George "Gabby" Hayes


George Francis "Gabby" Hayes was an American actor. He began as something of a leading man and a character player, but he was best known for his numerous appearances in B-Western film series as the bewhiskered, cantankerous, but ever-loyal and brave comic sidekick of the cowboy stars William Boyd, Roy Rogers and John Wayne.
WWW gabbyhayes.org

Early years

Hayes was born the third of seven children in his father's hotel, the Hayes Hotel, in Stannards, New York. He was the son of Elizabeth Morrison and Clark Hayes. In addition to operating the hotel, his father was also involved in petroleum production, an industry which began in that part of the country. His siblings included his brothers, William W., Morrison, and Clark B., and his sisters, Nellie Elizabeth Hayes Ebeling and Harriet "Hattie" Elizabeth Hayes Allen. Morrison Hayes, a corporal in the United States Army, was killed in action on July 19, 1918, during World War I in France and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the war. The American Legion post in Wellsville, New York is named after him. George's uncle on his mother's side was George F. Morrison, vice president of General Electric.
Hayes grew up in Stannards and attended Stannards School. He played semi-professional baseball while in high school. At 17 he ran away from home, joined a stock company, apparently traveled for a time with a circus, and became a successful vaudevillian. He often appeared in comic sketches as "The Rube Constable."
Hayes married Olive E. Ireland, the daughter of a glass finisher, on March 4, 1914. She joined him in vaudeville, performing under the name Dorothy Earle. Hayes had become so successful that by 1928, at age 43, he was able to retire to a home on Long Island in Baldwin, New York. He lost all his savings the next year in the 1929 stock market crash. Olive persuaded her husband to try his luck in films, and the couple moved to Los Angeles. They remained together until her death on July 5, 1957. They had no children.

Film career

After his move to Los Angeles, according to later interviews, Hayes had a chance meeting with the producer Trem Carr, who liked his look and gave him 30 roles over the next six years. In his early career, Hayes was cast in a variety of parts, including villains, and occasionally played two roles in a single film. He found a niche in the growing genre of Western films, many of which were series with recurring characters. Hayes did not come from a cowboy background; he did not know how to ride a horse until he was in his 40s.
Hayes, in real life an intelligent, well-groomed and articulate man, often was cast as a grizzled codger who uttered phrases such as "consarn it", "yer durn tootin'", "dadgummit", "durn persnickety female", and "young whippersnapper". From 1935 to 1939, Hayes played the part of Windy Halliday, the humorous "codger" sidekick of Hopalong Cassidy. In 1939, Hayes left this role at Paramount Pictures after a dispute over his salary and moved to Republic Pictures. Paramount held the rights to the name Windy Halliday, and Republic renamed him Gabby Whitaker, which was virtually the same character. As Gabby, he appeared in more than 40 films from 1939 to 1946, usually with Roy Rogers and with Gene Autry and Wild Bill Elliott, often working under the directorship of Joseph Kane. Hayes repeatedly was cast as a sidekick of the Western stars Randolph Scott and John Wayne. Hayes played Wayne's sidekick in Raoul Walsh's Dark Command, which featured Roy Rogers in a supporting role.
Hayes became a popular performer and consistently ranked among the 10 favorite actors in polls taken of moviegoers of the period. He appeared in either one or both the Motion Picture Herald and Boxoffice Magazine lists of the Top Ten Moneymaking Western Stars for 12 consecutive years and then a thirteenth time in 1954, four years after his last film.
Westerns declined in popularity in the late 1940s, and Hayes made his last film in the genre in 1950: The Cariboo Trail. He had appeared in 174 westerns. He moved to television and hosted The Gabby Hayes Show, a Western series, from 1950 to 1954 on NBC and in a version in 1956 on ABC. The show was sponsored by Quaker Oats, and its products were advertised during the show. In promoting the product, Gabby said to stand back from the screen, and he fired a cannon loaded with cereal at the screen as a tie-in to their ad slogan, "shot from guns". He introduced the show, often while whittling on a piece of wood, and sometimes told a tall tale. When the series ended, Hayes retired from show business. During this time, he made guest appearances on television, including several on Howdy Doody for his friend "Buffalo" Bob Smith. He lent his name to "Gabby Hayes Western" comics, published by Fawcett Publications from November 1948 until January 1957, and to a children's summer camp in New York.

