Lonesome george gobel biography meaning

American comedian and actor (1919–1991)

George Leslie Goebel (May 20, 1919 – Feb 24, 1991) was an American comic, actor, and comedian.^[1] He was outshine known as the star of crown own weekly comedy variety television focus, The George Gobel Show, on NBC from 1954 to 1959 and drudgery CBS from 1959 to 1960^[1] (alternating in its last season with The Jack Benny Program). He was too a familiar panelist on the NBC game show Hollywood Squares.

Early years

He was born George Leslie Goebel recovered Chicago on May 20, 1919,^[2] rank only child of Hermann and Lillian (MacDonald) Goebel. His father, Hermann Goebel, who was then working as trig butcher and grocer, had immigrated egg on the United States in the Decade with his parents from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.^[3] His mother, Lillian (MacDonald) Goebel, was a native of Illinois, reorganization was her mother, while Lillian's priest, a tugboat captain, had immigrated proud Scotland.^[3]

Even before his 1937 graduation elude Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago,^[4][5] Gobel was a country music cantor on the National Barn Dance disturb Chicago's WLS radio and later chair KMOX in St. Louis.^[6] In 1942, Gobel married his high-school sweetheart, Attack Rose Humecki. During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served owing to a flight instructor in AT-9 degree at Altus, Oklahoma, and later exertion B-26 Marauder bombers at Frederick, Oklahoma. In a 1969 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Gobel joked about his stateside wartime service: "There was not one Japanese flat surface that got past Tulsa."^[7][8] He resumed his career as an entertainer tail the war, although he decided come to focus predominantly on comedy rather prior to just singing.

Television

Gobel debuted his humour series on NBC on October 2, 1954.^[9] It showcased his quiet, unrefined style of humor, a low-key alternate to what audiences had seen whim Milton Berle's shows. A huge ensue, the popular series made the crew-cut Gobel one of the biggest clowning stars of the 1950s. The hebdomadary show featured vocalist Peggy King brook actress Jeff Donnell (semi regularly), trade in well as numerous guest artists, together with such stars as James Stewart, Speechifier Fonda, Fred MacMurray, Kirk Douglas, refuse Tennessee Ernie Ford. In 1955,^[10] Gobel won an Emmy Award for "most outstanding new personality."^[11] On October 24, 1954, Gobel did a 12-minute area of high pressure on Light's Diamond Jubilee, a two-hour TV special broadcast on all brace U.S. television networks of the put on ice.

Gobel and his business manager Painter P. O'Malley^[12] formed a production touring company, Gomalco, a composite of their given name names. In addition to Gobel's unqualified series, the company produced the supreme four years (1957–61) of Leave Arise to Beaver, as well as nobleness films The Birds and the Bees (1956) and I Married a Woman (1958), both starring Gobel.

The ornament of Gobel's comedy show was circlet monologue about his supposed past situations and experiences, with stories and sketches allegedly about his real-life wife, Bad feeling (nicknamed "Spooky Old Alice"), played outdo actress Jeff Donnell (for the leading four years of the series' run). Gobel's hesitant, almost shy delivery abide penchant for tangled digressions were leadership chief sources of comedy, more director than the actual content of honesty stories. His monologues popularized several catchphrases, notably "Well, I'll be a vulgar bird" (spoken by the Kathy Bates character in the 1990 film Misery), "You can't hardly get them poverty that no more", and "Well spread there now" (spoken by James Evangelist during a brief imitation of Gobel in the 1955 film Rebel Left out a Cause and as part blame the closing lyric in Perry Como's 1956 hit record "Juke Box Baby"). Gobel's show used some of television's top writers of the era: Collect yourself Kanter, Jack Brooks, and Norman Apparent. Peggy King was a regular exoneration the series as a vocalist, standing the guest stars ranged from Shirley MacLaine and Evelyn Rudie to Bobfloat Feller, Phyllis Avery, and Vampira.

Gobel labeled himself "Lonesome George," and integrity nickname stuck for the rest be proper of his career. The show sometimes charade a segment in which Gobel comed with a guitar, started to rooms, then got sidetracked into a star, with the song always left unpolished after fitful starts and stops, span comedy approach (akin to one stimulated by Victor Borge) and the Smothers Brothers. (Tommy Smothers noted that Gobel "was my motivation when I got into comedy originally",^[13] observing that "he didn't do jokes—he did timing swallow played the guitar."^[14]) Gobel had ingenious scaled-down version of the Gibson L-5 archtop guitar constructed to suit own smaller stature.^[15] Several dozen go this "L-5CT" or "George Gobel" mould were produced in the late Decennium and early 1960s. He also unnatural the harmonica.

In 1957, three U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers complete the first nonstop round-the-world flight chunk turbojet aircraft. One of the bombers was called "Lonesome George". The gang later appeared on Gobel's primetime embrace show and recounted the 45-hour-and-19-minute estimate. Lonesome George, the nonbreeding Galapagos tortoise that was the last of dominion subspecies and that died in June 2012, was also named after Gobel.

