Sitcom / Comedy-variety · NBC / CBS
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
September 26, 1934 – March 8, 1950 · 673 broadcasts
Real-life husband and wife George Burns and Gracie Allen turned the oldest comic formula -- straight man and scatterbrain -- into one of broadcasting's most durable acts. Burns played it dry and deadpan, his cigar a punctuation mark; Allen spun the "illogical logic" that made her the funniest woman on the air. The show began in 1932 as vaudeville-style patter with music, the sponsor's name often becoming the title (Maxwell House Coffee Time among them), before a landmark 1941 pivot recast it as a married-couple situation comedy. That reinvention is the textbook case of a fading act retooling itself: Burns noticed the ratings slipping, decided he and Gracie were "too old for our jokes" as flirt and suitor, and rebuilt the premise around their marriage -- driving it to even greater success. The cast was a who's who: Bea Benaderet, Mel Blanc, Gale Gordon, bandleader Ray Noble, the Sportsmen Quartet, and announcer Bill Goodwin as a comic foil, all produced through the J. Walter Thompson agency. (Harry Von Zell, often linked to the act, actually announced the 1950s television version, not the radio run.) The publicity stunts became legend -- Gracie's hunt for her fictitious "lost brother" jumped across networks, and her 1940 mock presidential run on the Surprise Party ticket drew real write-in votes. The act conquered vaudeville, radio, and a hit TV sitcom (1950-1958), earned a 1994 National Radio Hall of Fame induction, and sent Burns on to an Oscar at 79 and a career that reached 100.
Collection status:
245 of 673 held (36% complete)
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Episode Spine
Grouped by year. Jump to the full list below, or open a season on its own page.
- 1934 (15 episodes)
- 1935 (52 episodes)
- 1936 (53 episodes)
- 1937 (50 episodes)
- 1938 (45 episodes)
- 1939 (38 episodes)
- 1940 (54 episodes)
- 1941 (25 episodes)
- 1942 (39 episodes)
- 1943 (44 episodes)
- 1944 (42 episodes)
- 1945 (40 episodes)
- 1946 (39 episodes)
- 1947 (39 episodes)
- 1948 (38 episodes)
- 1949 (40 episodes)
- 1950 (20 episodes)
1934
September 19, 1934
In the series' second outing, George and Gracie leave England behind and set sail to seek their fortune in America.
October 3, 1934
October 10, 1934
October 17, 1934
October 24, 1934
October 31, 1934
November 7, 1934
November 14, 1934
November 21, 1934
November 28, 1934
December 5, 1934
December 12, 1934
December 19, 1934
December 26, 1934
1935
January 2, 1935
January 9, 1935
January 16, 1935
January 23, 1935
January 30, 1935
February 6, 1935
February 13, 1935
February 20, 1935
February 27, 1935
March 6, 1935
March 13, 1935
March 20, 1935
March 27, 1935
April 3, 1935
April 10, 1935
April 17, 1935
April 24, 1935
May 1, 1935
May 8, 1935
May 15, 1935
May 22, 1935
May 29, 1935
June 5, 1935
June 12, 1935
June 19, 1935
June 26, 1935
July 3, 1935
July 10, 1935
July 17, 1935
July 24, 1935
July 31, 1935
August 7, 1935
August 14, 1935
August 21, 1935
August 28, 1935
September 4, 1935
September 11, 1935
September 18, 1935
September 25, 1935
October 2, 1935
October 9, 1935
October 16, 1935
October 23, 1935
October 30, 1935
November 6, 1935
November 13, 1935
November 20, 1935
November 27, 1935
December 4, 1935
December 11, 1935
December 18, 1935
December 25, 1935
1936
January 1, 1936
January 8, 1936
Gracie takes on the sultry dramatic role of Sadie Thompson in a burlesque of the play 'Rain,' between the evening's songs.
January 22, 1936
January 29, 1936
February 5, 1936
February 12, 1936
February 19, 1936
February 26, 1936
March 4, 1936
March 11, 1936
March 18, 1936
March 25, 1936
April 1, 1936
April 8, 1936
April 15, 1936
April 22, 1936
April 29, 1936
May 6, 1936
May 13, 1936
May 20, 1936
May 27, 1936
June 3, 1936
June 10, 1936
June 17, 1936
June 24, 1936
July 1, 1936
July 8, 1936
July 15, 1936
July 22, 1936
July 29, 1936
August 5, 1936
August 12, 1936
August 19, 1936
August 26, 1936
September 2, 1936
September 9, 1936
September 16, 1936
September 23, 1936
September 30, 1936
October 7, 1936
October 14, 1936
October 21, 1936
October 28, 1936
November 4, 1936
November 11, 1936
November 18, 1936
A Thanksgiving playlet casts Gracie as Olive Oyl -- on the theory that 'Oyl is good for Burns' -- and marks Tony Martin's first appearance on the show.
