Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1955-01-20, Page 2Why George Gael Makes Folks Laugh America's newest indoor sport on Saturday evenings is trying to guess why George Gobel makes so many different kinds of people laugh. Now the Syl- vania award committee has ad- ded urgency to the mystery by dubbing him the year's best TV comedian. NBC's master of glum tom- foolery has been trying to figure it out himself. He hasn't been trying very hard, because 'when you come right down to it, he'd rather have people stay confused about the whole thing. But he's an even - tempered, obliging fellow, this man from Chicago, and he has been hold- ing more or less monosyllabic conversations with scores of writers and columnists. Most of the interviewers have asked him, straight out, why he thinks he's so funny, And then they ask that other question; "How does it feel to be suddenly famous?" "Well, it's kind of tough," he'll say, and then lapse into silence. Or he may brighten up and add, "It's nice to be working steady." As he closes his half-hour "nonformat" program, he is like- ly to remark, with a placid air, "This is Lonesome George," and then go into his closing line. Why, you . may ask, does he. choose to be known as Lone- some George? "Because it's incongruous." he will reply flatly, looking up at you with that guileless stare which isn't totally expression- less but is certainly a long way from being revealing. "You see," he shrugs almost noticeably, "in the hillbilly game, especially when you play a guitar, you have to have some kind of a tag to sign off with. Nobody just says his name right out and then goes away — that'd be too simple. You have to be Cowboy Jack or Red Sam or something. So one night I happened to say I was Lonesome George. And soembody laughed. So there I was — stuck with it." Comedy, for George Gobel is like that — a process of discov- ery. He was surprised when of- ficers' club audiences in Fred- rick, Okla. (where he spent most of the war glumly instruct- ing B-26 pilots), laughed and laughed at his simplest stories. He was glad to find, after the war, that he could make "a lot more money in a lot less hours" if he gave up the idea of pilot- ing civilian airplanes and nego- tiated instead the barrel rolls and tail spins of the night club circuit; "I'm a pretty lazy guy, you know." He was solidly pleased when his TV guest appearances and his summer work on NBC's "Saturday Night Revue" were to be followed by a weekly show this fall. He sighed with relief when George Rosenberg brought him a veteran radio and screen writer, Hal Kanter, to head the writer's staff. "Everything seemed to be just sight about this man," he nods solemnly. "I have lots of con- fidence in him now, and in the others, Jack Douglas, James Al- lardice and Harry Winkler. No, I don't contribute very much in the weekly script conference. It just goes along fine. The things I do suggest usually come out all different anyhow. "For a while, there, I thought maybe they were gettin' a lit- tle highfalutin. That time a few ss. • weeks ago, for instance, when we were supposed to run head- on into a page in the script where it said, 'We've gone mkt to lunch — signed, your writ- ers, the Bronte sisters,'" . At this point Mr, Gobel was supposed to exclaim, with as deeply pained a look as he could must e r: "That's Charlotte's work! Emily would never have done that!" This literary allusion got such a howl from the studio audience that he surrendered forthwith to any and all — well, almost all — literary or historical non - sequiturs. "We try to keep peo- ple as confused as possible," he adds hopefully. So there (as he says) you are; confusion, incongruity and sur- prise — actual or verbal. A com- bination, if you will, of common, down-to-earth grumbling with unexpected take -offs intu the wild blue yonder — a kind of high-flown simplicity which looks, as really difficult trapeze stunts often do, ridiculously easy. Those,plus a relaxed Mid- western twang in the voice, an almost -frozen face which only rarely breaks into a smile, and an over-all innocent air of amazement — these are what Americans have been discover- ing, writes Richard Dyer Mc- Cann, Staff Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor. Have Americans also been discovering themselves? Mr. Kanter, for his part, is willing to think so. He is will- ing to pry a little deeper into the reasons why the technique brings laughs. He hazards the guess that this new comedy star represents simply "a middle- class man who is aware of the upper classes but is perfectly content to be middle-class." If the man's appeal is a broad as this implies, then it may be only a matter of time before Gobel goes global. Neither the middle class itself nor its liking for drawling cowboy humor has ever been restricted to the con- tinental limits of the United States. Certainly the Gobel appeal is not merely a result of his lowly 5 -foot, 5 -inch stature. Nor does it come from the fact that he sometimes wanders off leaving sentences hanging in mid air. His drawl reminds us of Will Rogers. His verbal facility is worthy of Robert Benchley. But he is above all, in the manner of Charlie Chaplin, a little man who is often at a loss but never quite defeated. He must cope with a spouse of bewildering moods (she is even played by a different act- ress every week), . a car that "just sits there and sulks," a "silent butler" that squeaks, and many other trials and tribula- tions familiar to the average American, and about which he can roar with laughter when they happen to some one else. But he never allows himself to