Sheet Music & Song Books

Hope & Burns: Vaudeville’s Last Survivors

(Ed note:  The author was a script-writer for bob Hope between 1977 and 1992.)

George Burns began his 100-year career as an entertainer after dropping out of a New York public school in the third grade  With his pals, he formed a singing group they called “The Pee-Wee Quartet,” singing and dancing for coins on street corners.  The group would later include comedian Georgie Jessel, future California state senator George Murphy and columnist Walter Winchell.

His initial experiences in vaudeville were largely negative as he … Continue Reading