Background
Gracie Allen was born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen on July 26, 1905 in San Francisco, California, United States. She was the daughter of Edward Allen, an entertainer, and Margaret Darragh.
(Hitch a ride with George Burns and Gracie Allen in Six of...)
Hitch a ride with George Burns and Gracie Allen in Six of a Kind, as they head for California on a madcap journey that takes them from one hilarious adventure to another. Mr. and Mrs. Whinney (Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland) are planning to drive to California for their second honeymoon. Limited by finances, they agree to share the trip's expenses with an unknown young couple (Burns and Allen). When $50,000 mysteriously shows up on their bumper, the hapless honeymooners realize their troubles are just beginning! Add W. C. Fields, Alison Skipworth and a stubborn Great Dane to this first-rate mix and you have what Leonard Maltin awarded three stars and hailed as "zany, wonderful nonsense." When sold by Amazon.com, this product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply. This product is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.
https://www.amazon.com/Six-Kind-W-C-Fields/dp/B01LTHYN4G?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B01LTHYN4G
(A witty masquerade, fabulous dancing and a gorgeous tropi...)
A witty masquerade, fabulous dancing and a gorgeous tropical locale give this land-inspired musical an exotic appeal. Handsome movie heartthrob Brooks Mason (Robert Young) is tired of being besieged by adoring fans. When he meets his exact double, a shy Hawaiian plantation owner named George Smith (also played by Young), they decide to switch for a month. While Mason blissfully sails off to Hawaii he meets and falls in love with a beautiful dancer (Eleanor Powell) – but when he arrives in Honolulu he finds Smith's fiancée Cecilia, who's ready to marry. Meanwhile, poor Smith has been sent to a New York hospital, thanks to overzealous fans. Two women and one crazy scheme add up to double trouble for Mason, and all of a sudden the game's no fun…until Smith's grinning houseboy, Wong, gets a bright idea. The unique comedy of George Burns and Gracie Allen add to the fun in this hilarious tale of mistaken identities and true love. When sold by Amazon.com, this product will be manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
https://www.amazon.com/Honolulu-Eleanor-Powell/dp/B0062Z0PIO?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0062Z0PIO
(The incomparable George Burns and Gracie Allen star in He...)
The incomparable George Burns and Gracie Allen star in Here Comes Cookie, a hilariously clever romp about a millionaire who signs over his fortune to his ditzy daughter in order to save it! A rich retiree (Harrison Allen) with two daughters, Phyllis and Gracie, suspects that Phyllis' fiancé is after his money. Much to everyone's surprise, he decides to deed every cent over to Gracie in an effort to protect his fortune. Unfortunately, Gracie falls under the impression that her father wants the family to think they are poor. So, she immediately sets out to invite a whole slew of out-of- work vaudevillians to come reside at the mansion. Can her friends and family stop the madness or will they all end up begging in the streets? When sold by Amazon.com, this product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply. This product is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.
https://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Cookie-George-Burns/dp/B01LTHYN78?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B01LTHYN78
(Since becoming a vaudeville team in 1922, George Burns an...)
Since becoming a vaudeville team in 1922, George Burns and Gracie Allen have made audiences laugh in movies, radio and television. The real-life married couple established their personalities in radio with "The Burns and Allen Show" and brought their comedy to television in 1950. For nine years on CBS, every show opened with Burns, puffing his trademark cigar, regaling the audience with stories of their vaudeville days... and the latest antics of his beloved wife, Gracie. Often entangled with their neighbors the Mortons, Gracie's zany wit was always the cause (and solution) to their misadventures of domestic bliss. When Gracie passed away in 1964, George continued to entertain in his inimitable style for another 32 years, even winning an Oscar in 1976 for his performance in The Sunshine Boys. George lived to be 100 and always credited Gracie with "being the talented one." As George would say after each classic episode, "Say goodnight, Gracie." This 8-episode collection includes the following: • Gracie's Ring • Jack Benny Steals George's Joke • New Coats For The Concert • Thanksgiving Show • The Football Game • Their Very First Show • Too Much Of The Mortons • Trip To Palm Springs
https://www.amazon.com/George-Burns-Gracie-Allen-Show/dp/B0031XYLR6?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0031XYLR6
(Fred Astaire sails across the pond to meet damsel in dist...)
