American comedian, actor, singer, and writer George Burns was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for the majority of the twentieth century. He and his wife, Gracie Allen, appeared on radio, television, and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen.
The two immediately launched a new partnership (Burns and Allen), with George playing the role of the "straight man" and Gracie delivering the punchlines as the comedian. Burns knew something was wrong when the audience ignored his jokes but snickered at Gracie's questions, so he flipped the act around and Burns' hunch proved right. Gracie was the better "laugh-getter" with the "illogical logic" that formed her responses to Burns' prompting comments or questions. Burns wrote their early scripts but was rarely credited with being a good comedy writer. The entire concept of the Burns and Allen characters, however, was one created and developed by Burns. |
Examples of Work:
Lambchops (1929) International House (1933) A Damsel in Distress (1937) The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950 - 1958) The Sunshine Boys (1975) |
American Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld was known as the "glorifier of the American girl" due to his series of theatrical revues called the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1907 he produced his first revue in New York City, The Follies of 1907, modeled on the Folies-Bergère of Paris but less risqué. These extravaganzas, with elaborate costumes and sets, featured beautiful women chosen personally by Ziegfeld in production numbers choreographed to the works of prominent composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Jerome Kern.
Despite not being Jewish himself, Florenz Ziegfeld was known for employing Jewish performers like Nora Bayes, Sophie Tucker, Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, Al Shean, Ed Wynn, Belle Baker and Jack Pearl. Thus, Ziegfeld was instrumental in bringing both Jewish performers and Jewish themes into mainstream theatre culture. The Ziegfeld Follies featured the famous Ziegfeld Girls, female chorus dancers who wore elaborate costumes and performed in synchronization, including his own wife, actress Billie Burke. The revue's combination of semi-nudity, pageantry and comedy was repeated successfully for 23 more years, until the Great Depression ended these annual spectaculars. Four other editions appeared after his death, the last in 1957. |
Examples of Work:
A Parisian Model (1906) The Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931) "Sally" (1920) "Show Boat" (1927) "Rio Rita" (1927) "Bitter Sweet" (1929) |