Gadabout Gaddis

Roscoe Vernon Gaddis (January 28, 1896 – October 21, 1986), known professionally as Gadabout Gaddis, was a 20th-century American fisherman and television pioneer.^[1] Gaddis was born in Mattoon, Illinois and was nicknamed Gadabout by a boss who said he could never find him.^[2]

Gaddis, an avid fisherman since his youth in Illinois,^[3] 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.^[4] In 1939 he briefly hosted a program about fishing on General Electric's experimental TV station W2XAD in Schenectady, New York.^[2] 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).^[2] The show was eventually carried on 73 stations. Going Places with Gadabout Gaddis in the 1950s was less successful,^[5] but beginning in the early 1960s Gaddis starred in The Flying Fisherman, also sponsored by Liberty Mutual.

The Flying Fisherman

The Flying Fisherman 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.^[2] The shows were filmed without sound, and Gaddis would add his low-key and folksy narration in the studio.^[5] The program had the look and feel of a home movie, which some analysts theorized was a major factor in its appeal to audiences.^[2]

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.^[2]

Gaddis was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1968.^[3] 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.^[2] Each episode would open with a shot of Gadabout Gaddis landing his plane, but in reality it was his friend, Jack Phillipps, landing the plane in Gaddis's cowboy hat, as Gaddis could not "hit the mark"; i.e. he could not touch down on the spot required for the stationary camera to capture the landing.

Gaddis lived in Bingham, Maine, and Gadabout Gaddis Airport in that town^[6] was his base of operations. The airport was built about 1950 and later bought by Gaddis.^[7]

Works

Publications

• The Flying Fisherman (R. V. 'Gadabout' Gaddis, as told to George Sullivan) 1967, Pocket Books

Filmography

• Fishing, USA, 1969^[8]
• Fly Fishing in America (co-host)^[9]

Television compilations

• The Flying Fisherman - Volume 1 (1986-1987, G.G. Communication GGV 2V)
  • Striper fishing around Big Bird Island, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
  • Virginia Beach Bluefish Tourney
  • Mazatlan Billfishing
• The Flying Fisherman - Volume 2 (1986-1987, G.G. Communication GGV 3V)
  • Bass fishing in Lake Powell
  • Bass fishing in Saline Lake, Louisiana
  • Crappie fishing in Grenada Lake, Mississippi
• The Flying Fisherman - Volume 3 (1986-1987, G.G. Communication GGV 4V)
  • Atlantic Salmon fishing in the Matane River
  • Fly fishing for blue gills in Cape Cod
  • Trout fishing at Flaming Gorge, Utah
• The Flying Fisherman - Volume 4 (1986-1987, G.G. Communication GGV 5V)
  • Striper fishing in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
  • Trout Fishing in Idaho's Bayhorse Lake
  • Trout Fishing in Oregon's Deschutes River
• The Flying Fisherman - Volume 5 (1986-1987, G.G. Communication)
  • Bass fishing in Arizona's Lake Mead
  • Atlantic Salmon fishing in the Miramichi River
  • Bluegill fishing in Kentucky's Barkley Lake
• The Flying Fisherman - Volume 6 (1986-1987, G.G. Communication)
  • Dolphin fishing off Panama City, Florida
  • Bass fishing in Wisconsin's Yellow River
  • Trout fishing in Colorado's Upper Rio Grande River

References