be cowed by it all. He demon- strates his superiority to his own inferiority by a mild toss of the head and a devastating joke, calmly spoken, at the expense of anybody who happens to be around, including himself. Admittedly a man who is "al- ways an hour late or a dollar short," he is full of the vague anxieties of our time, but he doesn't see any special need to SIGHT UNSEEN—Sketching Jacqueline Francois while he is blind- folded Is no task for French artist Denis Olivier. While on a painting tour in North Africa, he executed several studies of an "Ideal Woman," such as the one seen above his easel. When exhibited in Paris, they proved to bear a marked resemblance to the pretty singer, whom he had never seen before the paint Ings were mode. • • • Fashion Hints PARTY APRONS of nylon sheer are making fashion news. Most sophisticated are often black like the one at left which features pockets twinkling with star-shaped pieces of mirror. White nylon sheer at right 's embroidered with a huge black and gold colored bumble bee. Both are as washable and sturdy as their kitchen counterparts. feel guilty, or even despondent, "I don't think every little problem you get comes to some kind of conclusion," he says in explanation of the way his sketches don't either, "After you've had s big talk with the boss about something or other, why, you have to tell it to your wife, sure — but you do it in some way that makes you feel better. You don't just come home and announce "Well I lost!'" To Hollywood publicists and columnists banqueting in down- town Los Angeles, he gave a rule of thumb for self-respect. "I play the guitar, you know, I taught myself to play it. Of course I don't play very good, That's because I'm not a very good teacher... But I've got a brother who can't play it at all!" There is no evidence what- ever that Mr. Gabel thinks about his comedy in any very philosophical manner. He is the first to brush aside analytical interlopers. His way is just to grope around till he finds some- thing that sounds funny. It works — as attested by the millions of people who have been telling each other about him since Oct, 2. It works, as he is at pains to point out, very largely because he has been ab- sorbing the axioms and prac- tices of show business ever since. he was a teen-ager. He was first "discovered" as a boy musician when he was singing in an Episcopal Church choir on WLS, Chicago, Radio station executives invited him to join the weekly "National Barn Dance." He learned to play the guitar and became "Little Georgie," working with Pat Buttram, the master of cere- monies, who later left to become the comrade -in -arms of a cow- boy on the program named Gene Autry. Those eight years, and the years he hung around his father's grocery store in Chicago, and (for all anybody knows) the years he spent dreaming about being a profes- sional baseball player — what a short shortstop he would have made! — were all solid prepara- tion for his postwar "discovery" by David O'Malley, a Chicago agent, and the eight years of night club, hotel, and conven- tion engagements that followed. Mr. Kanter, too, has had solid preparation for his writing and directing jobs. He started out as a cartoonist, but his jokes were better than his drawings, and he found himself ghost- writing for another fellow who was supposed .to be ghost-writ- ing a comic strip. Determined to emerge from this double cloak , of obscurity he went to work for Jack Oakie, followed this with a series of dramatic radio scripts, did one show for Joe Penner, kept "Hellsapoppin" topical for Olsen and Johnson, and then joined Goodman Ace in writing Danny Kaye's radio material. Lately he has written radio scripts for Amos 'n' Andy and Bing Crosby, TV shows for Ed Wynn, and films for Martin and Lewis, The star of the George Gobel show is fully aware that he needs writers, This is one clown who has no illusions about man- nerisms substituting for mater- ial. He knows he has taken leave of the easier days when a few routines were enough — when his face was his fortune. Many weeks of voracious halt hours lie ahead, waiting to -con- sume his best gags. Aloha -inspired — Floral leis of Hawaii inspired the designer of these chalk -white porcelain -and - rhinestone costume jewelry pieces. Mountings are made of gold -tinted metal. But he is not likely to go far- ther and dispense with live audiences, He feels more secure with an audience than he does without one. He says he enjoys the show much more thanthe rehearsals. This might be partly because he, is a "quick study' when it comes to learning lines — and besides, his style of deliv- ery gives him a little extra time to think ahead. But he actually doesn't believe his particular kind of fun could be filmed. He can't understand how a come- dian can "time anything" unless people out in front interrupt him with all those lovely laughs. He seldom interrupts himself, in such fashion. I asked him if he made a point to smile at least once on each show. "No, I don't laugh," he mused, "I only laugh when something funny happens. "You know, when it's some- thing" — he coks his eyebrows — "something altogether un- foreseen!" On one of his shows it was announced that he was actually going to play his guitar — and sing. "I know what you're think- ing," he said as he prepared to live up to the announcement. thing" — he cocks his eyebrows "You're thinking. 