Happy Anniversary 'Vote For Bob Crane!' - The Year in Review

By Carol Ford

Bob Crane, circa 1966.

One year ago today, we launched the campaign for Bob Crane's induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. It was not a decision I had arrived at lightly. In fact, I had not even considered a campaign at all when, on February 1, 2011, I submitted my formal nomination of Bob Crane to the National Radio Hall of Fame Steering Committee at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago on behalf of Bob's radio colleagues and close friends. However, with public voting being a part of the selection process for the National Radio Hall of Fame, public awareness became a necessity. For Bob Crane to have a fair public vote in the selection process, people needed to know that he was more than just Colonel Hogan of Hogan's Heroes or a murder victim. They needed to know that there was much more to him than what they saw in the media following his death. Indeed, Bob was a very deep and complicated human being, who - while not perfect - genuinely cared for others, was "sensitive and somewhat shy," had what many called a "sunny personality" and could brighten any room just by walking into it, is still adored by his family and friends, and possessed rare talents in music, radio, and acting - talents that must no longer be ignored.

I say without hesitation and with deepest appreciation that this campaign exists because of the efforts of some truly dynamic people - my own friends and coworkers - who practically gave birth to this campaign overnight.

The very first thing we did was launch a blog. Joe Tonzelli created the blog and the brand Vote For Bob Crane. On the evening of June 1, 2011, I received an email from Joe saying, "You are live." In the email was a link to the Vote For Bob Crane blog and the post below. Suffice it to say, we've come a long way! With the help of our Facebook and Twitter accounts, which had been set up by Katie Brownlow, we have had nearly 10,000 visits to the Vote For Bob Crane blog from all over the world.

On June 30, 2011, the National Radio Hall of Fame Steering Committee announced that they had decided to forego public voting for 2011. Instead, they hand-selected a few key individuals from the Golden Age of Radio who they believed had been overlooked by the public but who they felt should be included in the Hall of Fame. This list included Former President Ronald Reagan, who was honored with induction into the 2011 Class. However, the Steering Committee assured me that Bob Crane's official nomination would be retained on file for consideration in future classes. Therefore, we made the decision to forge ahead, our sights now set on 2012.

In January 2012, Bob Crane and his nomination for the National Radio Hall of Fame made headlines twice: once via a press release distributed via PR Newswire (with the help of Janet D'Alesandro), and again in a feature article written by journalist John Burgeson and published in The Connecticut Post. Earlier this year, we also launched our official Web site, www.vote4bobcrane.org, designed and created by Katie Gallagher. We also developed a YouTube Channel.

The support we have received has been tremendous. WICC 600-AM Radio in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was the first to endorse Bob's nomination, followed by the Connecticut Broadcasting History organization. Many prominent individuals in radio and broadcasting also added their support, including a great many members of the Columbia Square Broadcasting Alumni Group. Bob's dearest friends as well as his fans have shown strong support. Most important has been the ongoing support of Bob's family, specifically his now-grown children, who love and miss their father terribly and all of whom Bob loved and adored. It is for them most of all that makes everything we have done and continue to do worthwhile.

Bob Crane with first wife Anne and
children Robert David, Debbie, and Karen.

Bob Crane with second wife Patricia (Patty)
and son, Robert Scott.

  

Within the next couple of weeks, the official ballot of potential 2012 candidates will be announced by the National Radio Hall of Fame Steering Committee. It is our sincerest hope that the name Bob Crane will be included, and that this year, he will be recognized for his extensive and groundbreaking work in radio and the entertainment industry. 

Bob Crane in his KNX booth - circa 1964.

Bob Crane has been called a genius in the broadcasting field by those who worked directly with him. He is an unsung broadcasting pioneer who helped shape the world of radio, and he is most deserving of the honor of being inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

If you have not done so already, take some time and listen to Bob's radio show, and many segments are available right here on this blog. Visit our official Web site and discover for yourself what many have overlooked or forgotten about Bob Crane. Join us on Facebook and Twitter and become a real part of this campaign - your vote truly does count!

