Footnote One

1. The team of George Burns and Gracie Allen was born on the stage of the Hill Theatre in the winter of 1923 when George, then a not-so-successful vaudeville hoofer, born Nathan Birnbaum, teamed with Gracie, then a 17-year old unemployed stenographer, born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen, for the first time and faced a Newark audience. Together they were paid $5 for three shows a night. Burns later recalled "We got a good reception there and it got us additional bookings."

Burns and Allen performed as a team for 40 years. Burns died in 1996 just past his 100th birthday. His beloved Gracie died in her sleep of a heart attack at the age of 58 in 1964.