I suspect that most of you reading this blog at this moment are far too young to remember our 20th century's first nationally-known female presidential candidate - Gracie Allen.

"Who the hell was Gracie Allen?" you ask?  Well, le'me 'splain ya ...

Way back in the 1940's, one of America's most popular comedy teams was the radio duo George Burns and his wife Gracie Allen.  On The Burns And Allen Show, they played a married couple - which they really were - and both were superb radio actors and accomplished comedians.  Though actually a bright and intelligent woman, Gracie's on-air character was the ultimate scatterbrain - what, decades later, might have been called a "ditzy blonde".  While most of her lines were created by gifted professional scriptwriters, she played her part to the hilt, and Here are some of her more memorable quotes.

America loved the nutty Gracie they knew on the radio, so somewhere along the way (it's difficult to prove exactly how at this point - some say it was Gracie's idea, some say George's, and others say it was simply a scriptwriter), it was decided that Gracie should run for President. So on one March broadcast in 1940, and with all the seriousness she could muster, Gracie announced her candidacy.  She said that because her mother was a Democrat, her father a Republican, and Gracie had been born a surprise, that was the name of her new third party ... The Surprise Party.

Gracie went on to promote her candidacy (and usually as a "Surprise") on most of the other major radio shows of the time such as Fibber McGee and Molly and The Jack Benny Program.

The Surprise Party's mascot was a kangaroo ... it was leap-year, after all ... and when once asked with which party Gracie was affiliated, she haughtily sniffed "I may take a drink now and then, but I never get affiliated."  When asked if she would recognize Russia, Gracie showed uncharacteristic hesitation: "I don't know. I meet so many people ..."

Burns later recalled in his book Gracie: A Love Story, how, as the two of them made more than thirty whistlestops between Hollywood Station and Omaha Nebraska on Gracie's campaign train, she did indeed meet "so many people" who showered her with affection.  When the train pulled into its destination on May 17, 1940, thousands of enthusiastic delegates assembled in Omaha's Creighton University Stadium to unanimously nominate Gracie Allen for president of the United States. There was to be no vice-presidential candidate, however; Gracie had always steadfastly maintained that she would tolerate no vice in her administration.

Said Gracie: "All the other candidates are making speeches about how much they have done for their country, which is ridiculous. I haven't done anything yet, and I think it's just common sense to send me to Washington and make me do my share."

So if you've ever considered running for President, one of your first projects should be to carefully read and appreciate Gracie's book: How To Become President, available in used copies here.

You'll also find another book about her historic presidential aspirations Here.

Though Gracie actually received some 42,000 votes, she never went on to public office, but she and George were later successful in movies and that fledgeling phenomenon - television, finally retiring in 1958.

So, finish up your e-mail, make yourself a cup of Maxwell House coffee (a long-time radio show sponsor), relax, click on the "play" button in the audio player below, and listen to "Government Jobs", the actual radio broadcast on CBS in 1940 in which Gracie announces her candidacy.  Her campaign song was "Vote for Gracie, and keep voting all day long".

"Say good night, Gracie".

And just BTW ... you'll find a wealth of George and Gracie's radio shows available for instant listening at this Internet Archive web site.