why was he played by 3 or 4 different actors?:confused:

Harry Morton was played by 4 different actors during the run of the series:

Hal March (who originated the role on Radio) most of season 1

John Brown - the remainder of season 1

Fred Clark - seasons 2 and 3

Larry Keating - season 4 onward

I've looked all over the interenet and haven't been able to find the reason Hal March left the show, why John Brown left after such a short time in the role, nor why Fred Clark left the show after two years.

I don't know why Hal March left. I have read that John Brown was blacklisted and that's why he left the show. Fred Clark left in a money dispute. He was replaced in the middle of a show by Larry Keating and George Burns explained to the audience what was going on. I don't know if that episode was ever seen in syndication but I'd love to see it. lol

A couple months ago Antenna TV actually showed the episode talked about here, with Larry Keaton replacing Fred Clark mid-episode.. it was pretty interesting... the show starts off with a scene of Gracie and Blanche, and then George walks in and "freezes" the scene. He goes on to explain that Fred Clark is going out East to do some different work, mentions that they all appreciated his time on the show, and then introduces Larry Keating to the audience (as well as Bea Benaderet). Bea breaks out of character too as she is "introduced" to Keating for the first time. lol Then, George unfreezes the scene, and the entire episode goes on just like normal... neverminding the fact that all of a sudden Harry changed from a real estate agent to a CPA, and acts about 500% more intelligent than Fred Clark's Harry did. I was looking at my mom in disbelief the whole time this was happening. :lol:

Personally, I think the change was a good one; Keating's character, although seemingly a little cold and humorless at first, turned out to be a much sweeter husband to Blanche.. of course, that didn't mean that he automatically loved Gracie's antics too. lol

Harry Morton was played by 4 different actors during the run of the series:

Hal March (who originated the role on Radio) most of season 1

John Brown - the remainder of season 1

Fred Clark - seasons 2 and 3

Larry Keating - season 4 onward

I've looked all over the interenet and haven't been able to find the reason Hal March left the show, why John Brown left after such a short time in the role, nor why Fred Clark left the show after two years.

George came out of role on the first Larry Keating episode and introduced him. He also said (I think) that Fred Clark was going to be in a Broadway play.

...because he wanted to "move on" to other TV and radio projects [he was also doing an ongoing "double act", with Tom D'Andrea, where they played military buddies, on various TV shows- and eventually, Hal was a regular on Dennis Day's "RCA VICTOR SHOW" in the 1952-'53 season]. Occasionally, he reappeared as Harry Morton's partner "Casey" and other guest star roles.

John Brown, March's replacement, was dropped after six months because I believe George eventually decided he wasn't the right choice to play "Harry"; Brown continued to appear regularly on radio and TV until he was blacklisted in late 1952.

Fred Clark appeared as the third "Harry" until he and George had a salary dispute near the end of the third {first filmed} season. The way George remembered it, Clark wanted more money than George was getting. Because Burns was producing the show on film, he was notorious for being "cheap" in decisions involving production and salary matters...and he wasn't about to give Fred Clark a raise, anyway. While Fred did go East to appear on Broadway, George found Larry Keating...and their relationship extended past the end of the show {and "THE GEORGE BURNS SHOW" in 1958-'59} into "MISTER ED". Since George was a partner in that series, he wanted Larry to play "Roger Addison" {essentially a variation of "Harry Morton"}.

George was usually honest with the audience about cast changes on the show- espeically when someone was being replaced. He did this when Harry Von Zell replaced Bill Goodwin as his announcer in September 1951, and every time there was a "new" Harry Morton.

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so, George Burns was the "boss" of the show, like Jackie Gleason was on his show.



yea, somewhere on you tube there's a clip from the episode wher Harry Von Zel replaced Bill Godwin; where George "broke the fourth wall" and told the audience about the change.

