Say Goodnight, Gracie provided the pre-recorded voice of Allen. Holmes was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play and Gorshin was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. The production has toured extensively throughout the United States following its New York closing, with Joel Rooks, Don McArt, and Alan Safier taking over for Gorshin as George Burns. Jamie Farr filled in for Gorshin on tour for two months when he became ill in 2004, but Gorshin returned to the role before his death in 2005. Say Goodnight, Gracie Say Goodnight Gracie is a one-man play by Rupert Holmes. Adapted
Variety show honed their skills in music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, George Formby, Gracie Fields, Dan Leno, Gertrude Lawrence and Marie Lloyd. Most of the early top performers on British television and radio did an apprenticeship either in stage variety, or during World War II in Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). In the UK, the ultimate accolade for a variety artist for decades was to be asked to do the annual Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium theatre, in front of the monarch. Later known as the "Royal Variety Performance" (from 1919), it continues today. In the 1940s,