Background
Gaddis was born in Mattoon, Illinois and was nicknamed Gadabout by a boss who said he could never find him.
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Gadabout Gaddis
Edit ProfileCareer
Gaddis, an avid fisherman since his youth in Illinois, was also a pilot and adventurer. He began his career in the early days of television by showing his home movies of his fishing expeditions. In 1939 he briefly hosted a program about fishing on General Electric"s experimental television station W2XAD in Schenectady, New New York
When W2XAD became WRGB in the mid-1940s, Gaddis returned to the station to host Outdoors with Liberty Mutual, which was only the second sponsored television show (Lowell Thomas"s being the first).
The show was eventually carried on 73 stations. Going Places with Gadabout Gaddis in the 1950s was less successful, but beginning in the early 1960s Gaddis starred in, also sponsored by Liberty Mutual. was a weekly program, usually broadcast on Saturday or Sunday afternoon, that showed Gaddis fishing in a different location each episode.
The show"s lone crew member was a cameraman who paddled alongside Gaddis in a nearby boat. The shows were filmed without sound, and Gaddis would add his low-key and folksy narration in the studio.
The program had the look and feel of a home movie, which some analysts theorized was a major factor in its appeal to audiences.
Not all programs showed Gaddis making a catch, including an episode shot at Thomas Lake in Colorado, where Gaddis filmed for five days without catching a fish. Gaddis earned his Army Air Corps pilot"s wings during World War I and flew himself to each filming location in his Piper Cherokee 235. Gaddis lived in Bingham, Maine, and Gadabout Gaddis Airport in that town was his base of operations.
The airport was built about 1950 and later bought by Gaddis.
Achievements
Connections
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Born
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Died
October 21, 1986 (aged 90) -
Nationality
United States