Gracie's Newspaper Column

[Yhtapmys]

I've been doing some research in some 1940s newspapers and some time ago, came across a daily column by Gracie Allen. Sometimes, it's about American or world politics, sometimes just general observations, all in character.

Does anyone know anything about it, like who wrote it, who syndicated it, how long it ran, etc?

Just to give you an idea, here's one from August 23, 1949.

Gracie Allen Reporting
LONDON.—George has become very uneasy at breakfast here——so much so that he doesn't enjoy his food any more. It's all the fault of the sports pages of these London newspapers. Yesterday he read the report of a game in which one team scored 344 rurs in the first inning, and he thought he was back in Brooklyn.
I took the paper from his trembling hand and found he had been reading about a cricket game. It was very surprising and somewhat disappointing to me to learn it was played outdoors, as I had always heard of cricket on the hearth and had thought that George and I should learn it to pass the evenings.
I am glad he doesn't want to do any fox-hunting, as many people say it is cruel to the fox. Perhaps George has it mixed up with the Hollywood sport of mink-hunting, which many people say is very cruel to the man.

[shimp scrampi]

There's not much on Gracie's newspaper column in the usual canonical B&A sources. It was obviously ghostwritten, most likely by the Burnses' radio writers at the time - in Gracie: A Love Story George notes with typical drollery: "with the help of our writers, who picked out the words and put them in the correct order, Gracie wrote a newspaper column...". That's about it. Cheryl Blythe and Susan Sackett's book notes that the column ran in 90 papers. It would be fun to have a collection of reprints of these.

[Mister Kitzel]

In 1949 having only 90 newspapers carrying a column was bad.

[bboswell]

I know this isn't definitive proof of anything, but Gracie's column is the basis of the Burns & Allen shows of Nov 23, 1943, and also May 9th, 1946.

The column might be mentioned merely as a plot for the shows, (as I assumed before I read this post,) but it could be that the real column was actually in syndication at the time.

[Yhtapmys]

I know this isn't definitive proof of anything, but Gracie's column is the basis of the Burns & Allen shows of Nov 23, 1943, and also May 9th, 1946.

The column might be mentioned merely as a plot for the shows, (as I assumed before I read this post,) but it could be that the real column was actually in syndication at the time.

I can't tell you about the former date, but I can give you the column for the latter:

Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
Well, I see that the labor government of Britain is reeling under the attack of a gentlemen's fashion journal over there called the "The Tailor and Cutter." In its opinion, the prime minister and the foreign minister wear
clothes which are perfect examples of what the well-dressed Englishman wouldn't be caught dead in.
However, I understand that clothes are even scarcer in England than they are here, and if that's true the two ministers deserve credit for not appearing in barrels.
Goodness, I don't think clothes in politics are so very important. One politican may wear a silk topper and another may wear a derby, but does it really matter what kind of hat you talk through? And I shouldn't think any congressman would ever waste his money on an expensive pair of trousers. I've heard that their opponents are always trying to make them lose their seat.

This is atypical of the type of stuff that's in the column.

I didn't glance at all of them because I was hunting on other pages for other things via a non-working search engine (don't ask me what a pain that was), but I didn't see any references to Jack in any of the ones I looked at.

Yhtapmys

[bboswell]

Both of the shows above seem to be discussing a "celebrity gossip" style column. ("What well-known star was seen at what well-known night club with whom?" but, of course, in the Gracie Allen style.) The column causes Loretta Young to bring a lawsuit against her in the Nov '43 episode.

That doesn't seem to jive with the real-life column.

[Yhtapmys]

Both of the shows above seem to be discussing a "celebrity gossip" style column. ("What well-known star was seen at what well-known night club with whom?" but, of course, in the Gracie Allen style.) The column causes Loretta Young to bring a lawsuit against her in the Nov '43 episode.

That doesn't seem to jive with the real-life column.

No, not at all, BB. All her columns are in the vein of the ones above. It's Gracie's observations on politics or everyday-type things.

The paper I've found them in didn't seem to know what to do with the column. It was on the front page for a year or so, then moved next to the editorials, then moved to be with the Hollywood stuff.

Yhtapmys
"Drive Your Blues Away!"

[Moose Hatrack]

Are there any recordings (film or audio) of Gracie out of character? Would that be more rare than Harpo talking?