Thank you one and all for your support!

Freedom Is Not Free - Honoring Our U.S. Military Heroes / Memorial Day 2012

On this Memorial Day, we pause to remember and honor those who have fallen in the line of duty, and we thank all who are serving and who have served in our United States Armed Forces.

Benjamin Reim, Washington, D.C.
Photo by Jeff Reim

World War II Memorial for Alfred John Crane, older brother of Bob Crane.
National World War II Memorial Registry

The Bob Crane Show / Introduction
U.S. Armed Forces Radio and Television Network
July 1968

(Bob Crane gave many hours of his time to the U.S. Armed Forces Radio and Television Network during the late 1960s and also served in the U.S. National Guard in his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut, from June 1948 to May 1950.)

Bob Crane, Radio's Man of 1000 Voices, Appears on 'The Twilight Zone' / March 1961

When Bob Crane was hired at KNX-CBS Radio in September 1956, CBS expected great things from their new morning man. And Bob did not disappoint. Having honed his broadcasting craft and successfully created his own brand of comedy on the East Coast, he had quickly earned a formidable reputation and a dynamic following on the West Coast.  

CBS also realized that Bob Crane was not going to be someone who would just settle in and be content doing the same thing over and over again for the rest of his life. Bob had already expressed an interest in acting, and the last thing they wanted was to lose their star right out of the gate. Included in Bob's contract with CBS Radio was a five-year no-acting clause prohibiting him from acting professionally during the first five years of his employment at KNX. While Bob did perform in community theatre in Southern California and make a brief appearance in the pilot episode for the unaired series Picture Window, Bob refrained from acting professionally between the years 1956 and 1961.

The Twilight Zone - "Static" 

Air Date March 10, 1961

Bob Crane / Uncredited Role as Radio Announcer

Starring Dean Jagger as Ed Lindsay (shown in this clip)

The moment the clause expired, however, Bob began seeking out acting roles. By 1961, after five years of working at KNX, he had already met, interviewed, and subsequently networked with most of the Hollywood circuit - actors, directors, producers, musicians, and writers - most of whom had been guests on his radio show. Bob had strategically placed himself in the best position possible to enter the acting field.

Bob's official migration from radio to television began with The Twilight Zone in the episode "Static," which aired on March 10, 1961. Although not a credited role, it was a role in which Bob was most comfortable - a radio announcer. It was the perfect vehicle for Bob to get his feet wet in television. Plus, this role was so much more than just one radio announcer; Bob plays the announcer plus a variety of different voices emanating from the sound box. Radio's "Man of a Thousand Voices" had just landed on television.

The Twilight Zone - "Static" 

Air Date March 10, 1961

Bob Crane / Uncredited Role as Radio Announcer
Starring Dean Jagger as Ed Lindsay (shown in this clip)

After his work on The Twilight Zone, Bob accepted bit parts in other productions, including Return to Peyton Place (released in May 1961), Man Trap (released September 20, 1961), and General Electric Theater in the episode "The $200 Parlay" (aired October 15, 1961), which also guest-starred Maureen Arthur. Bob would work with Maureen Arthur again in The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (released October 14, 1968). Eventually, Bob was cast as Harry Rogers in the episode "Somebody Has to Play Cleopatra" on The Dick Van Dyke Show (aired December 26, 1962), paving the way for more substantial roles. Bob was hired shortly thereafter by Donna Reed to portray neighbor Dr. Dave Kelsey on The Donna Reed Show, with his first episode being "The Two Doctors Stone" (aired March 14, 1963).

Bob's versatile talents are clearly heard in these two clips from The Twilight Zone episode "Static." Listen closely. The voices you hear coming from the radio are mostly - if not all - Bob's own.

