Gracie: by George Burns.

I remember living alone, far away from anyone I knew, and being relatively free after a few years of stress, buying a television - my first, and a very good one for that time, with facilites that the company normally offered only in larger models - and discovering the Burns and Allen show one late night when looking for something to relieve stress.

Thereafter it was a routine, being awake every night until late to watch the reruns of the show, and what a blessing it was watching it, laughing, forgetting all stress and worry and so forth for just that short while.

When I discovered the book, it was a sort of combination of a memory of the show relived and a whole new delight as well, with the book adding a few details to the life of the couple one had come to love.

"My uncle bent steel rods with his teeth until they bent"

"He must have been very strong"

"Yes, but he looked funny with bent teeth"

- And unless one sees the incomparable, unique Gracie one would think this is not very funny. At least not as much as when she says it.