Gracie Allen

Gracie married her partner and husband, George Burns, three years later after they started performing together. They got married on January 7, 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio.

They found out later that they couldn’t have kids, so they adopted two children - Sandra Jean and Ronald Jon. Ronald became a regular cast at ‘The George Burns and Gracie Allen Comedy Show’, while Sandra made occasional appearance, before she decided to become a teacher.

Gracie was said to be sensitive, and suffered from heterochromia (she had one green eye and one blue eye). She also had a deep fear of drowning, which she overcame by taking swimming lessons.

Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen was born on July 26, 1895 or 1986 or 1902 or 1906. This confusion regarding her birth is due to the fact that her birth certificate kept with City and County of San Francisco was destroyed in a 1906 earthquake.

She was born in San Francisco, California, to George Allen and Margaret Theresa Allen. Her father was also an entertainer.

Gracie showed signs of an entertainer from an early age, and made her stage debut during one of her father’s shows. She was only three when she gave her first radio performance.

She attended ‘Sea Convent High School’, but dropped out at the age of 14, to join her three sisters in performing on stage. They were called ‘The Four Colleens’, and performed Irish Folk dance, until she was signed by ‘Larry Reilly Company’.

She quit the company over some monetary dispute, and decided to join a secretariat school. In 1922, she met George Burns at the backstage of ‘The Union Theatre at the Union Hill’ in New Jersey.

The duo made their comedy debut at the ‘The Hill Street’ theatre at Newark in New Jersey. Looking at Gracie’s energy and comic timing, Burns wrote their act in a way that gave Gracie all the witty punches, while he was her straight man.

In 1926, Burns curated a routine called ‘Lamb Chops’, which became a hit amongst the audience. Later, ‘Keith Theatre’ signed them both for five long yeas, where they became the top comedians in vaudeville.

It was also the time when the two got married, but didn’t stop promoting their acts and doing shows in European countries.

The couple made their radio debut in 1930s on ‘BBC’ network and slowly became one of the most popular comedians of the era. Some of their radio shows were ‘The Robert Buns Panatella Show’(1932-33), ‘The Adventures of Gracie’ (1935-37), ‘The Swan Soap Show’ (1941-45), ‘Maxwell House Coffee Time’ (1945-49) etc.

Allen was invited by Eddie Cantor to his own radio show, which she appeared in later, and thrilled the listeners. In 1932, she and Burns joined Guy Lombardo’s musical variety show, and ended up having their own contract with ‘CBS’ for a show called ‘The Burns and Allen Comedy Show’.

Their own radio show became a major hit, with approximately 45 million people listening to their show each week. It became one of the top three shows in the USA that time.

In 1933, one of their best domestic humour stunts took place, when Gracie announced about her ‘Lost Brother’. Her real brother, George, was asked to leave his accountant job, and hide in seclusion for a few days to pull of the gag well.

However, after a few days, he asked them to stop the gag. In 1937, they moved to ‘NBC’ from ‘CBC’, and continued their domestic humour on their show.