Customer Reviews

The Burns and Allen Show: Harry Morton's Secretary/Beverly Hills Uplift Society/Dance Lessons/Gracie's

5 star:		(2)
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I purchased this CD for my mother who has fond memories of these shows. I watched them with her and enjoyed them. I would much rather have a commercial for Carnation Milk thrown into the performance than watch 5 minutes of programming and 5 minutes of commercial as we often do today! The picture quality isn't perfect, but what you see is what people saw on their TV's back then. Technology certainly wasn't what we have today, but that what you would expect when you purchase these CD's. I was happy with the purchase and would recommend it to others.

Who can't help but enjoy Gracie Allen's humor, nor George Burns dry wit. These were the early episodes, I prefer the later ones where they were not filmed on what was apparent as a 'real' stage setting, as in plays.

The Burns and Allen Show: Harry Morton's Secretary/Beverly Hills Uplift Society/Dance Lessons/Gracie's

These were the first Burns & Allen shows that my husband and I had ever seen, and since we aren't old enough to have enjoyed them back when they first came out on TV, we had always figured they were old b&w shows with old jokes, done on an obvious stage; so they must be boring. But we couldn't believe how funny and smart these shows are! Sure, some of the jokes are old, but they pull them off the way they were meant to be done, so they're still hilarious (or maybe I should say they've become hilarious again.) Sure, it's done on a stage, but they never try to pretend to the audience that they're house is real. George Burns will step through the living room wall to talk to the audience whenever he wants to. Genius. The way they just have a short conversation about Carnation Milk (the sponsor) instead of having commercials is so funny. (Sort of like Kyle XY and their Sour Patch Kids.) Who's been hiding this show from the younger folks? Burns & Allen isn't just for the older generation anymore.

Wonderfully surreal, "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" (which ran on CBS during the 1950s) moves at a relaxed, vaudevillian rhythm that differs from most television comedies. This Delta release offers four early kinescopes in reasonably good quality. Along with George and Gracie's timeless routines, you also get Bill Goodwin's contrived plugs for Carnation Evaporated Milk. It's a refreshing contrast to the arid landscape of 21st-century sitcoms.