WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.439 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are going 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:07.320 to pull on a thread that I think a lot of us 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:10.800 recognize instantly, but almost none of us actually 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.960 understand it. Yeah, it's one of those things 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.179 hiding in plain sight. Exactly. So I want you 00:00:15.179 --> 00:00:16.620 to do something for me. I want you to close your 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:20.239 eyes and just picture the Old West. We should 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.859 clarify, not the real history books, right? We're 00:00:22.859 --> 00:00:25.800 not talking about, you know, Oregon Trail dysentery 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:28.160 or complex land disputes. Right. No, definitely 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:30.420 not the academic version. I'm talking about the 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:33.960 Hollywood West, the myth, the Saturday matinee 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:36.460 version. Oh, absolutely. The classic setup. You 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:39.219 know the one. You've got the hero. He's stoic, 00:00:39.259 --> 00:00:42.359 jaws square, hat tipped low. And he's probably 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:44.340 sitting on a horse that looks better groomed 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:46.320 than most people I know. Which is saying something. 00:00:46.500 --> 00:00:49.479 It is. But look just to his left. Who is standing 00:00:49.479 --> 00:00:51.520 right there? The sidekick. The sidekick. And 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:54.460 not just any sidekick. I mean, the absolute archetype 00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:57.359 of the role. You know, the bearded, cantankerous, 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:00.600 toothless old coot shouting, what is it? Oh, 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.200 concern it. Yes, concern it. And you're darn 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:08.599 tootin'. And always complaining about persnickety 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:11.299 females and young whippersnappers. He's the comic 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:13.879 relief. Yeah. The grounding force. Basically 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:16.920 the guy who makes the hero look even more heroic 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:18.700 just by standing next to him being kind of a 00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:20.659 mess. Right. And if you close your eyes and picture 00:01:20.659 --> 00:01:22.939 that guy, whether you realize it or not, you 00:01:22.939 --> 00:01:26.879 are picturing one specific human being. George 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:28.900 Gabby Hayes. Without a doubt. I mean, he is the 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:31.400 template. He's the blueprint for literally every 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:33.799 Western sidekick that came after him. From old 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:36.379 cartoons to modern parodies, they're all basically 00:01:36.379 --> 00:01:38.640 just chasing the ghost of Gabby Hayes. But here 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:40.480 is the hook. And this is why we're dedicating 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.959 this entire deep dive to this specific guy today. 00:01:43.140 --> 00:01:46.540 We have this image of him as this dusty, uneducated, 00:01:46.540 --> 00:01:48.959 grizzled prospector who probably smelled like, 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.000 I don't know, mule sweat and chewing tobacco. 00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:53.599 Or campfire beans. Exactly. Campfire beans. That 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.209 is the cultural imprint he left behind. And it's 00:01:56.209 --> 00:01:59.329 a very potent brand. It really is. But the reality, 00:01:59.530 --> 00:02:02.969 the actual man behind that massive beard, he 00:02:02.969 --> 00:02:05.549 was the complete opposite. It turns out George 00:02:05.549 --> 00:02:08.270 Hayes was an incredibly intelligent, articulate, 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:12.889 well -groomed, wealthy man who, and this is the 00:02:12.889 --> 00:02:14.810 part that gets me, he didn't even know how to 00:02:14.810 --> 00:02:17.129 ride a horse until he was almost in his 40s. 00:02:17.189 --> 00:02:19.849 It is genuinely one of the great paradoxes of 00:02:19.849 --> 00:02:22.389 Hollywood history. The gap between the man and 00:02:22.389 --> 00:02:24.610 the mask is so wide you could drive a stagecoach 00:02:24.610 --> 00:02:26.800 right through it. It's the ultimate performance. 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:30.439 So our mission today is to really unpack this. 00:02:30.539 --> 00:02:32.879 We aren't just doing a simple biography of cowboy 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:35.080 actor. We're looking at the invention of a persona. 00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:37.460 A total fabrication from the ground up. Yeah, 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:39.699 we're going to look at how a very successful 00:02:39.699 --> 00:02:42.000 vaudeville actor completely reinvented himself 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.199 after losing everything in the Great Depression. 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:47.240 I mean, literally everything. And how he navigated 00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:49.759 the brutal business of the studio system to become 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:52.460 a brand that actually outlasted some of the heroes 00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:54.520 he supported. And we absolutely have to talk 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:56.580 about his lasting impact on culture later on. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.259 From Blazing Saddles all the way to Toy Story 00:02:59.259 --> 00:03:01.819 2. Oh, the Toy Story 2 connection is honestly 00:03:01.819 --> 00:03:05.259 my favorite part. But we will get there. I think 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:07.180 that business aspect you mentioned is really 00:03:07.180 --> 00:03:09.819 key here. We tend to think of these character 00:03:09.819 --> 00:03:12.120 actors as just sort of happening. Like they just 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:14.199 wandered onto the film set out of the Mojave 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:16.139 Desert. Just walked in off the street with a 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:19.740 pickaxe. Right. But Gabby Hayes was a master 00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:21.800 of branding before we even used that word in 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:23.960 a marketing context. He really was. He understood 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:26.969 that he was a product. And he managed that product 00:03:26.969 --> 00:03:29.110 better than almost anyone else in the industry 00:03:29.110 --> 00:03:31.210 at that time. So let's start at the beginning. 