Good old Bing Crosby productions has a most unlikely hit with this comedy. Imagine a pow camp in World War 2 with inept Germans & smart & funny allied prisoners cutting up the air waves every week. That is what this was.
The creators of this show were not in any way connected with the hit Broadway show Stalag 17. The idea and inspirtion might have been from it, but Stalag 17 is more drama than Comedy. What the creators of Hogan's Heros did is all Comedy and no drama. They took a talented cast of actors and created a farce that highlighted the cast. As I write this, only Robert Clary (Lebeau) at 94 years old is still alive from the main cast. Kenneth Washington who replaced Ivan Dixon is the other survivor from the main cast. After the show ended in 1971, John Banner and Leon Askin both returned to Vienna, Austria where they later died. Bob Crane was murdered in a still open Cold Case at a motel. This is an ensemble comedy, with Crane the star, but Banner, Kemperor, and the rest of the main cast get plenty camera time and script.
The Germans were never this much a bunch of buffons, but this is fully done as comedy. It is an insult to William Holden and the Broadway show and movie Stalag 17 to say it is directly related. Other than Sgt Schulta character name, and a German POW camp setting, the two productions do not even have a coomon thread. Sadly this was done about 20 years before the Jewish Holocast of Uncle Joe Stalin was revealed, so the portrayal of Russians is totally farce, but this is the way the show is. There's not a serious bone in anyones body. It's an SNL satire that predates SNL by 10 years.
Col Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) leading a tight knit team of allied POW on sabotage to hinder the German war effort. All under the nose of Col Wilhelm Klink (Werner Klemperer). The commandant is ably assisted by Sgt. Schultz (John Banner) who knows nothing, sees nothing, & hears nothing.
Hogans team includes Larry Hovis, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon, & Corp. LeBeau. It is a mismatch made in comedy television heaven. Schultz name was borrowed from the film drama Stalag 17, but this is no drama. It is tung-in-cheek satire fun. With Hogan always plotting, the ensemble brings everything off.
"I see nothing"(Sgt Schultz) became a favorite phrase being used on METV ads.. "Dismissed," is a Klink Classic. The Russian Front is the running gag threat. There are plenty of beautiful women popping in, and once in a while a few men in drag. The SS is lampooned 20 years after their most evil deeds were done.
The creators of this show were not in any way connected with the hit Broadway show Stalag 17. The idea and inspirtion might have been from it, but Stalag 17 is more drama than Comedy. What the creators of Hogan's Heros did is all Comedy and no drama. They took a talented cast of actors and created a farce that highlighted the cast. As I write this, only Robert Clary (Lebeau) at 94 years old is still alive from the main cast. Kenneth Washington who replaced Ivan Dixon is the other survivor from the main cast. After the show ended in 1971, John Banner and Leon Askin both returned to Vienna, Austria where they later died. Bob Crane was murdered in a still open Cold Case at a motel. This is an ensemble comedy, with Crane the star, but Banner, Kemperor, and the rest of the main cast get plenty camera time and script.
The Germans were never this much a bunch of buffons, but this is fully done as comedy. It is an insult to William Holden and the Broadway show and movie Stalag 17 to say it is directly related. Other than Sgt Schulta character name, and a German POW camp setting, the two productions do not even have a coomon thread. Sadly this was done about 20 years before the Jewish Holocast of Uncle Joe Stalin was revealed, so the portrayal of Russians is totally farce, but this is the way the show is. There's not a serious bone in anyones body. It's an SNL satire that predates SNL by 10 years.
Col Robert Hogan (Bob Crane) leading a tight knit team of allied POW on sabotage to hinder the German war effort. All under the nose of Col Wilhelm Klink (Werner Klemperer). The commandant is ably assisted by Sgt. Schultz (John Banner) who knows nothing, sees nothing, & hears nothing.
Hogans team includes Larry Hovis, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon, & Corp. LeBeau. It is a mismatch made in comedy television heaven. Schultz name was borrowed from the film drama Stalag 17, but this is no drama. It is tung-in-cheek satire fun. With Hogan always plotting, the ensemble brings everything off.
"I see nothing"(Sgt Schultz) became a favorite phrase being used on METV ads.. "Dismissed," is a Klink Classic. The Russian Front is the running gag threat. There are plenty of beautiful women popping in, and once in a while a few men in drag. The SS is lampooned 20 years after their most evil deeds were done.