Editing George Burns (section)

== Stage to screen ==
[[File:Comedians George Burns and Gracie Allen and children standing at rail of ship in Los Angeles, Calif., 1938 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Burns, Allen and children just before sailing for [[Hawaii]] in 1938]]
Burns and Allen began their career in motion pictures with a series of comic [[short film]]s in the late 1920s and early 1930s, such as ''[[The Big Broadcast]]'' (1932) with [[Bing Crosby]], ''[[International House (1933 movie)|International House]]'' (1933) and ''[[Six of a Kind]]'' (1934) with [[W.C. Fields]], ''[[The Big Broadcast of 1936]]'' with Crosby again, ''[[The Big Broadcast of 1937]]'' with [[Jack Benny]], ''[[A Damsel in Distress (1937 film)|A Damsel in Distress]]'' (1937) with [[Fred Astaire]] and [[Joan Fontaine]], and ''[[College Swing]]'' (1938) with [[Bob Hope]] and [[Martha Raye]]. ''[[Honolulu (1939 film)|Honolulu]]'' (1939) with [[Eleanor Powell]] and [[Robert Young (actor)|Robert Young]] was Burns's last film for nearly 40 years, though Allen starred in two more pictures without him.

In 1938, [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] producer and managing director [[William LeBaron]] was planning a vehicle for Burns and Allen to team with established star Bing Crosby, with a script written by [[Don Hartman]] and [[Frank Butler (writer)|Frank Butler]]. But the story didn't fit Burns and Allen's style, so LeBaron ordered rewrites to fit two male co-stars: Crosby and [[Bob Hope]]. The project became ''[[Road to Singapore]]'' (1940), the first in a long-running and popular series of [[Road to...|"Road"]] films.