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Joe Franklin (March 9, 1926 – January 24, 2015), born Joseph Fortgang, was an American radio and television host personality, author and actor from New York City. Franklin is noted for having the first and inventing the format. His television series debuted in January 1951 on WJZ-TV (later ), moving to WOR-TV (later ) in 1962, remaining there until 1993, one of the longest running uninterrupted careers in broadcasting history.


Early life
Franklin was born Joseph Fortgang on March 9, 1926, in , New York, the elder of two children, to parents, Anna (Heller) and Martin Fortgang. He acknowledged in his memoirs, Up Late With Joe Franklin, (which was written with R. J. Marx), that his press materials had long said, purposely, that he had been born in 1928, but he planned to come clean about his real birth date. As a teenager, Franklin "followed around" and , the latter of whom eventually began buying jokes from the young Franklin and whose show he later produced. At age 18, Franklin was drafted into the United States Army, serving in World War II. Https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-joe-franklin-20150127-story.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Joe Franklin dies at 88; interviewed 'plate twirlers' and stars. Los Angeles Times via . Retrieved August 13, 2020. Https://www.nndb.com/people/433/000022367/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Joe Franklin, NNDB Tracking the Entire World. . Retrieved August 13, 2020.


Career
At 14, Franklin began writing skits for The Hour; and at 16, Franklin officially began his entertainment career as a record picker on radio sensation 's Make Believe Ballroom where he became known as "The Young Wreck with the Old Records". By the time he was 21, he embarked on a radio career. He was also considered to be an authority on popular culture of the first half of the 20th century, including silent films. He was called "The King of Nostalgia" and "The Wizard of Was" for focusing on old-time show-business personalities. Franklin was also a pioneer in promoting products such as Hoffman Beverages and ginger ale on the air. A&E's documentary It's Only Talk, The Real Story Of America's Talk Shows credits Franklin as the creator of the television talk show. Franklin was listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest running continuous on-air TV talk show host, more than a decade longer than 's run.

In 1999, Franklin partnered with Producer Steve Garrin and Restaurant Mogul Dennis Riese to open Joe Franklin's Memory Lane Restaurant on West 45th Street in Broadway's theater district. "Joe Franklin's Memory Lane Bar & Restaurant is NOW OPEN...", JoeFranklin.com; accessed January 26, 2015. After the restaurant closed in 2003 it reopened the following year as "Joe Franklin's Comedy Club" on West 50th Street. Many name comedians came to the club and performed on stage to break in their new material, and many aspiring comics got their first stage time there. It closed in 2005.

After retiring from his television show, Franklin concentrated on his overnight radio show, playing old records on on Saturday evenings and mentoring thousands of aspiring entertainers who for decades sought an audience with him at his notoriously cluttered office. Franklin's celebrity interviews, known as "Nostalgia Moments", appeared daily on the until mid-January 2015, shortly before his death.


Famous guests
Franklin's guests included an eclectic mix of actual celebrities and low-level performers, sometimes on the same panel. He claimed to have had on his program, a dubious statement since Chaplin left the United States in 1952, shortly after Franklin's TV debut. Franklin took credit for discovering or giving early exposure to , , , , and . He interviewed and , William F. Buckley and , and , and .

Other guest claims include , (with whom Franklin co-authored "The Marilyn Monroe Story" in 1953), , The Beastie Boys, , , , , Salvador Dalí, , , , and , , , Roger Williams, , , , , Anita O'Day, and five U.S. presidents (including John F. Kennedy and ). "Joe Franklin Talk Show Icon Dies", Theaterpizzazz.com. January 25, 2015. As with the Chaplin claim, some of these appearances were unable to be independently confirmed based on a lack of evidence, since still pictures taken on the set do not exist for several of the people listed, and little video from before the 1970s survives. Bette Midler was the show's in-house singer for a time, and her accompanist. Elizabeth Joyce was his in-house psychic/astrologer. Franklin never employed a co-host, but his producer, Richie Ornstein, was a standard feature on the Joe Franklin Show who interacted with guests and discussed trivia.

Woody Allen, , , Barbra Streisand, , Bruce Springsteen, , , , and They Might Be Giants got their first television exposure on The Joe Franklin Show. reportedly appeared four times. Franklin frequently appeared at his restaurant, where he conducted live, in-person interviews with entertainers such as , Anita O'Day and , who impersonated Franklin on Saturday Night Live.


In media
Franklin appeared as himself in such New York-based films as , Broadway Danny Rose, and 29th Street. Franklin appeared on the first episode of This American Life giving host advice on how to have a successful show. He was also a guest on (4th) an early episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. He also made appearances in various works by New York low-budget film company Troma Entertainment, making a cameo as himself in their 1999 meta-fictional slasher film , as well as the 1993 The Troma System as the result of the commercial's host transforming into "the ultimate talk show host". Franklin appeared as himself in comedian ’s 1993 HBO comedy special Tracey Ullman Takes on New York, interviewing character Linda Granger on his talk show.

Franklin's show was first parodied by during the 1984–1985 season of Saturday Night Live.

On the locally produced program The Uncle Floyd Show, host parodied Franklin as "Joe Frankfurter".

In 1997, Franklin was profiled in the documentary film 50,000,000 Joe Franklin Fans Can't Be Wrong (1997), directed by Joshua Brown.

Also in 1997, Franklin was satirized by Drew Friedman in * Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental (with Josh Alan Friedman) (Fantagraphics Books, 1997)

Franklin appears in the 2005 documentary The Aristocrats, an anthology of absurdly crude humor.

In 2014, Franklin starred in and Andrew Lampert's comedic short film Jazzy for Joe, which featured Franklin raising an abandoned baby discovered on his doorstep. The film was programmed by Robert Downey Sr. and run as the finale of a 2014 retrospective of his own filmography at the late West Hollywood theater .Gayne, Zach, Screenanarchy, December 5, 2014, "Robert Downey Sr. On Truth, Soul, And Cinefamily"; accessed January 2, 2021.


Personal life
Franklin married Lois Meriden, a one-time performer with 's burlesque-style "fan dancers". They had a son, Bradley. Later, Franklin's longtime companion was Jodi Fritz.

Franklin died of at a Manhattan hospice on January 24, 2015, aged 88.


Selected books
  • 1953 The Marilyn Monroe Story, R. Field Company; Greenberg.
  • 1959 Classics of the Silent Screen: A Pictorial Treasury, The Citadel press (reprinted in 2013 by Literary Licensing, LLC); attributed to Franklin but actually written by noted film historian William K. Everson
  • 1974 Joe Franklin's Memory Lane Cookbook, Lion Books,
  • 1978 A Gift for People, M. Evans Company,
  • 1980 Joe Franklin's Awfully Corny Joke Book, Chelsea House Publishers,
  • 1981 Seventy Years of Great Film Comedians: A Joe Franklin Memory Lane Scrapbook, Global Communications,
  • 1985 Joe Franklin's Encyclopedia of Comedians, Bell Pub. Co.,
  • 1992 Joe Franklin's Movie Trivia, Hastings House,
  • 2001 Up Late with Joe Franklin, Scribner,
  • 2012 The Marilyn Monroe Story: The Intimate Inside Story of Hollywood's Hottest Glamour Girl., Campfire Network, .


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