TV Legends Revealed #7
This is the seventh in a series of examinations of legends about television and the people involved in TV and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the previous six.
Let’s begin!
TV LEGEND: At the end of the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Burns would say “Say Goodnight, Gracie” and Allen would follow with, “Goodnight, Gracie.”
STATUS: False
George Burns and Gracie Allen met in 1922 and soon began a vaudeville act together. Their act quickly developed into the act that they would become famous for - Burns as the straight man playing to Allen’s ditzy “Dumb Dora” routine. They would marry in 1926.
After years on vaudeville and a number of appearances in the pictures, the pair transitioned to radio in the late 1930s, which is where they made the last refinement on their act during the 1940s. Up until that point, their marriage was not written into the act. Around 1940, they finally did and their radio show became more of a traditional sitcom.
That sitcom style continued to the medium of television, as the couple debuted their TV series The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show in 1950.
By the time Allen retired in 1958 (Allen had been fighting heart disease for years, which almost certainly was what led to her wishing to lighten her workload - the couple produced almost THREE HUNDRED episodes in the eight years they were on the air), the show was a massive commercial and critical hit.
People absolutely loved Gracie Allen’s personality.
However, perhaps the most popular part of the show is something that actually never happened on the show!!
You see, at the end of every program, Burns and Allen would come out and make one or two really quick jokes about that day’s episode and then they would say goodnight. What Burns would do is he would tell Gracie to “Say Goodnight,” and she would reply with some variation of “Goodnight.”
The legend, though, has sprung up that what that they did a regular gag where Burns would tell Allen to “Say Goodnight, Gracie” and she (being a ditz) would think he was telling her what specifically to say, so she would repeat, “Goodnight Gracie!”
It’s a really good bit, but they NEVER used the bit on the show ever.
It is almost certain that people are confusing it with Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, which would end with Dan Rowan telling Dick Martin to “Say Goodnight, Dick” to which Dick Martin would reply “Goodnight, Dick.”
However, it never happened on The Burns and Allen Show, no matter how world-famous the phrase, “Say Goodnight, Gracie” ” Goodnight, Gracie” has become!
Here’s a YouTube clip from the first season showing their standard goodbyes for the episode.
Thanks to YouTube user Burns and Allen for the clip!
TV LEGEND: Allen Funt produced an adult version of Candid Camera called Candid Candid Camera.
STATUS: True
The television program, Candid Camera, recently ended a long run on the Christian-run television network, PAX Television.
That version of the program followed the pattern laid out by the original program, which ran in one format or another almost continuously on various networks from 1948 until 1967. The show, hosted by Allen Funt, would consist of people getting practical jokes played on them - filming their reactions to absurd situations.
Funt hosted the show its entire run, including a syndicated return in the 1970s.
The PAX Network might not be so pleased with the television program if they knew that Funt actually had an adult-themed version of Candid Camera!
It began with a 1970 film by Funt titled What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?, which was basically the same thing as Candid Camera, only seeing what people would, you know, say to a naked lady if she showed up in odd situations.
In the 1980s, Funt would follow this theme with a series of videos that featured similar adult-themed situations titled Candid Candid Camera.
Isn’t it bizarre to find out that Allen Funt was doing these videos for YEARS?
TV LEGEND: A sketch written for a 1975 episode of Saturday Night Live ended up being used fourteen years later on the show.
STATUS: True
Tom Davis and Al Franken were early writers on Saturday Night Live, staying with the show for its entire first five year run.
They were working on the show when, during the 18th episode of the first season, the actress Racquel Welch hosted the show.
That particular show is famous for being the episode where Lorne Michaels first made his “offer” to the Beatles to reunite for $3,000.
During that episode, according to Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad’s book, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live
You would figure that would be it, right?
Wrong!
As mentioned earlier, Franken and Davis left the show when Lorne Michaels left after the fifth season of the show.
However, in 1985, the writing pair RETURNED to the show.
And in 1989, they re-used their sketch from 1975, this time for Host Dolly Parton.
Parton was happy to do it, and the sketch made it to air this time around…
Here’s a neat site with a transcript of the sketch.
Fourteen years after the sketch was written, Al Franken and Tom Davis got their sketch on the air (it’s a little bit like the opening episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). And twenty years after getting “Planet of the Enormous Hooters” on to the air, Al Franken was elected to the United States Senate (well, so far it looks like he will be elected).
Life’s pretty unpredictable sometimes!
Okay, that’s it for this week!
Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com
Tags: Gracie Allen
I remember seeing those “Candid Candid Camera” videos at our local mom-and-pop video store when I was 11 or 12. (At the time, re-runs of the 70s/80s syndicated version were a part of USA Network’s daytime block of game shows). Needless to say, my imagination ran wild and may well have been more interesting than what was actually on them.
I’ve seen “What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?” It’s actually pretty good… Funt uses all the “adult”-themed practical jokes to discuss people’s changing attitudes about sex.
Cool, Ryan, I guess I’ll have to try to track a copy down!
[...] Legends Revealed” articles. The first involves the famous line that never happened from Burns and Allen’s TV show. The second is dedicated to the Lovin’ Spoonful, including the group’s name and the [...]
I remember having a book about SNL in the late 70’s or early 80’s that had a section about the “Planet of the Enormous Hooters” sketch. I think it also referenced another skit that didn’t make it… “Jesus of Nashville,” I think.
Yeah, Joe, that’s the book I mentioned in the piece, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad.
Hey Brian. Longtime reader, first time commenter. Actually, I think the book Joe is referring to is this one: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/972272.Saturday_Night_Live. It was edited by SNL writers Anne Beatts and Michael O’Donoghue, and contains some of the best scripts from the first three years of the show, along with various odds and ends, bits of silliness, and a ton of cool photographs. I still own a slightly tattered copy, and it contains the original “Planet of the Enormous Hooters” sketch, as well as the “Jesus of Nashville” stinger. If you can find a copy on Ebay or elsewhere, pick it up. It’s more than worth it.
Legend: George Burns has always, since the moment of his birth, looked like an old man.
Status: True.
I had heard of “What Do You Say to a Naked Lady” years ago when it was shown at my hometown theater. However, the theater also used their marquee to mark special events, in this case the Governor’s wife visiting the small town. So she was welcomed to town by the theater’s marquee proclaiming “What Do You Say to a Naked Lady? Welcome Lenore!” I always wished I could have seen her reaction.
I think Funt created “Candid Candid Camera” for the Playboy Channel. It was on their schedule (c. 1990) well before I saw any videos available on the market, and have always assumed that was the chronology.
[...] the past, I’ve discussed the fact that Gracie Allen never actually said “Goodnight, Gracie.” on the popular television series starring George Burns and Gracie Allen (which was an extension [...]
“Candid Candid Camera” was on a new channel on tv called “HBO” back in 1981 and 1982. I remember watching it, as those were the only years we had HBO. Back then, HBO only broadcast from 5pm until about 2am, so I would look in the little Guide they mailed home and on the nights when it was on at, say midnight, I would sneak out and watch it when my parents were asleep.
Back then, HBO was priding themselves as not just a Movie channel, but they would show Wimbeldon, and had a weekly NFL program in the fall, and stand-up Comedy, like George Carlin, and Robert Klein.