Posted on 01/25/2015 4:56:35 PM PST by 9thLife
NEW YORK (AP) — Pioneering radio and TV host Joe Franklin, who gave breaks to the likes of Al Pacino and Bill Cosby on his variety show long before they became famous and who boasted he never missed a broadcast in decades, has died at age 88.
He died Saturday of cancer, which he had had for a few years, longtime producer and friend Steven Garrin said. Franklin often is credited with developing the standard TV talk show format, sitting behind a desk while interviewing wanna-be celebrities, minor celebrities and the occasional bona fide celebrity.
The host of "The Joe Franklin Show" started in TV in 1950. By the early 1990s, he often said, he had chatted with more than 300,000 guests, including Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minnelli and Madonna. But the notables often had to share air time on his low-budget show with a tap-dancing dentist or a man who whistled through his nose.
Garrin recalled how Franklin, who was parodied by Billy Crystal on "Saturday Night Live," hired a young Bette Midler as his studio singer and gave a chance on his show to every up-and-comer trying to make it big: Bruce Springsteen, Woody Allen and Dustin Hoffman among them. "He was a wonderful guy," Garrin said Sunday. "He gave everybody an opportunity."
After Franklin's TV show ended in 1993, he worked on his late-night radio show. He continued to work even after he developed cancer, doing celebrity interviews on the Bloomberg Radio Network.
Tuesday was the first scheduled broadcast Franklin had missed in more than 60 years, said Garrin, who worked with him for 20 of those years, booking all his interviews and recording the shows in his studios in Times Square between 1991 and 2010.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
I totally regret not watching more Joe Franklin.
RIP.
We can also thank him for Dramarama. One of the last real ‘rock’ bands America ever produced...and that American pop culture rejected.
Sorry to hear this.
His interview with NRBQ drummer Tom Ardolino was classic.
Condolences to family and friends of Joe Franklin.
A local, old school classic...I remember watching with my folks and watch he and Sinatra go back and forth like old friends.....I also remember John and Yoko being on one show, looking back, he could hold his own with anybody - RIP Mr. Franklin
I googled this.
I don't know how I never listened to this band before. It's amazing how far you can in life missing so much...
I remember back in the infancy of cable, the early 1980s, watching him on some New York network.
Seemed like a genuinely nice fellow.
RIP
” I remember back in the infancy of cable, the early 1980s, watching him on some New York network. “
Channel 9 WOR. Right after “Million Dollar Movie” at like 2 AM.
And Billy Crystal's priceless impersonations of Joe Franklin.
300,000 guests.... I wonder if he or the current tv hosts can remember all those they interview or does it all become a blur.
I was sorry to hear about Franklin. I knew he was still alive and yet I thought he was older because he’s been on TV for as long as I can remember. I met him once in his office when I was in high school. That was close to 35 years ago so he would have been in his early 50s at the time. He was a nice guy.
He wasn’t so good with numbers. That figure works out to 140 guests per week. Not quite, but the real number was up there.
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