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

Late one Saturday night when I was a small boy and my parents thought I was safely in bed, and asleep, i crept from my bed into the living room to watch wrestling. This night was different. After weeks of watching macho good guys wrestling macho bad guys, Gorgeous George entered the ring, and my young view of the world was changed forever! Here was a man who seemingly danced right along the edge of sexual identity: feminine hair style, elaborate robe(that my mother might have coveted, a female attendant (probably first wife Betty) and "georgie pins." When the match actually started george, except for the hair, was as masculine and tough as his macho foil, who, after defending traditional male values, got himself flattened by "The Human Orchid." What did it mean to be male, if George could act "swishy," as my father called it, and win? It meant that a certain view of how the world worked, was obsolete. George, aided and abetted by wife Betty, who not only sewed his robes--but was a fount of ideas to refine the act, came along at a time when television was becoming a national medium. In addition the unified spirit of the war years was giving way to uneasiness with all kinds of traditions. A desire for individual expression was supplanting long years of group purpose, and putting the team first. Author Capouya does an excellent job of drawing all these strands together in an entertaining, and enlightening narrative. he also offers convincing evidence for Gorgeous Gorge Wagner's influence on a group as diverse as Muhammad Ali, James Brown, John Waters, and Paris Hilton. I would add Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and jimi Hendrix to that mix. Like George, and all too many other creative, and talented people, George and the others listed fell victim to getting lost in the gimmick! George's coping mechanisms were alcohol, gambling, and infidelity. In the end they would cost him everything. Including his life. This is a very good book. Those looking for a simplistic, one dimensional view of pro wrestling history may be disappointed, those open to a larger view of wrestling and its social context will find much to ponder.

What did James Brown and Muhammad Ali have in common? They both took much of their act from GORGEOUS GEORGE, an entertaining biography by John Capoya . . . it tells the story of the transformation of journeyman wrestler George Wagner from a dark-haired clean-cut good guy to a blond braggart who cheated whenever he got the chance . . .he also drove crowds wild back in the early 1950s when wresting first gained widespread popularity. In reading it, I was also reminded of THE WRESTLER (the recent film)--particularly this one passage: * Wrestling was becoming family television fare, but the Romans in the arenas still went berserk at the sight of gladiatorial blood. The subset of wrestlers down as "blade men" gave theirs intentionally. To get heat, a boy would conceal an eighth-of-an-inch razor blade on a wrist or finger, fixing it there with tape. When his opponent slammed him face-first into a turnbuckle, he'd put a hand to his forehead, drawing the cutting tool across it and opening up a slash that gushed crimson. When the crowd saw the blood, or "juice," running down his face and neck and staining the mat below, it let out a primal roar. A star like George would never have to resort to blading or "getting color," as it was also known. But quite a few other did, their foreheads gradually becoming hatch-marked with tiny whitish scars. Though the wrestling parts of the book were interesting, I found his story out of the ring even more fascinating . . . such as this account of when he met Ali (then Cassius Clay) and told him: * "You got your good looks, a great body, and you've got a good mouth on you. Talk about how pretty you are, tell 'em how great you are. And a lot of people will pay to see somebody shut your big mouth. So keep on bragging, keep on sassing and always be outrageous." And then there was this account of his appearance on Eddie Cantor's radio show: * This segment ended with Cantor asking his guest star: "There is one thing I always wanted to know. What makes you call yourself Gorgeous?" To which George answered: "Honesty." I was moved by Capoya's portrayal of George toward the end of his career--and particularly the description of the bout he lost and was forced to have his curls shaved in the ring . . . things went steadily downhill afterwards, and when he died at 48, he was both broke and virtually friendless. Adding greatly to my enjoyment of the book were the pictures from the various stages of his career . . . they really helped me understand his popularity and why he had been such a cultural icon

It's amazing to think about the proliferation of professional wrestling on TV in the early days of the medium. It's got such a pall hanging over it today, such a reputation for illegitimacy. But there it was, prime time, every night. Gorgeous George rode that wave, flipping the ideal model of the American male on its head, portraying more of a snooty Renaissance era royal fop than a clean cut, pipe smoking, tie-wearing, 9 to 5 dad. America couldn't handle it, and turned out in droves to tell George what they thought about him, his Chanel No. 10 and his valets. Muhammad Ali learned from him. Talk the talk, make the crowds turn out to see you get beat, then walk the walk. The author puts wrestling's first gender-tweaking superstar into the context of his day, explaining how he paved the way for not only future wrestlers, but future performers in other American entertainment fields.

Most books about professional wrestling and wrestlers keep it within the squared circle. This marvelous book - written by a professional journalist rather than a sportsman - takes the story of wrestling's arguably most famous showman and places it squarely within the context of the culture he grew up in and ultimately impacted. I remember Gorgeous George vividly: he was a marvelous athlete, a genuine wrestler, and a superior showman. The greatest wrestler of the century, Lou Thesz, despised cheap gimmicks, but he highly respected George, and loved to wrestle him because they could genuinely spar and put on a good show. Other reviewers here make good points with their criticisms, but overall this is a more than splendid look into the life and times of a man who wrote his own very original story and, in the process, the stories of others as well.

Today's fans of the WWE's "entertainment" version of Professional Wrestling now have a chance to read about how the kayfabe era of the business was. For fans of that generation, mention Gorgeous George, and the stories start to unfold. Author John Capouya absolutely reveals the way it was, and shows all of us a Gorgeous George that even the most rabid fans did not know. His account of George's career is chronicled in a way that is easy to follow, and he end's up giving us a book that is hard to put down. As I read through his account of George's ups and downs, I felt like I was back sitting ringside again, watching the "Human Orchi" strut his stuff in the squared circle....and I could almost see him throwing those gold "Georgie Pins" to the crowd. John also gives us an insightful personal side to George Wagner, who lived the life, and sadly boozed it all away. John's research and homework into George's background is to be commended. Over the last decade, there have been many excellant books published on pro wrestling.....but John's book is "The Main Event". It is a must read, and one that you will read again, and again.