After the retirement and subsequent death of his wife Gracie Allen in 1964, George Burns never really went away. He appeared frequently in nightclubs and made numerous television appearances on talk shows and variety shows and specials and the occasional sitcom appearance. Then, in 1975, he accepted his first movie role since 1939, playing a cranky retired vaudevillian in The Sunshine Boys. The film would be a big hit, Burns would win an Oscar, and he was suddenly, at the age of 80, the least likely superstar of the 1970s. He would go on to have a thriving film career for about a decade after that, most notably in the Oh God! movies, where he played The Almighty. He also continued to appear in numerous TV shows, and even headlined numerous variety specials of his own.
As far as I can tell, 1981's The George Burns (Early), Early, Early Christmas Special is his only holiday special. The title is no joke, as it originally aired over a week before Thanksgiving. Why Burns and NBC decided the world needed a Christmas show on November 16 is one of those details lost to history.
One of my major issues with the special is the amount of singing Burns does. It's clear he likes to sing, and he's not bad. Unfortunately, he's also not all that good at it, which is why the sheer amount of singing he does throughout the special gets more and more grating.
Another issue is the rather jarring tone shifts throughout. That the special has very little to do with Christmas, other than a tree on set and the occasional appearance of Santa in the on-set fireplace isn't that big of a deal (a lot of Christmas specials have largely ignored the Christmas part). Instead, you get scenes like big guest star Ann-Margret performing a high energy disco number wearing a slinky red dress before having to slow way, way, way down to do a slow duet with Burns. Then there's the horny old man banter with Playboy Playmates (all of whom spend the special tastefully dressed--Ann-Margret's outfit was more revealing), followed by jokes with the other big guest star, Bob Hope, about how old Burns was. That was followed by the Playmates dancing and singing (or at least lip-syncing) to a fast-paced Karen Carpenter number, before having to do a soft-shoe routine with Burns (because if there's anything America wanted to see in 1981, it was Playboy Playmates doing a soft-shoe dance number).
Other quirks of the special include coming out of a commercial break to see Hope doing his own monologue with Burns nowhere to be seen, Hans Conried (who, sadly, would be dead two months after this special aired) doing an excruciatingly long bit about Ebeneezer Scrooge, and Burns reuniting with his pre-Gracie comedy partner, Billy Lorraine. Do they sing together? Of course they do!
Burns saved arguably the best performance of the night for next-to-last (with only Lorraine's special appearance and the goodnights after), with gospel group The Hawkins Family. Given how much better singers they are than Burns, its rather cringe-worthy after their number for them to provide the chorus as Burns speed-sings his way through "It All Depends On You" and "You Made Me Love You".
Unlike another Christmas special that debuted in 1981, Red Skelton's Christmas Dinner, which looked like it strolled straight in from 1951, at least The George Burns (Early), Early, Early Christmas Special was clearly a product of its time (though with all the disco, it might have been more at home in 1978). As far as I can tell, like most Christmas variety specials, it aired once and was never repeated, at least on network TV. Burns was a delightful and talented comedian, but his Christmas special is best left in the archives.
Next time: Two superstars team up for a very Christmasy Christmas special.
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