At my age, when I bend over to tie my shoes, I look around to see if there's anything else I can do while I'm down there.
Alan DeValerio has created a one-man show as the late, great comedian George Burns. Alan takes you on a trip down memory lane in a humorous and touching tribute to a unique character in the annals of the entertainment industry.
George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum in 1896) had a career that spanned almost an entire century, from his start in vaudeville to his memorable days with Gracie Allen, and beyond to his starring roles in "The Sunshine Boys" and "Oh, God", and his later career on the stage.
Alan (as George Burns) relates all the fascinating details of the great entertainer's career, and he even does some of the old vaudeville routines with the offstage "voice" of Gracie Allen! This is a must see show for those who fondly remember the humor of George Burns.
Click the edge to turn the page!
GEORGE BURNS was an Academy Award-winning actor, comedian, dancer, singer and best-selling author. He began his career around the turn of the century performing in a barbershop quartet (when it was all the rage), and then moved on to vaudeville. One-reel shorts, then feature films followed. He graduated to a top-rated radio show for 17 years, a top-rated television show for another eight years, and, finally, over the last 30 years of his life he played Las Vegas. Meanwhile he released record albums, appeared in top-grossing movies (winning an Oscar for "The Sunshine Boys"), television specials and still enjoyed a good cigar, a habit he picked up in 1910 when he was a teenager.
He was born on January 20, 1896; a time when sound recording was a new medium and records consisted of wax cylinders played on wound up gramophones. When Burns was about three months old, Thomas Edison publicly unveiled his first projected film program in a Manhattan theater, launching a great industry that would grow to shape the history of the 20th century. Most people did not have telephones and Henry Fords horseless carriage called the "Quadricycle" was still a novelty item. Rocket ships and space shuttles were nothing more than a glimmer in the imagination of Jules Verne, and the frontier days of the American west were still fresh in peoples minds.
In 1922, George had been working in an act with Billy Lorraine as "Burns and Lorraine," when after about a year, Billy decided to move on, leaving George without a partner. Enter Gracie Allen. This time, the pairing was to lastnot just onstage, but off as wellfor the next 42 years. They worked their way up as George continued to perfect his writing skills behind the scenes, and onstage played the straight man to Gracies dizzy character with her "illogical logic." It may seem surprising, but in the beginning of their partnership, George and Gracies roles were actually reversed, with Gracie playing the straight character and George having the funny lines.
By the mid-1930s, the energetic young couple was ready to start a family, so they adopted a baby girl, Sandy and a baby boy, Ronnie. About this time, the family moved into a permanent home in Beverly Hills, where the children grew up and where George resided until his death.
"The Burns and Allen Show" remained one of the top radio shows during its nearly 20-year run with 45 million listeners tuning in each week. By 1950 George felt they were ready for the new medium of television. The show transferred well, and for the next eight years on CBS, Burns and Allen entertained audiences with plotlines revolving around home life, neighbors, and even vaudeville routines.
At the age of 68, the second half of his show business career had only just begun.
To take away some of the pain of losing his beloved Gracie, George threw himself into his work. George decided to move into production and among other projects, developed the enormously popular "Mr. Ed" television series as well as "No Time For Sergeants." George continued to play the nightclub circuit, made guest appearances on TV and spoke at college campuses. Then, in 1975 at age 79 and less than a year after having triple bypass surgery, George rekindled another career.
Thirty-six years after his last appearance in a feature film, George took over a co-starring role in the film version of Neil Simons "The Sunshine Boys." George was perfect for the part and deservedly won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor that year. It was certainly true, as George quipped at the podium during his acceptance speech, "If you stay in the business long enough and get to be old enough, you get to be new again!"
Over the course of the next two decades, George appeared in eight more films, including perhaps his most popular role as the title character in the top-grossing "Oh, God" (1977). Georges busy schedule continued until at the age of 98, until he had a serious fall in his bathtub.
However, as George kept telling everyone, he planned to stay in show business "until Im the only one left!"
In January 1996 he celebrated his 100th birthday, and then quietly passed into entertainment history on March 9, 1996.
GRACE ETHEL CECILE ROSALIE ALLEN was born July 26, 1906, in San Francisco.
Gracie Allen had been on the vaudeville stage since the age of three. At the time she met George, however, Gracie was enrolled in secretarial school in New York City, feeling that show business life was too uncertain to ever offer a real living.
But the spark had not totally faded, and one evening in 1923 after accompanying a friend to watch the about-to-split up act of Burns and Lorraine in Union Hill, New Jersey, the girls went backstage where a dapper young George convinced Gracie to become his new partner.
In actuality, Gracie had found she hated to type and therefore decided to take the plunge back into show business, although George always felt it was really his "irresistible charm" that convinced her!
