MARY KELLEY

[BurnsAllenBennyfan]

On the book on tape of Gracie A love story George pretty much says if it wasn't for Mary Kelly he doesn't think Gracie would have married him. I think he even says "God bless Mary Kelly." IF anyone does have picture of her from the 1920's I would kill to see it.

[Roman]

Considering how close Mary Kelly was to Gracie Allen, I found it a bit disconcerting to hear Gracie do a bunch of fat jokes at Mary's expense when she was a guest on the Burns and Allen program. Knowing now who Mary Kelly was and that she would be dead in just a few year's time, made the show sad to listen to. Although she never had more than a few lines on the Benny or B & A shows (at least the ones I've heard), I agree that Mary Kelly was a gifted comedienne.

[shimp scrampi]

I wonder if the Mary Kelly (or Don Wilson, etc) "fat" jokes don't sound a lot crueler to our 21st century ears than they did in the '30s and '40s.

Jack's pennypinching or Gracie Allen's lunatic logic - and the humor that surrounds them are basically wildly exaggerated traits that the audience can empathize with (you know, I'd save a buck like that if I could get away with it or gee, sometimes I think like that too). On a broad level, the "fat" jokes might be seen this way as well.

During a depression and on the verge of a war that had already started in Europe, the idea of ribbing someone who had the comparative luxury of some extra weight on the bones was different then. Being "fat" was probably a lot less of a negative than our current cultural "programming" makes it out to be - where if you aren't anorexic (particularly for women), something's got to be wrong.

I'm always shocked at the "Ironized Yeast" ads on Lights Out, those helpful pills that will help you pack on the weight. Certainly not the kind of product that's going to make a fortune in infomercial sales in 2007.

The point being, times change, and what was good-natured humor then can sound nasty to the point of being out of character for Jack or Gracie.

[BurnsAllenBennyfan]

I found a clipping on burns and allen at the performing arts library where it says they came to NYC on the 20th century and an old friend, Mary Kelly met them at the station. George said something to the effect of they've been throwing jokes at Mary for 14 years to see if they're funny, "If Mary doesn't laugh the gags go right in the waste basket."

[LLeff]

IF anyone does have picture of her from the 1920's I would kill to see it.

Just to be a terrible tease...

I don't have one from the 20s, but I do have one from about 1933 when she was on stage in the first Chicken Sisters bit. Got to get around to scanning that one of these days.

[DavidinBerkeley]

Was Kelly the woman who usually played a laconic character, often addressing Jack as "kid"?

[Ray Faiola]

[Ray Faiola]

I think my previous post was errant because it did not include any text. Here are three clips from industry pubs: