Hogan's Heroes - General Discussion

[David T. Cole]

Discuss Hogan's Heroes Here!

[Espie]

Well, we can start the ball rolling with Howard Caine. He of course played Major Hochstetter of the Gestapo, but he also played a Jewish man married to Judy Garland's character in "Judgment at Nuremburg". Richard Widmark was trying to convince Garland to testify at the Nuremburg Trials (against Werner Klemperer, among others!) while Caine fearfully tried to persuade her not to.

[Espie]

Okay, here's one: during Richard Dawson's stint on Match Game, host Gene Rayburn read off a Hogan's Heroes question. Possibly it was Dawson's usual cool veneer, or possibly he was a bit irritated, but he didn't crack a smile and didn't appear to take it as a compliment. I can't remember it word for word but it was something to do with a suggestion to Colonel Hogan of what should be added to the tunnel, and the popular answer was "toll booth" because of all the traffic down there.

[Wordsworth]

Sigrid Valdis, who played Klink's secretary, Hilda, was married to show star, Bob Crane, from 1970-1978.  

[Wordsworth]

Howard Caine also played a dim-witted Neo-Nazi in the fourth season "Twilight Zone" episode "He's Alive" with Dennis Hopper as the star of the episode.

Leon Askin was in the James Cagney comedy, "One, Two, Three" as a Commnunist official.

 

 

[FormerMod-a1]

One of the ones I always remember is when a whole other prison camp escaped and Hogan and crew had to hide them in Stalag 13 while they figured out how to get them all to safety.

And any episode with Crittendon. I thought he was too buffoonish.

[Ubiquitous]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but did Schultz and Helga (both of them) know what was going on? I watched an ep I had never seen before where Hogan's crew somehow commandeered a German bomber plane and bombed a refinery with a captured obnoxious friend of Klink's and parachuted (with Schultch, who had somehow gotten on the plane) over Stalaag 13 as the pilot who was escaping went back to Britain. Schultz overlooked a LOT of funny business throughout this ep, but I have seen others where he really seems to know nothing.

[Milz]

Ubiquitious wrote:

 

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but did Schultz and Helga (both of them) know what was going on? I watched an ep I had never seen before where Hogan's crew somehow commandeered a German bomber plane and bombed a refinery with a captured obnoxious friend of Klink's and parachuted (with Schultch, who had somehow gotten on the plane) over Stalaag 13 as the pilot who was escaping went back to Britain. Schultz overlooked a LOT of funny business throughout this ep, but I have seen others where he really seems to know nothing.

 

Schultz saw a lot of things, but didn't say anything.  I think his rationale was "if I tell Klink, I'll get into more trouble."  In one episode, he even tells Hogan something like "I have to be on our side once in a while"  our side meaning the German side. My impression is that after his toy factory was shut down by the NAZIs and turned into a munitions factory, Schultz either was drafted or re-enlisted (he was a WWI vet and saved a young lieutenant who later became a general and visited Stalag 13). Due to his age, he was assigned to Stalag 13, and he's just waiting for the war to end so he can start making toys again.

 

Helga, I think, knew more than Hilda.

[edoug]

He ignored a lot of what Hogan did mainly out of self preservation. I don't think he had a clue to everything Hogan was doing but he did know that he could get people and other things into and out of camp. Helga really liked Hogan and what he got for her but didn't mind being on the arms of a German officer. Other than Klink or Hochstetter.

[edoug]

My favorites were when the Germans would put a spy in the barracks.

 

I really liked the Crittendon episodes. Excpt Lady Chitterly's Lover two parter.

 

I hated the one when there was a real jerk POW that was going to turn traitor.

 

[henrysmom]

My favorites would be any of the ones with Gertrude Linkmeyer, the sister General Burkhalter was trying to marry off to Col. Klink (or anybody else).

 

The only episode I didn't like was Hogan Goes Hollywood, with the turncoat Hollywood star who thinks he's famous enough to get away with working with the Germans.  Though when I looked on IMDB to find the name of the episode I found out the actor who played the star Byron Buckles was in no less than three other Hogan's Heroes episodes, one of which I really liked (Who stole my copy of Mein Kampf?, where Hogan is pretending to be a convert to Nazism to get rid of a British female traitor).  I had no clue that was the same actor playing the man in charge of the propaganda broadcast Hogan goes on.  The actor was Alan Oppenheimer and looking over his credits, it looks like the man was in <everything> back in the day.  Amazing.

[Maherjunkie]

I hated that ep too!  I don't think they would have given Hogan that much free rein over shooting regardless.

[Maherjunkie]

I think she tolerated the Germans like that maid tolerated Strom Thurmond.

[fernsehen]

The four major German roles (Klink, Schultz, Burkhalter, and Hochstetter) and LeBeau were played by Jewish actors Werner Klemperer, John Banner, Leon Askin, Howard Caine, and Robert Clary.  Caine was American-born-and-raised, the others fled the Nazis in the '30s and '40s.  More details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan%27s_Heroes

[Maherjunkie]

I know we all know the endings to the show but does anyone ever have that get back upstairs/you're gonna be caught! feeling?  I am always amazed at how much time they aren't the barracks.