A musical edition, with Tony Martin and Gracie trading vocal numbers on the Campbell's Tomato Juice program.
The program salutes New Orleans amid songs and a fresh helping of Gracie's scrambled logic.
Gracie unveils a new kissing game while the cast spells out the life of Pancho Villa -- badly enough to draw a mock protest from the Mexican embassy.
December 30, 1936
1937
January 6, 1937
Broadcasting from New York, Gracie dishes up her recipe for a 'Hollywood Sweetie Pie' and a medley of gold-digger tunes.
January 13, 1937
January 20, 1937
January 27, 1937
February 3, 1937
February 10, 1937
February 17, 1937
February 24, 1937
March 3, 1937
March 10, 1937
March 17, 1937
March 24, 1937
April 12, 1937
April 19, 1937
April 26, 1937
May 3, 1937
May 10, 1937
May 17, 1937
May 24, 1937
May 31, 1937
June 7, 1937
June 14, 1937
June 21, 1937
June 28, 1937
July 5, 1937
July 12, 1937
July 19, 1937
July 26, 1937
August 2, 1937
August 9, 1937
August 16, 1937
August 23, 1937
August 30, 1937
September 6, 1937
September 13, 1937
September 20, 1937
September 27, 1937
October 4, 1937
October 18, 1937
October 25, 1937
November 1, 1937
November 8, 1937
November 15, 1937
November 22, 1937
November 29, 1937
December 6, 1937
December 13, 1937
December 20, 1937
December 27, 1937
1938
January 3, 1938
The cast stages Gracie's musical murder mystery, 'Slay It With Music,' between song numbers.
Ray Noble fumbles a cue while Gracie spins a whimsical tale built entirely out of the names of cities.
January 24, 1938
Gracie's Mystery
January 31, 1938
February 7, 1938
February 14, 1938
February 21, 1938
February 28, 1938
March 7, 1938
March 14, 1938
March 21, 1938
March 28, 1938
April 4, 1938
April 11, 1938
April 18, 1938
April 25, 1938
May 2, 1938
May 9, 1938
May 16, 1938
May 23, 1938
May 28, 1938
June 5, 1938
June 13, 1938
June 20, 1938
June 27, 1938
July 4, 1938
July 11, 1938
July 18, 1938
July 25, 1938
August 1, 1938
Trip to Hawaii
September 30, 1938
Opening the Chesterfield series, Gracie maps out a night on the town taking in twenty nightclubs.
October 14, 1938
October 21, 1938
October 28, 1938
November 4, 1938
November 11, 1938
November 18, 1938
November 25, 1938
December 2, 1938
December 9, 1938
December 16, 1938
December 23, 1938
December 30, 1938
1939
January 6, 1939
January 13, 1939
January 20, 1939
January 27, 1939
February 3, 1939
February 10, 1939
February 17, 1939
February 24, 1939
March 3, 1939
March 10, 1939
March 17, 1939
March 24, 1939
March 31, 1939
April 7, 1939
April 14, 1939
April 21, 1939
April 28, 1939
May 5, 1939
May 12, 1939
May 19, 1939
May 26, 1939
June 2, 1939
June 9, 1939
June 16, 1939
June 23, 1939
October 4, 1939
October 11, 1939
October 18, 1939
October 25, 1939
November 1, 1939
November 8, 1939
November 15, 1939
November 22, 1939
November 29, 1939
December 6, 1939
December 13, 1939
December 20, 1939
December 27, 1939
1940
January 3, 1940
January 10, 1940
January 17, 1940
January 24, 1940
January 31, 1940
February 7, 1940
February 14, 1940
February 21, 1940
Gracie launches a run for the White House, assembling a cabinet and setting out to become the first woman president.
Gracie's presidential campaign gets underway as she scouts a convention city and debuts her theme song, 'Vote For Gracie.'
Fresh from addressing the Women's National Press Club in Washington, Gracie announces her Surprise Party convention will land in Omaha.
