George Raymond Wagner (March 24, 1915 - December 26, 1963) is the best-known American professional wrestler by the name of his Gorgeous George ring. In the United States, during the Golden Age of Professional Wrestling in the 1940s and 1950s, the beautiful George gained mainstream popularity and became one of the greatest stars of this period, gaining media attention for its outrageous character, portrayed as flamboyant and charismatic.. He was posthumously inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2002 and the WWE Hall of Fame as part of Class 2010.
Video Gorgeous George
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Wagner, a German-American heritage, was born March 24, 1915 in Butte, Nebraska. For the time being, his family lived on a farm near the village of Phoenix in Holt County and probably in Seward County before they moved to Waterloo, Iowa and then Sioux City. When George was 7 years old, his family moved to Houston, Texas, where he dealt with children from difficult neighborhoods. As a child, he trains at the local YMCA and often holds games against his friends.
In 1929, he dropped out of Milby High School at the age of 14, and worked oddly to help support his family. At the moment, he competes in a carnival, where he can get 35 cents to win. At the age of 17, he gets booked by top promoter in the region, Morris Siegel, and in 1938, he won his first title by beating Buck Lipscomb for the Northwest Middleweight crown. In addition, on May 19, 1939, he won the Pacific Coast Lightweight Seriousweight Championship.
Maps Gorgeous George
Careers
At 5Ã, ft 9 in and 215 pounds (1.75 m and 98Ã, kg), Wagner is not too physically imposing by professional wrestling standards, he is also not a very talented athlete, even though he is a talented amateur wrestler. Nevertheless, he soon developed a reputation as a solid in-ring wrestler. In the late 1930s, he met Elizabeth "Betty" Hanson, whom she would eventually marry at a ring-in ceremony. When the marriage proved to be a good picture card, the couple enacted it in the arena across the country (thereby enlightening Wagner with potential untapped entertainment value in the industry). Around this same time, Vanity Magazine published a feature article about a professional wrestler named 'Lord' Patrick Lansdowne, who entered the ring with two valets wearing velvet robes and doublets. Wagner was impressed with the courage of such characters, but he believed that he could take him to a much greater extremity. What he needs is a new professional persona.
Then, in Portland, Oregon, Betty (George's wife) tells Dean Higinbotham, Betty's niece, Evangeline "Eva", how George got the name of Gorgeous George. In the early 1940s George had a wrestling match at Portland Oregon Armory. As he walked down the hall to the ring, there were two adult women to his right, two lines back from the ring. One woman exclaimed loudly, "Oh, is not she beautiful." The word "beautiful" that hit George and he immediately felt had found his new professional persona. He will be "Gorgeous George". Like Elsie Hanson, Betty's mother, was a skilled tailor, George asked her to make some sparkling robes that would highlight her new persona. George wore the cloak in all his future matches.
Furthermore, George debuted a new "glamor boy" image on a 1941 card in Eugene, Oregon; and he quickly opposed fans with his exaggerated feminine behavior when the ring announcer introduced him as "Gorgeous George". Such showmanship is unheard of for time; and as a result, the arena crowd grew when fans laughed at George (who was enjoying sudden attention).
The beautiful George was soon recruited to Los Angeles by promoter Johnny Doyle. Known as the "Human Orchid", his personality was created in part by growing his long hair, coloring the platinum blonde, and putting a gold-plated bobby pin in it (which he called "Georgie Pins" and distributed to the audience). Furthermore, he turns his ring into a bona-fide spectacle that often takes more time than the real game. He walked gracefully into the ring with the sound of "Pomp and Circumstance", followed by his valet and purple floodlights. Wearing an elegant robe with sequin sequences, Gorgeous George is always escorted down a private red carpet by his ring valet "Jeffries", which will carry a silver mirror while spreading rose petals on his feet. When George takes off his robe, Jeffries will spray the ring with a disinfectant perfume, which seems to be Chanel No. 5, called George as "Chanel # 10" ("Why half safe?" He's famous for saying) before he starts wrestling. In addition, George requested that his ships spray referee's hands before officers were allowed to examine him about illegal objects, which then sparked his famous call now, "Keep your dirty hands!" As soon as the game starts, he will cheat in every way he can. Gorgeous George is the first true cowardly villain in the industry, and he will cheat at every opportunity, which infuriates the crowd. His belief is "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!" This flamboyant image and his show-off ability to work in the crowd were so successful in the early days of television that he became the most famous wrestler of his time, attracting great heel heat wherever he appeared.
