Friday, March 9, 2012

Remembering Nathan Birnbaum

Nathan was born in 1896, one of twelve children.  As a child, he sang for pennies on street corners and in saloons.  He dropped out of school to entertain people and make money entertaining anyway he could.  He later changed his name to George Burns.

In 1922 George teamed up with Gracie Allen and performed what was known at the time as a Dumb Dora Show, where George played the straight man to Gracie getting the laughs with her illogical logic.  They both started in Vaudeville, and ended up performing in various radio shows from 1932 to 1950.  They also played themselves in a number of movies before the radio show moved to television.

Gracie Allen died in 1964, at the age of fifty-eight.

Later in 1975, at the age of seventy-nine, George Burn’s career took off again as he won an Oscar for his role in “The Sunshine Boys.”  He went on play God in three movies and won an life time achievement award in 1988.  He wrote two bestselling autobiographical books, “Gracie: A Love Story” and “All My Best Friends.”

On this day in 1996, weeks after celebrating his 100th Birthday, George Burns died.

To live 100 years, and spending so much of that time entertaining people and making them laugh is so unique and special.  To have lived such a grand life and marry your partner in the truest sense, a real true honest love.  Here’s to your memory Nathan Birnbaum, George Burns, and your charming, lovely wife of so many years, Gracie Allen.

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