March 20, 1940
Gracie unveils a campaign platform whose planks include handing student barbers a live sheep to practice on.
Gracie frets that Congress has capped her presidential campaign fund at a mere three million dollars.
Buoyed by sixty-three write-in votes in the Wisconsin primary, Gracie presses on with her campaign.
For her Omaha convention Gracie orders the men into 1870-style beards and old-fashioned dress, then rehearses a speech for Dallas.
Back from Dallas, Gracie upstages George's big speech with the saga of the eighteen people crammed into her apartment.
May 1, 1940
The Burnses head for Omaha, with George saddled with minding Aunt Clara -- who happens to be a kangaroo barred from the train.
Broadcasting from Omaha on the eve of her convention, Gracie rallies the Surprise Party faithful.
Home in Hollywood, Gracie recaps the Omaha convention and sets about persuading George that he is gravely ill.
From the San Francisco World's Fair, Gracie's presidential gag reaches its finale with a visit from a would-be power broker and her old schoolmate Rollo.
June 5, 1940
Swiss Family Robinson Part 1
Gracie totals George's new car while the cast plows through its own version of 'Swiss Family Robinson.'
June 13, 1940
Burns and Allen Swiss Family Robinson Pt 2
June 19, 1940
The season's final CBS broadcast for the sponsor bows out with a round of songs.
July 1, 1940
A surprise party is thrown for Grandpa's ninety-second birthday.
July 15, 1940
July 22, 1940
With Artie Shaw's band sitting in, George and Gracie get ready for a 'kiddie party' at the Cocoanut Grove.
George rehearses a pitch for his movie idea to producer Joseph Pasternak, Artie Shaw's orchestra on hand.
George reminisces about his vaudeville days and how he first met Gracie.
A tardy George finally turns up -- with the startling news that he has a brand-new partner named Elsie Trelafas.
Elsie sues George for ten thousand dollars over his promise to put her on the radio, in an Abbott-and-Costello-flavored tangle.
George heads to court as Elsie's breach-of-promise suit over that broken radio promise finally goes to trial.
George wins the Elsie case but Gracie promptly makes things worse, as brother 'Willie Burns' turns up and Artie Shaw plays 'Begin the Beguine.'
Told to book Clark Gable for the new fall season, George settles for a cut-rate Gable impersonator instead.
George's guest column for Ed Sullivan lands him on the wrong side of gangster Huey Sallas.
On the run from Huey Sallas, George disguises himself as Aunt Clara -- only to have the gangster propose marriage.
George comes clean: the murderous gangster who has been stalking him was a hoax he staged himself.
Gracie submits to a word-association test with Professor Thorndike, to predictably baffling results.
A psychiatrist has moved in with the Allens, determined to map the inner workings of Gracie's mind.
George schemes to keep a date with the glamorous Fifi -- and to duck the broadcast to do it.
On election eve George explains voting to Gracie, who resolves to cast her ballot for Clark Gable.
Gracie stages her own musical comedy about Henry VIII, titled 'When Things Get Dull, He Sharpened His Knives.'
With Gracie stuck at home tending a sick granddaddy, George brings the show to her house -- and has to explain what Thanksgiving is.
The broadcast masquerades as a rehearsal for next week's episode, with George and Gracie dissecting how the last one went.
George dresses to the nines in white tie and tails for a visit from the sponsor.
George sports a mysterious black eye after a Tijuana jaunt that turns into a border-crossing ordeal.
Gracie founds a newspaper and gets her star reporters smuggled into prison for a scoop.
Gracie mislays the scripts to her Christmas play, and the cast improvises a musical holiday finale.
December 30, 1940
1941
January 6, 1941
Angling to move up in Society, Gracie sets out to impress Cobina Wright Jr. -- and reads yet another letter from brother Willie.
Gracie shares the latest letter from her brother Willy amid the evening's musical numbers.
February 10, 1941
February 17, 1941
Gracie turns up late, having circled Central Park in a cab with Artie Shaw; columnist Beatrice Fairfax reads a letter from 'Anonymous' Gracie.
March 3, 1941
March 10, 1941
Broadcasting from New York on St. Patrick's Day, George tries to break up the supposed romance between Gracie and Artie Shaw.
March 24, 1941
A new season and a new sponsor: the show hunts for a fresh singer and introduces Jimmy Cash.
October 14, 1941
George submits to a medical exam for an insurance policy.