However, with the advent of television, George's character exploded into the largest ever industry-known image card. With a network that is looking for a cheap and effective program to fill its time slot, the action of glorified pro wrestling becomes a real hit with the viewing public, as it is the first program of any kind to make a real profit. Therefore, the Gorgeous George who brought the sport into the nation's living room, because his histrionic and melodramatic behavior made him a larger figure of life in American pop culture. His first television appearance occurred on November 11, 1947 (an event that was recently crowned as one of 100 television shows in the 20th century by Entertainment Weekly) and he soon became a national celebrity on the same level as Lucille Ball and Bob Hope (who personally donated hundreds of gorgeous robes to George's collection) while changing the industry forever. No longer the wrestling pro's just about the act of being in-ring, but George has created a new flavor of theatrical performances and characters that were not there before. Moreover, in a very real sense, it is Gorgeous George who independently establishes television as a viable entertainment medium that has the potential to reach millions of homes across the country. It is said that George might be responsible for selling many television receivers like Milton Berle.
In addition to the great theater, Gorgeous George is a great wrestler. While many consider him a gimmick wrestler, he is actually a very competent freestyle wrestler, having started learning to exercise in amateur wrestling as a teenager, and he can handle himself quite well when it comes to legitimate contests. The great Lou Thesz, who will take the AWA title from Wagner, and who is one of the best "legit" wrestlers ever in professional wrestling, points out some contempt for the gimmick wrestlers. Nevertheless, he admits that Wagner "can wrestle pretty well", but adds that, "he [Wagner] can never draw fans until he becomes George Gorgeous."
On March 26, 1947, he defeated Enrique Torres to win the Los Angeles Heavyweight Championship. Then on February 22, 1949, George was booked as a feature attraction at Madison Square Garden of New York City in what would be the return of the first pro wrestlers to the building in 12 years. In the 1950s, Gorgeous George's star power was so great that he was able to master the 50% gate for his performance, allowing it to earn over $ 100,000 a year, making it one of the highest paid athletes in the world. In addition, on May 26, 1950, Gorgeous George defeated the Don Eagle to claim the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version), which was held for several months. During this reign he was defeated by National Champion Wrestling Champion Lou Thesz in a highly publicized bout in Chicago. However, perhaps George Gorgeous's most famous match was against his longtime rival, Whipper Billy Watson on March 12, 1959, in which a beaten George had his precious bald gold key before 20,000 fans delighted at Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto and millions more in national television.
In one of his last matches, the beautiful George then confronts (and loses) the rising Bruno Sammartino, though he will lose his precious hair again when he is defeated by Destroyer in a mask vs. hair match at the Olympic Auditorium on November 7, 1962. is his last match, as he is almost 50 years old and suffers from the effects of alcoholism. In 2002, he was inducted into the prime class Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF.org) by a committee of his colleagues. On March 27, she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class in 2010. The 97-year-old ex-wife, Betty Wagner receives honor on her behalf, answers questions and tells the story of how she became the Beautiful George.
Retirement and death
When his wrestling career declined, Wagner invested <$ 250,000 on a turf farm of 195 acres (0.79 km 2 ) built in Beaumont, California, and wrestlers using skill players to promote valuable poultry in wrestling games and sporting events, popular during its heyday. He picked up the turkey and had a cocktail room in Van Nuys, California, which he named "Gorgeous George's Ringside Restaurant".