'That clown isn't really going to sing — he's just joking.' Well, you should know by this time there's one thing we don't do on this show. We don't joke" SNAKE -EATER Water snakes are often charg- ed with holding down fish popu- lation by eating small fish of many spicies. In at least one case, however, the worm has turned. Barney Wanie of the Wisconsin Con- servation Department thinks that trout may also be a factor in holding down the water snake population, In examining a nine inch brook trout taken from the Mecan River in. Wis- consin, Wanie found 11 small water snakes in its stomach! In fact, there was only one shiner and a night crawler m addition to the snakes — making them the chief food for this particu- lar trout! TABLE TALKS How a minister and his wife turned their retirement into profit for themselves and their community is the tale told by Ralph E. Rolens in an article titled "The Story of 65,000 Cakes" appearing in a recent issue of The Farm Journal (Philadelphia). * * * It all started during the de- pression year of 1935, when my doctor advised me to quit the ministry and get bacic to the country. So my wife and I made a down payment on a 5 -acre ranch in Lane County, Oregon, and put all our spare money in- to renovating the old house. When we moved in, our assets totaled $25 in cash, 500 baby chicles, and a pure-bred Jersey cow and calf. It was soon evi- dent that we'd have to support the chickens and cow; there weren't enough of them to sup- port us. 5o, one morning, Mrs. Rolens announced that she was going to bake cakes and sell them at the Producers' Market in nearby Eugene, She's always been a top-notch cake baker. By Christ- mas time of the same year, she was so busy that I quit the sales job I'd taken on, to help her. Our first two years were real- ly rugged. We were at it from early morning until late at night, making cakes and pies, and delicatessen items. But the cake business outgrew the rest; and by 1942 we were turning out just cakes — average, 4,000 a year. Last count shows that, so far, we've totaled 65,000 cakes — 8 miles of them, end to end; or a pile 4 miles high! Some of our best sellers are our Butter Sponge, Devil's Food, and Applesauce cake - you'll find the recipes here. We keep' the quality high by using only the best ingredients. Our cake business has given us a good living, let us save to- ward our retirement, and has made it possible for us to con- tribute regularly toward the new chapel and Sunday School in our community. That's where our tithes and offerings go. Mrs. Rolens and I fee) that the money and time we've given to the Sunday School is among the best investments we ever made. Since we moved here, we've expanded our orginal 5 acres tO 20. We rent out all but one acre, our garden. When Farm Jour- nal asked us about our cake business, I was glad to put our story on paper, in hopes that it would show others that "retire- ment" can bring profits, new in- terests, and very real satisfac- tion. * * * APPLESAUCE CAKE 44 c. shortening 1 c. sugar 1 egg 1 tblsp, vanilla 1 tsp. soda 1 c. applesauce 2 e. sifted cake flour Vs tsp. cloves Y2 tsp. allspice 34 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. cinnamon 362 tsp. salt Cream shortening thoroughly. Add sugar. Cream until light and fluffy. Stir in egg and vanil- la. Beat until smooth. Dissolve soda in applesauce. Sift together flour, spices, and salt. Add to batter alternatedly with applesauce. Pour batter into two greased 8r/ix41hx2 a loaf pans. Decorate the top with a row of walnut halves. Bake in mod- erate (350°) oven for 50 to 60 minutes. * * * BUTTER SPONGE CAKE 4 eggs, separated 2 c. sugar 1 tblsp. vanilla 2 o. sifted cake flour 2 tsp. baking powder 34 tsp. salt 1 c. milk 2 tblsp. butter Beat egg whites until stiff. Add egg yolk to whites, one at a time, beating continuously. Add sugar gradually, beating continuously; add vanilla. Sift dry ingredients; add to egg mixture. Stir until flour is absorbed. Heat milk to boiling point; add butter. Add milk and butter mixture all at once to batter; continue mixing until well balanced. Pour into 9x12 -inch cake pan. Bake in moderate (350') oven 40 minutes. Frost with Caramel Icing. * * * DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE 34 c. butter or shortening 11/s e. sugar 3 eggs, separated 4 tblsp. cocoa 12 tsp. soda 1 c. milk 2 c. flour, sifted 34 tsp. salt 1 tblsp. vinegar Cream shortening thoroughly, Add sugar and cream mixture. Add egg yolks and cocoa. Beat Dissolve soda in mills. Sift flour and salt together. Alternately add flour and milk to batter. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold into batter. Stir in vinegar last. Pour into two 8 -inch greased cake pans. Bake in moderate (350°) oven 30 minutes. Frost with Seven Minute or Mocha Butter Icing. SALLY'S SALLIES "You' sold -tne this for a parrot, but it's just a grouchy old crab!" "BRAIN" JOINS THE NAVY—The new Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (top), recently built for the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Ordnance by International Business Machines Corp., is the fastest electronic computer in the world. .Known as the NORC, it can add, subtract and multiply numbers as fast as it can read them—at the rate of a million digits a second. One of the jobs the NORC will do to speed the Navy's weapons program will be performing the billions of mathematical operations necessary to determine the size and shape of the air cavity that forms around an object moving through water. For example, control of missile No: 1, shown in the drawing, would be lost because its size, shape and speed create a cavity so large that fin and rubber surfaces do not touch the water. Missile No. 2 creates a smaller cavity, the steering surfaces engage the water, and .a sew* accurate course to the target is Insured.