Friday, September 2, 2011

Connie Stevens and George Burns in Wendy and Me (1964)

After the death of Gracie Allen, George Burns dove back into series television with this fluffy little show. Wendy Conway (Stevens) lives, with her husband Jeff (Ron Harper) in an apartment building owned by George Burns (playing himself, as he did in his eponymous series). Much like Gracie Allen, she confuses things in wonderfully twisted ways and gets into outrageous scrapes. It's interesting to see the familiar format - wacky woman confusing things, George Burns breaking the fourth wall with his monologues - with a completely different cast and setting.

This show wasn't a success. It only lasted a season. It's never been released on DVD, though several episodes have been uploaded to YouTube. Above is part one of The $5000 Chair, uploaded to YouTube by dentelTV1.

Obscurity factor: 9 (not on DVD, largely forgotten, partially available on YouTube)

3 comments:

  1. $20 in 1964??? A chunk of change! For you "Golden Girls" fans......oohhhhh, Mr. Gordon!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow Wendy and Me , I loved it way back then ( I was very very young) but I remember my parents very clearly stating to me that they found the show sad because Connie Stevens "was no Gracie Allen" . Glad to have a chance to see even a bit of it. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for unearthing this obscure and largely forgetten clip. Gracie Allen was certainly a hard act to follow. If you want to watch classic Burns and Allen videos, visit our website, www.greatcomedyteams.com. Our video vault also includes rare short subjects with the duo which we're sure the followers of your site have never seen.

    ReplyDelete