Harry and Blanche Morton were introduced for keeps, and their eventual permanent announcer, Bill Goodwin, and later Harry von Zell, became a part of the shows---and part of one of the more understated running gags in radio and (later) television, George firing him at least once every other episode.

Burns & Allen weren't indifferent to a running gag or a publicity stunt, and in 1932-33 they pulled off one of the best in the business: a yearlong search for Gracie's apparently missing brother, which helped make them radio stars in the first place, once Guy Lombardo's regular audience quit being mad at them for interrupting "the sweetest music this side of heaven" with their comedy.

A decade later, Gracie launched a similar stunt when she mounted a gag campaign running as the Surprise Party candidate for the U.S. Presidency ("I don't know much about the Lend-Lease Bill, but if we owe it we should pay it") and actually drew some votes in the November election. (Another typical Gracie-ism on the "campaign trail" went like this: "Everybody knows a woman is better than a man when it comes to introducing bills into the house.") The Surprise Party mascot was the kangaroo; the motto was "It's in the bag."

She was also the subject of one of S.S. Van Dine's famous Philo Vance mystery novels, The Gracie Allen Murder Case. Typically, she couldn't resist a classic Gracie review: "S.S. Van Dine is silly to spend six months writing a novel when you can buy one for two dollars and ninety five cents."

Another publicity stunt had Gracie playing a piano concerto at the Hollywood Bowl (and later at Carnegie Hall). The Burns & Allen staff actually hired a composer to write the Concerto For Index Finger, a joke piece that had the orchestra playing madly, only to pause while Gracie played a single note with her finger. Ironically, the actual index-finger playing was done off-stage by a professional pianist.

It wasn't until 1941 (sponsored by Swan Soap) that the couple played themselves as married, and the show became a full-fledged domestic situation comedy. This was George's response to a marked drop in ratings under the old "Flirtation Act" format.

Television

By 1948-49, Burns and Allen were part of the CBS talent raid: their good friend (and frequent guest star) Jack Benny, once CBS mastermind William S. Paley made it clear that he believed the talent and not the network made the difference, had decided to jump from NBC to CBS---and he convinced among others Burns & Allen to join him. A year after they made the move, Burns and Allen brought their show to television. They continued the formula which had kept them longtime radio stars, throwing in at the finale of each show a brief dialogue performance in the style of their classic vaudeville and earlier radio routines. George, however, added a new twist eventually: the home audience would see the camera pan back until seeing George himself watching the show's action, in a scene that didn't include him other than a hare-brained plot behind his back (or so the conspirators thought), launching him into a brief, low-keyed monologue--punctuated by occasional puffs on his cigar--that amplified his reputation as comedy's funniest straight man.

Movies

In the early 1930s, George and Gracie made several short films.

"Say goodnight, Gracie"

The signature Burns & Allen signoff became part of their country's vernacular. Born of their vaudeville routine and carried over to both radio and television, their shows normally ended with George asking Gracie to say goodnight, and she would comply with "Good night." Popular legend, however, has it that Gracie would say, "Good night, Gracie." According to her husband, recordings of their radio and television show, and other references that never happened

While in the January 29, 1953 radio program, the roles were slightly reversed (with Gracie saying good night first), it remains likely that the confusion was caused by Laugh In. Stars Dan Rowan and Dick Martin used a similar routine wherein Dan would face the camera to say "Say goodnight, Dick." Dick's reply would always be "Good night, Dick."

Family

In the 1930s the couple adopted two children, Sandra Jean and Ronald John, who were raised nominally Catholic, but Sandra ended up getting expelled from Catholic school for her liberal views. Ronnie eventually joined his parents' television cast; Sandy, by contrast, made only short appearances on the show, at very scattered times, and retired from show business almost as quietly as she slipped in. Ronnie played himself as a drama student, to whom comedy was not the sort of thing an aspiring actor allowed himself. Sandy appeared occasionally as a drama classmate of Ronnie's.

But one moment the Burns siblings shared on the show proved one of the most memorable in the show's history: they had a chance to perform a flawless impersonation of their famous parents. Their drama school had dreamed up a vaudeville type show to raise money for the perpetually struggling school, the show included Ronnie and Sandy performing as Burns & Allen. Gracie herself had the last word: playing the show's mistress of ceremonies (Burns & Allen were engaged to help produce this fundraiser, according to the script), she said a brief word about Sandy's character, then cracked, "The boy was produced by Burns & Allen."

The Real Gracie

Gracie was said to be sensitive enough about having one green eye and one blue eye (heterochromia) that it prompted her retirement as The Burns & Allen Show completed its seventh season on television, as it supposedly had when colour came to films as well. The real reason she retired in 1957 was her health; George Burns noted more than once that she stayed with the television show as long as she did to please him, though he didn't object when she finally had enough. Burns tried to soldier on without her; when the show was re-named The George Burns Show, with the cast intact except for Gracie, the absence was only too obvious---and impossible to overcome. The re-named show barely lasted a year following Gracie's retirement.

Gracie was sensitive enough about her appearance that even in the most balmy weather she refused to wear sleeves cut higher than the middle of her forearms---she had been scalded badly enough on one arm that she could not bear to allow more than her forearms to be exposed. The half-forearm style became as much a Gracie Allen trademark as her affectionately squeaky voice and her illogical logic.

Farewell

Gracie fought a long battle with heart disease, finally succumbing to a heart attack in Hollywood in 1964. She was interred in a crypt at the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California; her husband was interred at her side when he died thirty-two years later. ("Gracie Allen and George Burns---Together Again," says the engraving on the marker.) Gracie's age almost depended on whom you asked; even her husband professed not to know exactly when she was born. (See note below.)

Filmography

Lambchops (1929) (a "short" film)
The Big Broadcast (1932) (1st feature film)
College Humor (1933)
International House (1933)
Many Happy Returns (1934) (1st leading rôle)
Six Of A Kind (1934)
We're Not Dressing (1934)
Love in Bloom (1935)
Here Comes Cookie (1936)
A Damsel in Distress (1937) (1st Fred Astaire movie without Ginger Rogers & 1st in which Burns and Allen danced)
College Swing (1938)
Honolulu (1939)
The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939) (without Burns -- a "Philo Vance" mystery by S. S. Van Dine)
Mr. and Mrs. North (1941) (2nd murder mystery without Burns)
Two Girls and a Sailor (1944) (guest appearance & last movie)

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
The Hormel Program: 1940 - 1941 NBC
The Swan Soap Show: 1941 - 1945 NBC, CBS
Maxwell House Coffee Time: 1945 - 1949 NBC
The Amm-i-Dent Toothpaste Show: 1949 - 1950 CBS

TV series

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show: 1950 - 1958 CBS

Notes

A note regarding her date of birth'': Depending on which source you read, Gracie Allen was born on July 26 in 1895, 1897, 1902 or 1906. 1906 can be safely removed as a possibility. July 26, 1902 is taken from the California Death Records database of the State of California, but this is not necessarily true. During her lifetime, the year of her birth had been accepted as 1906 for many years, but when pressed for proof of this, Gracie would claim that her birth certificate had been destroyed in the big San Francisco earthquake of that year. When it was pointed out to her that the earthquake took place 3 months before her claimed birthdate, she smiled and replied, "Well, it was an awfully big earthquake". George Burns himself professed not to know exactly how old Gracie was. IMDb lists 1895 as the year of her birth.

References

Ancestry of Gracie Allen (from Genealogy.com)

External links

Gracie Allen | Gracie Allen

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Gracie Allen