Burns, George (1896-1996), and Gracie Allen (1895-1964)
George Burns and Gracie Allen formed one of the most renowned husband and wife comedy teams in broadcasting throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. The cigar-chomping Burns played straight man to Allen's linguistically subversive and enchantingly ditzy housewife in a variety of entertainment media for thirty-five years. After meeting in 1923 and performing their comedy routine on the vaudeville circuit and in a few movies, the team reached its professional peak in broadcasting, first on radio and then on television. Their Burns and Allen Show on CBS television from 1950 to 1958 proved particularly innovative as it contained sitcom plots that were bracketed by Burns's vaudeville-inspired omniscient narration and monologues. Their act seemed to be a caricature of their offstage marriage and working relationship, and the duo openly courted the conflation. After Allen died in 1964, Burns eventually continued his career on his own in films and on television specials, but he never quite got over losing Gracie. He lovingly incorporated his late wife in his performances and best-selling memoirs, as if encouraging Allen to remain his lifelong partner from beyond the grave.
Allen was, quite literally, born into show business. Her father, George Allen, was a song-and-dance man on the West Coast who, upon retirement, taught dance and gymnastics in a homemade gym in his backyard.
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