| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 09.03.13 19:03l 80 Lines 3770 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 93NOK0PMG02Q
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Mar 9
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<OK0NBR<OK0PMG
Sent: 130309/1705z @:OK0PMG.#MOR.CZE.EU [OpenBCM] obcm1.06b59
From: N0KFQ @ OK0PMG.#MOR.CZE.EU
To: TODAY @ WW
Reply-To: N0KFQ @ OK2PEN.SP.BRA.SA
X-Info: Sent with login password
R:130309/1650Z 1447@OK0NMG.#MOR.CZE.EU [Brno] $:36987_KB0WSA
R:130309/1555Z @:N0KFQ.MO.USA.NA #:15730 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:36987_KB0WSA
R:130309/1555Z 36987@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.53
...
Mar 9, 1996:
Comedian George Burns dies at age 100
On this day in 1996, the legendary cigar-chomping performer
George Burns dies at his home in Beverly Hills, California, just
weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday.
Born Nathan Birnbaum in New York City, Burns was one of 12
children. As a young child, he sang for pennies on street corners
and in saloons, and at age 13, he started a dance academy with a
friend. In 1922, Burns was performing the latest in a string of
song-and-dance acts in Newark, New Jersey, when he teamed up with
a fellow performer, Gracie Allen. Though Allen began as the
straight one in their partnership, her natural comedic ability
prompted Burns to rewrite their material to give her most of the
punch lines. From then on, Burns played the straight man to
Allen's ditz, with hilarious results.
By the time Burns and Allen married in 1926 (his brief first
marriage, to the dancer Hannah Siegel, ended in divorce), they
had already become known on the vaudeville circuit. The 1920s
were a golden era for vaudeville performers, and Burns and Allen
were only two of a number of greats--their peers included Milton
Berle, Al Jolson, Fanny Brice, Bert Lahr and Jack Benny (Burns'
close friend)--who successfully made the transition to other
forms of entertainment. After making their radio debut in 1929,
the pair landed a regular show, The George Burns and Gracie Allen
Show, which aired from 1932 to 1950 on the NBC network. In the
late 1930s, the program's audience numbered more than 40 million
people and NBC paid Burns and Allen $10,000 per week, an enormous
sum for the time. The couple also played themselves on the big
screen in a number of films, including International House
(1933), Many Happy Returns (1934), A Damsel in Distress (1937)
and College Swing (1938).
In 1950, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show made a seamless
transition to television, airing on CBS and becoming one of the
top-ranked programs for the duration of the decade. The
Burns-Allen team remained in the public eye until Allen's
retirement in 1959. She died of a heart attack in 1964, at the
age of 58. Though Allen was a Roman Catholic, Burns buried her
with Episcopal rites, explaining that as a Jewish man he couldn't
be buried in Catholic-consecrated ground, and he wanted to be
buried beside her.
After Burns underwent major heart surgery in 1975 at the age of
79, his career got a second wind. That year, he played a retired
vaudevillian in the film adaptation of Neil Simon's play The
Sunshine Boys, co-starring Walter Matthau and Richard Benjamin.
Burns won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the
role. After that, there was no shortage of movie parts for the
octogenarian actor, who played God in Oh God! (1977) and its
sequels, Oh God! Book II (1980) and Oh God! You Devil (1984), in
which Burns was featured as both God and the Devil. He also
starred in Just You and Me, Kid (1979), Going in Style (1979) and
Eighteen Again (1988).
In 1988, Burns won an award for lifetime achievement from the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He wrote two
best-selling autobiographical works, including Gracie: A Love
Story (1988) and All My Best Friends (1989), along with eight
other books that earned him his well-deserved reputation as an
invaluable first-hand observer of the history of 20th century
entertainment.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Outpost Version 2.6.0 c29
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
