Étiquette : this is beautiful

myassbrokethefall:

OK, I’m gonna try not to make this too sappy, and to be clear, this isn’t meant as Intimations of Gillovny (except perhaps in the broader usage of the term, meaning David and Gillian and their partnership through the years in all its forms).

Apparently, David and Gillian’s Walk of Fame stars are interleaved on the sidewalk with those of George Burns and Gracie Allen. George and Gracie were a husband-and-wife comedy team from the vaudeville days through the early years of television. They met doing comedy, in 1922, and married a few years later. They were together until Gracie died from heart problems in 1964. (George Burns later had a career renaissance and became re-famous as an Old Guy Comedian – he passed away in 1996 at the age of 100.)

Some more facts about George and Gracie (most of which I just learned from Wikipedia; roast me, Tad):

• Originally Gracie mostly did the setup and George the punchlines, but Gracie was funnier, so they switched early on so George was the straight man and Gracie delivered the jokes. 
• Gracie’s comedy persona was that of a ditzy airhead, though she was of course in actuality doing most of the weight-pulling in their comedy. 
• Their act started out being flirty, and then (well into their actual marriage) they decided they were too old for that and switched to old-married-couple jokes, which fit them better. 
• When Gracie decided to retire from their TV show (largely for health reasons), George stayed on but it only lasted one more season because it didn’t work without both of them. 
• Their marriage wasn’t perfect: one night, George cheated on Gracie. Feeling guilty, he bought her a fancy table centerpiece and a ring. Then they proceeded to never really talk about it, but years later Gracie joked that she wished George would cheat on her again because she could use a new table centerpiece. 
• In his 90s, George wrote the book Gracie: A Love Story, a loving and (of course) humorous look back at their lives together. 

So David and Gillian are seated, cocktail-party-style, with George and Gracie on that Hollywood sidewalk. On the other side is, apparently, Boris Karloff. Gillian and David, George and Gracie, and a scary monster (but just a pretend one). Seems to me like a fitting tribute. 

Thanks to @adieangel for the original intel on this and also for the subsequent research help as I tried to fact-check. MAN, is it hard to nail down the precise locations of people’s stars. (Boris Karloff has two! Did not know that.)

One more disclaimer: This is not me hinting that David and Gillian are secretly doing it. They have their own separate lives and I wish them both joy and fulfillment in whatever they choose to do from here on out. And yet, to paraphrase the sappy curmudgeon member of this partnership, they are soulmates, in some senses; joined, at some significant level, in the public’s mind as well as their own, forever.