The 1940 presidential campaign was turned upside down when the radio star threw her hat into the ring—sort of.
by Rich Watson
Gracie Allen was one half of a comedy duo with her husband, George Burns. She was the ditzy one to Burns’ straight man. Their career spanned vaudeville, radio, TV and film for over thirty years.
In 1940, their popularity hit a peak when they engaged in an unusual stunt: Allen ran for president.
I used to watch the reruns of their comedy show on what was then CBN Cable. I was surprised to see BEA BENADERET as BLANCHE. I only knew Miss Benaderet from reruns of THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES as COUSIN PEARL-the mother of JETHRO BODINE. P.S. I am a big fan of BUDDY EBSEN who played JED on the hillbillies. Do you know that show? CLASSIC TV FAN
ReplyDeleteI have never seen HILLBILLIES.
ReplyDeleteI know George and Gracie were on TV but I haven’t heard many radio shows. I really wanted to write about a comedienne who was big in radio and I couldn’t think of a better choice. Funny you should mention Bea Benaderet: I watched the live-action FLINTSTONES movie on Netflix last week.
What a fascinating story! We had a TV show presenter run for president as a stunt in 1989 as well. He got quite a few write-in votes!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Le
For those of you who don’t know Le, she’s from Brazil, and is an excellent classic film blogger (criticaretro.blogspot.com).
ReplyDeleteGracie was fortunate to have had George, who was willing to play the straight man and build her up like he did.