The Franklin Scale

Reprint: L.A. Times on Gary Franklin

2007-12-22T14:19:00.000-08:00

Gary Franklin, 79; popular film critic on local TV created 1-to-10 rating scale
Gary Franklin
1991 File Photo

GARY FRANKLIN: The KABC veteran was known for his "1 to 10, 10 being best" scale of movie ratings.
By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 4, 2007

Gary Franklin, the Los Angeles television and radio entertainment critic and reporter who became a household name in the 1980s critiquing movies and TV shows on "the Franklin Scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best," has died. He was 79.

Franklin died Tuesday at his home in Chatsworth, said his daughter, Daryle Esswein. Although the cause of death was unknown, he had suffered four strokes in recent years.

The German-born Franklin first came to the attention of Southern Californians in the 1970s as the roving nightside radio reporter for all-news radio station KFWB-AM, where he signed off in "Dragnet"-like style: "Gary Franklin, Car 98, out!"

While at KFWB, Franklin occasionally filled in as a movie reviewer, and in 1981 he replaced David Sheehan as the entertainment critic at KNXT-TV Channel 2 (now KCBS-TV).

Five years later, Franklin moved to KABC-TV Channel 7, where he remained until 1991.

With his memorable "Franklin Scale," his often acerbic comments and his regular attacks on exploitative violence and sex in movies, Franklin was considered a breakthrough local TV news personality.

"Bobbing his bald, conical head vigorously, he rates films with the arch, over-enunciated manner of a schoolmarm lecturing a sixth-grade science class," The Times' Patrick Goldstein wrote in 1983.

While noting that it may be hard for some people to take seriously a critic who "scores movies as if they were earthquakes," Goldstein wrote, Franklin was "the talk of the town."

Indeed, people had begun rating their food at restaurants on a 1-to-10 scale. Gary Franklin impressions turned up on answering machines. And a local newspaper used a Franklin sound-alike in its radio ads promoting the newspaper's TV section. Franklin, who relished the attention, tooled around L.A. in a car whose license plate read: "ONE 2 TEN."

"Prior to Gary, you had David Sheehan doing movie reviews at Channel 2, and even though he was a good reviewer, he didn't have a shtick. Gary had a gimmick," Jeff Wald, then-news director at KCOP-TV Channel 13, told The Times in 1991.

Wald, who hired Franklin as an entertainment reporter at KCOP in 1992, praised Franklin on Wednesday for being a critic who "understood the movie business and did his homework."

"He was a real character -- his style, his persona on the air -- and yet, it was genuinely him," Wald said. "If he was excited about a movie, you could feel the exuberance."

Given the size of his local television audience, Franklin's opinions carried a lot of weight.

"I'd sure rather have a 10 than a 7 or a 7 than a 4," veteran producer Lawrence Turman ("The Graduate," "Short Circuit") told the Orange County Register in 1987. "I look to him. In one's hometown, he's clearly powerful and influential."

According to a 1997 story in Variety, Franklin became persona non grata at Warner Bros. after director Oliver Stone received a zero on the Franklin Scale for "Natural Born Killers," which Franklin deemed a "cultural crime." And Madonna earned a "minus 5" from Franklin for "Truth or Dare."

Franklin told Variety that when he informed "studio flacks" who called after a press screening that he was going to give a film that he really liked a 9 they often lobbied for a 10.

"To my everlasting shame and disgrace, I'd make it a 10," he said.

Although Franklin had his share of critics who deplored the use of "scale ratings," there was no question Franklin had his fans.

"He has a personality that is blatantly offensive to all the pointy-headed people out there but well-received by all the real people," Van Gordon Sauter, former general manager of KNXT-TV Channel 2 and former president of CBS News, told The Times in 1991.

Don Tillman, executive director of USC Television, a division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, said Wednesday that Franklin was "like a consumer advocate" and that his Franklin Scale "was valuable from the point of view of the average [TV] viewer or person who buys a movie ticket."

"Gary could bring it into perspective very quickly whether I'm going to watch that television show or movie," Tillman said. "He had a credibility about him."

Franklin said in a 1991 interview with The Times that he hoped to be remembered for more than just ranking movies from 1 to 10.

"I have always let my social conscience influence my criticism," he said. "People should be speaking out about the effects of movie violence, brutality and sexuality in the world, and I'm glad I've had the chance to make a tiny impact. . . . "That's how I'd like to be remembered. And perhaps for having saved [my viewers] a few bucks here and there."

An only child, Franklin was born in Leipzig, Germany, on Sept. 22, 1928. Fleeing the Nazis in 1938, his Jewish family settled in New York City.

After graduating from City College of New York with a film degree, Franklin served in the Army as a combat and documentary cameraman in Korea before producing television documentaries in New York and Canada.