October 28, 1941
MGM courts Gracie for a 'Mr. and Mrs. North' picture she wants no part of, while a locket Paul Whiteman bought for his wife complicates matters.
November 11, 1941
George grows jealous of Gracie's old schooldays sweetheart Keith Fowler, with a pet duck adding to the chaos.
November 25, 1941
The New Cook
December 2, 1941
December 9, 1941
Gracie hauls George to the post office with an impossibly heavy package.
A holiday fantasy takes the pair to visit Santa at the North Pole, capped by Gracie's parody of the song 'Daddy.'
December 30, 1941
1942
January 6, 1942
January 13, 1942
January 20, 1942
January 27, 1942
February 3, 1942
February 10, 1942
February 17, 1942
February 24, 1942
March 3, 1942
March 10, 1942
March 17, 1942
March 24, 1942
March 31, 1942
April 7, 1942
April 14, 1942
April 21, 1942
April 28, 1942
May 5, 1942
May 12, 1942
Smiling Georgie Burns
May 19, 1942
May 26, 1942
June 2, 1942
June 9, 1942
June 16, 1942
June 23, 1942
June 30, 1942
To rekindle the romance, Gracie schemes to have George court her all over again as if they were not yet married.
Armed with a mail-order marriage manual, Gracie tries its keep-your-husband-happy theories out on George.
Gracie's Beverly Hills Uplift Society reconvenes to aid the war effort -- over George's ban on meetings in his living room.
George wants an office away from the house, so Gracie rents him an enormous suite -- on a ninety-nine-year lease.
George invites an old friend to dinner -- a pal who, it turns out, works at MGM as a plumber.
From a Marine base, the Uplift Society volunteers to mind a defense worker's baby, leaving George convinced he is about to become a father.
Economizing for the war, Gracie decides a live turkey is the thrifty way to Thanksgiving -- with predictable results.
With the Uplift Society eyeing Ida Cantor for membership, George braces guest Eddie Cantor for what is coming.
A wartime mileage-rationing special: Gracie enlists mechanic-in-training Toots to overhaul George's car and preach the gospel of carpooling.
Gracie mounts a determined campaign to meet the new neighbors, and throws a not-very-lively party in the bargain.
A fortune teller's tea leaves convince George that Gracie is about to leave him for guest Herbert Marshall.
A Christmas fantasy flies George and Gracie to the North Pole on Herman the Duck to help Santa fend off a pirate, 'Tamiroff the Terrible.'
When guest Rita Hayworth receives George's pulp magazine by mistake, Gracie appoints herself Rita's matchmaker.
1943
George resolves to be more romantic just as Gracie's club drafts him to star in its production of 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.'
January 12, 1943
George forgets their wedding anniversary, so Gracie sets out to make him jealous with the help of guest Brian Donlevy.
Gracie traces the Burns family tree and discovers that George is descended from royalty.
The wartime servant shortage lands Tootsie Sagwell as the new maid, with George angling to replace her.
Gracie campaigns for president of the Uplift Society and recruits guest Charles Laughton as her star attraction.
Gracie drafts a wedding announcement marrying Tootsie to a still-unsuspecting Bill Goodwin, while Tootsie tries to remake herself into guest Veronica Lake.
Packing for a New York USO tour, Gracie announces she will play Carnegie Hall, as Zelda sets her cap for guest Bob Burns.
Settled into a swanky New York hotel beside guest Madeleine Carroll, Gracie practices her 'Concerto for One Finger' ahead of Carnegie Hall.
Guests Deems Taylor and Jose Iturbi join the doomed effort to talk Gracie out of her Carnegie Hall debut.
Undeterred, Gracie finally performs her one-finger concerto at Carnegie Hall.
To keep the Uplift Society out of his living room, George angles for a doctor's note declaring him too sick to host.
George explains rationing to Gracie as the household plans a Victory Garden and interviews a handyman.
April 27, 1943
Burns and Allen Concerto for Index Finger
May 4, 1943
May 11, 1943
May 18, 1943
George mounts a campaign for a seat on the school board.
Gracie collects a parking ticket, leaving George to explain it to the judge.
Gracie and Tootsie apply for work as a maid and a cook.
June 15, 1943
Gracie invests in a love potion from one Nigel Bollingbrook.
In the season finale, a hungover George faces a lapsed insurance policy and a suddenly amnesiac Gracie.
