Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.

Burns and Allen met in 1922 and first performed together at the Hill Street Theatre in Newark, New Jersey, continued in small town vaudeville theaters, married in Cleveland on January 7, 1926, and moved up a notch when they signed with the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuit in 1927.

Burns wrote most of the material and played the straight man. Allen played a silly, addle-headed woman, a role often attributed to the "Dumb Dora" stereotype common in early 20th-century vaudeville comedy. Early on, the team had played the opposite roles until they noticed that the audience was laughing at Gracie's straight lines, so they made the change. In later years, each attributed their success to the other.

In the early days of talking pictures, the studios eagerly hired actors who knew how to deliver dialogue or songs. The most prolific of these studios was Warner Brothers. whose "Vitaphone Acts" captured vaudeville headliners of the 1920s on film.

Harry von Zell (July 11, 1906 – November 21, 1981), born in Indianapolis, made his mark as an announcer of radio programs and an actor in films and television shows.

His family moved to California, where von Zell studied music and drama at UCLA and worked at a variety of jobs. After friends tricked him into singing on a radio program, he received offers from radio stations, and his radio career began. Auditioning for Paul Whiteman's radio show, he beat out 250 other announcers. When that series came to an end in 1930, he headed for New York and became a CBS staff announcer, working with Fred Allen, Phil Baker, Eddie Cantor, Eddy Duchin and Ed Wynn. He also announced for The March of Time.

As a young announcer, von Zell made a memorable verbal slip in 1931 when he referred to U.S. President Herbert Hoover as "Hoobert Heever" during a live tribute on Hoover's birthday. Hoover was not present at this tribute. Von Zell's blooper came at the end of a lengthy coverage of Hoover's career in which he had correctly pronounced the President's name several times. Some mistakenly believe Hoover was present when the incident happened because of a re-enactment fabricated by Kermit Schaefer for his Pardon My Blooper record album.

Harold "Harry" Morton ( 9 January 1909 – 4 April 1974) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Aston Villa in the 1930s.

Morton was born in Chadderton, near Oldham, Lancashire, and after working his way up through the local football leagues, he had trials with Bury, Southampton F.C. and Bolton Wanderers. However, before he was able to embark on a football career, he did his National service with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers serving with the British Army on the Rhine. He was spotted by Aston Villa Scouts Aston Villa during a match between the Villains and the B.A.O.R football team in Biebrich Germany. Impressed by his performance they asked the British Army permission to take him on. He signed with Aston Villa in 1930 and debuted his first division association football match against Manchester City at Maine Road in November 1931, replacing Biddestone who had been injured before kick off.

After a trial with Villa in October 1930, he was signed as an amateur and made his club debut for the reserves in a Central League game against Everton Reserves on 22 November 1930. He went on to sign as a professional in March 1931. By the end of the 1931–32 season he had displaced Fred Biddlestone as first choice 'keeper and missed only one league game over the next three seasons, helping Villa to claim the runners-up position in the Football League in the 1932–33 season and reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1933–34.