Memories of 1950s Television -- "The Burns and Allen Show"

I don't care if my age is showing when I do these articles. I grew up with television; we were both toddlers and grew into our teens and old age together, and believe me; we have both come a long way! If you have similar memories about anything, then we are a part of living history and should be glad to share this first hand information before they are lost forever. When I was little we had fun and carefree programs about the difficult situations we could all get into and the non-earth shattering consequences. None of these were critical, but the innocence of youth is something that today's television has taken away. Hope I can bring you back to the good old days and for those who were not around back then; an appreciation of days gone by.

One of my fondest memories of early television was George Burns and Gracie Allen. Gracie reminded me so much of my grandmother who I spent much time with when I was little because both of my parents worked. She had the same hairstyle and was a kind and lovely lady. On the program George Burns always played the smart one and Gracie was the ditzy one. She had a way of twisting words around so that anyone talking to her would be so frustrated that they would walk away shaking their head. This is one way Gracie would have the last word because she knew that by then, they would understand completely what she was saying.

At the beginning of the show, George would appear smoking a cigar (his trademark) and speak to the audience. The show would go on as usual in whatever comedy routine. I happen to have a DVD of some shows and Gracie's antics are adorable. In one show she is reading a cookbook that says that hot dogs should not be cooked too long; so she cuts them in pieces, then a man comes to the door to tell her that he is here from the studio to take care of their taxes; so she tells him that she is glad because they are tired of paying them themselves. At the end of the program, George and Gracie would appear and usually talk about a member of Gracie's family when George would get frustrated and finally tell her to "say goodnight, Gracie" when she would say goodnight to the audience.

"The Burns and Allen Show" was a long running radio show and transitioned into television with several other programs that also got their start in radio. The television show was on for eight seasons from 1950-1958 totaling 291 episodes. They had neighbors who were the Morton's; Blanche and Harry. Gracie and Blanche usually got in trouble together frustrating their husbands to no end.

The cast included:

George Burns ...... Himself
Gracie Allen ...... Herself
Bea Benaderet ..... Blanche Morton
Ronnie Burns ...... Himself

George Burns was born Nathan Birnbaum in 1896 and died shortly after his 100th birthday in 1996. He starred in vaudeville, radio, film and television both with and without his wife; Gracie Allen who he was married to for 38 years until her death. He was best known for playing her husband on television and their show lasted eight seasons with numerous reruns for many years to follow. After Gracie's death he won an Academy Award for his supporting role in "The Sunshine Boys" and also played the role of God in the series of movies; "Oh, God!", "Oh, God! Book II," and "Oh, God! You Devil." George Burns also wrote several books and was a bestselling author, one of my favorite books is "Gracie: A Love Story."

Gracie Allen an Irish Catholic girl from San Francisco met George Burns in vaudeville while she was performing with her three sisters in a dance act known as the "The Four Colleens." They hit it off immediately and became a team then married in 1926. They adopted two children; a daughter Sandra Jean and a son Ronald John after finding out they could not conceive. Gracie had a long history of heart disease and passed away in 1964 from a fatal heart attack at age 69. Although she played a ditz in their radio and television series, George was the first to admit that she was truly the brains behind the duo.

Bea Benaderet played the Allen's neighbor Blanche Morton. She was on the show for the entire eight years of television but her husband was played by four different men. She also was the neighbor on the radio series. Later on she played in "Petticoat Junction" as Kate Bradley, the owner/operator of the Shady Rest Hotel among several appearances on other sitcoms. Her voice is best known as Betty Rubble of the long running cartoon series "The Flintstones." She died in 1968 at the age of 62 of lung cancer.

Sources:

http://www.crazyabouttv.com/burnsandallentv.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Burns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracie_Allen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bea_Benaderet