Editor’s note: This column was first published in The Hog Herald, September 2025 print edition.
On Oct. 2, 1954, The George Gobel Show premiered on NBC TV. Carrying the moniker “Lonesome George,” Gobel hosted then-famous A-list entertainers the first season of his show, including Fred MacMurray, Angela Lansbury, Jack Carson, Boris Karloff, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jackie Cooper, Kirk Douglas, Bob Feller, Walter Brennan, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Benny, Adolphe Menjou, Garry Moore, Peter Lorre and George “Spanky” McFarland.
After the 1954-55 television season concluded, Gobel won an Emmy Award for “most outstanding new personality.”
So, what did Lonesome George do that summer as he climbed further up the ladder to entertainment stardom?
Well, he was the headliner at the Centennial Royalty at the Ball held at the Armory during Kewanee’s Centennial Celebration, of course.
A little background.
In December 1952, a Kewanee newspaper editorial reminded us that there was a centennial coming up. After deciding which year marked the hundredth birthday of our hometown, committees were formed and planning began for a four-day celebration in July 1954.
While some of the festivities began on Wednesday, July 14, 1954, they commenced in earnest on Thursday, “Youth and Old Settlers Day,” followed by Friday’s “Industry and Labor Day.” Saturday was “Farmers and Merchants Day,” which included the day-long “World’s Largest Free Pork Barbecue,” led by chef Eudell Watts and a crew of more than 300 volunteer “cooks,” who served an estimated 30,000 diners.
Saturday was to culminate with the evening’s Centennial Ball. Lew Diamond’s Orchestra and vocalist Buddy Moreno would provide dance music and singing.
But the headliner of the ball was George Gobel.
The diminutive Gobel was born in Chicago in 1919. As a youngster, he performed as “The Littlest Cowboy.” In 1937 after high school, he sang as “Little Georgie Gobel” on radio and then toured with country music bands.
After serving in World War II, Gobel began doing stand-up on the nightclub, hotel and county fair circuit. His mild-mannered comic delivery and a down-home warmness led him to TV in the early 1950s. Gobel appeared on the shows of many of TV’s early luminaries, such as Garry Moore, Spike Jones and Dinah Shore. His comedic persona was a hapless, unassuming, hen-pecked husband who tried to make it through life the best he could.
In March 1954, he earned a short film called the George Gobel Show at the urging of a writer for Jack Benny. Wildly successful, he continued with appearances at places such as the Sahara in Las Vegas and, beginning in mid-May, four weeks at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria. It was at that time in the Big Apple that NBC slotted Gobel for a prime-time show in the fall on its comedy line-up on Saturday nights.
But Kewanee beckoned first.
Gobel arrived by plane in Chicago on the Friday night before the ball. He was met by Centennial Queen Mary Ann Anderson, King Bill Welch and a reported 200 Gobel fans. Anderson adorned Gobel with a set of false whiskers and feigned and real exchanges of kisses ensued. Gobel then drove to Kewanee with his friend Buddy Moreno.
The ball began at 9 p.m. Saturday evening at the Armory. In addition to Gobel, Lew Diamond’s Orchestra and vocalist Buddy Moreno entertained the 3,000 attendees at the gala. But Gobel’s act stole the show, and then King Welch and Queen Anderson were crowned at the ball by Gobel.
The Centennial Celebration was a huge success. And, then Kewanee started the next phase of its life.
So, too, did Gobel. After his hit TV show had run its course, he returned to the clubs and headlined in Las Vegas. He performed in a Broadway musical and also appeared on such TV shows as Wagon Train; Death Valley Days; Daniel Boone; F Troop; Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In; The Red Skelton Show; Love, American Style; Chico and the Man; and The Love Boat. Gobel also continued on the talk show circuit and then became a “square” star on the popular game show, The Hollywood Squares. He also appeared as an actor in several TV movies.
George Gobel died in 1991, 37 years after helping Kewanee celebrate its past 100 years.
Gobel had once asked, “[d]id you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo, and you were a pair of brown shoes?” For a week in July 1954, Kewanee certainly was wearing shiny, black, patent leather shoes.