Wagner was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in 1962 and his doctor ordered him to retire from wrestling. This, combined with the financial problems that came from the recent divorce, worsened her health. He suffered a heart attack on December 24, 1963, and died two days later, at the age of 48. According to Lanny Poffo, Angelo Poffo, who praised Wagner for motivating his wrestling career, paid for his funeral. A plaque on his grave reads "Love to our Daddy Gorgeous George".
Legacy
Muhammad Ali and James Brown acknowledge that their own approach to flamboyant self-promotion is influenced by George. The 19-year-old Ali met 46-year-old George at a Las Vegas radio station. During George's radio interview, the wrestler's promotion attracted the attention of the heavyweight champion in the future. If George lost to Classy Freddie Blassie, George cried, "I'll crawl through the ring and cut my hair! But it will not happen because I'm the greatest wrestler in the world!" Ali, who then echoes that very promo when mocking Sonny Liston's opponent, remembers, "I saw 15,000 people coming to see this guy being defeated and he talked to it.I said, 'This is a gooood idea!'" In the locker room thereafter, the wrestler veteran gives the legend of the future some invaluable advice: "A lot of people will pay to see someone shut your mouth, so keep boasting, constantly degrading and always outrageous."
In September 2008, Gorgeous George's first full-length biography was published by the Harperntertainment Press. The page title 304 is Gorgeous George: The Bad Wrestler Outrageous That Creates American Pop Culture by John Capouya. In the 2005 book I Feel Good: A Memoir in a Life of Soul, James Brown says he uses many George Gorgeous writers to "create the James Brown you see on the stage".
Bob Dylan said George's meeting changed his life. In Dylan's book The Chronicles: Volume One , Dylan tells the story of Gorgeous George's encounter in person. He writes, "He winks and seems to say the phrase, 'You make it come alive.' I have never forgotten it, it's all the recognition and encouragement I need for years. "
The 1951 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon Hugged Rabbit features a one-shot "Ravishing Ronald" character, modeled after Gorgeous George. The Boys Bowery also reviled Gorgeous George (with Huntz Hall as a much-vaunted wrestler) in the 1952 No Holds Barred feature . Musicians such as Liberace, Little Richard, Elton John, Prince and Morris Day showed signs of George's meme.
The 1978 The One and Only starring Henry Winkler is loosely based on his career.
The Simpsons episode of "Gorgeous Grampa" is based in part on Gorgeous George's career.
Other media
The beautiful George appeared in a movie, Alias ​​â € <â €
Kredo, a Swiss DJ, named one of his Cells EP songs 'Gorgeous George', in recognition of the wrestler.
He parodied in the 1951 Bugs Bunny 'Bunny Hugged' cartoon as 'Ronald Ravishing'.
Personal life
Wagner got married twice. First to Betty Hanson (1913-2011), whom he married in 1939 in Eugene, Oregon in a wrestling ring. They adopted two children. In 1951, after divorcing Betty, he married Cherie Duprà ©  © (1927-2000). With this marriage, he has a biological son, Gary George. His son has a daughter, Amanda George who gave birth to three daughters, the only granddaughter of Wagner. Cheri filed for divorce from George in April 1962. George also had a son whom he named Gorgeous George in 1946 by an out-of-wedlock relationship.
His niece Robert Kellum then wrestled as "Gorgeous George III" at the United States Wrestling Association. George Betty's first wife died on June 3, 2011 at the age of 98 years.
Championships and achievements
- American Wrestling Association (Boston)
- AWA World Class AWA Championship (1 time)
- Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling
- NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Mid-South Sports
- NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Georgia version) (1 time)
- Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
- The charter member was inaugurated in 2002
- Stampede Wrestling
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- Wrestling Stampede Hall of Fame
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- WWE Hall of Fame
- Bulletin Observer Wrestling
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class 1996)
- More titles
- Pacific Coast Lightweight Championship (2 times)
- Pacific Northwest Middleweight Championship (1 time)
See also
- List of premature professional wrestling deaths
References
External links
- House of Deception many photos of Gorgeous George
- Wrestling Hall of Fame Museum
- Nebraska State Education
- Wrestling legends - discuss the origin of the gimmick
- Pretty George in the Search of the Mausoleum
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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