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ON THE BROADWAY SCENE ByBurtBoyar JNEW YORK, May 7. — WALDORF OPENING: I never watched George Gobel much on television, so you can imagine the lump in my throat when I got the news that he was opening at the Empire Room. He was always just a shade too "folksy" for me on TV. However, at the Waldorf where the children are safely asleep upstairs, he is less folksy than next-of - Kinsey. I dont mean hes off - color, but if hed, tried out some of this material on television he would have had his option dropped before the first commercial. Dont get me wrong. There is nothing objectionable about his act. On the contrary, its very funny. Its just sort of a shock when the boy next door turns out to be not quite that. And I want you to be prepared. Also be prepared to see a very cute, tremendously clever and thoroughly entertaining performer whose manner is most refreshing. "Im glad to be back," he said. "I was here for the first show." ... "I want you to know from the start that this is not. going to be a very good show." ... "I flew in here this morning. Came clean from Las Vegas." ... "I was in one of those pressurized planes. You know how they are. Theyve got it all nice and pressurized for 15,000 feet and then all of a sudden you drop trf 7,000 . . . and well, ysee what happens is — well, the reaction of the pituitary gland becomes defective and theres a change in metabolism and, uh — well ... I was so tired when I got in that I fell asleep and woke up just before it was time to do the first show. I felt like I was going to be doing a show before breakfast ... So, I took a cold shower — and I didnt have any clothes on — I take showers like that. When I got out of the shower the room was all steamy so I tried to open the window. I mean, there I was without a stitch on, fighting to open my 11th floor window. I gave it a yank and it flew open and I lost my balance and out I went. . . . The fall didnt bother me, but that walk back through the lobby — And Im one of these guys who just cant help stopping at a magazine counter when I see one . . . and it was kinda embarrassing because I wanted to buy something, but I didnt have any money with me cause I didnt have any pockets . . . But, it was okay because -they know me here ... I mean, they took me at face value." AAA He tells of a blind date he once had with a girl who "was not the prettiest girl in town. She was not the prettiest girl in Boys Town even." . . . "Yknow Im married. I mean, I know Im married. Lord KNOWS I know. . . . But, marriage can be a wonderful, tender, heartwarming experience. Ive only been married for 15 years, so of course I havent seen that side of it, yet/ . . . "Soon after Alice and I were married we were visited by a chubby, wrinkled, red-legged little visitor — my mother-in-law." . . . "When I first started calling on Alice, her mother took one look at me and said, He can stay for the night but tomorrow he goes back to the pound. . . . This rubbed me the wrong way — so, I bit her!" . . . AAA Gobel describes a "dude" as a guy who, "when his collar gets dirty he changes the whole damned shirt." . . . He is "not one of those fellas who drink too much cause I dont believe you CAN drink too much." ... "I know my capacity. I always get drunk before I reach it, but I know it." . . . He warns, "You can lead a horse to water but before you push him in stop and remember how a wet horse smells." AAA He tells a very funny story about his days in television when one of the networks spent 50,000 to perfect a single color television process. They then assembled all the executives" in a studio and hired a fellow named Sweeney to make the tests. All Sweeney had to do was walk from stage to stage and change his tie and his coat every now and then. The test failed, however, because in each test the process made Sweeney look like he had a blue nose and naturally you cant use a TV process that makes peoples noses look blue. Gobel explains that the network threw away all the equipment, which was a shame because, "Ysee Sweeney really had a blue nose." The story of how that happened is one of the biggest laughs in the show.