Bob Crane Introduces Dean Martin's 'On an Evening in Roma' - KNX / March 9, 1962

This one's for all our Dean Martin fans out there! One of our favorite recordings of Bob Crane's KNX radio show comes from the morning of March 9, 1962. Here, in this clip from that morning's show, Bob chats away after a Delta Airlines commercial; pokes some fun at his engineer, Jack Chapman; and then introduces Dean Martin's "On an Evening in Roma." Following the creative chaos, Bob plays the record, but not without adding a playful jab at the lyrics.

Take a listen - We bet you'll be humming this one for the rest of the day, not to mention wishing you were strolling down the avenues and streets of Rome!

'On an Evening in Roma' - Dean Martin

The Bob Crane Show / KNX-CBS Radio

March 9, 1962

Bob Crane Appears on 'The Red Skelton Hour' - 1967

On January 10, 1967, Bob Crane appeared on The Red Skelton Hour, during which he played drums in a lively rendition of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" and performed a magic trick spoof with Red Skelton and John Banner. The studio audience ate it up, as Bob showcased his drumming talents and then hammed it up with Skelton and Banner. "Colonel Hogan" and "Sergeant Schultz" had many talents it seemed, and seeing them outside their normal setting was a treat.

Bob Crane on The Red Skelton Hour

"These Boots Are Made for Walking"

January 10, 1967

Bob made countless television appearances since his debut on the pilot for the unaired series Picture Window in 1959, and he was driven to keep bettering himself in his art and career. After his success on Hogan's Heroes, he wanted to make the jump into motion pictures and follow in the footsteps of one of his screen idols, Jack Lemmon. However, for many television actors - and even moreso for those who become television stars - it is a difficult move, even today. A television star can easily become typecast as his or her onscreen persona, and what the audience sees from that point forward is not the actor portraying a new role in a different show, but the iconic character playing that new role.

Bob Crane and John Banner appear 

with Red Skelton on The Red Skelton Hour

January 10, 1967

During his work on Hogan's Heroes, Bob received countless television and movie offers - many of which he turned down. As he said in a 1968 interview: "You want to be the best in your field. It's the opportunity to be choosy. I've been given more scripts lately by people who know I'll be on hiatus from Hogan's Heroes for five months. But none of the scripts are the kind of movie I'd go to. And I've read things similar to The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz, which is about an eastern European female athlete who defects to the West. I said, 'What am I, a Cold War comedian?' I turned down more offers to be Jack Paar or Johnny Carson or Steve Allen before the people on The Donna Reed Show gave me a chance to earn while I learned."

Bob Crane with Francine York and Red Skelton 

(as "Freddie the Freeloader") on

The Red Skelton Hour - January 10, 1967

Bob thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated his work on Hogan's Heroes, and he brought the character of Colonel Hogan to life. However, after the series was cancelled in 1971, he felt pigeon-holed by the character, and he was unable to get the parts he desired. When people saw him, they didn't see Bob Crane. They saw Colonel Hogan. Even some directors could not escape the Hogan facade, with one director stating it was like watching Colonel Hogan in the role.

It has often been said that Colonel Hogan is the role Bob Crane was "born to play." In fact, he played the part to such perfection that it appeared he did so effortlessly on screen. Nominated for two Emmy Awards, Bob lost out both times, with the main reason being that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences did not think he was acting. In their eyes, Bob Crane was just being himself when he played the role of Hogan, which was not the case. By his own admission, he had worked very hard at the part, toning down his normally animated and jovial personality and allowing Hogan to become a more serious hero in the style of John Wayne, another of his screen idols. 

In the final years of his life, Bob was searching for a new niche, and had he lived, given his ambition and commitment to achieving his goals, he most likely would have found it. Just months before his murder, in the spring of 1978, Bob wrapped production on the pilot of a potential new television series, The Hawaii Experience. During the show, Bob served as host and tour guide, taking viewers around the island of Oahu and all of the Hawaiian Islands, giving the audience an inside look at Hawaii's tourism industry. Could this have been an unsung predecessor of The Travel Channel? We will never know. The project was abandoned shortly after Bob's death. However, The Hawaii Experience was an infantile step in the direction of reality TV as we know it today. Again, and as he always had been, Bob was lightyears ahead of his time.