[Milz]

They always have someone guarding the door. But there are a couple of times when Schultz walks in and sees Kinch or someone coming out of the tunnel. But since Schultz sees nothing, it's okay.

[Maherjunkie]

Good point, but it would take a lot of hustle.

[Maherjunkie]

Why don't we start off general and pick a theme next round if you all are interested?

 

A is for Allies

[henrysmom]

B is for Burkhalter.

[henrysmom]

I thought others would be interested in reading this article about Robert Clary, the last surviving cast member.  If you don't know his story, this is a fascinating introduction:

 

http://www.hillcountrynews.com/entertainment/article_c4561c04-1777-11e4-bbb1-0019bb2963f4.html

[Maherjunkie]

C is for Carter.

[henrysmom]

One thing I found interesting while obsessively watching the DVDs was that only Bob Crane and Werner Klemperer appeared in every episode of the show.  All the other lead actors didn't appear in at least one show.  Sometimes their dialogue was taken over by a minor character (when John Banner was missing from When Will the Blue Baron Strike Again?).  Other times another actor vaguely resembling the missing actor took their place (William Christopher took Larry Hovis' place once).  And sometimes the person isn't replaced at all (like when Ivan Dixon was missing from the Operation Hannibal episode).

 

I've often wondered why the actors were missing.  Does anybody know?

[SeriousPurrs]

My first thought is they were sick and not important enough to hold up shooting til they were well. Just spitballing.

[Maherjunkie]

My grandmother told me they were on vacation when I was a little kid.

[SeriousPurrs]

D is for Deutschland.

[Maherjunkie]

E is for eager, which the men always were for girls.

[henrysmom]

F is for Frankel, as in Lily Frankel (who was actually two different characters in two different episodes, but with the same name, and played by the same actress--if that makes any sense)

[henrysmom]

I wish I could say I was clever enough as a kid to notice they were missing!  But even watching the episodes on DVD as an adult I didn't notice unless the actor was replaced with somebody else.  It was only then I started to realize there were a fair number of episodes where an actor didn't appear.  

 

 

[FormerMod-a1]

G is for Germany.

[Maherjunkie]

H is for Hogan of course.

[edoug]

I is for Ingenious. Ingenious is how you would describe Col. Hogan's plans for disrupting the Nazi's war effort.

[Maherjunkie]

J is for Johann Schmidt, who Hogan encouraged Klink to address his paperwork to.

[Maherjunkie]

Thursday, August 14, 2014

An Open Statement from Karen Crane on Robin Williams and His Children
Karen Crane, daughter of Bob Crane, has responded to the tragic death of Robin Williams, the family he leaves behind (specifically his children), and those who malign others in public. The Crane family has born the brunt of public harassment and ridicule for decades following Bob's 1978 murder. In light of Robin Williams' death and in response to the hostility shown toward Robin's daughter Zelda via social media, Karen has openly stated the following:

"I saw this tonight and couldn't stop crying. I've been worried about his children, specifically his daughter, and then I see this. And I WISH that I couldn't relate, but I do. The sudden tragic death of a well-loved public figure, no matter whose hands caused it, as in my dad's murder or Robin Williams' suicide ~ It's the family who's left to dodge the verbal bullets, and it's not fair! I know because I've lived it, and I relate to how abusive the public can be, voicing their cutting opinions about a man, my father or HER father, whom they never met, and all while they sit safely at their computers behind locked doors. But even more unnerving is when they have the balls (sorry) to actually say it to my face. My dad's faults became public, but it never changed the fact that I love him, and he'll always be my dad. And I'd bet that Robin's daughter was close with her dad, too. My life's nightmare may finally get some rest after unloading it on paper, but this poor girl's nightmare is just beginning, and I can only hope that she doesn't end up going down a similar tragic path like her dad." 
~Karen Crane

http://vote4bobcrane.blogspot.com/2014/08/an-open-statement-from-karen-crane-on.html

[SeriousPurrs]

@Maherjunkie Thank you for posting that touching statement from Karen Crane. It's truly terrible and horrifying that the torment goes on and on for it seems the rest of their lives just because they are related to the famous person.

[henrysmom]

K is for Klink, our beloved Kommandant.

[henrysmom]

So sad that Karen Crane is still struggling.  I lost my dad a couple of years ago and it has been really hard, but at least I didn't have to deal with the sort of nonsense she and the Williams children have to.

[Maherjunkie]

L is for Luftwaffe.

[edoug]

M is for Momma Bear

[FormerMod-a1]

N is for Newkirk

[fernsehen]

O is for Officer

[TommyD]

P is for Papa Bear

Edited August 19, 2014 by TommyD

[Maherjunkie]

Q is for quashing the Nazis.

[henrysmom]

R is for Robert Clary.

[Maherjunkie]

S is for the SS men.

[Maherjunkie]

Tis for tunnel!

[edoug]

U is for the Underground.

[Maherjunkie]

V is for Volmacht 

[FormerMod-a1]

W is for Werner Klemperer.

[henrysmom]

X is for Mr. X, the man Hogan convinced Klink was out to assassinate him in "The Reluctant Target".

[Maherjunkie]

Z is for Zionists, many of whom were victimized by the Nazis.