I Finally Laughed and Cried through the Rest of the George Burns Love Story

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I always like to see the real people behind the characters of entertainers I have loved. I have not seen many of today's celebrities perform. I would not even recognize most of their names unless they've been in the news for their other activities. So far I've read biographies and memoirs of Shirley Temple, Annette Funicello, Lucile Ball, the Lennon Sisters, and a few others. I happened to get to the library discard shelf when they were cleaning out the section that had those books, so I got them free. One thing all these others had in common was a divorce somewhere along the line. I guess the entertainment industry is harder than most people think. Couples often lose track of each other because they are so busy and they face many temptations at work. George and Gracie never divorced, but at the end of his tribute to Gracie he did confess that he had one affair in Gracie's last decade. He found out that Gracie had found out about his one-night stand. He also found out that she knew that he knew that she knew, but neither ever mentioned it to the other. They had a happy marriage, but one night he faced a temptation from a starlet and gave in. He regretted it later. He and Gracie had had a little fight over a $750 silver centerpiece she wanted to buy and he didn't want her to because she already had two. (Back in the 1950's $750 was a lot of money.) George didn't remember why he'd had the affair -- perhaps he'd had too much to drink? He said it had nothing to do with the centerpiece. I believe he may have been vulnerable because they had fought. Gracie never mentioned the affair to George. He finally felt so guilty he bought her the silver centerpiece she had wanted and a $10,000 diamond ring. Still, neither of them mentioned what George had done. He found out that seven years later Gracie had been shopping with Mary Benny in the silver department at Saks, her favorite store. She saw a centerpiece she wanted and told Mary that she wished George would cheat again because she 'really needed a new centerpiece.' On a more serious note, a friend of Gracie's whose husband had cheated on her with his secretary came to Gracie for advice on whether to divorce him. Gracie asked if her husband still loved her and was there when she needed him. The woman said her husband did and was. Then Gracie said the woman would be silly to leave him because then he'd be alone and he'd marry his secretary. "Then what will you have?" The woman didn't follow Gracie's advice and the man married his secretary. George said he's thankful Gracie didn't make a big deal over his affair. He couldn't even remember the girl's name and had not loved her and would not have married her. He very much regretted hurting Gracie and was thankful that in her own way she forgave him and they were still married until she died a decade later. As for Gracie, she was wise enough to see that George didn't love the other woman and he did still really love her. She saw no reason not to forgive so they could continue to love each other. I'm sure she weighed the pros and cons and did not want to sacrifice forty years of marriage to save her pride because of George's one mistake. It's also a good thing she didn't. By then she was having heart problems and needed to be with someone who loved her instead of being alone with hired help. Do you think George and Gracie handled the fact of George's affair in the best way? If not, what advice might you have given George or Gracie over how to handle what could not be changed? If you'd been Gracie, what might you have done differently? Would you have done anything differently if you'd been George?