Gorgeous George (2008)

BY GEORGE! John Capouya's biography steps into the ring with wrestler George Wagner

Festooned in befrilled pale purple outfits, his peroxided hair marcelled into place by his wife Betty, George Wagner — a.k.a. Gorgeous George — made quite a splash on the pro wrestling circuit in the 1930s and 1940s. As his fame grew, George, a onetime carny, insisted that the rings be doused in perfume and always made a show of folding his satin robes just so. The more he played the dandy, the more popular George — who called himself the ''Sensation of the Nation'' — became. John Capouya never quite manages to prove his claim that ''the orchid path [George] traced now seems a prescient sketch of the contours American pop culture would take on,'' blazing the way for Liberace and Madonna, but he delivers a solid, entertaining book about a long-forgotten character and a peculiar slice of American history. B+