00:03:31.310 --> 00:03:33.710 And the beginning is definitely not on a ranch 00:03:33.710 --> 00:03:37.030 in Texas or, you know, a silver mine in Nevada. 00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:40.750 If you want to find the origin of the ultimate 00:03:40.750 --> 00:03:43.310 Westerner, where do we actually have to look? 00:03:43.530 --> 00:03:45.490 You have to go to Standards, New York. Upstate 00:03:45.490 --> 00:03:47.729 New York. That's right. He was born George Francis 00:03:47.729 --> 00:03:51.699 Hayes on May 7th, 1885. Now, you will see some 00:03:51.699 --> 00:03:54.599 sources and even Hayes himself at times claiming 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:56.719 his birthplace was Wellsville, which was the 00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:00.319 slightly bigger town nearby. But legally, standards. 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:02.599 Got it. And I want to set the scene here because 00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:05.759 this was not a dirt floor cabin situation. This 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:08.240 wasn't Frontier living in the way his movies 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:10.500 would have you believe. No, from what I'm seeing 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:12.719 in the research we pulled, his family was actually. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:15.979 pretty established like they were prominent citizens 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:18.959 they were very prominent his father clark hayes 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:21.579 was a significant figure in the local economy 00:04:21.579 --> 00:04:25.000 he didn't just run a hotel the hayes hotel naturally 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.079 he was also heavily involved in petroleum production 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:31.360 wait petroleum in new york i always think of 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:33.480 texas for that yeah people often forget this 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:36.589 but The oil industry was just beginning to boom 00:04:36.589 --> 00:04:38.930 in that part of the country at the time, sort 00:04:38.930 --> 00:04:41.910 of spilling over from the Pennsylvania oil rush. 00:04:42.269 --> 00:04:46.149 So George grows up in this environment of business, 00:04:46.430 --> 00:04:49.629 hospitality, and heavy industrial growth. So 00:04:49.629 --> 00:04:51.550 he's walking through a nice hotel lobby, seeing 00:04:51.550 --> 00:04:53.870 businessmen, seeing travelers. He's not panning 00:04:53.870 --> 00:04:56.490 for gold. Not at all. And his mother, Elizabeth 00:04:56.490 --> 00:04:58.970 Morrison, came from a family that had some really 00:04:58.970 --> 00:05:01.170 serious connections too. Right. I saw this note 00:05:01.170 --> 00:05:02.990 about his uncle. This completely blew my mind 00:05:02.990 --> 00:05:05.970 when I read it. It's a fantastic detail. George's 00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:09.050 uncle on his mother's side was George F. Morrison. 00:05:09.329 --> 00:05:12.009 Now, that name might not ring a bell today, but 00:05:12.009 --> 00:05:14.290 back then he was the vice president at General 00:05:14.290 --> 00:05:16.589 Electric. General Electric. So we are talking 00:05:16.589 --> 00:05:20.149 about a family that is deeply, deeply embedded 00:05:20.149 --> 00:05:23.129 in the industrial rise of America. This is respectable, 00:05:23.389 --> 00:05:26.230 upper middle class stock, oil and electricity. 00:05:26.389 --> 00:05:28.769 Exactly. They were the establishment. And the 00:05:28.769 --> 00:05:31.470 family had a really strong sense of duty and 00:05:31.470 --> 00:05:33.889 service as well. It wasn't just about making 00:05:33.889 --> 00:05:36.029 money. It was about standing for something. It's 00:05:36.029 --> 00:05:37.949 really worth mentioning his brother, Morrison 00:05:37.949 --> 00:05:40.790 Hayes, to kind of illustrate this family ethos. 00:05:40.829 --> 00:05:42.670 Yeah, that's a pretty heavy part of the family 00:05:42.670 --> 00:05:44.949 history. It is. Morrison was a corporal in the 00:05:44.949 --> 00:05:47.629 U .S. Army during World War I. He was tragically 00:05:47.629 --> 00:05:50.610 killed in action in France in 1918. He was actually 00:05:50.610 --> 00:05:53.569 awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary 00:05:53.569 --> 00:05:56.439 heroism. Wow. Yeah, the American Legion post 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:58.220 in Wellsville is actually named after him to 00:05:58.220 --> 00:06:01.360 this day. So you have this backdrop of very serious, 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:04.100 hardworking, respectable people. And George, 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:06.620 where does he fit into this lineup of serious 00:06:06.620 --> 00:06:08.980 people? Well, he was the third of seven children. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:11.839 He attended standard school. He played semi -pro 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:14.839 baseball in high school. On paper, he was on 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.399 a very conventional, successful path. He could 00:06:17.399 --> 00:06:19.759 have easily gone into the oil business or taken 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:21.759 over the hotel from his dad. And then came the 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.509 rebellion. The big plot twist. The first rebellion, 00:06:24.769 --> 00:06:28.170 really. Right. Because at 17, George Hayes does 00:06:28.170 --> 00:06:30.230 something that sounds like it's ripped straight 00:06:30.230 --> 00:06:33.189 from a storybook. He runs away from home. He 00:06:33.189 --> 00:06:35.889 does. He leaves the hotel. He leaves the oil 00:06:35.889 --> 00:06:38.829 money, the baseball, and he joins a stock company. 00:06:39.089 --> 00:06:41.860 He even traveled with a circus for a time. I 00:06:41.860 --> 00:06:44.519 love that imagery so much. He went from the quiet 00:06:44.519 --> 00:06:47.879 hotel lobby straight to the circus tent. Do we 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:50.220 know why? Was it just the allure of the stage? 00:06:50.500 --> 00:06:53.339 It seems to be that classic bug. Yeah. You know, 00:06:53.339 --> 00:06:55.220 once you catch it, you just can't shake it. He 00:06:55.220 --> 00:06:57.459 wanted to perform. He wanted an audience. And 00:06:57.459 --> 00:06:59.160 this is really where he starts to cut his teeth. 00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:01.199 This is his entry into the vaudeville circuit. 00:07:01.769 --> 00:07:03.910 We hear about vaudeville a lot when we talk about 00:07:03.910 --> 00:07:05.949 early Hollywood, but I feel like we don't fully 00:07:05.949 --> 00:07:09.110 appreciate what a grinder it actually was. We 00:07:09.110 --> 00:07:11.529 really don't. And we should pause on vaudeville 00:07:11.529 --> 00:07:14.470 for a second because understanding it is crucial 00:07:14.470 --> 00:07:18.990 to understanding his later success. Vaudeville 00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:22.310 was absolute boot camp for entertainers. It was 00:07:22.310 --> 00:07:24.750 constant, right? Constant. You were traveling 00:07:24.750 --> 00:07:27.889 nonstop, sleeping on trains, performing in different... 