The Gabby Hayes Show (1956– ) User Reviews

Gabby Settles Down

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 28 March 2010]

In the late-forties and early-fifties, the newly available invention called television came along and squashed the once thriving market for short and cheap Saturday matinée features. A few series, mainly The Durango Kid, tried to weather the storm, but folded after a few short years.

Not surprisingly, many of the genre's stars and character actors, as well as the directors and producers that worked on the matinée films, found themselves employed by the very same medium that ended their work on the big screen. Of those people, it seems that the easiest job of all was filled by George "Gabby" Hayes.

He didn't have to do anything, just sit around in a chair, or on a step for a few minutes and spin a yarn, before leaving the hard work to Tex Ritter, Lash Larue, or whomever had the pleasure to star in a movie by the then defunct Producers Releasing Corporation.

The results were fairly agreeable, bite-size western nuggets, whittled down from old hour-long features to fit the twenty-or-so remaining minutes of programming.

Not a bad job at all, not a bad show either.

Tall tales told here

[Paularoc · 6/10 · 18 July 2012]

While I very well remember Gabby Hayes, I have no specific memory of this series although I surely saw it as I saw hundreds of Westerns in my childhood. In this series Gabby introduces and comments on PRC Westerns. They are truncated to fit the television time slot and have no titles or credits for the Westerns. Gabby started the show by saying "Howdy buckaroos. This yer old pal Gabby Hayes." "Yer darn tootin, yes sirree bob" was a favorite expression of his. In each episode Gabby related a tall tale about one of his uncles with names such as Lariat Hayes, Sail Fish Hayes and Silver Skate Hayes. In one segment Gabby is relating a tall tale and says "...he jumped on his horse." For the story this had to be incorrect and without missing a beat, Gabby said "off'n horse rather." No need for retakes in early television. The best part of this series was Gabby's tall tales although too brief at only a couple of minutes, they were nonetheless engaging. It would be great to have a compilation of all his tall tales. Gabby Hayes was a master storyteller of the tall tale humor - a type of humor that is now unfortunately passé.

Can't just judge one!

[lwmtem · 9/10 · 13 September 2021]

Many times I would be captivated by the weekly adventures each show would take and the personal touch of Gabby's set up for scenes between breaks.

One could order, from Gabby, a clear thick flexible plastic sheet that would fit and cling a little you the screen on your TV (Maybe 12" x 10") and with a grease pencil trace over things he's display for us to copy. I was so proud that my mother state of Texas was a featured item and I traced it border to border.

At some point in the show it would be time for one of his sponsors, Quaker Oats". As I think back, I can't figure out what a cannon has to do with westerns in general or what cannons have to do with something like Quaker, their sponsor! When Quaker's spot arrived, Gabby would tell all us kids to take cover until he finished and down behind cushions and chairs as Quaker Puffed Wheat or Rice came flying at us from the TV. Then we'd get the all clear.

It didn't matter that short that played, Gabby's enthusiasm and grandfatherly persona, put him near the top of all western players and in my 70s, I guess I love the old guy still as I never miss any televised performances that I know of!

A Cultivated Sidekick

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 1 November 2010]

This was the second of two shows that Gabby Hayes did for television, a Saturday morning entry where Gabby would spin a few yarns and in this case the defunct Producer's Releasing Corporation unloaded some of their product on television. The various poverty row studios had tons of B films that filled the airwaves of early television.

When Gabby wasn't telling tall tales about his various relatives and their legendary Pecos Bill like accomplishments he would narrate edited versions of old PRC films that would star, Buster Crabbe, Eddie Dean, Lash LaRue etc. He'd fill in the gaps and you'd see a western that would normally run an hour down to about 20 minutes. It was cheap programming, but effective.

And Gabby was great. It would surprise most to know that his whole western sidekick shtick was just that. He was a rather cultivated gentleman in real life who appreciated fine dining and dressed debonairly if not quite like Adolphe Menjou. The whole grizzled old timer thing was just an act.

But a damn good one at that.

The Gift of GABBY

[redryan64 · 5/10 · 8 July 2014]

IT WAS THE stock market crash of 1929 that brought Broadway Actor, George Hayes to Hollywood. As It was reported in headline, WALL STREET LAYS AN EGG*, and the economics of the time made working in the movies a much more appealing alternative for heretofore "legitimate" Stage Trained Thespians. We mean, we all got to eat!

APPEARING AS A SUPPORTING player in many films**. Billed as 'George Hayes', he soon found his way into a recurring role in support of William Boyd in the HOPALONG CASSIDY Western Seris. The character's name was 'Windy'. When George left the series, he couldn't use the copyright name, so he adopted "Gabby" Hayes and remained so for the rest of his life.

WITH THE ASCENT of television in the Post WWII period, some movie parts vanished as the movie business underwent changes. Competition with the small screen left much in doubt. During this time frame, "Gabby" tried his hand at two different kiddie oriented shows. The first one, in 1950, was a 15 minute daily on NBC.

THIS SECOND INCARNATION was launched in 1956 and had "Gabby" Hayes acting as the kin studio M.C., whose job it was to introduce "B" Western Movies; such as those from the BILLY THE KID Series from PRC; which starred Buster Crabbe and Al "Fuzzy" St. John.

DURING BREAKS IT was his job to tell some tall tales or 'yarns', as he called them. During this segment, he would do some wood carving or 'whittling'. It wasn't Broadway, but it was a job.

AFTER ALL, WE all got to eat!

NOTE: * That famous "Wall Street Lays An Egg" headline was published by VARIETY the journal of Show Biz.

NOTE: ** Mr. Hayes is most visible and recognizable as an indigent farmer seeking a new parcel of land from star, Gary Cooper in MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN.