Commercial Break! 1962 Dodge Dart 440

Today - being the day after Thanksgiving in America and also Black Friday - roads will be jammed with cars and stores mobbed with holiday shoppers. In December 1961, you might have been driving around in a brand new, 1962 Dodge Dart 440, or were perhaps considering purchasing one. This vital automobile came complete with a fold-down center armrest, a terrific steering mechanism, and full interior. 

Be brave. Buy one.


1962 Dodge Dart 440 Radio Spot
Bob Crane Show / KNX-CBS Radio
December 11, 1962

Giving Thanks to Our Supporters / Thanksgiving 2011

It's hard to believe that it's been five months since we launched our campaign for Bob Crane's induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Over these last several months, we have entertained you with clips from Bob's radio programs, as well as provided interesting information about his careers in radio, television, theatre, and film. There is still much more to share, and we hope you tune in often! We have also garnered strong support from Bob's colleagues, his friends, members of his family, and not least of all, his fans. As we move into the holiday season, we wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your support in this endeavor. We are thankful for you - because with your help, Bob's extensive work in radio may soon be fully recognized.

We have some pretty exciting events planned for January, including the launch of a new Web site and a strong push in the media. Keep an eye out for these plus other happenings in the early part of 2012.

Remember, there are several ways you can help support Bob Crane's induction into the 2012 National Radio Hall of Fame. You can send a letter of support to the Museum of Broadcast Communications (click here for instructions/deadline March 1, 2012). If you do, simply let us know, and we will happily include your name or business on our list of official supporters.

Secondly, once the ballot has been announced from the Museum of Broadcast Communications, everyone will have the opportunity to cast his or her vote. Information about voting will be released when it becomes available.

Finally, continue to share this campaign with your friends and colleagues. "Like" us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. The more, the merrier!

As those of us here in the U.S. prepare to enjoy our traditional Thanksgiving holiday, we would like to extend Thanksgiving blessings to all our friends in America and around the world. Again, many thanks to all!

Bob Crane Interviews Ruth Waterbury / Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

One of the leading Hollywood reporters of her time, Ruth Waterbury (1896-1982) was the former editor of Photoplay and Silver Screen magazines, and since the 1920s, covered the entertainment industry for more than 50 years. In addition to writing for fan magazines and newspapers (such as the New York Daily News and the Los Angeles Herald), she also served as assistant to Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons.

An expert on Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Ruth Waterbury authored two biographies of the iconic celebrities during the 1960s: Elizabeth Taylor: Her Life, Her Loves, Her Future; and Richard Burton: His Intimate History.

In July 1968, Bob Crane rebroadcast his interview with Ruth Waterbury over the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Network. Also present that day was Cecil Barker, producer and director of The Red Skelton Show. Here is a segment from Bob's interview, where he talks with Waterbury about her career, as well as the subjects of her two then-recently published books.


Bob Crane Interview with Ruth Waterbury and Cecil Barker
The Bob Crane Show / U.S. Armed Forces Radio Network
July 1968

Veterans' Day Weekend - 'Operation Entertainment'

Sorry to say, we were hoping to have this up yesterday. Unfortunately, our sound hosting site is currently experiencing a problem with sharing files. We didn't want to wait any longer, and besides, we should be thanking our veterans every day! So while this is just a tad late, we wish all United States veterans a very Happy Veterans' Day weekend! And we THANK YOU for your service in the U.S. military, providing us with your protection so that we may enjoy our freedom. 

Operation Entertainment was a program produced by Chuck Barris and Bill Carruthers for ABC that ran in 1968. Actors, musicians, and other celebrities traveled across the country and around the world to entertain U.S. troops serving in the military. They entertainers performed on location at Navy, Army, and Air Force bases. In addition to Bob Crane, other hosts included Rich Little, George Carlin, Dick Cavett, Dean Jones, Dick Shawn, Tim Conway, Jimmy Dean, Roger Miller, Norm Crosby, Ed Ames, Flip Wilson, Don Rickles, Jim Lange, Phil Harris, and Dale Robertson. Among the entertainers were Vikki Carr, Donna Jean Young, Roy Clark, Louis Armstrong, Richard Pryor, Barbara McNair, Allen & Rossi, Minnie Pearl, Paul Lynde, Florence Henderson, Martha and the Vandellas, Shelley Berman, the Righteous Brothers, the Lennon Sisters, Arethra Franklin, Ray Charles and the Rayettes, Patti Page, Pat Buttram, Rodney Dangerfield, Kenny Rogers, Larry Storch, Stephanie Powers, and many more.