00:07:28.060 --> 00:07:30.740 Sometimes hostile towns every single night. And 00:07:30.740 --> 00:07:32.980 the audiences were tough. You had to be quick. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:35.240 You had to be loud. And you had to have a shtick 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:37.779 that communicated who you were to the back row 00:07:37.779 --> 00:07:40.000 immediately. Because there were no microphones. 00:07:40.019 --> 00:07:42.120 No microphones at all. You had to project from 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:44.000 your diaphragm. You had to have perfect diction. 00:07:44.540 --> 00:07:47.779 And you had to have a character that read instantly 00:07:47.779 --> 00:07:50.860 to the crowd. You didn't have 20 minutes to explain 00:07:50.860 --> 00:07:52.740 your intricate backstory. Right. You couldn't 00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:54.920 be subtle. And did he have a specific character 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:56.879 back then? Was he already doing the cowboy thing? 00:07:57.079 --> 00:08:00.019 Not a cowboy per se, but he was definitely experimenting 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:03.180 with a rural archetype. He had a very popular 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:05.420 sketch where he played a character called the 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:08.439 Rube Constable. The Rube Constable. Sounds a 00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:09.860 little familiar, doesn't it? Yeah, it really 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:13.300 does. It was this comedic, slightly bumbling 00:08:13.300 --> 00:08:16.720 authority figure, a rural guy who absolutely 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:19.019 thinks he's smarter than he actually is. This 00:08:19.019 --> 00:08:22.899 was the seed of everything that came later. He 00:08:22.899 --> 00:08:25.199 was learning how to play local color, the rural 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:28.019 character, even though he himself was this sophisticated 00:08:28.019 --> 00:08:30.759 guy from a wealthy family. It's interesting. 00:08:30.839 --> 00:08:32.720 He's channeling the people who probably saw in 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:35.419 the countryside. around upstate New York, but 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:38.019 exaggerating them for comedic effect. Exactly. 00:08:38.019 --> 00:08:41.220 He was a keen observer of people. And he wasn't 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:44.279 doing this alone for long either. In 1914, he 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:46.659 married Olive E. Ireland. Was she in the business 00:08:46.659 --> 00:08:48.940 too? She was. She was a glass finisher's daughter 00:08:48.940 --> 00:08:51.899 originally, but she took the stage name Dorothy 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:54.720 Earl, and they became a team. Like a double act. 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.240 Precisely. She joined his act, and they toured 00:08:57.240 --> 00:08:58.940 together. And they were incredibly successful 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:01.179 at it. I mean, this wasn't just scraping by and 00:09:01.179 --> 00:09:03.179 eating beans. They were making very good money. 00:09:03.549 --> 00:09:05.889 They were headliners on their circuit, and they 00:09:05.889 --> 00:09:07.669 actually stayed together until she passed away 00:09:07.669 --> 00:09:11.190 in 1957. So things are going great. He's escaped 00:09:11.190 --> 00:09:13.250 the family expectation. He's made a name for 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:16.129 himself. He's married. He's making bank. And 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:18.250 that brings us to what I think is the most shocking 00:09:18.250 --> 00:09:21.529 part of this timeline. We are moving into Act 00:09:21.529 --> 00:09:25.019 2 now. The crash. This is the massive turning 00:09:25.019 --> 00:09:27.820 point of his life. This is the moment where the 00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:29.879 story really could have just ended, but instead 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:32.559 it restarted. Because usually when we hear about 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:34.779 actors going to Hollywood in that era, it's the 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:37.679 story of a young, hungry kid trying to make it 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:40.340 big. But George Hayes had already made it. He 00:09:40.340 --> 00:09:44.200 completely made it. By 1928, George is 43 years 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:46.320 old. Now, in the entertainment world of that 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.120 time, and honestly, even today, that is getting 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.750 up there. especially for a very physical comedian. 00:09:51.929 --> 00:09:54.090 He had been so successful in vaudeville that 00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:56.230 he actually decided to retire. He retired at 00:09:56.230 --> 00:09:59.009 43. That is the dream. That was the plan. He 00:09:59.009 --> 00:10:01.169 bought a beautiful home on Long Island in Baldwin, 00:10:01.309 --> 00:10:03.730 New York. He had a very substantial nest egg 00:10:03.730 --> 00:10:06.289 built up. The plan was to just live off his savings, 00:10:06.490 --> 00:10:09.210 maybe, you know, trim the hedges, enjoy the quiet 00:10:09.210 --> 00:10:11.909 life with Olive. No more trains, no more cheap 00:10:11.909 --> 00:10:16.000 hotels, just peace. And the year is 1928. 1928. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:18.600 Oh, no. I think we all know what happens next. 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:22.440 The music is about to stop entirely. The 1929 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:25.320 stock market crash. It wiped him out. Completely 00:10:25.320 --> 00:10:28.139 and totally. All that vaudeville money, the savings, 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.269 the beautiful retirement plan. Gone almost overnight. 00:10:31.470 --> 00:10:34.049 That is just devastating. I really want you to 00:10:34.049 --> 00:10:35.889 sit with that for a moment as a listener. You 00:10:35.889 --> 00:10:38.169 are 44 years old. You thought you were done. 00:10:38.370 --> 00:10:40.250 You did the grueling work. You saved the money. 