Ultimately, Bob Crane will always be "best known as Colonel Hogan from Hogan's Heroes." But his comedic talent, acting capabilities, and audience rapport stretched far beyond this one particular character. Watching Bob perform different roles and characters in various settings, while removing the Colonel Hogan persona, one can appreciate his work in the entertainment industry on a much deeper, more critically acclaimed level.

Bob Crane Interviews Meredith Wilson and Rini Wilson - KNX / 1964

If you are a fan of Broadway musicals, then there is no doubt you know the name Meredith Wilson, whose plays include The Music Man (for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Album), The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Here's Love, a Broadway adaptation of the film Miracle on 34th Street. He also composed the score to Charlie Chaplin's 1940 film, The Great Dictator, and he worked with the United States Armed Forces Radio Network during World War II. In addition, he wrote many popular songs, including "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas."

In the spring of 1964, Meredith Wilson and his second wife, Ralini "Rini" Zavora, an accomplished singer, were guests on Bob Crane's KNX morning radio show. Of all the recordings we have of Bob's radio work, this is perhaps the most heartwarming. During their interview, Bob encourages Rini to sing "My Wish," a song from the play Here's Love, which was still in theatres at that time. With Meredith cuing the lyrics softly, Rini sings the tune perfectly. Bob then glides effortlessly into the cast recording, performed by Craig Stevens. None of it had been rehearsed or planned.

The lyrics are very touching, and they could have easily been written for Bob Crane. Bob's hopes were always high. During his short life, he achieved all his goals, and his star shone brightly. His smile was always radiant. His heart was warm, he was joyful, and he sought peace. Bob loved his family and his friends dearly, and his children most of all.

Both versions of the song as aired over Bob Crane's KNX show are featured here. We hope you find all that the song's lyrics wish for you.



Bob Crane Interviews Meredith and Rini Wilson
"My Wish" - Performed by Rini Wilson and Craig Stevens
The Bob Crane Show / KNX-CBS Radio - 1964

My Wish

May your hopes be as high

As high as the sky's highest star.

May your star be as bright

As bright as your smile.

May your smile be as warm

As warm as your place in the sun.

May your place in the sun

Give you peace.

May the peace in your heart

Give you joy in your heart

May your heart know the meaning of love.

May the love you will know

When you know you're in love

Be forever, and ever as true

As the love I have given to you.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Note: On December 6, 1966, just a couple of years after this interview, Rini Wilson passed away. Meredith Wilson passed away in 1984 at the age of 82. He is buried in Mason City, Iowa.

Bob Crane For... Dodger Bat Boy? November 1957

Bob Crane presents then-President of the
LA Dodgers Walter O'Malley with a
"Hogan's Heroes" jeep mounted on a plaque.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Dodger Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, we know not everyone is a Dodgers fan, and that's ok! But when an iconic sports landmark celebrates a golden anniversary, you've got to pay homage.

Of course, Bob Crane was also a loyal Dodgers fan - first when the team was located in Brooklyn, and then in 1957, when the team moved to Los Angeles. Later that same year, Bob began a serious campaign over his KNX radio program - he wanted to be the next Dodger Bat Boy. His campaign manager? His 6-year-old son Bobby. 

In this clip from November 13, 1957, little Bobby Crane talks with some important reporters and KNX staff in the effort to have his father elected as the next Dodger Bat Boy. There was only one slight problem...when asked what his favorite team was, Bobby answered, "The Giants!"

Bob Crane Campaign for Dodger Bat Boy
(Featuring Bobby Crane, age 6)
The Bob Crane Show / KNX-CBS Radio
November 13, 1957