Post by Whiterook on Apr 10, 2022 10:43:25 GMT -5
My Hero
My dad is, and always has been my Hero. He passed back in 2002, and I miss him every day. We got along great, mostly, and had our problems due to the stresses he was under. He’d lost his Beloved wife to cancer, her dying at the early age of 42 (I was 14), and it destroyed the parts of him that weren’t already damaged…
He was in the Canadian Army during WWII, prior to and including the Normandy Invasion, all the way to Berlin. He never talked about the war, and only accidentally (I caught him off guard when asking) about the scar on the back of his neck, which was from a German bullet… and when questioning the power of a half track, laughed and told me that he and pals got so drunk on cognac that he drove one up a tree (like, vertical). But he went through Hell and back. Learning from an aunt what he experienced upon returning home, with loud noises and airplanes over head, for instance, I am convinced he suffered extreme PTSD. Alcohol made the issues worse. But he was a hell of a man!
He took care of people up to the day he died; having moved back to Canada to his cottage by the sea in New Brunswick, he cared for a brother and sister until they passed, and others. More selfless than anyone I’ve ever personally known. We talked in humor and friendship, and we’re never angry with one another after I graduated (I was a pain in the ass as a kid). He was never judgmental. I feel blessed that he got to meet and know my wife, who loved him dearly. Yes… he’s my Hero!
Hogan’s Heroes
My dad and I never missed an episode! We watched a lot of war movies and television shows, mostly WWII. I think back on it and have long realized that it was one of the ways we connected on. Though he didn’t r talk if his war experiences, I could tell when he found something amusing, and when he saw something that rung true. I’d have been extremely interested to see what he’d have tight of Band of Brothers.
51 years ago today, the final episode of Hogan's Heroes aired. It ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network. Bob Crane starred as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, coordinating an international crew of Allied prisoners running a Special Operations group from the camp. Werner Klemperer played Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the incompetent commandant of the camp, and John Banner was the inept sergeant-of-the-guard, Hans Schultz.
Hogan's Heroes won two Emmy Awards out of twelve nominations. Both wins were for Werner Klemperer as Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy, in 1968 and 1969. Klemperer received nominations in the same category in 1966, 1967 and 1970. The series' other nominations were for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1966, 1967 and 1968; Bob Crane for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series in 1966 and 1967; Nita Talbot for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy in 1968; and Gordon Avil for cinematography in 1968.
In December 2005, the series was listed at number 100 as part of the "Top 100 Most Unexpected Moments in TV History" by TV Guide and TV Land. The show was described as an "unlikely POW camp comedy.
Hogan's Heroes was filmed in two locations. Indoor sets were housed at Desilu Studios, later renamed as Paramount Studios for Season Four and then Cinema General Studios for Seasons Five and Six. Outdoor scenes were filmed on the 40 Acres Backlot. 40 Acres was in Culver City, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The studios for indoor scenes were both located in Hollywood, CA. Undoubtedly, one of the most original and curious aspects was to create the effect that there was always a snowy winter, something unusual in warm Southern California, but normal in the German winter. The actors had to wear warm clothes and frequently act like they were cold, even though it was warm for much of the year and usually hot during summer.
Although it was never snowing on the film set and the weather was apparently sunny, there was snow on the ground and building roofs, and frost on the windows. The set designers created the illusion of snow two ways: the snow during the first several seasons was made out of salt. By the fourth season, the show’s producers found a more permanent solution and lower cost, using white paint to give the illusion of snow. By the sixth and final season – with a smaller budget – most of the snow shown on the set was made out of paint.
After the series ended in 1971, the set remained standing until it was destroyed in 1974 while the final scene of Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS was filmed
The actors who played the four major German roles—Werner Klemperer (Klink), John Banner (Schultz), Leon Askin (General Burkhalter), and Howard Caine (Major Hochstetter)—were all Jewish. Furthermore, Klemperer, Banner, and Askin had all fled the Nazis during World War II (Caine, whose birth name was Cohen, was an American). Further, Robert Clary, a French Jew who played LeBeau, spent three years in a concentration camp (with an identity tattoo from the camp on his arm, "A-5714"); his parents and other family members were killed there. Likewise, Banner had been held in a (pre-war) concentration camp and his family was killed during the war. Askin was also in a pre-war French internment camp and his parents were killed at Treblinka. Other Jewish actors, including Harold Gould and Harold J. Stone, made multiple appearances playing German generals.
As a teenager, Klemperer, the son of conductor Otto Klemperer, fled Hitler's Germany with his family in 1933. During the show's production, he insisted that Hogan always win against his Nazi captors, or else he would not take the part of Klink. He defended his role by claiming, "I am an actor. If I can play Richard III, I can play a Nazi." Banner attempted to sum up the paradox of his role by saying, "Who can play Nazis better than us Jews?" Klemperer, Banner, Caine, Gould, and Askin had all spent the real Second World War serving in the U.S. Armed Forces—Banner and Askin in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Caine in the U.S. Navy, Gould with the U.S. Army, and Klemperer in a U.S. Army Entertainment Unit. But the sitcom was not the first time Klemperer had played a Nazi: in 1961, he starred as the title character in the serious drama Operation Eichmann, which also featured Banner in a supporting role. Ruta Lee, Theodore Marcuse, and Oscar Beregi, Jr. also appeared in the film, each of whom went on to make several guest appearances on Hogan’s Heroes.
