Gracie Discovers A Movie Star

George Burns knew the secret to his success…his wife Gracie.

George Burns and Gracie Allen would go down in history as one of the best comic duos of all time. How’d they get started? In George’s words: “All I had to do was say, ‘Gracie, how’s your brother?’ and she talked for 38 years.” It was all in jest though…Burns would frequently point to Gracie as the reason for the team’s popularity.

And popular they were. From vaudeville to radio, films and television, Burns and Allen would delight audiences for nearly four decades. Here’s one of their bits, “Gracie Discovers a Movie Star”, from 1947.

So…just how many cigars did George Burns smoke a day?

*He smoked 10 a day!  He lived to be 100, so…figure he started at age 20, and kept that pace: that would mean about 290,000 cigars in his lifetime.