Background
George Braidwood McCoy was born on January 14, 1904 in Florida, the son of George McCoy and Nellie Braidwood. He grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.
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George Braidwood McCoy
Edit ProfileEducation
McCoy attended P. S. 132 elementary school but never graduated; he had no other formal education.
Career
McCoy's first job was escorting subway passengers home on rainy nights from the stop at 1816t Street in Manhattan, using an umbrella he borrowed from a friend. McCoy held various other odd jobs, such as office worker, swimming instructor, publicist, and salesman, hawking everything from Easter egg dye to automobiles. He also did a short stint as a reporter for the New York City News Association. In 1928 he was a publicist and bodyguard for Governor Alfred E. Smith during his presidential campaign. During the Great Depression, McCoy mastered the art of the "freebie. " He was known to frequent the Waldorf-Astoria at happy hour for the free snacks and cigarettes. Famous as New York City's number-one gate-crasher, McCoy began sneaking into Broadway plays after intermission, having discovered that most theaters did not use door checks. He was also known to attend uninvited conventions and other public dinners, for the food, brandy, and cigars that could be obtained without charge. But it was at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City that McCoy's freeloading reached its apogee. He actually lived at the fair for several months, sleeping in the Royal Scot train car that was on loan from Britain and feasting on free samples of food, wine, and beer. While residing at the fair, McCoy found that he could procure a shave, haircut, or massage for free at promotional demonstrations. Eventually, he sold the story of his stay at the World's Fair to Life magazine. It was also at the World's Fair that McCoy's radio career began. While working for a publicity firm, Voices Inc. , McCoy was assigned to help with the broadcast of a "Man in the Street" interview show from the fair, which Voices had agreed to produce. When the scheduled announcer was late for the first show, McCoy filled in for him until he arrived. Within a week, the announcer had quit and McCoy had become the regular host, referring to himself as "The Real McCoy. "
McCoy's show aired irregularly at first because of difficulty in finding and keeping a sponsor. But by the summer of 1940, it was running six nights per week, on such NBC-network stations as WHOM in Jersey City and WEAF in New York City. The show was usually broadcast from the street. The initial location was the midway at the World's Fair, but eventually the show moved on to other spots such as Ripley's Odditorium on Broadway and the outside steps of the Astor Hotel. Most of McCoy's interviewees were passersby he flagged down and asked about their occupation, their love life, and anything else that came to his mind. His guests tended to speak candidly about themselves and their opinions, but on those occasions when they became nervous, McCoy would simply reassure them that "nobody was listening but my relatives. " Occasionally, McCoy had scheduled guests appear on the show, such as a female glass-eater who munched razor blades during the interview.
McCoy's radio career was interrupted when he enlisted in the United States Army shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Initially, he was assigned to an antiaircraft unit, but his inability to learn anything about guns resulted in a permanent assignment to kitchen police duty. In Algiers, McCoy met Andre Baruch, who was in charge of the army's radio station there, and who helped him get into Special Services. At Special Services, McCoy worked in circulation for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes and hosted a radio show for GI's in Algiers and, later, Rome. The show in Algiers, called "The Sidewalks of North Africa, " was modeled after McCoy's show in Manhattan, and had him interviewing GI's on the streets of Algiers. McCoy rarely interviewed officers, preferring instead to give the enlisted men something to write home about. In Rome, the format was slightly different, with McCoy broadcasting from the balcony of the Piazza Venezia, the same place where Mussolini had delivered his speeches. McCoy would open his Rome broadcasts by jokingly asking the soldiers gathered below if there was "anyone here from out of town?" Both of McCoy's overseas shows differed from his show back home in that they were not broadcast live, since they had to be inspected by the censors from the Office of War Information. McCoy resumed his civilian broadcasting career after the war ended, but according to contemporary reviewers, the show had grown stale. With the advent of television, McCoy forsook radio and began a new career as a character actor, appearing in such programs as "Studio One" and "Philco Television Presents. " McCoy continued to act on television until the 1970's, appearing mostly on daytime soap operas. He also continued to drive a taxicab in New York City, where he died.
Achievements
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McCoy first achieved fame during the 1939 World's Fair in New York, when he proved it was possible to live off the land, so to speak, without paying for food, a bed or entertainment. He ate the sample foods at the’ exhibitions, slept in the Royal Scot at the railroad exhibition, shaved courtesy of the electric‐razor display, and even earned pocket money by selling the story of his feat to Life magazine.
Personality
His "neutral" face allowed him to play a variety of roles: priests, inmates, detectives, and black marketeers. In his characteristic self-deprecating style, McCoy acknowledged that he was the world's worst actor. McCoy supplemented his income from acting and broadcasting by driving a cab. He often spent his nights cruising the streets of Manhattan for fares and then entertaining them with jokes he carried with him, written on index cards. In the years prior to his marriage, McCoy had often claimed that "marriage was a luxury I can't afford. "
Connections
McCoy married Esther Goetz, an artist, in 1951; they had no children.
