These shows are such fun. George and Gracie have wonderful on-screen rapport. George lets Gracie get the biggest laughs. Unusual approach to staging as characters walk past walls and into rooms, exteriors, etc.
Clever references to Carnation blended into the script plus product placement. Thanks for sharing this great show!
The writing is strong – excellent casting of side roles. Always worth a chuckle.
Series writer Paul Henning remembered Bea Benaderet (who played Blanche) when he cast his later series, “Petticoat Junction.” He gave her the lead — which Bea held until her death in 1968. (Bea also supplied Betty Rubble’s voice on “The Flintstones.”) And how about this surprise appearance of a very young Bob Fosse — long before he became a Broadway legend! The odd insertion of an unrelated musical segment was a holdover from the series’ variety show-like radio format.
This was the fourth episode of the series, originally aired on November 23, 1950. George told a story about the rehearsal of this- he decided to try a “challenge dance” with Bob Fosse. When Gracie saw them trying to outdo each other, she yelled, “Nattie, you come down here RIGHT NOW!” (she always called him by his real name- Nathan- off-camera), as she was worried he was “too old” {George was 54} to try such a routine with a younger dancer. Harry Sosnik filled in musical director Leith Stevens.
Comments on Burns and Allen TV 4
These shows are such fun. George and Gracie have wonderful on-screen rapport. George lets Gracie get the biggest laughs. Unusual approach to staging as characters walk past walls and into rooms, exteriors, etc.
Clever references to Carnation blended into the script plus product placement. Thanks for sharing this great show!
The writing is strong – excellent casting of side roles. Always worth a chuckle.
Series writer Paul Henning remembered Bea Benaderet (who played Blanche) when he cast his later series, “Petticoat Junction.” He gave her the lead — which Bea held until her death in 1968. (Bea also supplied Betty Rubble’s voice on “The Flintstones.”) And how about this surprise appearance of a very young Bob Fosse — long before he became a Broadway legend! The odd insertion of an unrelated musical segment was a holdover from the series’ variety show-like radio format.
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This was the fourth episode of the series, originally aired on November 23, 1950. George told a story about the rehearsal of this- he decided to try a “challenge dance” with Bob Fosse. When Gracie saw them trying to outdo each other, she yelled, “Nattie, you come down here RIGHT NOW!” (she always called him by his real name- Nathan- off-camera), as she was worried he was “too old” {George was 54} to try such a routine with a younger dancer. Harry Sosnik filled in musical director Leith Stevens.
Wow, Grace was 55 in this episode. She looks so much younger.
Don’t forget that she was also Pearl Bodine on the Beverly Hillbillies.