Gracie Allen (July 26, 1895 or
1902, San Francisco, California - August 27, 1964, Los Angeles,
California) was a comedienne of
the movies, radio, and early television. Born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen, she was the
scatterbrain of the team Burns and Allen, and her husband George Burns was the straight
man. They originated the catch-phrase "Say 'good-night,' Gracie."
Life
Born into an Irish Catholic
show-business family, Allen was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent School as a girl, and then became a vaudeville performer with her sister Bessie in 1909. She teamed up with George Burns in 1922, and married him in 1926. Early on the team noticed that Gracie was getting far better audience laughs than George even
though she was the comic foil of the team. Bowing to reality, the team switched roles and the team had great success.
In the 1930s they adopted two children: Sandra Jean and Ronald "Ronnie" John; when
Ronnie was grown, he joined the cast of his parents' 1950-1958 Monday-night television show on CBS, The George Burns
and Gracie Allen Show.
Allen's stage persona was as a bizarre, illogical, and not very bright woman. Offstage she was anything but dimwitted,
however: historians credit her with having the genius to deliver her lengthy diatribes in a fashion that made it look as though
she was making her arguments up on the spot.
She and Burns were deeply devoted to each other. After her death, Burns told a reporter that he had received a number of
letters asking why he remained married to "that fruitcake". Burns replied to them by publishing a book titled: I Love Her,
That's Why.
Allen had one green eye and one blue one. At least one biographer has speculated that her sensitivity about that was what
caused her to retire from television when color television came in, which would have revealed that feature to her fans. She had
stopped making films in the early 1940s when color movies came in, too.
Gracie Allen died of a heart attack in Hollywood at the age of 69 (or only 62).
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 Dyne)
- 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
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.
- The Swan Soap Show: 1941 - 1945 NBC,
CBS
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.
- 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
- A note regarding her date of birth: According to which source you read, Gracie Allen was born July 26 1894, 1895, 1902
or 1906. The date cited here, July 26, 1902, is taken from the "California Death Records" database of the State of California.
During her lifetime, the year of her birth was commonly accepted as 1906, but when pressed for proof of this, Gracie would claim
that her birth certificate had been destroyed in the big San Francisco earthquake. 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."
External links
-
The IMDb entry on Allen (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0020555/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9R3JhY2llIEFsbGVufGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=1;ft=18;fm=1)
- Burns & Allen (http://www.comedystars.com/Bios/burns-allen.shtml) at EncycloComedia
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