User Reviews

Having had their own successful radio show for the past seventeen years, this marked the first time George Burns and Gracie Allen appeared on live television. It begins as Burns steps from the curtain and explains what it's like to be a straight man. We then see Gracie opening her window as she trims the hedges with George's razor! A book salesman comes and tries to sell Gracie some encyclopedias but gets confused by some of her nonsense logic and keeps getting his hat smashed whenever Gracie puts some of his books down! After this scene ends, George introduces musical act The Skylarks and then does some banter about George's singing. Then Gracie drops in on the Mortons and asks Blanche (Bea Benaderet) to go to the movies which Harry (Hal March) at first refuses but relents to avoid an argument with Blanche. Announcer Bill Goodwin then drops in on George as he tells a story of how he was stuck on an airplane running out of gas and mentions to control tower, "Do you use Carnation Evaporated Milk?" leading to a plug for the show's sponsor. After this ends, Bill almost walks off the set before George tells him to use the door. "Now, wasn't that better? You see, we've got to keep this believable," George says as he tells us it's now three hours later. He talks to Harry to make plans to get out of going to the movies with their wives by inventing a card game called Kleebob hoping the confusion would free them to go to the boxing match. But Gracie recognizes the rules having played a similar game a week ago when George wanted to get out of something else with his wife! Goodwin then comes by himself to plug another Carnation product before George and Gracie say good night. Very amusing first episode of a transplanted radio show that shows how in command of the camera Burns, Allen, and the rest of the cast were. Gracie, especially, is very funny whether wondering how milk came from carnations or mentioning how she never gets dizzy prompting Harry to choke from his drink! The sponsor's product, while obvious, is amusingly integrated into the plot. The only real intrusion is the musical act which would eventually be phased out except for musical-like episodes. The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television marked the peak of the comedy team's success that would last until 1958 when Gracie retired. Well worth seeing wherever you can find any episodes!