Back from touring army camps, George announces -- to Frankie's dismay -- that he intends to become a crooner.
Reading that husbands are in short supply, Gracie recruits a parade of unglamorous women to propose to George.
George tries to talk guest Brian Donlevy into co-starring in his opus, 'The Sin of Madeline Fudnick.'
Tootsie sets her sights on marrying guest Ray Milland as the cast stages its own war-bond rally.
The question of the night: has announcer Bill Goodwin fallen for guest Ann Sheridan?
Gracie grows suspicious that George has taken an interest in a glamorous lady dentist.
George runs into guest Eddie Cantor at the cigar shop and rashly invites him home to dinner.
Gracie's old schoolmate, guest Pat O'Brien, drops by for a visit.
Tootsie competes for 'Queen of the Fleet' against a formidable rival -- guest Hedy Lamarr.
Gracie spots guest Jack Benny at the beauty parlor and uses the secret to strong-arm him into putting George on his show.
Gracie leans on Jack Benny again while trying to win the paper-salvage drive; George hoards his prized pulp magazines.
New neighbor Walter Pidgeon becomes Gracie's target as a husband for Tootsie -- starting with the loan of an egg.
Gracie's gossipy magazine article about guest Loretta Young lands her a fifty-thousand-dollar lawsuit.
Smitten with guest Charles Boyer, Gracie schemes to cast him as a cowboy in the local theatrical production.
A guest studying for a scatterbrained-housewife film role comes to the Burns household for some real-life research.
Gracie and guest Elsa Lanchester conspire to cast her husband, guest Charles Laughton, as Santa at the Christmas pageant.
George bounces a check to guest John Garfield -- a very tough customer versed in the code of the underworld.
1944
January 4, 1944
Guest William Bendix enrolls in Gracie's school of culture.
Guest Paul Henreid objects to finding his name on a testimonial for Gracie's culture school.
Guest William Powell is talked into spending the night at the Burns house.
Amid a Fourth War Loan appeal, Gracie's new cleaning lady reports that houseguests Adolphe Menjou and Verree Teasdale are quarreling.
Guest Fred Astaire's search for a new dance partner -- rehearsed noisily in the office above -- drives George to distraction.
George angles for a singing role in Cecil B. DeMille's latest film; DeMille would sooner cast him as a butler at a dinner party.
March 14, 1944
Gracie sets out to prove that George is a genius on the order of Orson Welles.
The Uplift Society's charity auction hinges on its star lot -- guest Brian Aherne's shorts.
April 4, 1944
April 11, 1944
April 18, 1944
April 25, 1944
May 2, 1944
Running for councilman, George somehow finds himself coaching guest Lawrence Tibbett's voice -- and sharing his Hollywood Bowl concert bill.
May 23, 1944
May 30, 1944
Burns' Babysit for Betty Grable
George becomes convinced he has been named Kansas City's favorite singer.
In the season finale from Kansas City, George is set to sing at a Fifth War Loan bond rally.
August 15, 1944
August 22, 1944
Gracie tries to pry twenty dollars out of George to cover the antiques she bought at auction.
September 5, 1944
September 12, 1944
September 19, 1944
Stung by Gracie's memories of a handier old beau, George sets out to prove himself around the house -- after she sabotages the kitchen sink.
October 3, 1944
George Is Jelous of Gracie's Old Boyfriend
George courts landowner Joe Bagley's daughter in hopes of talking her father into selling him a building lot.
George's refusal to buy Gracie a new hat somehow ends with a dented fender on the car.
October 24, 1944
At Boston's Symphony Hall, George angles for a spot on the bill of guest James Melton's concert.
November 28, 1944
Gust: Jose Iturbi
December 5, 1944
December 19, 1944
George and Gracie's dithering over whether to buy Christmas presents drives shop clerk Frank Nelson to the brink.
December 26, 1944
With the show shifting to Mondays, Gracie hires a drama coach to polish George -- who mistakes her for the new laundress.
1945
January 1, 1945
January 8, 1945
Guest: Shirley Temple
Gracie enlists guest Alan Ladd to make George jealous, between appeals to salvage waste paper.
The Uplift Society convenes to send Tootsie Sagwell off to finishing school.