Death

Following his wife's death on July 5, 1957, Hayes first lived at his ranch on Toluca Lake in California. He later stayed at a 10-unit apartment building he owned.
Early in 1969 he entered Saint Joseph Hospital in Burbank, California, for treatment of cardiovascular disease. Hayes died there on February 9, 1969, at the age of 83. He is interred in the Forest Lawn–Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

Honors

Two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame commemorate Hayes's work in the entertainment industry: one for his contribution to radio at 6427 Hollywood Boulevard and one for his contribution to television at 1724 Vine Street. In 2000, he was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Popular culture

Homage was paid to Hayes in a different way in the 1974 satirical Western Blazing Saddles. The actor and director Jack Starrett, credited as Claude Ennis Starrett Jr., played a Hayes-like character. In keeping with a running joke in the movie, the character is called Gabby Johnson. After Johnson delivers a rousing, though partially unintelligible speech to the townspeople, David Huddleston's character stands up to say, "Now, who can argue with that?!", and proclaims it "authentic frontier gibberish".
In the animated film Toy Story 2, the character Stinky Pete the Prospector, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, is modeled after Hayes. In the film's fictional universe, he is a toy version of a character on the marionette television western Woody's Roundup, where he is a colorful comic relief character. In contrast, the toy is intelligent and well-spoken, a reference to Hayes's contrasting real-life and film personas.
Into a Mighty Carson Art Players sketch on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson impersonated Gabby Hayes in a sketch with Roy Rogers. This sketch has appeared on Carson's syndicated series Carson's Comedy Classics, which features highlights from his years as host of The Tonight Show.
Every year in early July, from 1983 through 1989, Gabby Hayes Days were celebrated in Wellsville, New York. The event featured a street sale, square dancing, and Hayes look-alike contests for adults and children. This celebration was eventually merged in the mid-July Wellsville Balloon Rally and gradually disappeared. A street is also named after him in Wellsville, Gabby Hayes Lane.
Since April 1969, a band of fishermen has traveled to Kettle Creek, Pennsylvania] for the Gabby Hayes Memorial Trout Fishing Tournament. These men, known as Gabby Guys, gather annually to celebrate the opening day of the trout fishing season and the memory of Hayes. In April 2019, they celebrated their fiftieth anniversary, which also marked 50 years since Hayes' passing.

