Category: Life with Pratts

George Burns, Ted Montague, and my mother

When I was in New York this past week, I told Prudence Bury-Fuchs and her friends Mike and Christine O’Neal the story of my late mother’s friendship with a man named Ted Montague. My mother, Joanne Waffle, met Ted at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, where they graduated in 1946. As seen below, Ted went by the name Peter Montague. Another graduate was David Andrews, later known as ‘Tige’ Andrews. Vince Beck was a well-known character actor who appeared in many TV shows, especially during the Sixties.

Click to enlarge
American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Class of 1946

How I learned of Ted Montague was typical of a lot of things my mother told me later in her life, because it was something my sisters knew, and she was sure I did too, but I didn’t. It was 1996, and my parents had retired. My mother’s lungs weren’t doing well, the result of decades of cigarettes, and she was looking for a place to move in the southwest. She had made several trips to Arizona to look at properties, and before one of those trips she called and said that of course I knew that she had to postpone it. I said I did not know that, and I asked her what happened. She made reference to George dying, and my father’s name is George, so that really threw me for a moment. But then I realized she was talking about George Burns, and I said of course I knew Burns had died a few days before, but what did that have to do with anything?

It turned out that my mother had been looking at houses with the help of Ted Montague, who was retired himself, and living in Tucson. At some point in the 1940’s, Ted became friends with George Burns and Gracie Allen, and he worked as their personal secretary for many years. When Burns died, Montague attended the funeral, and from what my mother said he also had some related business matters to attend to. Here is a picture of Ted with Gracie, and some other friends.

After Gracie’s death in 1964, George helped set up Montague with an interior decorating shop in Beverly Hills. When my mother told me about it I said, “Mom, I, uh, think your friend Ted is probably gay.” To which she replied, with great effect, “Well, DUH, son!” This is Ted with a boyfriend. I suppose it’s the sort of snapshot that gay men kept in a locked drawer, back in those days.

With Ted’s help, my mother found a house near Phoenix, and my father lives there to this day. A few years after my parents moved there, Ted Montague passed away. I think it’s great my mother had a lifelong friendship with Ted, and it’s to my father’s credit that he saw it for what it was, and let it be.

Fri., Feb. 12, 1999
Rodney Theodore Montague
By VARIETY STAFF

Rodney Theodore “Ted” Montague, who spent 18 years as personal secretary to George Burns and Gracie Allen, died Jan. 16 of complications from emphysema in Tucson. He was 77.

Following his many years with Burns and Allen, he moved over to the MGM music department for a short stint before opening a decorating and refinishing shop on Melrose Ave.

Well known in Beverly Hills social circles, Montague retired to Tucson to be near his family.

He is survived by a sister and numerous nieces and nephews.

Fall

Time goes by so quickly. It’s already autumn. While running today I was clonked on my cap numerous times by acorns, and the road is covered with shells from nuts consumed by ravenous squirrels. It’s days like today that I am truly grateful for everything that I have.

Pennsylvania SICK-5000

When I was in New York this week, I stayed at the same place as the last time I was in the city — The Hotel Pennsylvania, across from Penn Station. My last visit literally left a bad taste in my mouth, because I became deathly ill with food poisoning, undoubtedly from a turkey club sandwich I’d had for dinner at Lindy’s, a restaurant in the Hotel Penn building that had been a favorite of Milton Berle, who I would have avoided had I ever seen him. I never cared for Uncle Milty.

My night in the Hotel Pennsylvania wasn’t cheap, but it’s less expensive than most of the midtown hotels. That’s because it’s pretty much a rundown dump, except for the lobby. Besides the relatively low cost, I have an attachment to the place, because it was where I stayed the very first time I visited New York, when I was sixteen years old. The occasion was the 1972 Comicart Convention, back when the hotel was called the Statler-Hilton.

My friend Morris drove us there with his (now ex-) wife and their infant daughter. They’re listed in the program book as “Human,” which is a typo, because Morris’ name is Hyman. If you enlarge the scan you’ll see my name and that of comic book art legend Joe Sinnott, his late wife Betty, and their son Mark. As I mentioned a while ago, Dennis and I were going to meet Joe and Mark in Boston next month, but Joe had hip replacement surgery on Friday. I sure do hope it went well.

The Hotel Pennsylvania is most likely not going to be standing for much longer, and having stayed there just a few days ago, I’m sorry to say that I think it’s time for it to go. The New York City Council has approved a plan to replace it with an office tower. With so much attention being given nationally to the proposed Islamic cultural center, this bit of real estate news has stayed mostly local to the Big Apple. But beware, New York, because the developer of the proposed Penn Plaza project, Vornado Realty Trust, is the same outfit that has left a huge hole in the center of Boston for years.

Homeward bound

I’m on a Boston-bound Amtrak Acela train that was two hours late leaving Penn Station in NYC. Before I say anything about meeting Prue Bury, read this, because it’s about Prue’s dear, old friends the O’Neals, who Prue is staying with right now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/garden/05apthorp.html

I have been in unit 11L of the Apthorp, and unit 11K appears to be undergoing renovations, so presumably it will soon have occupants. [To see who moved in, click here.]