February 12, 1945
February 19, 1945
February 26, 1945
March 19, 1945
March 26, 1945
April 2, 1945
Burns and Allen George Goes Rabbit Hunting ( Edited)
April 9, 1945
April 23, 1945
April 30, 1945
May 7, 1945
May 14, 1945
May 21, 1945
May 28, 1945
June 4, 1945
June 11, 1945
When someone takes George for Gracie's father, she launches a campaign to make him feel young again.
In the final Swan-sponsored broadcast, George and Gracie sign off to tour army camps and hospitals.
Launching Maxwell House Coffee Time, the Burnses move next door to Meredith Willson, who greets George with a flute to the head.
George plots a surprise housewarming as the couple settles into their new home.
A war-surplus haul of a hundred nylon stockings makes Gracie the most sought-after woman in town.
October 11, 1945
Neighbor Meredith Willson works up the nerve to propose.
October 25, 1945
All New Furniture
George wins an ashtray on a punch board, and Gracie takes it as license to redecorate the whole house.
George becomes convinced he is Hollywood's next great screen lover and bobby-soxer idol.
November 15, 1945
A will leaves George five thousand dollars -- but only if he goes to college, where he lands on the Beverly Hills Tech football team.
College men George and guest Jack Benny both campaign for 'most popular' at Beverly Hills Tech.
December 6, 1945
December 13, 1945
December 20, 1945
December 27, 1945
1946
George and Gracie fix up the den to house a needy returning veteran amid the postwar housing shortage.
George endures another Uplift Society meeting as Gracie lobbies to put Madame Da Silva on the program.
Gracie's Uplift Club makes off with George's clothes and commandeers the broadcast.
George tries to evict long-staying houseguest Meredith Willson by moving guest Kay Kyser into the den.
January 31, 1946
A newspaper names George and Gracie finalists in its search for Hollywood's ideal married couple.
February 14, 1946
George is 'called to Washington' to help the president -- and Truman reportedly asked to see the script.
February 28, 1946
March 7, 1946
Fresh off losing money on a chicken ranch, Gracie goes into the matchmaking business with a matrimonial bureau.
March 21, 1946
March 28, 1946
Trouble over a smashed fender leads Gracie to swear off lying altogether.
Gracie angles to join a literary club by claiming George is the great-grandson of the poet Robert Burns.
April 18, 1946
Gracie must sweet-talk NBC vice president Sidney Strotz into lending a studio for the Uplift Society's play.
An expanded hour-long special, with Frances Langford filling in for a laryngitic Dinah Shore.
Gracie decides to write a column on national affairs, with guest Harpo Marx -- honking and whistling -- as her assistant.
May 16, 1946
May 23, 1946
In the season finale, George forecasts the Louis-Conn bout and introduces summer replacement vocalist Ben Gage.
Gracie takes on a new project: rehabilitating a burglar.
Only Gracie remembers George's birthday -- and celebrates by volunteering him to fly a rocket to the moon.
Angling for new appliances, George and Gracie land on a quiz show -- Kay Kyser's, as it happens.
Meredith Willson may be headed for marriage to a daughter of guest Eddie Cantor.
October 10, 1946
Gracie is convinced George should replace Clark Gable in the new picture 'The Hucksters.'
Gracie tries to persuade George that he is a dead ringer for Clark Gable, and thus perfect for 'The Hucksters.'
George and guest Jack Carson compete for the title 'Glamour Boy of Hollywood.'
Gracie schemes to get guest Frank Sinatra out of town.
November 21, 1946
November 28, 1946
December 5, 1946
Gracie decides to earn her own Christmas money by hiring herself out as a baby sitter.
George unwraps a lavish smoking jacket from guest Eddie Cantor -- along with an Erector Set meant for the boy next door.
1947
Gracie and her neighbor Blanche Morton set out to organize a Housewives Guild.
Gracie searches for a painless way to break the news of the Christmas bills to George.
January 16, 1947
January 23, 1947
January 30, 1947
February 6, 1947
George and Gracie mark fifteen years in radio, with guest Al Jolson supplying the songs.
With the gas, water, and electricity shut off, Gracie resolves to run the household like a business.
Inspired by her favorite radio sleuth, Gracie decides she and George should take up detective work.
March 27, 1947
April 3, 1947
With Easter two days off, Gracie drops unsubtle hints for a new hat, and the Uplift Society pitches in.
April 10, 1947
Gracie takes it into her head to sell the house.
April 17, 1947
After George refuses to sell the house 614 times, Gracie reveals it sits on a swamp -- and sells it anyway.