Bob Crane was the host of the November 1, 1968, episode, which was performed and recorded for servicemen and women stationed at Elgin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Performers included Teddy Neeley and his Band, comedian Pat Paulsen, singer Fran Jeffries, and the Lennon Sisters, among others. We have for you here the opening of that program, with Bob performing an opening stand-up comedy routine.

If you are a veteran who served in the U.S. military and would like the entire November 1, 1968, audio recording of Operation Entertainment, drop us an email (see sidebar on right), and we'll send it to you for free on CD. That is our special thanks to you.

Freedom is not free! Thank you for your service!

Operation Entertainment - November 1, 1968

Eglin Air Force Base, Fort Walton Beach, Florida

ABC-TV / Bob Crane, Host

Melancholy Serenade - Theme to 'The Jackie Gleason Show'

Few can compare to legendary actor, comedian, and musician Jackie Gleason, whose extraordinary talents span from the 1940s through the time of his death on June 24, 1987. Born Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr., on February 26, 1916, in Brooklyn, NY, he was baptized as John Herbert Gleason. He started using the name Jackie C. Gleason at the age of 24 in the 1941 Warner Brothers film, Navy Blues. 

Although perhaps most widely known for his role as Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, Gleason was also an acclaimed musician and composer. even though he could not read or write music. He would "hear" a melody in his head and describe the tune to another musician, who would then write the music for him. Among Gleason's arrangements are the theme to The Jackie Gleason Show ("Melancholy Serenade") and The Honeymooners ("You're My Greatest Love").

Bob Crane performed and recorded his own arrangement of "Melancholy Serenade" on his album, Bob Crane, His Drums, & Orchestra Play the Funny Side of TV. Crane's impersonation of The Great One can also be heard throughout the number.

And away we go!

"Melancholy Serenade" - Theme to The Jackie Gleason Show (Bob Crane on Drums)
Bob Crane, His Drums, & Orchestra Play the Funny Side of TV
Epic Records - 1966

Bob Crane's Hometown: Stamford, Connecticut - Circa 1946

These photos are a series of screen shots from the 1947 film noir, Boomerang, starring Dana Andrews, Lee J. Cobb, and Jane Wyatt. Filmed on location in Stamford, Connecticut, the movie opens with a fantastic panoramic, 360-degree view of downtown Stamford.

This is how Stamford looked during the 1940s and how Bob Crane would have remembered his hometown. It was a bustling town and full of activity, where everyone knew everybody else. Stamford is where Bob grew up, attended school, graduated from high school, played in jazz bands, served in the National Guard, married his first wife (Anne), and spent the majority of his youth and young adult years.

You can learn more about Stamford's rich history by visiting the Stamford Historical Society's Web site. And if you have not watched Boomerang, it is highly recommended that you do! 

Old Town Hall on the corner of Atlantic and Main Streets, The church
spire for St. John's Roman Catholic Church is visible to the left.
Bob Crane's father worked in C.O. Miller's Department Store,
once located directly behind Old Town Hall on Bank Street.
Stamford, Connecticut, circa 1946.

Atlantic Street facing north and away from Old Town Hall.
Stamford, Connecticut, circa 1946.

Main Street facing east and directly across from Old Town Hall.
Park Row is to the left. This section of Main Street and Park Row no
longer exists. It is now the site of the Stamford Town Center
Stamford, Connecticut, circa 1946.

Main Street facing east and across from Old Town Hall.
Finlay Straus Jewelers, where Bob Crane worked from 1946 to 1950
as a watch repairman and salesman, had been located on the right side
of Main Street, about where you see the telephone pole. This section of Main
Street no longer exists. Today, it is the site of the entrance ramp to the
Stamford Town Center.
Stamford, Connecticut, circa 1946.

'Arsenic and Old Lace' - ABC, 1969 / With Bob Crane, Helen Hayes, Lillian Gish, and Fred Gwynne

By Carol Ford

Promotion of Arsenic and Old Lace,
The Hollywood Reporter,
Wed., April 2, 1969.

The classic comedy-drama, Arsenic and Old Lace, originally written for the stage by Joseph Kesselring, depicts a day in the life of television critic Mortimer Brewster, who has just become engaged to Elaine Harper. Eager to share this happy news with his somewhat off-beat (and unbeknownst to him, occasionally murderous) family, he introduces Elaine to them.