Partial filmography

The Rainbow Man as Bill Big News as Hoffman - ReporterSmiling Irish Eyes as Taxi DriverTop Speed as Western Union Clerk For the Defense as Ben - Waiter Playing Around as Railroad Ticket Seller She Who Gets Slapped as Poker Player, short filmCavalier of the West as Sheriff Bill RyanFreighters of Destiny as JimOklahoma Jim as Crooked Gambler The Nevada Buckaroo as Cherokee WilliamsPleasure as Motorcycle CopBig Business Girl as Hotel Clerk God's Country and the Man as Stingaree KellyDirigible as Parade Official The Stolen Jools as Projectionist Dragnet Patrol as Private DetectivePlay Girl as Dance Hall Tobacconist Love Me Tonight as Grocer Winner Take All as Intern at Rosario RanchGhost Valley as Dave The Man from Hell's Edges as Shamrock CassidyThe Boiling Point as George DuncanRiders of the Desert as Hashknife BrooksBorder Devils as Dude SandersWild Horse Mesa as SlackSally of the Subway as Police Lieutenant Paxton Texas Buddies as Si HallerHidden Valley as Henchman Gavin - Black HatBroadway to Cheyenne as WalrusKlondike as Tom RossThe Night Rider as AltoonieThe Fighting Champ as PeteCrashin' Broadway as J. Talbot ThorndykeSelf Defense as Jury ForemanShip of Wanted Men as CrewmanRanger's Code as BaxterSkyway as George TaylorGalloping Romeo as GrizzlyThe Fugitive as Judge TaylorFighting Texans as Pop MartinThe Sphinx as Det. CaseyBreed of the Border as Chuck WigginsDevil's Mate as CollinsRiders of Destiny as Charlie Denton The Gallant Fool as Dad DentonThe Return of Casey Jones as Timothy ShineTrailing North as Flash RyanThe Phantom Broadcast as Police LieutenantThe Brand of Hate as Bill LarkinsMonte Carlo Nights as Inspector Nick GunbyThe Lucky Texan as Jake BensonWest of the Divide as DustyBlue Steel as Sheriff Jake WithersRandy Rides Alone as Marvin Black aka Matt the MuteThe Star Packer as Matt MatlockThe Lawless Frontier as DustyThe Man from Utah as Marshal George Higgins'Neath the Arizona Skies as Matt Downing In Old Santa Fe as Cactus The Man from Hell as Col. Campbell - BankerCity Limits as Charlie CarterHouse of Mystery as David FellsThe Lost Jungle as Doctor - Dirigible PassengerMystery Liner as Joe, the WatchmanBeggars in Ermine as Joe WilsonThe Lost City as ButterfieldTexas Terror as Sheriff Ed WilliamsRainbow Valley as George HoleSmokey Smith as Blaze BartTombstone Terror as Soupy BaxterThe Headline Woman as Police Desk Sgt. DuffyHitch Hike Lady as MinerSwifty as Sheriff Dan HughesBar 20 Rides Again as WindyThe Eagle's Brood as Bartender Spike1000 Dollars a Minute as "New Deal" WatsonThe Throwback as Ford CruzeThunder Mountain as FoleyTumbling Tumbleweeds as Dr. ParkerWelcome Home as Charles Rogers The Farmer Takes a Wife as Lucas Hop-Along Cassidy as Uncle BenHoneymoon Limited as Jasper PinkhamLadies Crave Excitement as Dan McCloskeyJustice of the Range as John Coffin known as Pegleg SandersonThe Hoosier Schoolmaster as PearsonThe Outlaw Tamer as Cactus BarnesDeath Flies East as WotkynsThe Lawless Nineties as Major CarterMr. Deeds Goes to Town as Farmer's Spokesman The Texas Rangers as Judge SnowValiant Is the Word for Carrie as Bearded ManHopalong Cassidy Returns as Windy HallidayThe Plainsman as BreezyTrail Dust as WindyHearts in Bondage as EzraI Married a Doctor as Train Station AgentThree on the Trail as Windy HallidaySong of the Trail as Dan HobsonCall of the Prairie as ShanghaiHeart of the West as WindySilver Spurs as Drag HarlanValley of the Lawless as Grandpaw JenkinsBorderland as Windy HallidayRustlers' Valley as Windy HallidayTexas Trail as Windy HallidayNorth of the Rio Grande as Windy HallidayMountain Music as Grandpappy BurnsideHills of Old Wyoming as Windy HallidayHopalong Rides Again as Windy HallidayHeart of Arizona as Windy HallidayBar 20 Justice as Windy HallidayIn Old Mexico as Windy HallidayPride of the West as Windy HallidayThe Frontiersmen as Windy HallidaySunset Trail as Windy HallidayGold Is Where You Find It as EnochSilver on the Sage as Windy HallidayRenegade Trail as Windy HallidayDays of Jesse James as Gabby WhittakerLet Freedom Ring as 'Pop" WilkieSaga of Death Valley as Gabby WhittakerThe Arizona Kid as Gabby WhittakerIn Old Monterey as Gabby WhittakerWall Street Cowboy as Gabby WhittakerIn Old Caliente as Gabby WhittakerMan of Conquest as Lannie UpchurchSouthward Ho as Gabby WhittakerFighting Thoroughbreds as 'Gramps' MontroseDark Command as Doc GrunchWagons Westward as HardtackThe Carson City Kid as Marshal Gabby WhittakerThe Border Legion as Honest John WhittakerMelody Ranch as Pop LaramieYoung Bill Hickok as Gabby WhittakerColorado as GabbyThe Ranger and the Lady as Texas Ranger Sergeant Gabby WhittakerYoung Buffalo Bill as Gabby WhittakerRobin Hood of the Pecos as Gabriel "Gabby" HornadaySheriff of Tombstone as Judge Gabby WhittakerRed River Valley as Gabby WhittakerJesse James at Bay as Sheriff Gabby WhittakerBad Man of Deadwood as Professor Mortimer 'Gabby' BlackstoneNevada City as Gabby ChapmanIn Old Cheyenne as Arapahoe BrownMan from Cheyenne as Gabby WhittakerRomance on the Range as GabbySons of the Pioneers as Gabby WhittakerRidin' Down the Canyon as GabbyHeart of the Golden West as GabbySunset Serenade as GabbySunset on the Desert as Gabby WhittakerSouth of Santa Fe as Gabby WhittakerCalling Wild Bill Elliott as Gabby WhittakerIn Old Oklahoma as Despirit DeanDeath Valley Manhunt as Gabby HayesOverland Mail Robbery as GabbyWagon Tracks West as GabbyBordertown Gun Fighters as Gabby HayesThe Man from Thunder River as Gabby WhittakerMojave Firebrand as Gabby HayesHidden Valley Outlaws as Gabby HayesTall in the Saddle as DaveThe Big Bonanza as Hap SelbyTucson Raiders as Gabby HopkinsLights of Old Santa Fe as Gabby WhittakerMarshal of Reno as GabbySunset in El Dorado as GabbyThe Man from Oklahoma as Gabby WhittakerBells of Rosarita as Gabby WhittakerUtah as Gabby WhittakerDon't Fence Me In as Gabby Whittaker aka Wildcat KellyAlong the Navajo Trail as Gabby WhittakerMy Pal Trigger as Gabby KendrickHeldorado as GabbyHome in Oklahoma as Gabby WhittakerRoll on Texas Moon as Gabby WhittakerUnder Nevada Skies as Gabby WhittakerRainbow Over Texas as Sheriff Gabby WhittakerBadman's Territory as CoyoteSong of Arizona as CoyoteWyoming as Windy GibsonTrail Street as BillyAlbuquerque as JukeReturn of the Bad Men as John PetitThe Untamed Breed as Windy LucasEl Paso as Pasky TeesThe Cariboo Trail as Oscar aka Grizzly

Comic book appearances

  • Gabby Hayes Adventure Comics #1
  • Gabby Hayes Western #1–59
  • Gabby Hayes Western #50–111
  • Gabby Hayes Mini Comics, 5 issues