The Burnses beat a retreat from Bill Goodwin's house once his girlfriends start taking an interest in George.
May 1, 1947
Homeless after the sale, Gracie books herself a room at the YWCA and George one at the YMCA.
The couple buys their old house back, and Gracie resolves to make amends to George for all the trouble.
The Uplift Society 'fights inflation' by shopping to check prices, then billing the husbands for their trouble.
In the season finale, George and Gracie debate a vacation spot and welcome summer guest Frances Langford.
September 4, 1947
September 11, 1947
September 18, 1947
Fretting over the cost of living, George tries to sell one of Gracie's plays to Texas oil millionaire Mr. Judson.
October 2, 1947
October 9, 1947
October 16, 1947
October 23, 1947
October 30, 1947
Awaiting a gift pig for a barbecue, the Burnses discover that the 'biggest bore in Jackson County' is very much human.
Gracie tries to book guest Cary Grant to address the Uplift Society on the question, 'Women -- Are They Here to Stay?'
Gracie's wish to hear the royal-wedding rebroadcast collides with George's poker night, so the cast stages its own royal wedding.
Gracie convinces guest Jean Sablon that George is a Paris native, and a French medal duly follows.
George schemes to talk guest Bing Crosby into retirement so he can take over his career.
A hypnotized Meredith Willson turns into a 'wolf,' and Gracie wonders whether George could use the same treatment.
George is left to guess what Gracie really wants for Christmas.
With Gracie down with the flu, George drafts guest Jane Wyman to play her for the evening.
1948
January 1, 1948
George and guest Jack Benny turn themselves into a gypsy violin-and-vocal act to raise money for a tour.
It is tax-deadline day, and Gracie pitches in on George's return -- to his peril.
Gracie and guest Walter O'Keefe swap old vaudeville memories that pointedly exclude George.
Egged on by Blanche, Gracie decides George is a hopeless nag and that a trial separation is in order.
Gracie wants a fur coat, so George takes literally to the woods to hunt for one.
Gracie volunteers George to babysit Kay Kyser's new baby.
A five-thousand-dollar cattle-market windfall is George's for the taking -- if only he can reach a telephone.
Off to a hat festival in New Orleans, Gracie suspects George will spend the trip with a girl named 'Dimples.'
March 4, 1948
March 11, 1948
March 18, 1948
With Easter bearing down, Gracie angles for a whole new outfit.
April 1, 1948
April 8, 1948
When neighbor Joe Bagley sells Gracie a television set, George becomes convinced Joe means to replace him in the act.
Gracie soldiers on through laryngitis while George tries to prove he really did see 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.'
George's long-awaited gadget-laden new car arrives -- and Gracie promptly trades it for a 1918 Stutz Bearcat.
Rich Mr. Judson offers the Burnses an oil well on one condition -- that they marry off his sister.
May 13, 1948
Gracie's inability to turn away door-to-door salesmen leaves George quarantined in his own home.
Gracie's visiting mother makes no secret of her low opinion of George's show-business career.
Gracie's new fascination with spiritualism gives Joe Bagley an opening to unload a swampy lot through the swami.
June 3, 1948
June 10, 1948
September 30, 1948
In the season opener, the Burnses try to smooth the way for a young couple's elopement -- and George nearly winds up married himself.
Gracie quietly monograms George's watch, pen, and lighter as a gift, convincing him she has taken up kleptomania.
October 14, 1948
October 21, 1948
October 28, 1948
To pay for a new dress, Gracie turns the Burns house into a hotel -- all George wanted was long underwear.
November 4, 1948
On their fifteenth anniversary, a jealous Gracie wonders whether it is finally time to tell George about their two children.
A dispute over who is boss sends George and Gracie into duelling accounts of their honeymoon trip.
December 2, 1948
December 9, 1948
December 16, 1948
December 23, 1948
Beverly Hills Uplift Society Christmas Carole
1949
Smitten with a Gregory Peck picture, Gracie wants George to be more romantic -- so George enlists Peck himself to talk her down.
January 13, 1949
January 20, 1949
Gracie maneuvers Bill Goodwin and guest Cesar Romero into competing for the same girl.
For George's birthday, Gracie decides to make a movie of his life -- casting Gene Kelly in the lead.
February 3, 1949
Gracie helps guest Howard Duff's 'Sam Spade' crack a murder case down at the Beverly Hills police station.
Gracie regales guests James and Pamela Mason with the saga of George's cat collection.