00:10:40.350 --> 00:10:43.169 And suddenly the scoreboard resets to absolute 00:10:43.169 --> 00:10:46.450 zero. It's a profound trauma. A lot of men in 00:10:46.450 --> 00:10:48.450 that specific era didn't recover from that at 00:10:48.450 --> 00:10:51.269 all. Suicide rates spiked. Clinical depression 00:10:51.269 --> 00:10:53.470 was rampant. But this is where the character 00:10:53.470 --> 00:10:56.909 of the man really shows. He didn't wallow. And 00:10:56.909 --> 00:10:59.460 Olive, his wife, was actually the one who pushed 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:01.720 for the next step. She persuaded him to try his 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:04.179 luck in films. Go West, young man. Or in this 00:11:04.179 --> 00:11:06.600 case, go West. Middle -aged, retired vaudevillian 00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:09.559 who just lost his shirt. Exactly. So they picked 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:11.980 up and moved to Los Angeles. But think about 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:14.419 the sheer risk involved here. It's not just the 00:11:14.419 --> 00:11:17.129 bad economy. The film industry itself was undergoing 00:11:17.129 --> 00:11:20.230 a violent revolution right at that moment. Taki's 00:11:20.230 --> 00:11:23.769 movies with sound were just coming in. He's starting 00:11:23.769 --> 00:11:26.330 over from scratch in a town that worships youth, 00:11:26.450 --> 00:11:29.090 right in the middle of a massive technological 00:11:29.090 --> 00:11:31.370 upheaval. But wait, didn't you say he had a great 00:11:31.370 --> 00:11:34.769 voice from vaudeville? That is the key. The Taki 00:11:34.769 --> 00:11:37.419 revolution was actually his salvation. The silent 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:39.860 film stars were losing their jobs left and right 00:11:39.860 --> 00:11:41.600 because they didn't know how to speak for an 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:44.360 audience. Their voices were squeaky or they didn't 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:46.899 know how to enunciate. George Hayes was a stage 00:11:46.899 --> 00:11:49.720 -trained vaudevillian. He knew projection. He 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:52.360 knew comedic timing. So the very thing that destroyed 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:54.899 the old Hollywood establishment was his golden 00:11:54.899 --> 00:11:57.899 ticket in. Precisely. But he still needed a lucky 00:11:57.899 --> 00:12:00.200 break. He had a chance meeting with a producer 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:03.159 named Trem Carr. Later in interviews, Hayes said 00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:05.559 Carr just liked his look. He had a great face. 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:07.360 Even before he grew the massive beard, he had 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:09.240 character. He looked like he had lived a life. 00:12:09.419 --> 00:12:12.179 Carr gave him work. And over the next six years, 00:12:12.419 --> 00:12:16.419 Hayes did 30 roles for him. 30. And here's what's 00:12:16.419 --> 00:12:18.700 really fascinating. He wasn't the sidekick yet. 00:12:18.980 --> 00:12:21.879 He played villains. He played generic townsfolk. 00:12:22.100 --> 00:12:24.259 Sometimes he even played two entirely different 00:12:24.259 --> 00:12:26.529 roles in a single movie. just to help fill out 00:12:26.529 --> 00:12:28.950 the cast. Two roles in one movie. How does that 00:12:28.950 --> 00:12:31.509 even work? Oh, it's classic low -budget filmmaking. 00:12:31.669 --> 00:12:33.529 You put on a sick mustache, you're the bartender 00:12:33.529 --> 00:12:35.649 in scene one, take it off, put on a different 00:12:35.649 --> 00:12:37.929 hat, you're the sheriff in scene four. The ultimate 00:12:37.929 --> 00:12:41.129 utility player. Exactly. But he soon found a 00:12:41.129 --> 00:12:44.549 niche. The Western genre was absolutely exploding. 00:12:44.950 --> 00:12:47.850 It was the superhero movie of its day. The studios 00:12:47.850 --> 00:12:50.490 were churning them out by the dozen. And Hayes 00:12:50.490 --> 00:12:53.139 realized that if he wanted steady work, If he 00:12:53.139 --> 00:12:55.139 wanted to rebuild that lost retirement fund, 00:12:55.340 --> 00:12:57.879 he needed to fit into that specific world. But 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:00.740 there was a problem, a pretty big technical problem 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:02.700 for a Western actor. A very significant one. 00:13:02.899 --> 00:13:06.240 He had absolutely no cowboy background. Zero. 00:13:06.460 --> 00:13:09.600 He's from New York. He played baseball. He knows 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:12.299 about oil refineries and vaudeville stages. He 00:13:12.299 --> 00:13:14.320 didn't know how to ride a horse. That seems like 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.840 a fundamental prerequisite for the job. You would 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:19.100 certainly think so. He had to learn to ride in 00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:21.850 his 40s. Just imagine that. You are trying to 00:13:21.850 --> 00:13:24.690 break into Westerns, you are surrounded by actual 00:13:24.690 --> 00:13:27.970 stuntmen and former rodeo guys, and you are gripping 00:13:27.970 --> 00:13:30.309 the saddle horn for dear life whenever the camera 00:13:30.309 --> 00:13:32.990 isn't rolling. That is dedication. It really 00:13:32.990 --> 00:13:35.529 emphasizes that this was a job for him. It was 00:13:35.529 --> 00:13:37.889 a craft. He wasn't living the cowboy lifestyle. 00:13:38.049 --> 00:13:40.610 He was performing it for a paycheck. And that 00:13:40.610 --> 00:13:42.570 leads us perfectly into the construction of the 00:13:42.570 --> 00:13:45.429 persona, act three. Because he wasn't just learning 00:13:45.429 --> 00:13:48.409 to ride. He was deliberately crafting a very 00:13:48.409 --> 00:13:51.330 specific character to hide the fact that he was 00:13:51.330 --> 00:13:53.950 an eastern gentleman. The codger. The grizzled 00:13:53.950 --> 00:13:57.149 codger. He started intentionally developing these 00:13:57.149 --> 00:14:01.330 verbal tics. Consarn it. Dadgum it. Constantly 00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:03.269 complaining about young whippersnappers. And 00:14:03.269 --> 00:14:05.809 the darn persnickety females. Right. It was a 00:14:05.809 --> 00:14:08.389 complete caricature of an old prospector. But 00:14:08.389 --> 00:14:11.470 remember, the real George Hayes was intelligent, 00:14:11.789 --> 00:14:15.120 articulate. and well -groomed. He was creating 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.740 a mask that was so incredibly effective, people 00:14:17.740 --> 00:14:19.679 eventually refused to believe it wasn't him. 00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:21.720 It's like if we found out today that Santa Claus 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:24.220 was actually a slender corporate lawyer who hated 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:27.059 cookies. That's a very fair analogy. He even 00:14:27.059 --> 00:14:29.080 took out his dentures to make his face collapse 00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:31.559 a bit for the cameras. He grew the scraggly beard. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:34.259 He stopped shaving entirely. So this persona 00:14:34.259 --> 00:14:37.159 really starts to get traction. It does. Paramount 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:39.659 Pictures takes notice and puts him in the Hopalong 00:14:39.659 --> 00:14:43.220 Cassidy series, which started around 1935. He 00:14:43.220 --> 00:14:45.620 plays a character named Wendy Halliday. Okay, 00:14:45.620 --> 00:14:48.399 so Wendy implies he talks a lot, full of hot 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:51.879 air. Exactly. Wendy Halliday was the sidekick 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:54.679 to William Boyd, who played Hopalong. And this 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:57.120 is where the codger archetype really crystallized. 00:14:57.220 --> 00:15:00.480 He played that specific role from 1935 to 1939. 