Editing George Gobel (section)

==Television==
Gobel debuted his comedy series on NBC on October 2, 1954.<ref>{{Citation |title=''The George Gobel Show'' - 2 October 1954 |date=1954 |url=http://archive.org/details/theGeorgeGobelShow-2October1954 |access-date=October 17, 2023 |publisher=Gomalco Productions}}</ref> It showcased his quiet, homespun style of humor, a low-key alternative to what audiences had seen on [[Milton Berle]]'s shows. A huge success, the popular series made the [[crew cut|crew-cut]] Gobel one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1950s. The weekly show featured vocalist [[Peggy King]] and actress [[Jeff Donnell]] (semi regularly), as well as numerous guest artists, including such stars as [[James Stewart]], [[Henry Fonda]], [[Fred MacMurray]], [[Kirk Douglas]], and [[Tennessee Ernie Ford]]. In 1955,<ref>{{cite web |title=Most Outstanding New Personality Nominees - Winners 1955 Emmy Awards - Television Academy |url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1955/most-outstanding-new-personality}}</ref> Gobel won an [[Emmy Award]] for "most outstanding new personality."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shoes, 1946–Present |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |first1=Tim |last1=Brooks |first2=Earle F. |last2=Marsh |isbn=978-0-3074-8320-1 |page=1631 |date=June 24, 2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&q=gobel |access-date=June 8, 2022}}</ref> On October 24, 1954, Gobel did a 12-minute spot on ''[[Light's Diamond Jubilee]]'', a two-hour TV special broadcast on all four U.S. television networks of the time.

Gobel and his business manager David P. O'Malley<ref>{{cite web |title=Gobel and O'Malley Sell Comedy Series To C.B.S. Television |work=The New York Times |page=71 |date=June 5, 1957 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/06/05/archives/gobel-and-omalley-sell-comedy-series-to-cbs-television.html |access-date=December 29, 2022}}</ref> formed a production company, '''Gomalco'''<!-- "Gomalco Productions" redirects to this section -->, a composite of their last names. In addition to Gobel's own series, the company produced the first four years (1957–61) of ''[[Leave It to Beaver]]'', as well as the films ''[[The Birds and the Bees (film)|The Birds and the Bees]]'' (1956) and ''[[I Married a Woman]]'' (1958), both starring Gobel.
[[File:Hoagy Carmichael George Gobel 1954.JPG|left|thumb|[[Hoagy Carmichael]] and George Gobel in 1954]]
The centerpiece of Gobel's comedy show was his monolog about his supposed past situations and experiences, with stories and sketches allegedly about his real-life wife, Alice (nicknamed "Spooky Old Alice"), played by actress [[Jeff Donnell]] (for the first four years of the series' run). Gobel's hesitant, almost shy delivery and penchant for tangled digressions were the chief sources of comedy, more important than the actual content of the stories. His monologs popularized several [[catchphrase]]s, notably "Well, I'll be a dirty bird" (spoken by the [[Kathy Bates]] character in the 1990 film ''[[Misery (film)|Misery]]''), "You can't hardly get them like that no more", and "Well then there now" (spoken by [[James Dean]] during a brief imitation of Gobel in the 1955 film ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'' and as part of 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: [[Hal Kanter]], Jack Brooks, and [[Norman Lear]]. Peggy King was a regular on the series as a vocalist, and the guest stars ranged from [[Shirley MacLaine]] and [[Evelyn Rudie]] to [[Bob Feller]], [[Phyllis Avery]], and [[Maila Nurmi|Vampira]].

Gobel labeled himself "Lonesome George," and the nickname stuck for the rest of his career. The show sometimes included a segment in which Gobel appeared with a guitar, started to sing, then got sidetracked into a story, with the song always left unfinished after fitful starts and stops, a comedy approach (akin to one used by [[Victor Borge]]) and the [[Smothers Brothers]]. (Tommy Smothers noted that Gobel "was my motivation when I got into comedy originally",<ref name="AmMasters">{{cite web |title=Tommy Smothers Interview |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/archive/interview/tommy-smothers/ |website=American Masters |access-date=November 7, 2023}}</ref> observing that "he didn't do jokes—he did timing and played the guitar."<ref name="Nachman">{{cite book |last1=Nachman |first1=Gerald |title=Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45tG8jqrx5oC&dq=tommy+smothers+george+gobel&pg=PA446 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |access-date=November 7, 2023 |language=en |date=August 26, 2009|isbn=9780307490728 }}</ref>) Gobel had a scaled-down version of the [[Gibson L-5]] archtop guitar constructed to suit his own smaller stature.<ref name="Ingram">{{cite book |last1=Ingram |first1=Adrian |title=The Gibson L5 |date=1997 |publisher=Centerstream Publications |isbn=978-1-57424-047-4 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9fxFuF7QEUC&pg=PA65 |access-date=November 10, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Several dozen of this "L-5CT" or "George Gobel" model were produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He also played the harmonica.

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

From 1958 to 1961, Gobel appeared in [[Las Vegas Strip|Las Vegas]] at the [[El Rancho Vegas]] and in [[Reno]] at the [[Mapes Hotel]]. In 1961, Gobel and [[Sam Levene]] starred as Erwin and Patsy in ''[[Let It Ride (musical)|Let It Ride]]'', an original Broadway musical based on the 1935 original Broadway play ''[[Three Men on a Horse]]'' (1935) co-authored by [[George Abbott]] and [[John Cecil Holm]], which had an initial Broadway run of 835 performances, also starring Sam Levene as Patsy. With a book written by Abram S. Ginnes and a score by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, ''Let It Ride'' was directed by [[Stanley Prager]], then a successful TV director of the popular sitcom ''[[Car 54, Where Are You?]]''. ''Let It Ride'' opened at the [[Eugene O'Neill Theatre]] October 12, 1961, and closed December 9 after 68 performances and one preview.<ref>{{cite web |title=Let It Ride |website=IBDb |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/let-it-ride-2884}}</ref> Critics compared the show unfavorably to [[How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical)|''How to Succeed in Business ...'']]. He continued to work club dates and performed in many of the [[Playboy Club]] properties.<ref>{{cite news |title=George Gobel--He's Sad Before He's Funny |first=Jack |last=Rice |page=3D |newspaper=[[St Louis Post-Dispatch]] |date=November 8, 1960 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103390275/st-louis-post-dispatch/ |access-date=June 8, 2022}}</ref>

Gobel was also a skilled guitar player, and as such was issued a specially designed electric guitar in his name commissioned by the Gibson Guitar Company in 1959 - the George Gobel Model. Gibson chose "George Gobel" as a model name, as Gobel was one of the most well-known television personalities at the time with a nationally broadcast show five nights a week. Gibson believed its new model guitar would enjoy greater exposure on national television, as opposed to naming the model after a lesser-known jazz musician, for example. Gobel accompanied himself with this guitar on a number of his comedy routines.