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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.812092
EAN: 9780061173035
ISBN: 0061173037
Label: HarperEntertainment
Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: September 01, 2008
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Release Date: September 02, 2008
Sales Rank: 311009
Studio: HarperEntertainment
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
This is the first-ever biography of the legendary wrestler Gorgeous George, filled with incredible never-before-told stories. George directly influenced the likes of Muhammad Ali, who took his bragging and boasting from George; James Brown, who began to wear sequined capes onstage after seeing George on TV; John Waters, whose films featured the outrageous drag queen Divine as an homage to George; and too many wrestlers to count. Amid these pop culture discoveries are firsthand accounts of the pro wrestling game from the 1930s to the 1960s.
The ideal American male used to be stoic, quiet, and dignified. But for a young couple struggling to make ends meet, in the desperation born of the lingering Depression and wartime rationing, an idea was hatched that changed the face of American popular culture, an idea so bold, so over-the-top and absurd, that it was perfect. That idea transformed journeyman wrestler George Wagner from a dark-haired, clean-cut good guy to a peroxide-blond braggart who blatantly cheated every chance he got. Crowds were stunned—they had never seen anything like this before—and they came from miles around to witness it for themselves.
Suddenly George—guided by Betty, his pistol of a wife—was a draw. With his golden tresses grown long and styled in a marcel, George went from handsome to . . . well . . . gorgeous overnight, the small, dank wrestling venues giving way to major arenas. As if the hair wasn't enough, his robes—unmanly things of silk, lace, and chiffon in pale pinks, sunny yellows, and rich mauves—were but a prelude to the act: the regal entrance, the tailcoat-clad valet spraying the mat with perfume, the haughty looks and sneers for the 'peasants' who paid to watch this outrageously prissy hulk prance around the ring. How they loved to see his glorious mane mussed up by his manly opponents. And how they loved that alluringly alliterative name . . . Gorgeous George . . . the self-proclaimed Toast of the Coast, the Sensation of the Nation!
All this was timed to the arrival of that new invention everyone was talking about—television. In its early days, professional wrestling and its larger-than-life characters dominated prime-time broadcasts—none more so than Gorgeous George, who sold as many sets as Uncle Miltie.
Fans came in droves—to boo him, to stick him with hatpins, to ogle his gowns, and to rejoice in his comeuppance. He was the man they loved to hate, and his provocative, gender-bending act took him to the top of the entertainment world. America would never be the same again.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This reads more like a novel. The recreation of his early days are a mystery to his wives, yet he composes his early days quite vividly. So there are a lot of liberites here. Later it gets better.
I got more about him from PRO WRESTLING:THE HEELS than I did this. But for some ideas on how this legendary wrestling icon grew with the audience, it's ok.....
Rating:  -
I was never a big "rasslin'" fan myself but my grandpa and my younger brother were. I remember staying overnight at my grandparents' house and because our bed was made in the living room my sister and I had to stay awake while Grandpa watched the Saturday night rasslin'. He took my little brother to see Gorgeous George in person in our town during the late 1950's and they talked about it for weeks. Last summer when our family was creating a memory book about the way we remembered our grandparents, ... Read More
Rating:  -
Gorgeous George was the biggest star in wrestling from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. This is the first biography written about him, as far as I know. It does a pretty good job of covering the events of his life. But I felt like the author did a bit too much speculating about what was going through George's head, when he has no way of knowing that. He also spends too much time talking about famous people who were influenced by George, in an attempt to make George seem relevent to today's world. ... Read More
Rating: -
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, professional wrestling and Gorgeous George went hand in perfumed hand. It was the ultimate "match made in heaven" and the budding television industry couldn't get enough of this bender of rules and purveyor of sniff. Due to his enormous success, Gorgeous George may have had imitators along the way, but he remained always, the original thing.
John Capouya largely captures the ups and downs of George Wagner's life and career...its many triumphs inside the ring ... Read More
Rating: -
In the early days of TV in my life, I remember my aged aunt sitting in her mohair chair screaming in Swedish at the small, black and white image of Gorgeous George prancing across the screen. What she said, I'd not wish to repeat, but it did have some reflections on his parents and some mention of bodily functions. Otherwise, my aunt was prim and proper... we kids would sit out stunned at what we were hearing. This book does some justice to George, but doesn't quite get ot the impact on small town middle ... Read More
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