Joe Franklin, R.I.P.

[mjzee]

This probably means nothing to most of the country, but a tear must be shed.

Joe Franklin, Local Talk Show Pioneer, Dies at 88 - NYT

[Hardbopjazz]

I remeber Horace Silver being on his TV show on WWOR a few times in the early 80s.

[Hardbopjazz]

I tried to find a youtube video of Horace Silver on his show but no luck. Maybe none exists.

[sgcim]

JF provided TV exposure to young hopefuls whose very presence on the show almost guaranteed they were headed for oblivion.

I remember watching in astonishment at 2:00am when he had a singer on, who I once worked with named Muffin (yes, she looked like one), a jewish, born-again, lesbian, punk-rocker, who would be too wasted on booze and valium to make it up to the stand to belt out her atonal version of a Judy Garland medley.

You can't buy shit like that.

Marshall Effron and Marilyn Sokol did a parody of him on WBAI they called "The Frank Joklyn Show", which IMHO is the funniest thing ever produced by human beans.

RIP, Joe. Another part of NYC that is gone forever.

[paul secor]

JF provided TV exposure to young hopefuls whose very presence on the show almost guaranteed they were headed for oblivion.

I remember watching in astonishment at 2:00am when he had a singer on, who I once worked with named Muffin (yes, she looked like one), a jewish, born-again, lesbian, punk-rocker, who would be too wasted on booze and valium to make it up to the stand to belt out her atonal version of a Judy Garland medley.

You can't buy shit like that.

Marshall Effron and Marilyn Sokol did a parody of him on WBAI they called "The Frank Joklyn Show", which IMHO is the funniest thing ever produced by human beans.

RIP, Joe. Another part of NYC that is gone forever.

Iirc, Marshall Effron's parody lasted until Joe Franklin threatened to sue and WBAI couldn't afford to fight it in court. It was hilarious.

Here's a pass along e-mail I received from a friend:

Back in the 70s when Mingus’ Beneath The Underdog was published he was a guest on The Joe Franklin Show.

Virginia Graham, the daytime TV show host, was also a guest and preceded Mingus.

After the Graham segment Joe goes into his Hoffman soda spiel then says “When we return jazz great Charlie Yardbird Mingus”.

[Leeway]

That's a funny story! The show was filled with gaffes like that. Its sheer downmarket quality seemed to be its main attraction. Wasn't there also some long-running joke about Joe's toupe (or lack of one). Frankly, I didn't realize he had made it this far.

[Michael Weiss]

I remember seeing Bill Hardman on the show.

[sgcim]

JF provided TV exposure to young hopefuls whose very presence on the show almost guaranteed they were headed for oblivion.

I remember watching in astonishment at 2:00am when he had a singer on, who I once worked with named Muffin (yes, she looked like one), a jewish, born-again, lesbian, punk-rocker, who would be too wasted on booze and valium to make it up to the stand to belt out her atonal version of a Judy Garland medley.

You can't buy shit like that.

Marshall Effron and Marilyn Sokol did a parody of him on WBAI they called "The Frank Joklyn Show", which IMHO is the funniest thing ever produced by human beans.

RIP, Joe. Another part of NYC that is gone forever.

Iirc, Marshall Effron's parody lasted until Joe Franklin threatened to sue and WBAI couldn't afford to fight it in court. It was hilarious.

Here's a pass along e-mail I received from a friend:

Back in the 70s when Mingus’ Beneath The Underdog was published he was a guest on The Joe Franklin Show.

Virginia Graham, the daytime TV show host, was also a guest and preceded Mingus.

After the Graham segment Joe goes into his Hoffman soda spiel then says “When we return jazz great Charlie Yardbird Mingus”.

That's interesting, I wondered why they never played it again. I might have it on reel-to-reel tape somewhere, but I don't have a RTR recorder anymore. The best part was Marilyn Sokol playing a washed up actress/singer, Sarah Goy, singing an atonal version of "Lover Man", banging out nonsense chords on the piano!

I'm listening to Max Schmeed on WBAI this very second playing a tribute to JF.