Bob Burns Biography

Fast Facts

• Studied the mandolin, the fiddle, the guitar, the piano and the cornet as a child
• Worked as an orchestra leader, a river ferry pilot, a peanut farmer and a hay seller and advertiser
• Started his entertainment career in carnivals, and then moved to the vaudeville stage
• Quote: "Some folks out here get inflated ideas․ But they usually have to come down to earth․ I know I'm the same fellow I was years ago when I was glad to make $25 a week․ I haven't got any smarter․"
• Quote: "If the country folk I tell these stories about don't mind, I can't see why the city people want to kick․"
• Known for creating a musical instrument from several lengths of pipe and a funnel that he called the bazooka, a name that was later adopted to describe a portable rocket launcher
• A comedian, actor and radio personality, he was best known for the stories he would tell about life in the Ozarks
• Spent the final years of his life on a 200-acre ranch in Canoga Park, Los Angeles
• Was considered the honorary mayor of Canoga Park, Los Angeles, for several years
• Invested in San Fernando Valley real estate in his later years