Gorgeous George: The Outrageous Bad-Boy Wrestler Who Created American Pop Culture

293 Pages·2008·2.31 MB·English

by  John Capouya

Gorgeous George
The Outrageous Bad-Boy Wrestler Who Created American Pop
Culture
John Capouya

To my mother and father
ON THE GORGEOUS ONE:
“A mighty spirit. Crossing paths with Gorgeous George was all the recognition and
encouragement I would need for years to come.”
—BOB DYLAN
“The capes I wear? That came from the rassler, Gorgeous George. Seeing him on TV
helped to create the James Brown you see onstage.”
—JAMES BROWN, THE LATE GODFATHER OF SOUL
“I saw fifteen thousand people comin’ to see this man get beat. And his talking did it. I
said this is a gooood idea!”
—MUHAMMAD ALI “I don’t know if I was made for
television, or television was made for me.”
—GORGEOUS GEORGE

Contents
Epigraph
Prelude
Act One
1 “The Biggest Thing on TV”
2 Harrisburg Rats
3 On the Carny Game
4 Possums and Hook Scissors
5 A Hurting Business
6 His Gorgeous Muse
7 Swerves and Curves
Act Two
8 Mean Old George
9 Soul Brothers
10 A “Home Man”
11 The Blond Bombshell
12 The Wrestling Set
13 Ring Rats and Cadillacs
14 George vs. George
15 “They Loved Me in New York”
16 Packing Them in Like Marshmallows
17 King Strut
Photographic Insert
18 The Toast of Hollywood
19 Purple Majesty
Act Three
20 “You’ve Changed Enough”
21 What Bob Dylan Saw
22 The Copper-Haired Cutie-Pie
23 Between a Flit and a Mince
24 Into the Drink
25 The Orchid and the Butterfly
26 Shorn by the Destroyer
27 “The Sports World is Saddened”
28 A Gorgeous Legacy
29 The Showman’s Farewell
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher