Posted on 07/27/2018 3:37:48 PM PDT by eastforker
Gobel graduated from Chicago's Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1937. Initially a country music singer, he appeared on the National Barn Dance on WLS radio and, after service in World War II, turned to comedy. During World War II, Gobel served in the United States Army Air Forces as a flight instructor in AT-9 aircraft at Altus, Oklahoma and later in B-26 Marauder bombers at Frederick, Oklahoma. In a 1969 appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Gobel joked, "There was not one Japanese aircraft got past Tulsa.
(Excerpt) Read more at airforce.togetherweserved.com ...
Believe he was Mayor Harper on “Harper Valley PTA” with Barbara Eden and Fannie Flagg in about 1981-82.
George talks of his service here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbpc-NJHcZ8
Gobel once ate at a small restaurant in my home town of DeFuniak Springs. He gave them a free plug on his show, saying it was very good.
I also remember a segment of him piloting a four engine plane. I think he owned it. While they were filming him, he feathered one engine after another until there was just one running. The plane maintained altitude with just one engine.
That was back when comedy was worth watching.
That’s an hilarious clip all around.
I remember that Tulsa joke, and always thought that it had been Ed McMahon who said it! No wonder I could never find the clip. Thanks for the posting!
One George Gobel’s funniest lines was “Sometimes I feel like a pair of brown shoes in a closet full of tuxedos.” Very few people would get that joke today.
He had an episode of Death Valley Days wherein he invents a sailing prairie schooner and races it. He used to crack me up when he was on Ed Sullivan.
Gobel was a First Lieutenant? - well I’ll be a dirty bird......
B 26 Marauder aka “winemaker” was not a nice airplane. Earned it’s name.
I just lost a first cousin, WW2 Navy vet. 93. Was a gunner on PT and crash boats. Shot down one Japanese plane. Got Navy Commendation Medal from Admiral Nimitz himself. RIP sailor.
Mark
“Widowmaker”...dick!
I feel like a pair of brown shoes
Sorry for your loss - another great one gone.....
widowmaker
I knew an old guy who flew B-26s on D-Day. His squadron of 16 attacked a ground target and 7 of the 16 were shot down. He said the German anti-aircraft fire was extremely deadly.
His plane lost an engine. He was limping back to England. He said a Spitfire flew up next to him and flew alongside until he landed. Not really protecting him as much as being company and to locate his crew if he crash landed.
He was often on Hollywood Squares
The regularity of crashes by pilots training at MacDill Field (up to 15 in one 30-day period) led to the exaggerated catchphrase, “One a day in Tampa Bay.”
B-26 crews gave the aircraft the nickname “Widowmaker”. Other colorful nicknames included “Martin Murderer”, “Flying Coffin”, “B-Dash-Crash”, “Flying Prostitute” (so-named because it was so fast and had “no visible means of support,” referring to its small wings) and “Baltimore Whore” (a reference to the city where Martin was based).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder
That is one hysterically funny episode.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.