Gracie Allen

During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of mass entertainment. American Masters explores the entertainer’s life through his personal archives and clips from his classic films.

The legendary W.C. Fields is featured in rare behind-the-scenes footage and home movies at work and at play, along with hilarious scenes from some of his greatest films.

An in-depth look at the early days of television and its first stars.

Vaudeville is a 1997 PBS documentary under its American Masters program. Using film clips and photos, the art and history of vaudeville (1890-1930s) is illustrated.

Love Letter to Jack Benny" is a wonderfully warm-hearted tribute to the late comic genius. Hosted by three men who knew Jack well (including his best friend, George Burns), they introduce a raft of rare clips from his later programs in the 60's.

Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were battling the Depression as well as eventually getting ready for another World War.

Steve Allen hosts this collection of clips of some of the greatest comedy teams in movie and television history, including Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Burns and Allen, The Three Stooges, The East-Side Kids, Abbott and Costello, and Martin and Lewis.

Documentary about radio comedies primarily focused on Burns & Allen, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, The Jack Benny Program, Fibber McGee & Molly, The Bob Hope Show, and The Fred Allen Show.

Various CBS stars appear in this one hour variety program about the opening of the brand new $7 million dollar CBS Television City Studios.

A U.S. Navy sailor helps two sisters start up a service canteen. The sailor soon becomes taken with gorgeous sister Jean, unaware that her sibling Patsy is also in love with him.

Married sleuths (Gracie Allen, William Post Jr.) find a corpse in their closet and round up suspects.

"Stuart Erwin acts as master of ceremonies in this variety skit, the second in the series produced by Lewis Llewyn for Paramount release. Erwin introduces Bing Crosby, who engages in some comedy byplay with George Burns and Gracie Allen, after which the crooner sings a number. The rest of the short is devoted to Olsen and Johnson, the comedy headliners, who do some nutty stuff on the beach with the support of a bunch of bathing beauties".

Lady Alyce Marshmorton must marry soon, and the staff of Tottney Castle have laid bets on who she'll choose, with young Albert wagering on 'Mr. X'. After Alyce goes to London to meet a beau she is restricted to the castle to curb her scandalous behavior. Albert then summons Jerry to Alyce's aid in order to 'protect his investment'.

The Whinneys share expenses for their trip to Hollywood with George and Gracie and their great Dane. A clerk in Whinney's bank has put fifty thousand dollars in a suitcase, hoping to rob Whinney on the road, but instead Whinney takes another road and is himself arrested in Nevada.

Super-sleuth Philo Vance faces the zaniest case of his career when Gracie Allen "helps" him try to solve the murder of an escaped convict. As she attempts to clear the name of a friend accused of the killing, her wacky, scatterbrained ways constantly impede the investigation.

Two-bit radio station owner Spud Miller doubles as the station's sole announcer. On the verge of bankruptcy, Spud is receptive to the wacky notions of George and Gracie, who've just invented a television device that can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere.

Gracie Allen assumes the "management" of the shop owned by her papa Horatio Allen, turning it into a radio station and then an aviary---with the usual Gracie Allen logic---while distracted Papa is trying to get younger daughter, beauty contest winner Florence, married before she can head to Hollywood and get into the movies.

George registers at the Jefferson Hotel; after the desk clerk gives him the runaround, he meets Gracie at the cigar counter.

George, working in a hat shop, gets tricky with the customers. Then Gracie comes in and drives him batty.

Foreign investors converge on a luxury hotel in China to bid on a new kind of radioscope. But, this is a hotel where Burns and Allen are the in-house medical staff, a measles risk sends the whole building into quarantine, and a madcap millionaire crashes dinner in his autogyro. Hotel and radioscope become a stage for an all-star cast of comedians and musicians, from vaudeville to the new generation.

A college professor and the school's star football player are both rivals for the same beautiful coed.

Gracie Alden tries to graduate from college to get an inheritance.

Beautiful high society type Doris Worthington is entertaining guests on her yacht in the Pacific when it hits a reef and sinks. She makes her way to an island with the help of singing sailor Stephen Jones. Her friend Edith, Uncle Hubert, and Princes Michael and Alexander make it to the same island but all prove to be useless in the art of survival. The sailor is the only one with the practical knowhow to survive but Doris and the others snub his leadership offer. That is until he starts a clam bake and wafts the fumes in their starving faces. The group gradually gives into his leadership, the only question now is if Doris will give into his charms.

George Burns tries to buy a tie in a department store filled with assorted kooks.

Wanting a break from his overzealous fans, a famous movie star hires a Hawaiian plantation owner to switch places with him for a few weeks.

A young girl runs away from her carnival family to make it in New York and becomes involved with a young songwriter.

Sailor George and his pals visit the Roseland Dance Hall, where funny things happen between conversations with dizzy hostess Gracie.

The employees of a failing radio station must put on a huge ratings winner to have any chance of continued operation.

Burns and Allen have a dizzy conversation in a bookstore.

College students rally to save a struggling hotel from closing. Comedy.

The top brass at a radio station believe their popular new star singer is paying more attention to his love life than to his career.

At a department store, George seeks help in getting a bone out of his throat. No one will help him; lunch counter girl Gracie wants to talk about airplanes.

George is distracted from buying a statue by scatterbrained Gracie.

Street-sweeper George flirts with a pretty, but dizzy, nursemaid in the park. Incorporates Burns & Allen's vaudeville "dizzy" routine.

George is mistaken for an accident victim and taken to the hospital. After his needless operation, he meets Nurse Gracie, who adds insanity to injury.

A scatterbrained heiress opens her home to a succession of unemployed actors and vaudeville performers, then decides to produce her own show, much to the consternation of her father, her sister and her sister's boyfriend, who is actually after the young girl's money.

In the barbershop, a costumer contends with a barber hard-selling hair tonic, an obnoxious customer with a theory about World War I, and a dizzy manicurist (Grace) who engages him in typically crazy conversation.

George and Gracie enter an elegant drawing room, looking everywhere for something. Turns out, they're looking for the audience, and when George spots the camera, they start in on their patter. Gracie wants to convince George that she's smart, not dizzy - it's an uphill struggle of which she's blissfully unaware. Midway through, they break into song: "Do You Believe Me?" It includes a little bit of hoofing as the chatting continues. They end on a story Gracie whispers into George's ear.