Gracie volunteers George for a medical experiment, which he cheerfully mistakes for a booking to perform.
After a fender-bender with guest Richard Widmark, George recruits the menacing star to give Gracie a scare.
The show salutes the Girl Scouts on their thirty-seventh anniversary.
With George nursing a cold, guest Marlene Dietrich sets out to make Gracie jealous.
Gracie keeps guest Jane Wyman company as she waits to learn she has won the Academy Award for 'Johnny Belinda.'
A tall-tale fantasy explains how the once-'Generous Jack Benny' became famously stingy.
Gracie blackmails guest Robert Montgomery into casting George in his new Napoleon picture.
April 14, 1949
A running gag has George and Ida Cantor apparently plotting to poison guest Eddie Cantor.
George's ladyfingers -- and his needlework doilies -- sweep the blue ribbons at the County Fair.
With TV on the horizon, Gracie lobbies Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd to step aside so George can inherit the saddle -- and Boyd counters by hiring George to dance with a horse.
Guest Marie 'The Body' McDonald helps Gracie convince George he is irresistible and destined for television stardom.
Gracie sets out to adopt guest Mickey Rooney, who plays along for reasons of his own.
May 26, 1949
Smart Set or Ball Game
Guest Chester Morris lends his magic act to George's latest scheme to scare Gracie.
Fired up by a women's-rights crusade, Gracie sets out to assert herself around the Burns household.
Gracie tries to break up a budding romance between the neighbors' teenage daughter Emily and guest Rudy Vallee.
In the final Maxwell House broadcast, George and Gracie prepare to sail for the London Palladium, leaving guest Robert Young in charge.
September 21, 1949
Launching the Ammident series, a Europe-returned Gracie wants George to court her all over again.
October 5, 1949
Gracie's plan to make George the new lead in 'South Pacific' lands him headed for the real South Pacific -- and the Bikini atom-bomb test.
October 12, 1949
October 19, 1949
October 26, 1949
November 2, 1949
November 9, 1949
November 16, 1949
November 23, 1949
November 30, 1949
December 7, 1949
December 14, 1949
December 21, 1949
December 28, 1949
1950
January 4, 1950
Gracie sets out to land a movie job for a friend.
January 18, 1950
George labors over a testimonial speech for a Friars Club dinner honoring guest Ronald Reagan.
Gracie is determined to discover the secret of guest Al Jolson's boundless vitality.
Gracie dents the fender again and schemes to keep George from finding out.
George and Gracie are offered the leads in a new production of the play 'Dulcy.'
A day at the racetrack, and the National Safety Council honors the pair with a 'Don't Be a Gracie' award.
Income-tax season again, with George still recovering from a memorably trying night at the ballet.
March 8, 1950
Income Tax Problems
March 15, 1950
March 22, 1950
March 29, 1950
April 5, 1950
April 12, 1950
George and Gracie return from a Palm Springs vacation.
April 19, 1950
April 26, 1950
May 3, 1950
May 10, 1950
May 17, 1950
The Story
Real-life husband and wife George Burns and Gracie Allen turned the oldest comic formula -- straight man and scatterbrain -- into one of broadcasting's most durable acts. Burns played it dry and deadpan, his cigar a punctuation mark; Allen spun the "illogical logic" that made her the funniest woman on the air. The show began in 1932 as vaudeville-style patter with music, the sponsor's name often becoming the title (Maxwell House Coffee Time among them), before a landmark 1941 pivot recast it as a married-couple situation comedy. That reinvention is the textbook case of a fading act retooling itself: Burns noticed the ratings slipping, decided he and Gracie were "too old for our jokes" as flirt and suitor, and rebuilt the premise around their marriage -- driving it to even greater success. The cast was a who's who: Bea Benaderet, Mel Blanc, Gale Gordon, bandleader Ray Noble, the Sportsmen Quartet, and announcer Bill Goodwin as a comic foil, all produced through the J. Walter Thompson agency. (Harry Von Zell, often linked to the act, actually announced the 1950s television version, not the radio run.) The publicity stunts became legend -- Gracie's hunt for her fictitious "lost brother" jumped across networks, and her 1940 mock presidential run on the Surprise Party ticket drew real write-in votes. The act conquered vaudeville, radio, and a hit TV sitcom (1950-1958), earned a 1994 National Radio Hall of Fame induction, and sent Burns on to an Oscar at 79 and a career that reached 100.
Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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