The Burns and Allen Show

The Burns and Allen Show was one of the longest running comedy shows in radio and, indeed, broadcasting history. Under various names it aired on radio from 1932 to 1950, switching back and forth between CBS and NBC. In the early years, it's name changed several times, often to promote the brand of a new sponsor, but it was The Burns and Allen Show, based on the stars' real names, George Burns and Gracie Allen, from 1937 on.

The format also varied in the early years until they found one that clicked, in which Gracie played George's ditzy girlfriend, then wife. Much of the humor of the show revolved around Gracie's astounding leaps of illogic. George would say later that Gracie spen much of her free time memorizing her lines because they were so crazily illogical. Regulars on the show included such figures as Bea Benaderet, Gale Gordon, and Meredith Wilson. After the show left radio in 1950, it moved to television for another seven seasons; when Gracie retired in 1958, an attempt to keep the show going without her proved unsucessful.

In real life, George Burns and Gracie Allen were together even longer. They met on the vaudeville circuit and married in 1926. Burns is quoted as saying that they were "never headliners" in vaudeville. Then, in 1929, they got their big break; they were tapped on short notice to be in a movie when Fred Allen, who had been cast in it, couldn't make appear. Over 20 more movies followed in quick succession (in those early days of "talkies," studios would turn out films at a rapid pace), leading to their long and successful broadcasting career.

For more information, see Wikipedia.

Series description provided by Frank Bell.