George resides with his family and his dog Astro in the Skypad Apartments[20] in Orbit City, in a future with the trappings of science fantasy depictions of American life in the future, such as robot servants, flying saucer-like cars, and moving sidewalks. All the apartment buildings are set on giant poles, resembling Seattle's Space Needle; the ground is almost never seen. In Jetsons: The Movie, it is revealed that they live in the sky due to excess of smog.
When George was a child, he had to fly through ten miles of asteroid storms to go to Orbit High School, where he was the star pitcher of its Spaceball team. George is now an employee at Spacely's Space Sprockets, a manufacturer of "sprockets" and other high tech equipment. His job title is a "digital index operator."[21] His boss is Cosmo G. Spacely, noted for being short in both height and temper; Spacely usually treats his employees (particularly George) in a rather tyrannical fashion. George's job primarily requires him to repeatedly push a single button (or on occasion a series of buttons) on a computer (named RUDI {Short for: Referential Universal Digital Indexer} in the 1980s series of Jetsons episodes). George complains of his heavy work load: pushing a button on and off as many as five times[22] for three hours,[23] three days a week.[24] Often, Mr. Spacely will fire George in a fit of anger, only to hire him back by the end of the same episode.
Physically, George is a rather slim man of average height with short red hair and a cartoonishly large nose. His personality is that of a well-meaning, caring father, but he is often befuddled and stressed out by the problems of both his work and family lives. As with most Hanna-Barbera productions of the 1950s and early 1960s, George Jetson was modeled after a contemporary celebrity; in George's case, it was character actor George O'Hanlon, who also voiced (and granted his name to) the character. O'Hanlon was well known for his roles as a common everyman (his best-known role outside of The Jetsons was the Joe McDoakes film series) and once said of his character: "George Jetson is an average man. He has trouble with his boss, he has problems with his kids, and so on. The only difference is that he lives in the next century."[25]
Date of birth
In the 2020s, fans, factcheckers and journalists debated the character's birthdate.[26][27][18] In July 2022, the character resurfaced on social media when fans claimed that George's birthday was July 31, 2022. Despite the claim, no official evidence has been found confirming this or any other specific date,[28] although there is some evidence from the show that the year of his birth is 2022.[18]
Catchphrase
George's most famous catchphrase is "Jane! Stop this crazy thing!" seen at the end credits of the 1960s Jetsons episodes, but is also known for frequently uttering the phrase "Hooba-dooba-dooba!" or "Hooba-Dooba" (in most episodes) to express wonder or astonishment (possibly inspired by Fred Flintstone's phrase "Yabba-dabba-doo!").
Portrayer
George O'Hanlon voiced and served as a model for the character.
Morey Amsterdam was originally hired to voice the character but was fired due to sponsor conflicts between his numerous other projects, including The Dick Van Dyke Show.[29] Amsterdam sued Hanna-Barbera for breach of contract but lost.[30]
George O'Hanlon, hired after auditioning but failing to win the role of Fred Flintstone two years prior, became George Jetson's voice actor, a role he would retain for the rest of his life through both the sixties and eighties versions of the cartoon series. O'Hanlon last did the voice for George Jetson in Jetsons: The Movie, which was released posthumously.[31]
George Jetson makes a cameo appearance in Space Jam: A New Legacy alongside his family, Astro, Rosie, and several other Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. characters.
^"Jetsons, The (1962) - TV Series - Season 1, Episode 2". Database of Movie Dialogs. BelaZebra. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-11-14. What's your name, speedy? George J. Jetson. George Jetson, eh? Well, Georgie, let's see what we got here.
^"Jetsons, The (1962)". Database of Movie Dialogs. BelaZebra. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-11-14. Car 88 calling in. What's up, sarge? Investigate complaint of trouble over at the Skypad Apartments. Right, Sarge. I'm on my way.
^Holt, Patrick D. (July 2009). The Information Society in Science Fiction(PDF) (Master of Science in Library Science thesis). School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. p. 52. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2010-11-14. Although George Jetson does commute to work as a "darn good digital index operator" (a job that apparently involves push the buttons that start and stop the procedure), the rest of the Dyson/Bel Geddes vision is complete – to no avail. Just about everything is automated, but no one seems aware that life is easier...
^"Rosey the Robot". The Jetsons. Season 1. Episode 1. 23 September 1962. ABC.
^"Elroy's Pal". The Jetsons. Season 1. Episode 14. 23 December 1962. ABC.
^"The Flying Suit". The Jetsons. Season 1. Episode 7. 4 November 1962. ABC.
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