"Say 'Good Night,' Paul." "Good Night, Paul."

"George ((Burns)) and Gracie ((Allen)), still working for CBS, were involved in a running gag about Gracie's 'missing brother' George Allen . . . In working out their opening exchange ((for a guest appearance on Rudy Vallee's radio show on NBC in the 1930s)), all hands agreed it might begin with Rudy saying, 'Hello, Gracie, have you found George yet?' Scripts were prepared accordingly. NBC in a last-minute ruling, decreed otherwise. The missing brother gag, NBC held, was a CBS promotion and nuts to a rival network promoting itself over NBC facilities. The script would have to be rewritten, the missing brother crack thrown out." -- New York Daily News, May 6, 1958.