"‘Hogan’s Heroes’ star Bob Crane on finding the..." Topic

…. humor in war (1965).

"Bob Crane, a breezy, articulate ex-drummer and recent disc jockey-turned-actor, stars in Hogan's Heroes, a CBS comedy series which has Col. Hogan (Crane) as the leader of Allied prisoners in a German POW camp in World War II.

There's the vainglorious German commandant, Col. Klink, played with gorgeous gullibility by Werner Klemperer — when stroked with a compliment, this man actually purrs. And there's Schultz, the guard, played by John Banner as a latter-day S Z (Cuddles) Sakall. Against such adversaries, Crane Operates as the personification of Yankee ingenuity — the glib, resourceful American.

The other day I talked with Mr. Crane, his Army Air Corps pilots' cap perched typically on the back of his head, as he analyzed the appeal of Hogan's Heroes…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Let's get creative in finishing the title to this post.

"Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane on finding the … camera was set to auto focus.

The other day I talked with Mr. Crane

Since he passed away in 1978, I wonder which day that was.

"Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane on finding the … Lost Ark in one of Stalag 13's tunnels.

Looks like the interview was 1965.
I saw the original cap/jacket at an air museum in Ohio. It seems that Mr. Crane was from Toledo & donated his items there. Also all the German main characters were played by Jewish actors on condition that they would make the Nazis look like fools. I found that interesting.

Ha-Ha-Ha….!

Amicalement
Armand

I remember listening to a radio program in which a woman said her uncle (I think) loved Hogan's Heros. Because during the war he'd worked for the OSS, designing tricky bits to help prisoners escape. Things like hollow chess pieces in which to hide notes and scarves with silk-screened escape maps. I have no idea if the woman was telling the truth (or if her uncle was), but it fits the weird atmosphere that seems to surround that show.

Hey Bob, rap once for yes and twice for no!

" Things like hollow chess pieces in which to hide notes and scarves with silk-screened escape maps. "

Yeah, they did stuff like that.

Also all the German main characters were played by Jewish actors on condition that they would make the Nazis look like fools.

Not only were they Jews, but several (not all) of them were refugees from Nazi oppression, or even concentration camp survivors.

And it was not only the German characters. Robert Clary, who played the French prisoner LeBeau, was a concentration camp survivor.

I got to know one of the cast members, Howard Caine, who played the Gestapo agent "Major Hochstetter", during the early 1980s. I was an apprentice to a theater troop in Hollywood in which he was a member (along with many other recognizable bit- and character-actors). His actual name was Cohen, changed to Caine as a stage name to make him more acceptable to middle America. He was VERY much an L.A. Jew -- I grew up among that community, and he fit all the stereotypes. But he was not a refugee or camp survivor. Rather, he was from the deep south, Dixie born-and-raised, and had served in the US Navy in WW2.

He taught a workshop in the troop, which I participated in. So I had multiple occasions to talk with/ work with him. A very interesting fellow. Could do almost any accent you could request, and be quite convincing. But I don't think he could play any other role after Hogan's Heroes.

Once a Nazi …

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

I had heard that in reality Crane was a real "skirt chaser". I even think he had a bit of a "fling" with the actress who played Helga, IIRC …

He had a huge collection of home made sex tapes from what I recall hearing on Howard Stern's radio show back in the day.