00:15:00.919 --> 00:15:03.600 He became a total fixture in the culture. But 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:06.600 then drama strikes. And it's not gunfight drama 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:09.399 on the set. It's contract drama in the back office. 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:13.289 It is always contract drama in Hollywood. In 00:15:13.289 --> 00:15:16.690 1939, Hayes got into a major dispute with Paramount 00:15:16.690 --> 00:15:20.690 over his salary. He felt, and arguably he was 00:15:20.690 --> 00:15:23.389 completely correct, that he was a major box office 00:15:23.389 --> 00:15:26.330 draw. People were coming to see Wendy just as 00:15:26.330 --> 00:15:28.529 much as they were coming to see Hopalong. So 00:15:28.529 --> 00:15:31.090 he asked for a raise. Paramount absolutely wouldn't 00:15:31.090 --> 00:15:33.730 budge. So he walked? He walked. He left Paramount 00:15:33.730 --> 00:15:35.809 and moved over to Republic Pictures. But here 00:15:35.809 --> 00:15:38.629 is the catch, and this is a master class in intellectual 00:15:38.629 --> 00:15:41.309 property that every creator today should listen 00:15:41.309 --> 00:15:45.019 to. owned the legal rights to the name Wendy 00:15:45.019 --> 00:15:48.019 Halliday. Ah, so he's the actor. He has the face 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:49.960 and the voice and the mannerisms, but he legally 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:52.000 cannot use the name. Correct. He could not be 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:54.419 Wendy. So Republic Pictures had to solve this 00:15:54.419 --> 00:15:56.360 problem quickly. They basically took the exact 00:15:56.360 --> 00:15:58.620 same character, same beard, same missing teeth, 00:15:58.820 --> 00:16:01.539 same voice, same concerns, and they just renamed 00:16:01.539 --> 00:16:03.860 him. And what name did they choose? Gabby. Gabby 00:16:03.860 --> 00:16:05.899 Whitaker. And the rest is literal history. The 00:16:05.899 --> 00:16:08.299 ultimate irony is that that forced name change 00:16:08.299 --> 00:16:11.179 is what actually solidified his brand forever. 00:16:11.690 --> 00:16:14.389 He became Gabby. It fit him even better than 00:16:14.389 --> 00:16:16.629 Wendy ever did. And it was virtually the exact 00:16:16.629 --> 00:16:19.549 same character. This transition at Republic is 00:16:19.549 --> 00:16:21.389 what launched him from being a working character 00:16:21.389 --> 00:16:25.610 actor to a true icon. So now he is Gabby. He's 00:16:25.610 --> 00:16:27.769 at Republic Pictures. And this brings us to act 00:16:27.769 --> 00:16:30.450 four, where he really becomes the undisputed 00:16:30.450 --> 00:16:33.220 king of sidekicks. I was looking at the career 00:16:33.220 --> 00:16:35.679 numbers here before we started and they are staggering. 00:16:35.899 --> 00:16:39.480 They really are. We are talking about 174 Westerns. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:43.120 174. That is a lifetime of riding horses you 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:45.620 barely know how to ride. And it wasn't just the 00:16:45.620 --> 00:16:47.940 sheer volume of films. It was his popularity. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.860 There were polls taken of moviegoers back then. 00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:52.779 The Motion Picture Herald and Box Office Magazine 00:16:52.779 --> 00:16:56.000 polls. These publications track the top 10 money 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.399 -making Western stars every year. And usually 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:00.200 that list is just the handsome heroes, right? 00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:02.100 The guys on the movie posters holding the guns. 00:17:02.259 --> 00:17:05.279 Usually, yes. But Gabby Hayes was on that top 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:08.579 10 list for 12 consecutive years. Wow. 12 years 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:11.250 as a sidekick. And get this. He made the list 00:17:11.250 --> 00:17:16.069 a 13th time in 1954. Wait, 1954? Hadn't he stopped 00:17:16.069 --> 00:17:18.569 making movies by then? He hadn't made a single 00:17:18.569 --> 00:17:22.170 film in four years. That is how incredibly powerful 00:17:22.170 --> 00:17:25.049 his brand was. He was often as popular or even 00:17:25.049 --> 00:17:27.529 more popular than the actual leading men he was 00:17:27.529 --> 00:17:29.210 supposed to be supporting. That's incredible. 00:17:29.490 --> 00:17:31.069 It's like people were going to the theater to 00:17:31.069 --> 00:17:33.349 see the movie for the sidekick and the hero was 00:17:33.349 --> 00:17:35.490 just there to push the plot forward and shoot 00:17:35.490 --> 00:17:38.390 the bad guys. In many cases, yes, that's exactly 00:17:38.390 --> 00:17:40.529 what was happening. The hero was the fantasy, 00:17:40.710 --> 00:17:44.670 the stoic ideal of manhood. But Gabby was the 00:17:44.670 --> 00:17:47.650 fun. Gabby was the humanity and the humor. Let's 00:17:47.650 --> 00:17:49.309 talk about those heroes he worked with. It's 00:17:49.309 --> 00:17:51.710 basically a who's who of Hollywood Westerns. 00:17:51.710 --> 00:17:53.690 It is. The biggest partnership was obviously 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:55.769 with Roy Rogers. They worked together over 40 00:17:55.769 --> 00:17:59.349 times. Films like Southward Ho and Old Caliente. 00:17:59.589 --> 00:18:01.950 They had this amazing natural chemistry. Roy 00:18:01.950 --> 00:18:04.529 was the singing cowboy, clean cut, very wholesome. 00:18:05.069 --> 00:18:07.470 Gabby was the grumpy uncle figure who kept him 00:18:07.470 --> 00:18:09.190 grounded. And he worked with John Wayne too, 00:18:09.309 --> 00:18:12.359 right? 15 times with the Duke. And those are 00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:14.380 really interesting because they show Hayes' range 00:18:14.380 --> 00:18:17.700 before he got fully locked into the Gabby persona. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:20.380 For example, in a movie called Randy Rides Alone 00:18:20.380 --> 00:18:24.400 in 1934, Hayes actually plays the villain. A 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:27.630 villain. A character named Matt the Mute. You 00:18:27.630 --> 00:18:30.529 won't believe this. He has a shaved face. A clean 00:18:30.529 --> 00:18:32.930 -shaven, villainous Gabby Hayes. That sounds 00:18:32.930 --> 00:18:35.250 kind of terrifying. It's very unsettling if you're 00:18:35.250 --> 00:18:38.230 used to the Yerdurn Tootin version of him. He 00:18:38.230 --> 00:18:40.349 plays a mute killer who communicates only by 00:18:40.349 --> 00:18:43.089 writing on a slate board. It's genuinely creepy. 00:18:43.329 --> 00:18:45.769 It really proves he was a real, classically trained 00:18:45.769 --> 00:18:48.349 actor, not just a clown repeating catchphrases. 