Gracie Allen
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Gracie Allen (July 26, 1895Template:Fn – August 27, 1964) was an American comedienne 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; the signature Burns & Allen signoff (George: "Say good night, Gracie", Gracie: "Good night") became part of their country's vernacular.
Popular legend has it that Gracie would say, "Good night, Gracie." However, according to her husband, and a review of recordings of their television show, that never happened.
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Life and Early Career
Allen was born in San Francisco, California. Christened Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen, into an Irish Catholic show-business family (her mother, Margaret, was an actress known as Ronnie Burns), Gracie Allen was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent School as a girl, 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, despite their religious differences, a controversial matter at the time.
"Gracie, How's Your Brother?"
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 became the unchallenged best in the business in due course, simply because he was funnier as a droll straight man than most punch-liners were at getting laughs with the obvious jokes) and made Gracie the designated laugh-getter. George has 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. They became vaudeville stars, then graduated to radio in the early 1930s as well as making several short films. (These are shown periodically on the Turner Classic Movies network.) 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.
"Gracie, Where's Your Brother?
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.")
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."
Television
By 1948-49, Burns & 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 & 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.
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 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 infamous 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 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
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.
- 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
This series featured another wildly successful publicity stunt which had Gracie running for President of the United States.
Advertising a brand new product called "Spam". . . this show featured musical numbers by jazz great Artie Shaw.
This series featured a radical format change, in that George and Gracie played themselves as a married couple for the first time, 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.
TV series
Notes
- Template:Fnb 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.
External links
- {{{2|{{{name|Gracie Allen}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- Burns & Allen at EncycloComediaeo:Gracie ALLEN
Categories: 1895 births | 1964 deaths | American comedians | American female singers | American stage actors | American television personalities | Entertainers who died in their 60s | Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Irish-American actors | Roman Catholic entertainers | San Franciscans | Vaudeville performers