George BurnsReseñas

I love George Burns though he is a taste you may need historical context to enjoy.

This is for mature readers, not children though we did use an edited (by me) version for some living history examples of inflation.

8/29/22

This was one of my mother's books. I thought it would be interesting, but it was dry and repetitive. I do not doubt that Gracie was a lovely woman and the love of George's life, but her life was boring. First book in a long time that I have elected not to finish.

3/24/22

Touching. And hilarious. But George Burns' books should be spaced out for maximum enjoyment.

A book best savored slowly (which I didn't). It's like a stand-up routine in print and just as funny. Reminiscent of [b:Harpo Speaks!|35270|Harpo Speaks!|Harpo Marx|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327885685s/35270.jpg|35205] and, of course, [b:Gracie: A Love Story|231721|Gracie A Love Story|George Burns|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1332235705s/231721.jpg|967218], it was good fun to read about all the old comics and their hijinks in a time when everything wasn't so serious. Or, rather, when it was horribly serious, but people self-medicated with humor, friends, and more humor.

That was what struck me as I read his story of entertaining through Vaudeville, Radio, Television, and Film. A good 40% of people were comedians and a good 40% of shows were comedies. Contrast that to today and it doesn't really seem to equate. But then I'm an old soul.

Loved this and the other George books..got a copy tonight at work and giving it another go..
Easy, pleasant read.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't quite what I expected. I remember George Burns as a cigar-smoking, joke-cracking television star. I knew he'd been in radio when he started out. I didn't expect him to downplay his talents so much, but in the end, the book is a loving husband's tribute to his beloved wife who also happened to be his work partner for many years.

A memoir of his life, career and marriage with Gracie Allen Burns, George Burns has filled these pages with love. It is a delightful recounting of their life together, how they met, how they worked together, the various types of performing they did, and how it ended in her death by heart failure. I found the descriptions of working in vaudeville, on Broadway, in radio, TV and the movies very interesting. Many entertainer's names are mentioned, and with the help of YouTube and Google I was able to look up the ones I didn't know. If you enjoy reading about celebrities, or lasting marriage, or early Hollywood, radio and TV, I think you will enjoy this. There were a few redundant passages, but usually with enough humor that it wasn't tiresome.

This is a sweet memoir about George Burn's and Gracie Allen's life together, from their very early years, through vaudeville and onward.
The memoir is full of George Burn's self-deprecating humour and one-liners and also full of his love for Gracie.
Enjoyable read.

The subtitle is a love story suggesting it is a biography of Gracie. However, it is an autobiography of George as well. It seems half the text is made up of George's jokes from their vaudeville days, as well as their radio and TV shows. We learn some gossip about Hollywood and we meet many of the famous stars from Vaudeville and early radio days such as Jack Benny, Al Jolson, Fred Astaire and Guy Lombardo.

It is a fun light read that could have done with some tighter editing.

George Burns kicks back and tells some stories about his life and the people he knew. It's like your great uncle telling some funny stories, except that Burns is talking about Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Milton Berle and co.

From Jack Benny's pecadillos to Groucho Marx's sea bass gag to Gracie Allen's health decline, Burns loved to tell anecdotes and we loved to hear them from him.

And fans of Captain Betts' seal (the star act that Burns supported when he started out) will be pleased to hear s/he gets numerous mentions throughout the book.

"All My Best Friends" is a great history of how entertainment developed in the 20th century from vaudeville and silent movies to radio to talkies to television. And all the performers are there: Burns and Allen, Groucho and the Marx Bros, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Al Jolson, Eddie Kantor, Ed Wynn, George Jessel, Fanny Brice and dozens of others. It is mostly anecdotal and it was great as a book to break up my other reading, but I couldn't see reading 100 pages of it per day. Maybe 20 pages or so every so often. Great to lighten the mood, yet other times it was rather touching, for example, when toward the end George ruminates on the three times in his life when he wept. I rate it 4 stars out of 5 because after a while the jokes got a little tiring, and a few were repetitive. One other annoyance - I wish they had put an index in, it would be just ideal for a book like this, but they didn't. Here is a brief sample of what you get in this book, one of my favorites - In earlier pages, George emphasizes Georgie Jessel's reputation as a grand toastmaster who also eulogized just about everybody and anybody at not only Hollywood funerals, but worldwide ones. And if Jessel did not know the deceased, he ad-libbed a bit. Burns runs into James Mason and knowing that Georgie Jessel had recently said a few words at a memorial service for one of Mason's cats, Burns asks how the service went. Mason replies, "...it was really quite moving. You know, I'd had that cat for seventeen years, but until the other day, I'd never realized how much he'd done for the State of Israel."