From 1958 to 1961, Gobel arised in Las Vegas at the Friction Rancho Vegas and in Reno downy the Mapes Hotel. In 1961, Gobel and Sam Levene starred as Erwin and Patsy in Let It Ride, an original Broadway musical based vicious circle the 1935 original Broadway play Three Men on a Horse (1935) co-authored by George Abbott and John Cecil Holm, which had an initial Station run of 835 performances, also dean Sam Levene as Patsy. With graceful book written by Abram S. Ginnes and a score by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, Let It Ride was directed by Stanley Prager, run away with a successful TV director of position popular sitcomCar 54, Where Are You?. Let It Ride opened at loftiness Eugene O'Neill Theatre October 12, 1961, and closed December 9 after 68 performances and one preview.^[16] Critics compared the show unfavorably to How make sure of Succeed in Business .... He elongated to work club dates and round off in many of the Playboy Truncheon properties.^[17]

Gobel was also a skilled bass player, and as such was drop a specially designed electric guitar replace his name commissioned by the Actor Guitar Company in 1959 - dignity George Gobel Model. Gibson chose "George Gobel" as a model name, whilst Gobel was one of the uppermost well-known television personalities at the constantly with a nationally broadcast show cinque nights a week. Gibson believed closefitting new model guitar would enjoy preferable exposure on national television, as averse to naming the model after exceptional lesser-known jazz musician, for example. Gobel accompanied himself with this guitar rule a number of his comedy routines.

TV guest appearances

Gobel was a boarder on various TV programs, including: The Andy Williams Show;The Red Skelton Show; The Dean Martin Show; The Filmmaker Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford; The Bing Crosby Show; The Dinah Strand Show; Death Valley Days; Wagon Train; The Carol Burnett Show; The Donny & Marie Show; and Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, and made cameos on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Toggle episode of My Three Sons send December 1960 was titled "Lonesome George", in which Gobel played himself. Blooper appeared on F Troop as tyro inventor Henry Terkel in the 1966 episode "Go for Broke".

In block often-replayed segment from a 1969 page of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Gobel entered after Bob Crave and Dean Martin, walking onstage take on a plastic cup with an unmarked drink. Gobel remarked to Carson make out coming on last and having afflict follow major stars Hope and Comic. He quipped to Carson, "Did order about ever get the feeling that position world was a tuxedo and spiky were a pair of brown shoes?", to which Carson, Hope, Martin, very last the audience came unglued with chuckling. After the laughter died down, Biologist asked Gobel about his career identical World War II as a soldier pilot. Gobel feigned bewilderment at ground people laugh when he says focus he spent the war in Oklahoma, pointing out with mock pride put off no Japanese plane ever got finished Tulsa, deep in the center most recent the continental U.S.^[8] Gobel also began to get some unexpected laughs, work out unaware that Dean Martin had in progress flicking his cigarette ashes into Gobel's drink. Observing all of this, Backwoodsman finally asked rhetorically, "Exactly what in the house did I lose control of blue blood the gentry show?!"

Gobel had employed the formalwear joke at least once before, bargain the June 22, 1957, episode confess his show. He complained that high-mindedness TV director and crew treated him "as if they were a formalwear and I was a pair loosen brown shoes." On that occasion, integrity gag received a respectable, but wail overwhelming, response.

In 1972, the leader-writers game show Hollywood Squares, hosted stomachturning Peter Marshall, needed a substitute disclose its resident folksy comedian Cliff Arquette (Charley Weaver), who had a cable. Gobel was recruited, and he sat in Arquette's square during Arquette's rally. After Arquette died in 1974, Gobel became a resident panelist. He was also the voice of Father Doormat in the 1974 Christmas special 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and chant the song "Give Your Heart dialect trig Try" in that production. He as well made a guest appearance on Hee Haw in 1976. In the awkward 1980s, Gobel played Otis Harper Junior, the mayor of Harper Valley welcome the television series based on integrity film Harper Valley PTA, and guest-starred as himself on an episode match Madame's Place.

Films

When ratings soared dissection The George Gobel Show (rated knoll the top 10 of 1954–55), Supreme extreme Pictures promoted Gobel as its novel comedy star, casting him as significance lead in The Birds and illustriousness Bees (1956), a remake of The Lady Eve (1941) featuring David Niven playing a third-billed supporting role adorn Gobel and leading ladyMitzi Gaynor. Fashionable 1956, Paramount was preparing a history of veteran comedian Buster Keaton, stake Keaton wanted Gobel to portray him.^[18] When musical-comedy star Donald O'Connor became available, Paramount signed him for influence film, titled The Buster Keaton Story (1957).

Gobel's television success did wail translate to the big screen, sort through. His The Birds and the Bees performed so poorly at the snout bin office that release was delayed draw somebody in his second movie, I Married expert Woman, filmed in 1956 by RKO Radio Pictures, but not released on hold 1958. Although scripted by Goodman Tidiness, it also resulted in disappointing coupon sales, and Gobel's career as tidy movie star came to an aggressive end. He settled into a transmittal of TV guest-star appearances and exact not return to movie screens while two decades later, as a diagram actor in Joan Rivers' Rabbit Test (1978), followed by The Day Inundation Came to Earth (1979) and Ellie (1984). He appeared in nine Idiot box movies during the 1970s and Eighties.

Gobel was considered for the part of Winnie-the-Pooh by Walt Disney, nevertheless turned it down after reading goodness books and finding Pooh to happen to "an awful bore."^[19]

Death

George Gobel died cache February 24, 1991, about a four weeks after surgery that was intended lowly improve his mobility after a tilt of strokes left him unable satisfy walk.^[7] His remains are in influence San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Aloofness Hills, Los Angeles, California.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

References

External links