Fred Astaire sails across the pond to meet damsel in distress Joan Fontaine and delightful (if unlikely) dance partners George Burns and Gracie Allen in a musical co-scripted by master wit P.G. Wodehouse and directed by George Stevens (Swing Time). The helium-light story concerns servants running a betting pool on the marriage prospects of a fetching aristocrat (guess who wins her hand). The elegant George and Ira Gershwin score includes two standards forever associated with Astaire, A Foggy Day and Nice Work If You Can Get It, plus one of Hollywood's cleverest song-and-dances: the Academy Award(r)-winning* Fun House number, which sends Astaire, Burns and Allen cavorting among chutes, mirrors, moving floors and rolling barrels. When sold by Amazon.com, this product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
https://www.amazon.com/Damsel-Distress-Fred-Astaire/dp/B0058KCMF8?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0058KCMF8
(Since becoming a vaudeville team in 1922, George Burns an...)
Since becoming a vaudeville team in 1922, George Burns and Gracie Allen have made audiences laugh in movies, radio and television. The real-life married couple established their personalities in radio with "The Burns and Allen Show" and brought their comedy to television in 1950. For nine years on CBS, every show opened with Burns, puffing his trademark cigar, regaling the audience with stories of their vaudeville days... and the latest antics of his beloved wife, Gracie. Often entangled with their neighbors the Morton's, Gracie's zany wit was always the cause (and solution) to their misadventures of domestic bliss. When Gracie passed away in 1964, George continued to entertain in his inimitable style for another 32 years, even winning an Oscar in 1976 for his performance in The Sunshine Boys. George lived to be 100 and always credited Gracie with "being the talented one." As George would say after each classic episode, "Say goodnight, Gracie." Includes eight classic episodes!
https://www.amazon.com/George-Burns-Gracie-Allen-Show/dp/B0007TKG76?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0007TKG76
(This feature (just over an hour) showcases the well-honed...)
This feature (just over an hour) showcases the well-honed comic patter of George Burns and Gracie Allen during the busiest time in their movie career, the mid-1930s. Gracie's dingbat malapropisms were so perfectly straightforward ("I really shouldn't drink coffee in the morning; it keeps me awake all day"), and Burns's straight-man timing so unerring, the pair was often funnier than their material. Love in Bloom casts George and Gracie as carnival folk, in support of a sappy plot of young lovers in New York. The Burns and Allen chemistry was really at its best in their short films, radio, and TV, but their Paramount features are pleasing entertainment nonetheless. --Robert Horton
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Bloom-VHS-George-Burns/dp/6304197292?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=6304197292
(The husband and wife comedy team of George Burns and Grac...)
The husband and wife comedy team of George Burns and Gracie Allen developed their popular routine over more than three decades of stage, radio, film and television. They were one of the best-known couples in Hollywood history. Burns left most of the laughs to Allen, who had a way of engaging in dialogues of "illogical logic" that left her verbal opponents dazed and confused and her audiences in stitches. Burns, entertainment's most nimble straight man, balanced Allen's scatterbrained antics. Their chemistry made The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show an instant hit when it moved from radio to television in 1950.
https://www.amazon.com/George-Burns-Gracie-Allen-Show/dp/B0011FLGYM?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0011FLGYM
Gracie Allen was born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen on July 26, 1905 in San Francisco, California, United States. She was the daughter of Edward Allen, an entertainer, and Margaret Darragh.
Allen was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent, a Catholic girls' school, but left school at the age of fourteen. She later enrolled in a secretarial school.
Allen made her stage debut with her father, a local entertainer, at the age of three. At the age of fourteen she permanently join her father and three older sisters on the stage. Soon, the Allen sisters signed with the Larry Reilly Company, which began to feature Gracie's Irish songs and dancing. After several seasons of touring, she quit the troupe in a dispute over billing.
