1-Liners Display Comic’s Dedication

It was a family affair.

Comedian George Burns was at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills on Monday to dedicate the four-bed intensive-care unit underwritten by his recent gift of $1 million.

“We take care of our own” is the motto of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, which supports the industry retirement home. Burns was the 11th million-dollar donor in the fund’s campaign to raise $50 million to double the capacity of the retirement home and hospital over the next decade.

The home provides housing and medical care for indigent, ill, and other needy people who have worked in the entertainment industry. Burns’ gift brought the drive’s total to just under $16 million.

“Isn’t he cute?” an octogenarian in the audience of about 250 whispered to her neighbor. Burns, 89, sat on a makeshift dais on the lawn outside the hospital. He and comedian Danny Thomas sat like bookends, smoking cigars, at opposite ends of a row of six honored guests. They included actress Janet Leigh, a mere child at 58.

“I’ll finish up here when I’m old,” the diminutive Burns told the residents and other guests, which included such celebrities as leading man Cesar Romero, 78, and producer-director Hal Roach, 93.

“I’m never going to retire,” Burns added. “I’m going to stay in show business until there’s no one else left.

“I’ve lived a very exciting life,” said Burns, whose career has progressed from playing straight man to the late Gracie Allen to playing God. “I expect the second half to be just as good.”

Recalled Bad Old Days

As a mariachi band played, champagne flowed and dozens of multicolored balloons were released in Burns’ honor, older actors recalled the bad old days when performers had little or no financial security, let alone a state-of-the-art facility to retire to.

As Romero said, “Years ago, we had very little. When I started in the business, when you rehearsed a show, you didn’t get rehearsal pay. You starved until the show opened.”

John Russell, 64, who appeared in many Westerns, pointed out that, at any given time, about 95% of the membership of the Screen Actors Guild is unemployed. When actors do work, he said, about 80% earn less than $5,000 a year. And that’s better than it used to be, he said.

Russell recalled being told by his mentor, the late Tom Moore, of a time when “there were signs all over New York saying, ‘Dogs and actors stay out.’ Note the billing. And here we are today in the midst of this remarkable facility, especially the George Burns Intensive Care Unit.”

When asked if he is now making a picture, Russell admonished a reporter, “Never ask an actor if he’s working. If he is, he’ll tell you.”

Mrs. Lew Wasserman, who with her husband, chairman of the board of MCA, also donated $1 million to the building-fund drive, praised the industry facility. “They don’t make anybody feel like they’re taking charity,” she said.