My dad is, and always has been my Hero. He passed back in 2002, and I miss him every day. We got along great, mostly, and had our problems due to the stresses he was under. He’d lost his Beloved wife to cancer, her dying at the early age of 42 (I was 14), and it destroyed the parts of him that weren’t already damaged…
He was in the Canadian Army during WWII, prior to and including the Normandy Invasion, all the way to Berlin. He never talked about the war, and only accidentally (I caught him off guard when asking) about the scar on the back of his neck, which was from a German bullet… and when questioning the power of a half track, laughed and told me that he and pals got so drunk on cognac that he drove one up a tree (like, vertical). But he went through Hell and back. Learning from an aunt what he experienced upon returning home, with loud noises and airplanes over head, for instance, I am convinced he suffered extreme PTSD. Alcohol made the issues worse. But he was a hell of a man!
He took care of people up to the day he died; having moved back to Canada to his cottage by the sea in New Brunswick, he cared for a brother and sister until they passed, and others. More selfless than anyone I’ve ever personally known. We talked in humor and friendship, and we’re never angry with one another after I graduated (I was a pain in the ass as a kid). He was never judgmental. I feel blessed that he got to meet and know my wife, who loved him dearly. Yes… he’s my Hero!
Hogan’s Heroes
My dad and I never missed an episode! We watched a lot of war movies and television shows, mostly WWII. I think back on it and have long realized that it was one of the ways we connected on. Though he didn’t r talk if his war experiences, I could tell when he found something amusing, and when he saw something that rung true. I’d have been extremely interested to see what he’d have tight of Band of Brothers.
51 years ago today, the final episode of Hogan's Heroes aired. It ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network. Bob Crane starred as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, coordinating an international crew of Allied prisoners running a Special Operations group from the camp. Werner Klemperer played Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the incompetent commandant of the camp, and John Banner was the inept sergeant-of-the-guard, Hans Schultz.
Hogan's Heroes won two Emmy Awards out of twelve nominations. Both wins were for Werner Klemperer as Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy, in 1968 and 1969. Klemperer received nominations in the same category in 1966, 1967 and 1970. The series' other nominations were for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1966, 1967 and 1968; Bob Crane for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series in 1966 and 1967; Nita Talbot for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy in 1968; and Gordon Avil for cinematography in 1968.
In December 2005, the series was listed at number 100 as part of the "Top 100 Most Unexpected Moments in TV History" by TV Guide and TV Land. The show was described as an "unlikely POW camp comedy.
Hogan's Heroes was filmed in two locations. Indoor sets were housed at Desilu Studios, later renamed as Paramount Studios for Season Four and then Cinema General Studios for Seasons Five and Six. Outdoor scenes were filmed on the 40 Acres Backlot. 40 Acres was in Culver City, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The studios for indoor scenes were both located in Hollywood, CA. Undoubtedly, one of the most original and curious aspects was to create the effect that there was always a snowy winter, something unusual in warm Southern California, but normal in the German winter. The actors had to wear warm clothes and frequently act like they were cold, even though it was warm for much of the year and usually hot during summer.
Although it was never snowing on the film set and the weather was apparently sunny, there was snow on the ground and building roofs, and frost on the windows. The set designers created the illusion of snow two ways: the snow during the first several seasons was made out of salt. By the fourth season, the show’s producers found a more permanent solution and lower cost, using white paint to give the illusion of snow. By the sixth and final season – with a smaller budget – most of the snow shown on the set was made out of paint.
After the series ended in 1971, the set remained standing until it was destroyed in 1974 while the final scene of Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS was filmed
The actors who played the four major German roles—Werner Klemperer (Klink), John Banner (Schultz), Leon Askin (General Burkhalter), and Howard Caine (Major Hochstetter)—were all Jewish. Furthermore, Klemperer, Banner, and Askin had all fled the Nazis during World War II (Caine, whose birth name was Cohen, was an American). Further, Robert Clary, a French Jew who played LeBeau, spent three years in a concentration camp (with an identity tattoo from the camp on his arm, "A-5714"); his parents and other family members were killed there. Likewise, Banner had been held in a (pre-war) concentration camp and his family was killed during the war. Askin was also in a pre-war French internment camp and his parents were killed at Treblinka. Other Jewish actors, including Harold Gould and Harold J. Stone, made multiple appearances playing German generals.
As a teenager, Klemperer, the son of conductor Otto Klemperer, fled Hitler's Germany with his family in 1933. During the show's production, he insisted that Hogan always win against his Nazi captors, or else he would not take the part of Klink. He defended his role by claiming, "I am an actor. If I can play Richard III, I can play a Nazi." Banner attempted to sum up the paradox of his role by saying, "Who can play Nazis better than us Jews?" Klemperer, Banner, Caine, Gould, and Askin had all spent the real Second World War serving in the U.S. Armed Forces—Banner and Askin in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Caine in the U.S. Navy, Gould with the U.S. Army, and Klemperer in a U.S. Army Entertainment Unit. But the sitcom was not the first time Klemperer had played a Nazi: in 1961, he starred as the title character in the serious drama Operation Eichmann, which also featured Banner in a supporting role. Ruta Lee, Theodore Marcuse, and Oscar Beregi, Jr. also appeared in the film, each of whom went on to make several guest appearances on Hogan’s Heroes.