00:18:48.490 --> 00:18:50.349 That is a deep cut. I definitely need to find 00:18:50.349 --> 00:18:52.769 that movie. He also played the traditional sidekick 00:18:52.769 --> 00:18:55.660 to Wayne in Blue Steel. And there's one really 00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:59.180 unique film, Dark Command, from 1940. It's directed 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:02.339 by Raoul Walsh. It stars John Wayne, Gabby Hayes, 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:04.500 and Roy Rogers in a supporting role. All three 00:19:04.500 --> 00:19:06.059 of them in one movie. That's like the Avengers 00:19:06.059 --> 00:19:09.000 of Westerns. It really was a huge crossover event 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:11.680 for that era. He also worked with Randolph Scott 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:15.000 in six films, Wild Bill Elliott in 14 films, 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:18.180 Gene Autry in seven films. He was basically the 00:19:18.180 --> 00:19:20.559 universal donor of screen chemistry. You could 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.519 put him in a scene with anyone, and he made them 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:24.220 look better. That's a really great way to put 00:19:24.220 --> 00:19:26.859 it. He made the hero look more heroic by being 00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:30.069 so unheroic. himself exactly he provided the 00:19:30.069 --> 00:19:33.880 necessary contrast if the hero is tall strong, 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:37.279 and silent? The sidekick needs to be short, scruffy, 00:19:37.299 --> 00:19:40.700 and loud. It accentuates the hero's virtues perfectly. 00:19:41.019 --> 00:19:44.200 So we get to the late 1940s, Act V. The Western 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:46.359 genre in movie theaters starts to cool off a 00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:48.519 little bit, or at least the business model is 00:19:48.519 --> 00:19:50.839 changing. It is. The B -Westerns were definitely 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:53.240 declining. The studio system was shifting toward 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:55.660 bigger budgets and television. Hayes made his 00:19:55.660 --> 00:19:58.279 last film, The Caribou Trail, in 1950. He was 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:00.200 getting older. The industry was changing rapidly. 00:20:00.500 --> 00:20:03.200 But remember, this is a man who completely reinvented 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:06.339 himself after the 1929 crash. He knows how to 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:08.220 pivot better than anyone. And the new frontier 00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:10.220 isn't the Wild West anymore. It's the living 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:12.680 room. Television. He starts the Gabby Hayes show. 00:20:12.900 --> 00:20:17.180 Right. Running from 1950 to 1954 on NBC and then 00:20:17.180 --> 00:20:19.400 a slightly different version on ABC in 1956. 00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:22.019 What was the actual format of the show? Was it 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:24.380 him riding horses around? No. It was brilliant 00:20:24.380 --> 00:20:26.339 in its simplicity and cost effectiveness. It 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:28.119 was basically an anthology series. They would 00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:30.920 show old western clicks or slightly recut stories. 00:20:31.819 --> 00:20:35.200 But the wraparound segments feature Hayes. He 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:37.000 would introduce the show, often just sitting 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:39.119 there whittling on a piece of wood, looking straight 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:41.740 into the camera and telling tall tales to the 00:20:41.740 --> 00:20:44.579 audience. He's just being pure Gabby. He is bringing 00:20:44.579 --> 00:20:47.559 the persona directly into your house. He became 00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:49.880 a sort of surrogate grandfather figure to the 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:52.420 entire baby boomer generation. And this is where 00:20:52.420 --> 00:20:55.099 the real marketing genius kicks in. The show 00:20:55.099 --> 00:20:57.599 was sponsored heavily by Quaker Oats. The oatmeal 00:20:57.599 --> 00:20:59.920 people. The oatmeal people. And they had this 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:02.119 specific slogan for their puffed wheat and puff 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:05.420 rice cereals, shot from guns. I remember hearing 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:07.660 about that slogan. It sounds really violent for 00:21:07.660 --> 00:21:09.779 a breakfast cereal. It does sound a bit dramatic 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:13.480 today. So Gabby Hayes, ever the consummate showman, 00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:15.500 would incorporate this directly into the live 00:21:15.500 --> 00:21:17.500 action segments. Yeah. He would look at the camera 00:21:17.500 --> 00:21:19.660 and tell the little kids watching at home to 00:21:19.660 --> 00:21:22.140 stand back from the screen. Stand back. Why? 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:26.079 Because he would then fire a literal cannon loaded 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.279 with cereal directly at the camera lens. No way. 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:32.660 Yes. To visualize the shot from guns slogan. 00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:36.660 Just imagine being a seven -year -old in 1952. 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:38.819 You were sitting on the rug in your living room. 00:21:38.980 --> 00:21:40.900 Gabby Hayes tells you to back up because it's 00:21:40.900 --> 00:21:43.339 going to blow and then boom, cereal cannon right 00:21:43.339 --> 00:21:45.500 in your face. That is immersive advertising. 00:21:46.279 --> 00:21:48.480 Decades before we even had a word for it. It 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.839 was incredibly effective. He became the face 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:53.700 of Quaker Oats for a whole generation. If you 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:55.960 ask people of a certain age today, they don't 00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:58.279 necessarily associate him with John Wayne. They 00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:00.700 associate him with puffed wheat. And it wasn't 00:22:00.700 --> 00:22:02.559 just cereal, right? The merchandising machine 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:05.319 was in full swing. Oh, absolutely. Comics were 00:22:05.319 --> 00:22:08.460 huge. There were Gabby Hayes Western comics published 00:22:08.460 --> 00:22:11.680 by Fawcett Publications from 1948 all the way 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:15.180 to 1957. There was also... Gabby Hayes Adventure 00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:18.779 Comics by Toby Press. Quaker Oats even gave away 00:22:18.779 --> 00:22:21.180 mini comics right inside the cereal boxes. And 00:22:21.180 --> 00:22:22.960 I saw something in the notes about a summer camp. