George “Gabby” Hayes (1885-1969) acted in a traveling repertory company and played burlesque and vaudeville before he went to Hollywood for a film career that spanned more than 30 years.

Known as Windy, then Gabby, the whiskered, ornery, toothless geezer played sidekick to Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Bill Elliott, Randolph Scott and John Wayne in well over 100 Westerns.

Hayes was a regular on radio’s Roy Rogers Show in the 1940s and had his own program on the Mutual network in 1951-1952, sponsored by Quaker cereals. Adventure and “Gabby Hayes Western” comic books appeared between 1948 and 1957.

On television, two separate series, both called The Gabby Hayes Show, ran concurrently. One was a weekly educational program about episodes in American history (NBC 1950-1951), the other a fictional series of tall tales and Western film clips (NBC 1950-1954 and ABC 1956). Sponsors were Quaker cereals and Peter Paul candy.

Western and character collectors know there are many different Gabby Hayes items to remember him by.