Editing George Gobel (section)

==Early years==
He was born George Leslie Goebel in Chicago on May 20, 1919,<ref>{{cite web |title=TCMdb Overview |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/72484%7C58668/wp#overview}}</ref> the only child of Hermann and Lillian (MacDonald) Goebel. His father, Hermann Goebel, who was then working as a butcher and grocer, had immigrated to the United States in the 1890s with his parents from the [[Austrian Empire|Austro-Hungarian Empire]].<ref name="1920 Census">[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR68-XWF?i=9&cc=1488411 "The Fourteenth Census of the United States: Population—1920"], digital image of original census enumeration page, January 7–8, 1920; Chicago City (Ward 27), Cook County, Illinois. United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C. FamilySearch, online genealogical database provided as a public service by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved June 6, 2017.{{subscription required}}</ref> His mother, Lillian (MacDonald) Goebel, was a native of Illinois, as was her mother, while Lillian's father, a tugboat captain, had immigrated from [[Scotland]].<ref name="1920 Census"/>

Even before his 1937 graduation from [[Theodore Roosevelt High School (Chicago)|Theodore Roosevelt High School]] in Chicago,<ref name=glance>"Roosevelt at a glance". ''Chicago Sun-Times''. June 15, 1994. 95</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CPS Alumni-Journalists & Media Personalities-George Gobel |website=Cpsalumni.org |url=http://www.cpsalumni.org/honor_roll/may/20/2008/george-gobel-0 |access-date=March 16, 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224011111/http://www.cpsalumni.org/honor_roll/may/20/2008/george-gobel-0 |archive-date=December 24, 2010}}</ref> Gobel was a [[country music]] singer on the ''[[National Barn Dance]]'' on Chicago's [[WLS (AM)|WLS]] radio and later on [[KMOX]] in St. Louis.<ref>{{citation |title=For Gobel, KMOX Was A Step On The Ladder |website=St. Louis Media History Foundation |url=http://www.stlmediahistory.com/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/for-gobel-kmox-was-a-step-on-the-ladder |access-date=October 4, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004231150/http://www.stlmediahistory.com/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/for-gobel-kmox-was-a-step-on-the-ladder |archive-date=October 4, 2013}}</ref> In 1942, Gobel married his high-school sweetheart, Alice Rose Humecki. During [[World War II]], he enlisted in the [[United States Army Air Forces]] and served as a [[flight instructor]] in [[Curtiss AT-9|AT-9]] aircraft at [[Altus, Oklahoma]], and later in [[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 aircraft that got past [[Tulsa, Oklahoma|Tulsa]]."<ref name=lat/><ref name=tonight/> He resumed his career as an entertainer after the war, although he decided to focus predominantly on comedy rather than just singing.