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Been deep diving into Hogan's Heroes. For those of you that don't know it, it was a sitcom set during WWII which followed the exploits of a group Allied prisoners running a special operations group from inside a Nazi prison of war camp. Bob Crane played Colonel Hogan. 1/?
Aside from being the character after which the show was named, Bob got to show off a lot of his lesser known talents during the run of the series (168 episodes over 6 seasons). One of my favorite moments was when he showed off his drumming skills.
The show was filled with hidden talents, and not just something like musicianship. The writers of the show had a goal of showing the Nazi's in a (comedically) negative light - that much is obvious. But who they got to portray the major German roles to do so is inspired. 3/
The actors who played the four major German roles—Werner Klemperer (Klink), John Banner (Schultz), Leon Askin (Burkhalter), and Howard Caine (Hochstetter) were Jewish. Klemperer, Banner, and Askin were Jews that fled the Nazis during World War II. 4/
The actors were all a bit apprehensive about portraying Nazi's, but when they saw the context, it made sense. Also, Klemperer had it put into his contract that Klink could never visibly harm anyone and he also could never "win". He was always to be a fool. 5/
As he stated, ''I had one qualification when I took the job: if they ever wrote a segment whereby Colonel Klink would come out the hero, I would leave the show." 6/
Klemperer served with the US Army during WWII as did John Banner. Banner enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, underwent basic training in Atlantic City and became a supply sergeant. He even posed for a recruiting poster. 7/
Banner fled religious persecution in Germany in 1939. Unable to speak English, he got work as a stage actor in New York by memorizing his lines phonetically. He appeared in over 40 feature films and 70 TV appearances before Hogan's Heroes. 8/
Lengthy earlier careers were the norm for many of the stars of the show. Leon Askin (General Burkhalter) had a comprehensive resume of supporting and lead roles and, during Hogan's Heroes, directed at the Pasadena Playhouse (where Klemperer studied in his youth). 9/
I didn't know that Askin Austria fled to the United States in 1940, after having been detained, beaten, and abused by the Nazi SA and SS. In fact, this is where he gained the wicked scar on his right cheek. He had certain elements and reason he chose to play a Nazi general. 10/
He said that he played Burkhalter to be "always irritable, always being upset, a man who had just swallowed a rotten olive". In this way the audience could have no sympathy for the character. As to why he, a Jewish actor, would play this role - his response says a lot. 11/
"From the very beginning Hogan's Heroes, as a show, was misunderstood. It was about a POW camp, a prisoner of war camp, a Stalag. Now in Stalags there are soldiers under the Geneva convention. It was not a concentration camp. They are two very different things... 12/
...If you want to make fun of your enemy, if you want to belittle them, the best thing you can do is to use humor."
Askin had a clear distinction of where it was set and also that the goal of the show was to belittle Nazis. He was using the best weapon he had. 13/
Askin had a clear distinction of where it was set and also that the goal of the show was to belittle Nazis. He was using the best weapon he had. 13/
Before Howard Caine portrayed the mercurial SS Major Hochstetter, he had hundreds of appearances on stage, movies, and TV. A year after Hogan's Heroes went off the air, Caine played Lewis Morris of New York in the musical film 1776. These actors were all so versatile! 14/
Like Askin, Caine also played other characters in Hogan's Heroes before appearing as Hochstetter. While Hochstetter was only supposed to have a couple of appearances, he ended up being in 37 episodes. He was also an incredible linguist. 15/
Originally from Nashville, Caine worked to mask his southern accent. This came naturally to him, and Caine ended up mastering 32 foreign and American dialects. He also spoke multiple languages. It's no wonder his accent is so spot on. 16/
The final Jewish member of the regular was Robert Clary who played LeBeau. Born Robert Widerman in Paris in 1926, the youngest of fourteen children. Clary was deported to the Nazi concentration camps in 1942 but miraculously was liberated from Buchenwald in 1945... 17
...Tragically he was the only one of thirteen deported family members to survive. At Buchenwald, he sang to an audience of SS soldiers every other Sunday, accompanied by an accordionist. 18/
He said, "Singing, entertaining, and being in kind of good health at my age, that's why I survived. I was very immature and young and not really fully realizing what situation I was involved with. I don't know if I would have survived if I really knew that." 19/
Asked about parallels between LeBeau's incarceration and his own, Clary said, "Stalag 13 is not a concentration camp. It's a POW camp, and that's a world of difference. You never heard of a prisoner of war being gassed or hanged..." 20/
"When the show went on the air, people asked me if I had any qualms about doing a comedy series dealing with Nazis and concentration camps..." /21
"...I had to explain that it was about prisoners of war in a Stalag, not a concentration camp, and although I did not want to diminish what soldiers went through during their internments, it was like night and day from what people endured in concentration camps." /22
It really strikes me that this distinction was so vital so people that lived through those times. It was important to take a piss out of the Nazis but not to trivialize the horrors of concentration camps. /23
There are so many other interesting, strange, and fun tidbits about the show. The instrumental march that opened and closed each episode had secret lyrics. Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon and Larry Hovis formed a quartet of singing Heroes for the show's soundtrack. /24
Heroes, heroes, husky men of war,
Sons of all the heroes of the war before.
We're all heroes up to our ear-o's
You ask the questions
We make suggestions
That's what we're heroes for. /25
Sons of all the heroes of the war before.
We're all heroes up to our ear-o's
You ask the questions
We make suggestions
That's what we're heroes for. /25
