BURNS AND ALLEN
(Broadcast: September 23, 1936 – May 17, 1950 )

For a sample list of available titles and additional research resources at UCLA please download our expanded collection profile

Like many of their colleagues on the vaudeville circuit, Gracie Allen and George Burns would make the transition to performing their stage act on commercial radio. The pair initially made appearances on The Guy Lombardo Show between 1932 and 1934 and emerged together on The Burns and Allen Show in 1936 on CBS, becoming popular fixtures on network radio by 1938 and attracting national corporate sponsorship.

During 1942, The Burns and Allen Show altered its performance format from its vaudevillian variety style to a situation comedy in response to a substantial drop in audience ratings. The switch in format helped rebuild a mass audience for Allen and Burns playing on their unique chemistry and strengths as a comedic pair and would aide their future transition to television, where the two stayed together until Allen's death in 1964.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive holds multiple titles of The Burns and Allen Show in both its radio and television forms available for use on-site at the Archive Research and Study Center.