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• Bob "Bazooka" Burns

  • Rosemary
  • 2007-06-07

  Bob Burns, a comedy star of the 1930s and '40s, did indeed grow up in Van Buren, Arkansas. But, his real name was Robin Burn (without the "s"). When Bob was a teenager, he fashioned a crude musical instrument from two lengths of pipe .. one fitting inside the other .. with a whiskey funnel welded onto the end. It operated somewhat like a slide trombone. The few low tones it made were said to sound like a wounded moose. He named it the "Bazooka" and it became his trademark throughout his entertainment career, first in vaudeville, and later in his own highly popular radio show. When a new shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon was first introduced during World War II, soldiers in the field dubbed it the "Bazooka," because it resembled Bob Burns' unique musical instrument. The name stuck. Bob made at least 17 pictures, usually as the comic sidekick of the movie's male lead.

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