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:26.440 Yes. He lent his name and likeness to a children's 00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:30.000 camp in New York. The Gabby Hayes brand was literally 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.200 everywhere. He wasn't just a character actor 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:34.500 anymore. He was a whole industry. It's fascinating 00:22:34.500 --> 00:22:36.559 because he essentially took this character who 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:38.980 was structurally supposed to be a marginal figure, 00:22:39.099 --> 00:22:42.079 a sidekick, a fool, and made him the center of 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:45.099 a multimedia empire. He monetized the sidekick 00:22:45.099 --> 00:22:47.660 better than most heroes monetize the hero. Which 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:49.700 goes right back to the intelligence of the actual 00:22:49.700 --> 00:22:52.539 man. He understood the immense value of the character 00:22:52.539 --> 00:22:55.059 he created. He knew that Gabby was a highly profitable 00:22:55.059 --> 00:22:58.440 commodity. So let's move to Act 6. The television 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:00.460 show ends, the comics run their course eventually. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.119 What does retirement look like for the man who 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:06.660 already retired once back in 1928? Well, after 00:23:06.660 --> 00:23:09.359 the TV series ended, he really did retire from 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:12.009 show business for good. He didn't try to hang 00:23:12.009 --> 00:23:14.950 on or do cameos. He had successfully rebuilt 00:23:14.950 --> 00:23:17.950 his fortune, he had the money again, and then 00:23:17.950 --> 00:23:20.869 some. Did he stay in California? Yes, first he 00:23:20.869 --> 00:23:23.309 lived at a beautiful ranch on Toluca Lake, and 00:23:23.309 --> 00:23:25.329 later he actually owned a 10 -unit apartment 00:23:25.329 --> 00:23:27.809 building. He lived in one of the units and personally 00:23:27.809 --> 00:23:30.309 managed the place. Imagine your landlord being 00:23:30.309 --> 00:23:32.990 Gabby Hayes. You knock on the door because the 00:23:32.990 --> 00:23:35.109 kitchen sink is leaking. The pipes are busted, 00:23:35.309 --> 00:23:37.829 consarnus. You're darn tootin' I need that rent 00:23:37.829 --> 00:23:40.549 check on the first. But on a more serious note... 00:23:40.619 --> 00:23:43.779 his personal life became much, much quieter. 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:47.339 The great tragedy of his later years was the 00:23:47.339 --> 00:23:51.740 loss of his wife, Olive. She died in 1957. Yes. 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:54.019 They'd been together since the early vaudeville 00:23:54.019 --> 00:23:56.700 days. They were a true team for over 40 years. 00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:59.819 They never had any children. She was his partner 00:23:59.819 --> 00:24:02.940 in every possible sense of the word. So after 00:24:02.940 --> 00:24:05.019 she passed, he was essentially alone in that 00:24:05.019 --> 00:24:07.079 apartment building. That's really sad. It paints 00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:09.200 a picture of a man who achieved absolutely everything 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:11.420 he set out to do, but lost his partner right 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:14.440 at the finish line. It is heartbreaking. He lived 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:17.640 quietly for another 12 years. In early 1969, 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:20.299 he entered St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank for 00:24:20.299 --> 00:24:23.299 cardiovascular disease. And on February 9th, 00:24:23.299 --> 00:24:27.000 1969, George Gabby Hayes died at the age of 83. 00:24:27.380 --> 00:24:30.390 A long life. A very long and full life. He's 00:24:30.390 --> 00:24:32.410 buried at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery. 00:24:32.630 --> 00:24:35.230 But, and this is Act 7, the story definitely 00:24:35.230 --> 00:24:38.009 does not end in 1969 because the character he 00:24:38.009 --> 00:24:41.490 created, it became immortal. It did. It completely 00:24:41.490 --> 00:24:43.569 transcended him. When you create an archetype 00:24:43.569 --> 00:24:46.650 that strong, it enters the cultural DNA. It stops 00:24:46.650 --> 00:24:49.289 being a singular performance and starts being 00:24:49.289 --> 00:24:51.769 a recognized category of human. And the biggest, 00:24:51.890 --> 00:24:54.269 most obvious example of that has to be Mel Brooks. 00:24:54.529 --> 00:24:57.859 Blazing Saddles. 1974. You cannot talk about 00:24:57.859 --> 00:24:59.680 Western parodies without talking about Blazing 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:01.400 Saddles. And there is a character in that movie 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:05.259 that is a direct, loving homage to Hayes. Gabby 00:25:05.259 --> 00:25:07.500 Johnson. Gabby Johnson, played perfectly by Jack 00:25:07.500 --> 00:25:10.000 Sparrow. It's a brilliant piece of satire. The 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:11.799 central joke in the movie is that his speech 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:14.880 is so frontier, so authentic to the Old West, 00:25:15.099 --> 00:25:17.299 that it is completely unintelligible to everyone 00:25:17.299 --> 00:25:20.380 else. Authentic frontier gibberish. Exactly. 00:25:20.859 --> 00:25:23.539 Mel Brooks is taking Gabby Hayes' verbal tics, 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:27.000 the concern it's growling, and the endless growling 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:29.500 and pushing them to their logical, absurd conclusion. 00:25:30.140 --> 00:25:33.519 But the key to that joke is this. It only works 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:35.940 because everyone in the theater audience knew 00:25:35.940 --> 00:25:38.099 exactly who they were making fun of. You didn't 00:25:38.099 --> 00:25:39.900 need to explain the reference. Everyone knew 00:25:39.900 --> 00:25:43.039 Gabby. And then fast forward to 1999, Toy Story 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:46.220 2. This is my absolute favorite connection. And 00:25:46.220 --> 00:25:48.059 I think this is actually the most profound one 00:25:48.059 --> 00:25:49.759 we've talked about. Because it's so incredibly 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:52.960 meta. It is. You have the character Sneaky Pete 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:55.410 the Prospector. Voiced by Kelsey Grammer. Right. 00:25:55.650 --> 00:25:57.430 And just think about the casting there for a 00:25:57.430 --> 00:26:00.789 second. Kelsey Grammer, Frasier Crane, a voice 00:26:00.789 --> 00:26:03.589 of ultimate sophistication, high culture, and 00:26:03.589 --> 00:26:06.289 eloquence. Playing a chubby bearded prospector 00:26:06.289 --> 00:26:09.069 toy trapped in a cardboard box. And the joke 00:26:09.069 --> 00:26:11.549 in the movie is that the toy, Stinky Pete, is 00:26:11.549 --> 00:26:13.509 actually incredibly intelligent, manipulative, 00:26:13.589 --> 00:26:16.390 and remarkably well -spoken. He deeply hates 00:26:16.390 --> 00:26:18.609 that he is seen as just the colorful comic relief 00:26:18.609 --> 00:26:21.349 on the box. He resents the fancy space toys getting 00:26:21.349 --> 00:26:23.829 all the attention from kids. Wait, I never fully 00:26:23.829 --> 00:26:26.829 realized that. That is literally the real life 00:26:26.829 --> 00:26:30.170 of George Hayes. It is a perfect mirror. The 00:26:30.170 --> 00:26:32.289 intelligent, sophisticated man trapped inside 00:26:32.289 --> 00:26:35.970 the packaging of a grizzled prospector. Pixar 00:26:35.970 --> 00:26:39.269 absolutely nailed that dynamic. Whether they 00:26:39.269 --> 00:26:41.650 intended it as a direct biographical commentary 00:26:41.650 --> 00:26:44.549 or not, it captures the central paradox of his 00:26:44.549 --> 00:26:47.690 life perfectly. Stinky Pete is George Hayes. 