Who was George?

Posted by R. Berg on November 28, 2001

In Reply to: Who was George? posted by ESC on November 28, 2001

: : As silly as you may think my inquiry may be I would like to ask about a phrase I heard while watching a Bug's bunny cartoon. In this episode he's playing the piano, pauses to the camera and smirks to say "I wish my brother George were here". Who was "George?
: : I'm sure when this first aired 50+ years ago-- people got the joke.
: : It's amazing to me how much of the humor I didn't get when I watched it as a child.
: : (except for this one). Thanks.

: It refers to pianist/showman Liberace's brother George.

A search on Google turned up a site that quotes the line from "The Three Little Bops," 1957, and says it was a reference to Liberace, used in several cartoons:
www.thomasvillecentral.com/ musWB,htm

The link below (URL = members.tripod.com/ ~bugsbunnypage/scripts/hydehare.html) goes to a script for "Hyde and Hare," 1955. Excerpt: "Bugs is playing the piano . . . Because of the candelabra, he does a quick impression of Liberace. 'I wish my brother George was here.'"

I also found that a rapper, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, has titled his first album "I Wish My Brother George Was Here."