BOB BURNS (COMEDIAN)

'Robin "Bob" Burns' (August 2, 1890 – February 2, 1956), born 'Robin Burn' and nicknamed 'The Arkansas Traveler' and 'The Arkansas Philosopher', was a popular American radio and film comedian during the 1930s and 1940s.
Born in Greenwood, Arkansas, Burns popularized the word 'bazooka' which had wide usage during World War II as the name of a weapon ^[1] and then as Topps Chewing Gum's Bazooka bubblegum. Burns actually did not coin the word although he is often credited as the originator of the word. It existed from at least 1918, for the same musical instrument that he is credited with inventing. ^[2]
Burns's bazooka was not a weapon, though, but a rustic homemade novelty instrument fashioned from stove pipes and a whiskey funnel. World War II GIs nicknamed their handheld anti-tank rocket launchers after the physical similarity to Burns's instrument. Functioning like a crude trombone, the musical bazooka had a narrow range and less-than-dulcet tone, but this was intentional, since Burns used the instrument as a prop while telling his comic hillbilly stories and jokes.
His radio personality was that of a low-key, self-effacing, rustic bumpkin with a grabbag of amusing stories about "the kinfolks" back home in Van Buren, Arkansas. His character was patterned after Sanford Faulkner (1806-74), composer of the popular fiddle tune, "The Arkansas Traveler."

Burns starred on Bing Crosby's ''Kraft Music Hall'' radio program, then had his own radio series -- 'The Arkansas Traveler' (1941-43) and 'The Bob Burns Show' (1943-49). He also performed in several movies. Burns died from kidney cancer in Encino, California at the age of 66.

Contents

Filmography

Listen to

References

External links

Filmography

★ ''Quick Millions'' (as Robert Burns) (1931)

★ ''Young As You Feel'' (1931)

★ ''Lazy River'' (1934)

★ ''Rhythm on The Range'' (1936)

★ ''The Big Broadcast of 1937'' (1936)

★ ''Waikiki Wedding'' (1937)

★ ''Mountain Music'' (1937)

★ ''The Arkansas Traveller'' (1938)

★ ''I'm from Missouri'' (1939)

Listen to

★ OTR with Bobb Lynes: ''The Bob Burns Show'' (audition show of November 23, 1947)

References

1. VanBuren.com, Burns page on Van Buren, Arkansas site
2. ''Waukeesha Freeman'', January 17, 1918

External links

★

★ Bob Burns hometown tribute

★ Bob Burns tribute page

★ Bob Burns' gravesite

★ ADS-L Archives