Friday, February 20, 2009

Birthday Boy: Mr. MOOOOONey!

Yes, 103 years ago in New York City was born the wonderful slow-burn expert and beloved TV staple Gale Gordon.

The son of stage troupers, he took up the family business and, while to us he was born to play second fiddle to Miss Brooks, Lucy Carmichael, and Jay North, he started long before...

...and had a certain something. He was a leading light of radio comedy, on Fibber McGee and elsewhere,

and even assayed the classics. In the ruff, he has vincentpriceian charm, I think.

But once assigned the curmudgeonly second-banana slot, he stuck with it and did great things. He's seen here in avuncular mode with the whole clan Arnaz, and he clearly was considered part of the family. He even accompanied Ball into her ill-fated final foray, Lifelike Lucy.

The career of Gale Gordon raises an interesting question: what is the male for "dowager"?

8 comments:

  1. I believe the male for dowager is Quentin Crisp.

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  2. HA! Bill is right!

    I do think about Gale Gordon at least once a day, though. Always have.

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  3. My, he was quite the smoldering fellow when young, wasn't he?

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  4. Mr. Mooney scared me so much as a child that I used to hide behind a chair when he yelled at Lucy.

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  5. In the ruff... I say Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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  6. "Life with Lucy" not "Lifelike Lucy"

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  7. So. What's more annoying?

    a) A correction;
    b) A correction by Anonymous;
    c) A correction by Anonymous that's three year's after the fact?; or
    d) A correction of, however lame it may have been, a joke?

    My bet's on (e) all of the above. It was on purpose. It was because she looked like a corpse. There. Spelled out for you. Happy?

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