Although they werent an overnight sensation, Burns and Allen received a lot of bookings, many as a "disappointment act," to replace another act that for some reason had cancelled at the last minute. Still, they worked their way up as George continued to perfect his writing skills behind the scenes, and onstage played the straight man to Gracies dizzy character with her "illogical logic."
One classic example of Gracies on-stage persona occurred when she was asked by an interviewer about her childhood, "Were you the oldest one in the family?"
"No, no," Gracie quickly replied, "My mother and father were much older ! "
It may seem surprising, but in the beginning of their partnership, George and Gracies roles were actually reversed, with Gracie playing the straight character and George having the funny lines. However, it was soon apparent that Gracie was actually getting more laughs with her stylish delivery of the straight lines than George was with his comic responses. He decided to switch their roles, and Burns and Allen began their upward climb.
In 1925, their first big break came when they were booked to play the Orpheum circuit for a total of 16 weeks. They were married on January 7, 1926, in Cleveland, Ohio, by a justice of the peace. Shortly after their marriage, Burns and Allen broke in their new act, the now famous "Lamb Chops." It was an immediate hit, and they were soon signed to a five-year contract on the Keith-Orpheum circuit and played to huge crowds all across the country.
George and Gracie still found time to make movies, and between 1933-1939 they appeared in a total of thirteen features, including College Humor, Were Not Dressing, Here Comes Cookie, Big Broadcast of 1936, and Honolulu.
Additionally, Gracie appeared in three films on her own between 1939 and 1944.
On the personal side, by the mid-1930s, the energetic young couple were ready to start a family, and in 1934 they adopted a baby boy, Ronnie. About this time, the Burnses also moved into a permanent home in Beverly Hills, where the children grew up and where George and Gracie resided for the rest of their lives.
"The Burns and Allen Show" remained one of the top radio shows during its nearly 20-year run with 45 million listeners tuning in each week. By 1950 George felt they were ready for the new medium of television.
The show transferred well, and for the next eight years on CBS, Burns and Allen entertained audiences with plotlines revolving around home life, neighbors, and even vaudeville routines.
Gracie retired from show business in 1958, while George went on to pursue an independent career. In August of 1964, Gracie Allen died of a heart attack in Los Angeles.
PAST PERFORMANCES:
National Theatre (Washington, DC)
Charlie Hall's Dinner Theater (R.I.)
Strier JCC (Mass.)
Greater Pittsburgh JCC
Damascus Senior Center (Md.)
Holiday Senior Center (Md.)
Mt. Airy Senior Center (Md.)
Brockport Kiwanis Club (N.Y.)
Westminster Senior Center (Md.)
Gaithersburg Arts Barn (Md.),
The Capital Fringe Festival,
Augusta, Ga. JCC
The Maryland Theater
Evergreens _ Columbia Town Center
The Gardens of Annapolis
Atrium Village (Baltimore)
Firehouse Center for the Arts (Mass.)
Brightview Commons (R.I.)
South Bay Manor (R.I.)
The Willows at Westborough (Mass.)
Loomis House (Mass.)
The Greens at Cannondale (Ct.)
The Glenridge on Palmer Ranch (Fl.)
Carriage Club (Fl.)
Cypress Village (Fl.)
Aston Gardens at Pelican Marsh (Fl.)
Linden Ponds Performing Arts Center, Hingham (Ma.)
Ford's Colony Theater Club, Williamsburg (Va.)
Summer's Glen, Ocala (Fl.)
The Club at Woodfield, Vero Beach (Fl.) among many others...
Alan,
Thank you so very much for your performance of George Burns. It was brilliant! To think that George Burns and Gracie Allen performed on the stage of the Maryland Theatre and now it has happened again, it was truly a marvelous event. Please come back and entertain us again.
Brian Sullivan
Executive Director
The Md. Theater (www.mdtheatre.org)
... his show is meticulously researched and his ability to evoke George Burns is extraordinary. His mannerisms, props, voice and posture jibed with our memories. His timing is perfect and the audience laughter that erupted at each punchline, one on top of the other, was proof of his impact. I watched normally reticent people laugh till several almost fell off their seats...
Roseanne Brennan
Ford's Colony Theatre Club
I thought George Burns was standing in front of me when I was at Alan DeValerio's George Burns show at the D.C. Fringe Festival. His delivery was perfection and those funny jokes from vaudeville's golden years hit home. Bravo Alan!
Joel Markowitz
D.C. Theater Reviews
...the audience appreciated your impersonation of George Burns very much. From quiet smiles, through restrained chuckles to outright guffaws, everyone found their way to both laugh and cry. Some felt they were visiting with an old friend, while the younger members of the audience simply appreciated learning about the life of a comedian whom they admired.
Leah Brown
Augusta JCC
Located in Frederick, Maryland
Cell: 240-308-1895
Email: withappens_aol.com
This is a promotional video of my new show, George Burns Sings! In it, I incorporate the humor of George Burns with many of his famous songs.
