Love Story ~

 

George Burns was looking for a "straight man" to feed him his lines to which he would deliver a funny response. . . The dizzy character that eighteen-year-old Gracie played was such a hit that all Burns had to do was stand there.  Eventually he decided to smoke a cigar onstage so he would have something to do.
Slowly Burns fell madly in love with his partner; however, the young Allen was set on marrying another peformer, Benny Ryan.  After a year, Burns proposed. Gracie laughed at him and no one mentioned it again.
Gracie was about to quit and marry Ryan when the duo landed a sixteen-week engagement.  It had always been her dream to see her picture in the lobby of the San Francisco Orpheum, the theatre she had spent so many afternoons in as a child.  Besides, the tour paid $450 a week.  Grace would need a steamer trunk so Burns carried one home on his back through a snowstorm.
It was during this trip that Burns again proposed and was again refused.  Until ~ Gracie became ill with appendicitis.  Burns borrowed two hundred dollars from her and filled her hospital room with flowers (Burns never sent a wire to Benny as Gracie asked.)

That Christmas Eve Burns received a card from Gracie, "To Natty, with all my love."  Burns laughed out loud and said, "All my love?  Ha, ha, ha.  You don't even know what love means."  Gracie left the room in tears.
Later she was to explain that Burns was the only boy who had ever made her cry; she must really love him.

Their career together spanned thirty years.

~ The 50 Most Romantic Things Ever Done, Dini Von Mueffling, Doubleday, 1991.