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{{work|wppage=The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show}}
[[File:Burns allen 1955.JPG|thumb|350px|George and Gracie, in 1955]]
One of the defining series of the nascent medium of television, this [[Sitcom]]/[[Dom Com]] debuted in 1950 when it was transfered from CBS Radio to CBS Television. The main setting of the series was the Beverly Hills home of comedians [[George Burns]] and Gracie Allen, who stared as [[As Himself|versions of themselves]]. The main supporting characters in the series were their next-door neighbors, Blanche and Harry Morton; the show's announcers, Bill Goodwin (first season) and Harry Von Zell (subsequent seasons, 1951-58); and their real-life adopted son, Ronnie.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[After Show]]: After Gracie retired from
▲* [[After Show]]: After Gracie retired from showbusiness following a minor heart attack, George tried to go it alone (with the supporting cast intact) in ''The George Burns Show''; but it wasn't the same and only lasted one season.
* [[Aren't You Forgetting Someone?]]: One episode ends with [[George Burns]] calling up a guest star playing a General in the episode. The guest star drops character, saying about what an honor it is to appear on the show and goes on to say how professional everyone is, naming each person one by one ... except for George.
{{quote|'''[[George Burns]]''': Say, in next week's show we have an opening for a Lawyer, are you working?
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'''Blanche''': Mr Von Zell, if you came in at 4 in the morning you could make that very same statement. }}
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: And then some! George Burns did some crazy things on this show that have rarely (if ever) been replicated.
** Not only does George speak to the audience, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXIW3kjWpu0 he has a
** In the first two seasons of the series, the show looked like an odd hybrid of a radio show and a stage play. Because TV was still new and experimental -- not to mention live -- Burns and his production partners decided to broadcast the show from an actual theater where a
** In the first episode of the 1953-54 season -- in what may have been the most extreme breaking of the fourth wall in history -- Fred Clark (who played Harry Morton) left the series in part because he had demanded a higher salary. Literally! He left the series about twenty minutes into the episode. As Blanche was about to express her displeasure with a gift Harry had given her by hitting him with a vase, George stopped the action, turned to the audience and told them that Clark was leaving the series. Clark exited, replacement actor Harry Keating entered, and the action resumed.
** In the episode "
* [[Closet Shuffle]]: In the episode "Silky Thompson; Gracie Writes 'My Life with George Burns'", Gangster Silky Thompson is hidden in the closet to avoid the police. Just then Harry Morton comes in looking to hide from a man he sold a swamp to.
{{quote|'''Gracie''': That's a shame, Harry. Had you come only a minute sooner you could have had a nice spacious closet, now you'll have to make do with the bedroom upstairs.
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** [[The Patty Duke Show|Patty Lane's Dad]] is a General's Assistant.
** [[I Dream of Jeannie|Dr Bellows]] gives Ronnie his first acting break.
* [[Hypno Fool]]: In one two part episode, Gracie bumps into a Hypnotist who later hypnotizes her into being the smartest woman alive. Later, as George tries to reverse the situation, Blanche is
* [[Jury Duty]]: One episode subverts the troupe by having both Blanche and Harry happy at the prospect of her being called (Blanche looking foward to do her civic duty, and Harry looking
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: The one time in her career that Gracie froze on stage came during a dress rehearsal of the pilot episode. She happened to be looking at one of the cameras when the red [[wikipedia:Tally light|tally light]] came on. Startled, she froze until it went off. George had the technical director remove the tally lights from all of the cameras.
* [[Marathon Running]]: On Dec 31 2011/Jan 1st 2012 Digital channel Antenna TV ran "Night of 2012 Laughs" a 20 hour marathon of ''[[The Burns and Allen Show]]'' alternating with ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]''.
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** In one episode Blanche says she should use A1 Sauce instead of perfume behind her ears to get Harry's attention. Not likely a paid placement, but still odd that she didn't just say 'steak sauce' instead of the brand name.
** In the episode "Harry Morton's Cocktail Party", Gracie becomes a bookstore salesclerk to help sales of George's real life book ''I Love Her, That's Why!''. As with everything else this is lampshaded by George.
{{quote|'''George Burns''': (to the audience) Remember last week when my publisher Simon and
* [[Real Life Relative]]: [[George Burns]], Gracie Allen and son Ronnie.
** William Burns was one of the show's writers. In one episode after George has a Gracie-like conversation on the phone with an unnamed show writer, he hangs up and says to the audience "I'd fire him, but he's my brother."
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** George more or less riding Gracie's coattails in their act and tv/radio shows.
* [[Self-Deprecation]]: George happily agrees with his friends and neighbors that he'd be nowhere without Gracie.
{{quote|'''George''': I don't need a financial
* [[Sheldon Leonard]]: Guest starred in one episode Gangster Silky Thompson.
{{quote|'''Silky Thompson''': I came all this way to blow a Dame's brains out and someone's beaten me to it!}}
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* [[Uncanny Family Resemblance]]: Blanche and her Mother.
{{quote|'''[[George Burns]]''': See, everyone has a happy ending in this episode. Especially Blanche -- She gets two checks this week, one for playing herself and one for playing her Mother. Come to think of it, I don't get a happy ending....I have to pay her!}}
* [[You Look Familiar]]:
** In the episode "Gracie Gives Wedding in Payment of a Favor", Robbie Burns guest stars as a groom before appearing in his later regular role as ... Robbie Burns.
** As noted above Howard McNair (aka [[The Andy Griffith Show|Floyd the Barber]]) played Gracie's cousin in one episode and a plumber in another pair of episodes.
----
''"Say Goodnight, Gracie."
"Goodnight, Gracie."''
{{reflist}}
[[Category:National Film Registry]]
[[Category:Radio]]
[[Category:Radio of the 1930s]]
[[Category:Radio of the 1940s]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 1950s]]
[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:The Fifties]]
[[Category:Dom Com]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Theatre of the 1920s]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns and Allen Show, The}}
[[Category:TV Series]]
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