Trouble begins for poor Mortimer from almost the moment he steps into the old, Victorian-style, eerie but outwardly cheery New England house, where his two spinster aunts reside with his psychologically challenged uncle. Before everything is all said and done, Mortimer discovers his aunts' macabre secret, attempts to cover it up, and is held hostage and almost killed by his brother, all while trying to justify his unfortunate relationship to these wildly eccentric and often dangerous people. If Mortimer has any advice for the world, it's don't look in the window seat and don't drink the Elderberry wine.

Bob Crane with Fred Gwynne, Lillian Gish, and

Helen Hayes in the 1969 ABC movie,

Arsenic and Old Lace.

Originally starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane, the 1944 movie adaptation directed by Frank Capra was a smash hit with audiences, even though Cary Grant confessed to hating the movie and regretted making it. More than two decades later, ABC remade the film for a 1969 Movie of the Week. This latter version, directed by Robert Scheerer, stars Bob Crane in the leading role of Mortimer Brewster, the increasingly confused nephew of the sweet but murderous Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha, played by Hollywood screen legends Helen Hayes and Lillian Gish. Sue Lyon costars as Mortimer's pretty fiance, and Fred Gwynne (of The Munsters fame) was appropriately cast as the criminal brother, Jonathan Brewster, who enjoys dabbling in the art of human butchery. Jack Gilford portrays Jonathan's sidekick, Dr. Jonas Salk (renamed in this adaptation), and David Wayne appears as Uncle Teddy, who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt.

Unlike the 1944 major motion picture with Grant, the 1969 version was performed as a theatre production and filmed almost entirely onstage. There are two main sets in the 1969 remake: the grand living room and the kitchen, with only a handful of scenes filmed outside and off-stage. Following the production, there is a curtain call by the cast, and the camera pans the applauding audience as the actors take their bow as they would after any theatre performance.

Bob Crane with Sue Lyon.

Arsenic and Old Lace, 1969.

The 1969 film was met with mixed and sometimes poor reviews. It seemed impossible to review this version without comparing it to the 1944 classic or screen giant Cary Grant. Modern critics further claim it bears too much of an ominous foreshadowing to Crane's own 1978 murder to be enjoyed.

Having recently watched the 1969 film, now more than forty years after its debut, I agree that some of that criticism is warranted. For example, the opening scene in a flashy dance club seems completely out of place with the rest of the film, and it's even difficult to hear Crane and Lyon exchanging their lines. The film editing is also not the best, and it bears all the choppiness one might expect of a late-1960s, low-tech production. Finally, it is difficult not to think of Bob Crane's gruesome murder when Mortimer nearly faces the same fate.

However, I also find the general dislike of the film by critics to be a bit harsh. When you look past these surface flaws and sad irony, and study the performance itself, what you see is a hidden gem. This 1969 film is not a late-night, made-for-TV flop; it is archived footage of these actors performing live, on stage, in front of a theatre audience - as they would have performed had they been on stage in any theatre production. And that, my friends, is almost impossible to come by. 

Bob Crane, Helen Hayes, and Lillian Gish rehearse
a scene for Arsenic and Old Lace.

Bob Crane starred in many theatre productions since the 1950s, including Cactus Flower, Send Me No Flowers, 6 Rms Riv Vu, Tunnel of Love, and Beginner's Luck, and he earned high critical praise for his performances. He had his sights set on Broadway, and at the start of his first summer theatre tour (Cactus Flower) in 1969, Crane admitted, "I'm hopeful it will serve as a springboard on Broadway." Watching Crane in this performance of Arsenic and Old Lace provides us with a glimpse of his stage talents, which he continued to hone until his death.

Upon learning he had won the part in Arsenic and Old Lace, Bob was overjoyed and humbled at the prospect of working with Helen Hayes and Lillian Gish. In a TV Guide article, he noted, "If someone had said to me, before it happened, would you like to work with Helen Hayes and Lillian Gish, I'd have said they were joking!" Bob also took the advice of Hayes, who had encouraged him to expand his acting style by appearing in more movies and stage plays during his summer hiatus from Hogan's Heroes. Hayes, who thought very highly of Bob, stated in the same TV Guide article, "I watch Hogan's Heroes regularly. This young man, Bob Crane, is a wonderful farceur, and there are almost none of them around anymore. He's habit-forming."

As for the 1969 ABC adaptation of Arsenic and Old Lace, it is extremely difficult to find. Hopefully, ABC will one day release the film on DVD. This film is a rare treat, and one that I encourage you to discover.

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References
Efron, E. (1968, August 3). Think John Wayne. TV Guide, pp. 25-27.
Pullen, G.C. (1969, June 8). Hogan's hero has eye on future. Plain Dealer.