Amusing and OK for reading at night, though the dirty-old-man jokes get a bit old after the umpteenth variation. (At least Burns pokes fun at himself too, especially in the "testimonials" from various entertainment figures that are just as, er, real as the letters themselves.) I found it on the giveaway shelf, read it and put it back, so the price was right.

I remember when this first came out. I was working at the bookstore and it was nearly Christmas time. I looked at the dust jacket blurb and at the pictures and glanced at the ending. I knew it would be a hit. I ordered extra copies and I was right. It took off. I never did get a chance to read it until now. I really enjoyed it. The book was all that it promised. A great love story. Very funny and touching. I'm glad I finally picked it up.

A lot of wisdom here by a beloved showman. My takeaway is that he points out that Mark Twain and Will Rogers avoided jokes with "meanness, ridicule, sarcasm, insensitivity". [114] Mostly telling stories about The Business -- show business lore.

This book was adorable. It wouldn't be adorable to everyone, however. This is a a "dated" book, but it would be an excellent read for those who were around when George Burns was living (and much younger - preferably during those days in which he was doing stand-up comedy). Such readers will enjoy the name dropping in this book of other comedians popular in the 50's and 60's.

I'm 65 years of age myself at this time, but knowing that George Burns actually lived to be 100 years old, my age seems realtively quite young. I love the advice he gives in his book not to retire at age 65. He says to keep working or keep passionately involved with those things one likes the best.

My favorite line from this book is this:

"I still know one thing: it doesn't hurt to have a positive attitude. Even if you're going to fail, be positive about it. That way, you'll be a successful failure."

Keep on truckin', readers...

George Burns is old and sweet and loved his wife. I mean, he was old and sweet and loved his wife. Well-written. I finished this book in a day.

Even though he wrote this book in 1983 when he was 87 years old, George Burns actually did live to be 100. He obviously has some expertise in this area. However, because of the categorization as humor, and the author's reputation, I expected this book to be a rhapsodic ode to martinis and cigars, which it does contain, but also featured are a weeks' worth of menus for relatively healthy meals. The exercise chapter was also filled with effective exercises, with actual pictures of George (and some lovely young ladies) performing the activities.
It might be helpful for the reader to have at least a passing acquaintance with George's contemporaries, such as Phyllis Diller, Dean Martin, and Jack Benny in order to fully appreciate all the jokes. Burns died when I was 15 years old, and I had to look up on Wikipedia a couple of the folks he mentioned in order to find out whether they were famous or just friends of his. (They were all famous. He's quite the name-dropper.)
I did find the book amusing and was able to whip through it pretty quick because of all the pictures. I would recommend it, but probably only to people who are at least as old as I am or fans of vaudeville and vintage Hollywood.½

I enjoyed learning about vaudville. Gracie Allen and George Burns surely spanned several eras of entertainment (Vaudville, Radio and Television). This was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Great offering by George Burns about his wonderful wife, Gracie. Wonderful Hollywood story, many familiar celebrities, told in the typical George Burns dialog style. You can just see George and Gracie doing their routine and him puffing on his cigar throughout this book. His love and devotion to her are obvious and for Hollywood, rather outstanding. I read the large print version which made it even more of a relaxing read.½

I enjoyed reading about George Burns' life. The book is a collection of 100 stories that are humours, mostly in chronological order.½

"Wisdom of the 90s" is a pleasant visit with one of the oldest and greatest legends of comedy. Organized much like a television show with the segments broken up by commercials, "Wisdom" has 10 sequences with interludes of quips, lists, and pictures. Burns offers his thoughts on show biz, growing old, and life in general. It's not a "how to" book, but rather a gleening from the life and stories of a man made a living doing what he loved, who spent 38 years with the woman he loved, raised two children, and continued working even at 100 years of age. It's less like a book and more like a visit with your favorite uncle.

Any book by George is going to be good!