I'm surprised George didn't develop lung cancer from all the cigars he sucked on, even though he basically used them as a comic prop, taking a puff on one whenever he told a joke.
First of all, so-called "George Burns" was not his real name. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his birth name, Nathan Birnbaum. Mostly likely the name change was as the result of pressure from a greedy Business Manager or Studio, with the idea of perceived greater recognition and possible monetary gain?! The business of changing one's birth name is the ultimate insult towards your parents & heritage. The ONLY time a name change should happen is when a woman gets married. If a married women DOESN'T change her last name, then that's an insult to her husband. Furthermore, a hyphenated name is ridiculous and only a pretentious person would do that to their name. A female with a hyphenated name is bad enough, but a male with one is down right ludicrous.