In 1922, Allen visited backstage at the Union Theater in Union Hill, New Jersey. She had learned from friends that the comedy team of George Burns and William Lorraine would soon break up, and Lorraine would need another partner. Mistaking Burns for Lorraine, she inquired about forming a team. After three days Burns confessed his true identity, but Gracie vowed to give the act a chance. The new team of Burns and Allen opened at the Hill Street Theater in Newark, New Jersey. Recognizing that Allen was a natural comedienne, Burns rewrote their sketches to give her the witty lines and assumed for himself a secondary role. The performances relied heavily on Allen's singing and dancing talents and always concluded with Allen dancing an exuberant Irish jig.
In 1926 Burns developed a routine entitled Lamb Chops, which played at the Jefferson Theater in New York City. Then the Keith Theater chain signed them to a five-year contract: Burns and Allen had reached top billing in vaudeville. While performing on European stages for Keith, the couple made their radio debut over the British Broadcasting Corporation's network. The new medium seemed tailored to their intimate style of comedy. Toward the end of 1930, they appeared for nine weeks at New York's Palace Theater, headlining a program billed as marking vaudeville's end. Several weeks later, Eddie Cantor asked Allen to be a guest on his radio program. Her popularity with listeners prompted invitations from other radio shows, and soon the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) offered Burns and Allen a contract. On the night of February 15, 1932, they joined Guy Lombardo's musical variety show. Within a year, Lombardo had been reduced to a supporting role on the Burns and Allen Comedy Show. The switch to radio required major changes in the Burns and Allen style. Dialogue assumed primary importance, which lessened the emphasis on Allen's singing and dancing. Burns suggested they pretend to play themselves and give the audience a glimpse of their private lives--a milestone in the development of the domestic situation comedy. In the future, the Burns and Allen formula would spawn many imitators.
Burns and Allen were always affiliated with CBS, except in 1937 when they moved to NBC. Over the years, the show was sponsored by a number of companies: Robert Burns Cigars, Lever Brothers, Maxwell House Coffee, Campbell Soup, Grape Nuts, General Foods, and Swan Soap. Domestic humor was the staple of Burns and Allen. A typical example was the search in 1933 for Gracie's "lost brother. " During the hunt, she visited all major radio programs and urged the public to help seek out her elusive relative. Gracie's real brother, George Allen, a San Francisco accountant, was forced to go into seclusion until the gag was terminated. Occasionally Burns and Allen departed from their usual format. In 1940, for instance, Allen decided to run for president as the candidate of the Surprise party. She declared her political philosophy to be the avoidance of overconfidence.
Early in the 1930's, Burns and Allen took up residence in Beverly Hills, California. During these years, they also starred in a number of feature films for Paramount Studios, including The Big Broadcast (1932), Six of a Kind (1934), and College Holiday (1936). But motion pictures were a distant second to their weekly radio program. In October 1950, Burns and Allen moved to television. Their popularity continued but Allen began to tire of the character she had played for so many years.
In 1958 she retired from show business, while Burns pursued an independent career. She died in Los Angeles on August 27, 1964.
(The incomparable George Burns and Gracie Allen star in He...)
(Fred Astaire sails across the pond to meet damsel in dist...)
(Hitch a ride with George Burns and Gracie Allen in Six of...)
(This feature (just over an hour) showcases the well-honed...)
(The husband and wife comedy team of George Burns and Grac...)
(Since becoming a vaudeville team in 1922, George Burns an...)
(Since becoming a vaudeville team in 1922, George Burns an...)
(A witty masquerade, fabulous dancing and a gorgeous tropi...)
Quotations:
"I realize that the President of today is merely the postage stamp of tomorrow. "
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma. "
"This used to be a government of checks and balances. Now it's all checks and no balances. "
"This recipe is certainly silly. It says to separate two eggs, but it doesn't say how far to separate them. "
"They laughed at Joan of Arc, but she went right ahead and built it. "
Allen was said to be very sensitive about her heterochromia (one of her eyes was blue, the other one was green) and the scarring she received when she was only a child. She used to wear full or three-quarter length sleeves to hide these scars. Later that style became her trademark.
Quotes from others about the person
"She was probably one of the greatest actresses of our time. " - Bea Benaderet
On January 7, 1926, Allen was married to George Burns in Cleveland, Ohio. Their domestic life was happy and tranquil. They adopted two children.