Today is the 150th birthday of one of the greatest playwrights of all time: the one and only George Bernard Shaw. Shaw was the only playwright to win both the Nobel prize for literature and an Academy Award for writing the screenplay of the original dramatic (non-musical) version of Pygmallion in 1938. Shaw went through some very difficult periods. His father was a drunkyard and his mother left the family to teach singing in London. He was raised mostly by servants. Perhaps his greatest work except "Pygmallion" is the amazing play "Saint Joan". Amazingly, Shaw did not die of old age in 1952, but from a fall from a ladder. His incredible plays continue to influence writers and actors to this day. Today also are the birthdays of two of the greatest second bananas in the world of comedy. The first is the amazing Gracie Allen --wife and partner of dear George Burns-- for whom I will always have an amazing affection for. And the second is Vivian Vance -- good old "Ethel". There is an amazing quote by jimmy Stewart about second bananas. He said (about Ronald Reagan) "Only in America can a man be a second banana to a chimpanzee and in his same lifetime become President of the United States. And Gracie Allen was perhaps one of the amazing "second bananas" and comedians of all time. She played the "Dumb Dora" personna with ultimate perfection. When she said things like "When I was born, I was so surprised, I didn't talk for a year and a half" -- you just have to laugh. Hers with comedy perfection. Gracie was born on this day in 1895. The love affair of George Burns and Gracie Allen is the stuff of legends. And dear Vivian vance has made me laugh over the years on more ocassions than I can possibly remember. Her classic line "Morbid curiosity compells me" is something I still say. It's so damn funny. I can remember not only those classic "I Love Lucy" episodes, but the "The Lucy Show" episodes in which she played the character of Vivian Bagley. One classic episode has her character on the roof with Lucy trying to put up a television antena. She has already put a big hole in the roof and proceeds to almost fall off and hurt herself. Instead she grabs on to the side of the hole she has made inb the roof-- but instead of swearing or saying something ordinary, Vivian Vance looks down through the hole she has made in the roof and says "Gee, I should have made my bed this morning" -- and you just laugh out loud. Most people don't know that Vivian was Lucy's second choice for the role of Ethel. Lucy had wanted the character of Ethel Mertz to be much older and not at all in competition with Lucille Ball. Lucy had wanted Bea Benederet (of "Petticoat Junction") Thank goodness dear Bea had other comittments-- it simply wouldn't have worked. Most people also don't know that Vivian Vance and William Frawley (good old Fred) actually hated one another! And most people don't know that every time Vivian Vance's aggressive agent demanded and negotiated a pay raise for Vivian, Desi Arnaz would give the same raise to William Frawley without his ever having to ask for it. Great quote from Sam Levinson to end today "Why is it that people who are born on third plate go around in life bragging that they always hit a triple?" Well until tomorrow.