...George WAS the "Boss" of the show. And, as I've said, he was also one of the "cheapest". Note that, during the first two filmed seasons, he didn't use "Love Nest" {George & Gracie's "signature" on radio, and their live 1950-'52 TV episodes} as the series' theme, because he realized he'd have to pay royalties for using it. So, he used stock music from the Mutel production library, using "Two-a-Day" (by Alexander Laszlo) as a theme for the first two seasons [a new arrangement was used for the 1953-'54 season]. By the fall of 1954, he finally decided to resume using "Love Nest" as a theme...

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I was wondering why the theme on ANTENNA TVs reruns was different from the one on their radio show!

...George WAS the "Boss" of the show. And, as I've said, he was also one of the "cheapest". Note that, during the first two filmed seasons, he didn't use "Love Nest" {George & Gracie's "signature" on radio, and their live 1950-'52 TV episodes} as the series' theme, because he realized he'd have to pay royalties for using it. So, he used stock music from the Mutel production library, using "Two-a-Day" (by Alexander Laszlo) as a theme for the first two seasons [a new arrangement was used for the 1953-'54 season]. By the fall of 1954, he finally decided to resume using "Love Nest" as a theme...

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This fills in a blank for me...I read somewhere (I think Wiki) that "Love Nest" was used for the entire series. I was thinking, that can't be right...I assume for the live presentations, royalties weren't an issue?

I noticed he tweaked the theme, I think in the final season. It's been awhile since I've heard it, but I think he added some bells. It's really a nice theme... (especially compared to the canned music).

....the "live" episodes continued to use "Love Nest" as George and Gracie's theme from radio, because George knew those were never going to be repeated (even though they were preserved on kinescope film). However, when his production company- and not CBS- began producing the series on film in the fall of 1952, he also knew that to continue using "Love Nest" would mean paying royalties to the song's publisher...and at that time, he wasn't willing to pay the extra cost to do so. That's why he used production cues from the Mutel library [including "Two-A-Day" as the theme]. However, by the third filmed season {the show' fifth}, he decided to spend the extra money, and use "Love Nest" again as the main theme. However, during the 1955-'56 season {when the storyline took place in New York}, George used another Mutel cue, "Soft Shoe Dance" [by Mahlon Merrick] as the theme. In the 1956-'57 season, he resumed using "Love Nest" for the rest of the series.

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I liked Fred Clark the best. Wish they could have worked something out money wise. Interesting to read threads like this because I wondered why they had so many Harry Mortons.

I was about twelve years old when I saw my first episode of Burns and Allen. The episode in which Fred Clark was replaced may have been my first episode to see. I think that it was, but I may be mistaken. Anyway, my reason for posting is to confirm that the episode was in the syndicated episodes released at that time (around 1966).

The episode where the Harry Morton change is made by George (and Bea/Blanche) breaking the "fourth wall" is entitled The Iron Deer/Gracie Thinks George Needs Glasses.

I watched it on AntennaTV recently and just found it on YouTube as of today, but won't post the link here as it is forbidden by the forum rules.

John

...because he wanted to "move on" to other TV and radio projects [he was also doing an ongoing "double act", with Tom D'Andrea, where they played military buddies, on various TV shows- and eventually, Hal was a regular on Dennis Day's "RCA VICTOR SHOW" in the 1952-'53 season]. Occasionally, he reappeared as Harry Morton's partner "Casey" and other guest star roles.

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Hal March left the show after the 7th episode. In the 8th episode "Happy Hmm Hmm", George announces that March had left to go to New York to work on a project with his partner Bob Sweeney, and the role will now be played by John Brown...

....Hal and Bob appeared together on their own radio show in the mid-'40s, and wanted to work with each other one more time in New York [apparently, the project fell through, and they split for good; Hal joined the cast of "THE RCA VICTOR SHOW STARRING DENNIS DAY" in the fall, while Bob returned to Los Angeles for various radio and TV guest shots].

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So George was cheap!! What was cheap back then? I wonder what Fred Clark wanted for a raise.