00:26:47.809 --> 00:26:50.029 That is mind -blowing. The layers of pop culture 00:26:50.029 --> 00:26:52.390 there are just so dense. And we should also quickly 00:26:52.390 --> 00:26:54.920 mention Johnny Carson. Oh, sure. The Mighty Carson 00:26:54.920 --> 00:26:57.539 art players on The Tonight Show. Johnny loved 00:26:57.539 --> 00:27:00.299 doing his Gabby Hayes impersonation. He would 00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:02.500 do these elaborate sketches with Roy Rogers. 00:27:02.660 --> 00:27:04.839 It kept the memory of the character alive for 00:27:04.839 --> 00:27:07.539 late night audiences well into the 70s and 80s. 00:27:07.539 --> 00:27:09.759 And he has been honored formally by the industry, 00:27:09.900 --> 00:27:11.819 right? Two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Front. 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:14.740 One for radio and one for television. Interesting, 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:17.660 not film. Well, his impact on radio and TV was 00:27:17.660 --> 00:27:20.200 massive. and perhaps even more distinctive because 00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:23.240 of the voice acting. And in 2000, he was officially 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:25.640 inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:28.099 And we can't forget the fishermen. The Gabby 00:27:28.099 --> 00:27:30.460 guys. Please tell me about the Gabby guys. This 00:27:30.460 --> 00:27:32.279 is the wholesome content I really need right 00:27:32.279 --> 00:27:36.539 now. This is true. Pure fandom. Since 1969, the 00:27:36.539 --> 00:27:39.519 exact year he died, a group of fishermen has 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:41.839 traveled to Kettle Creek, Pennsylvania, every 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:45.220 single year for the Gabby Hayes Memorial Trout 00:27:45.220 --> 00:27:47.859 Fishing Tournament. No way. That's still happening. 00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:50.660 Yes. They actually celebrated their 50th anniversary 00:27:50.660 --> 00:27:53.779 in 2019. It's a testament to how universally 00:27:53.779 --> 00:27:56.160 lovable this guy was. He wasn't just a movie 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:59.339 star on a screen. He was a buddy. People wanted 00:27:59.339 --> 00:28:01.920 to hang out with Gabby. And they still do. That 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:03.900 is amazing. It shows that he wasn't just a character. 00:28:03.940 --> 00:28:06.690 He was a feeling. A feeling of comfort and nostalgia. 00:28:07.130 --> 00:28:09.529 There was also Gabby Hayes days in Wellsville, 00:28:09.630 --> 00:28:11.970 New York for a while in the 80s. They even have 00:28:11.970 --> 00:28:14.329 a Gabby Hayes lane there today. He is forever 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:16.890 the local hero. So we've covered the runaway 00:28:16.890 --> 00:28:19.190 teen, the vaudeville star, the crash victim, 00:28:19.470 --> 00:28:22.309 the movie icon, the TV pioneer and the pop culture 00:28:22.309 --> 00:28:24.730 legend. It's quite a journey for a guy who just 00:28:24.730 --> 00:28:27.230 wanted to trim his hedges on Long Island. in 00:28:27.230 --> 00:28:30.390 1928. As we wrap this up, what is the big takeaway 00:28:30.390 --> 00:28:32.230 for you? When you look at the entirety of the 00:28:32.230 --> 00:28:34.109 life of George Hayes, what really stands out? 00:28:34.250 --> 00:28:36.109 For me, it's the idea of the business of being 00:28:36.109 --> 00:28:39.609 a character. George Hayes proved that you don't 00:28:39.609 --> 00:28:42.369 have to be the leading man to win the game. He 00:28:42.369 --> 00:28:45.130 realized that the codger was an incredibly valuable 00:28:45.130 --> 00:28:48.430 product. He refined it, he protected it, like 00:28:48.430 --> 00:28:50.470 when he changed the name to Gabby to keep working, 00:28:50.630 --> 00:28:53.549 and he sold it across every available medium. 00:28:53.950 --> 00:28:57.970 He turned a stereotype into an empire. He outlasted 00:28:57.970 --> 00:29:00.529 and out -earned many of the pretty boy heroes 00:29:00.529 --> 00:29:03.470 who came and went. That's a great point. We so 00:29:03.470 --> 00:29:05.910 often think of typecasting as a trap. Actors 00:29:05.910 --> 00:29:07.450 complain about it all the time. You hear, oh, 00:29:07.450 --> 00:29:09.150 I'm always playing the villain or I'm always 00:29:09.150 --> 00:29:12.349 the sidekick. Right. But Hayes embraced the trap. 00:29:12.549 --> 00:29:15.029 He decorated the trap. He made the trap comfortable 00:29:15.029 --> 00:29:17.490 and highly profitable. He understood that familiarity 00:29:17.490 --> 00:29:20.250 is what audiences actually crave. Yeah. They 00:29:20.250 --> 00:29:22.289 wanted to see him. They honestly didn't care 00:29:22.289 --> 00:29:24.410 about the plot. They just waited for Gabby to 00:29:24.410 --> 00:29:26.880 lose his temper on screen. My takeaway is the 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:30.339 resilience of the man. To lose absolutely everything 00:29:30.339 --> 00:29:32.640 at 44 and age, where let's be honest, you feel 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:34.480 like you should have it all figured out, and 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:36.980 to completely reinvent yourself in a brand new 00:29:36.980 --> 00:29:39.440 industry, learning new physical skills like riding 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.259 a horse. That takes a very special kind of grit. 00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:45.299 The character was fake, but the grit was real. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:49.420 Absolutely. It was an act, but the survival instinct 00:29:49.420 --> 00:29:53.309 underneath it was entirely genuine. Huh. So here 00:29:53.309 --> 00:29:55.670 is a final thought for you to chew on as we close 00:29:55.670 --> 00:29:58.210 out. We talked about Stinky Pete in Toy Story 00:29:58.210 --> 00:30:01.819 2, the genius trapped in the box of a fool. Think 00:30:01.819 --> 00:30:03.980 about the people you see in media today, the 00:30:03.980 --> 00:30:06.799 loud personalities, the eccentric sidekicks, 00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:09.359 the people who seem to be one -dimensional caricatures 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:12.440 on TikTok or reality TV. Modern types. Exactly. 00:30:12.579 --> 00:30:14.839 How many of them are actually the smartest business 00:30:14.839 --> 00:30:17.160 minds in the room? How many of them are George 00:30:17.160 --> 00:30:20.259 Hayes firing cereal out of a cannon, knowing 00:30:20.259 --> 00:30:22.240 exactly what they're doing to build an empire? 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:24.099 Well, we just sit back and laugh at the funny 00:30:24.099 --> 00:30:26.140 voice. It really makes you wonder who is actually 00:30:26.140 --> 00:30:29.140 running the show. It certainly does. Thank you 00:30:29.140 --> 00:30:31.720 for joining us on this deep dive into the wild, 00:30:31.740 --> 00:30:34.960 weird and incredibly smart world of Gabby Hayes. 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:37.240 We will see you next time. Dead gummit. See you 00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:38.599 later. Concern it. Goodbye.