After launching his broadcasting career in Virginia in 1954, he worked in radio and television around the country before becoming a reporter for KFWB in 1972.

Franklin left KABC Channel 7 in 1991 to take a job as a development executive at a commercial television network in Germany.

By then, he had tired of "going to movies night after night, sometimes two or three movies a day," he told The Times. "It was turning my brains to Jell-O. Unless it was a really gripping film, I was tending to fall asleep, as some [newspaper writers] have commented. And I'm not ashamed of that. It's as good a barometer on the quality of a film as any."

After only a couple of months in Germany, Franklin returned to Los Angeles, where -- after failing to regain his job at KABC-TV -- he was entertainment critic at KCOP-TV Channel 13 for three years.

Franklin, who had a lifelong passion for photography, gave numerous exhibitions of his work. In recent years, he wrote movie reviews for his blog, franklinscale.blogspot.com.

In addition to his daughter Daryle, Franklin is survived by his wife of 52 years, Sylvia; daughter Michelle Truesdell; and four grandchildren.

dennis.mclellan@latimes.com

Korea: Coldest Winter

2007-10-12T02:10:00.000-07:00

Readers of this site familiar with Gary Franklin, no doubt recall that Gary served in the Korean War as a combat cameraman and photographer. Many of Gary's most amazing photographs come from the war, including an excellent photograph of President-Elect Eisenhower visiting the troops in December of 1952.

The last email exchange I had with Gary just days before his passing, was about David Halberstam's last book, "The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War". Gary said he was going to check it out.

I know I'm going to read it. Gary always wanted people to pay attention to the lessons of history. And the history of the Korean war was very important to him. The sacrifice and service of veterans like him is certainly something we should pay attention to and honor.

Great Movie

2007-10-12T02:03:00.001-07:00

I saw Fast Food Nation on cable the other night. The film has a great cast, and was expertly written and directed by Richard Linklater, based on the non-fiction best seller by Eric Schlosser. It's a film with a social conscience and takes on some of the main issues of our day: illegal immigration, wages, fast food jobs, health care and the food we eat. I dare say if Gary were here, he'd give Fast Food Nation a 10, maybe a 10+.

Rent it. NetFlix it. Buy it. Just see it, as soon as you can.

Remembering Gary

2007-10-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

This email came in the other day:

My brothers who still live in southern California sent me Gary Franklin’s obituary from the Los Angeles Times.

I would appreciate it if you would pass along my deepest sympathies to his family. I would also like them to know how he changed my life.

It was more than 20 years ago and I was in high school. My English class had gone to see Peter Pan at the Pantages Theatre. Gary was there, I guess, to review it, and he also, if I remember correctly, had a crew and live truck with him so he could report on the show that night.

My mom, classmates and I were all standing outside the theatre when I spotted him. I was already a news junkie back then and was a big fan of his. I was a little nervous about approaching him, but finally decided to.

He couldn’t have been nicer or more generous with his time. Here he was before the show, spending at least the next 20 minutes talking with me, sharing stories of how he got into news and offering advice and encouragement.

Several years later, when I was in college in Los Angeles, I got an internship first at KHJ-TV (now KCAL Ch. 9) and then at KCBS-TV. At both stations, I spent time working with their entertainment reporters, in large part based on my conversation and experience with him. That internship at Channel 9 turned into a job, in fact, where I worked as the entertainment producer while still in college.

I ended up deciding not to stick with entertainment reporting. But, my experience in those newsrooms exposed me to news reporting and the news business and I was hooked. When I graduated from college, I made the switch to general assignment reporting.

I am now an investigative reporter and weekend morning anchor with 20 years in the business. I have won awards for my work and my stories have helped changed lives. But, all of this might never have happened had Gary not taken the time and been so kind to an adoring fan in high school so long ago.

I had, at times, thought about writing and thanking him. I’m sure he would not have remembered our meeting. But, I wanted him to know he’d made a difference.

I’m now sorry that I never did that. But, I, at least, wanted you to know.

Thank you.

Jennifer Kraus

Investigative Reporter/Weekend Morning Anchor

NewsChannel 5

The future of this site

2007-10-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

It is my intention to keep the Franklin Scale up and running. If nothing else it's a place where people will be able to find some of Gary's last pieces of writing about films, history, politics, and society.

Sharing his opinions and ideas was very important to him. He always had some idea or thought he wanted to communicate.

Also, shortly before his passing Gary finished up a draft of his memoirs, "The Jew from Christian Street". In recent months Gary was seeking interested buyers or publishers, even for a limited edition. He envisioned the book as an illustrated autobiography as it would include hundreds of his best photographs.

The manuscript still needs some editing and organizational work, but my idea was that it would make an excellent large format coffee table book showcasing his achievements in photography.

Perhaps I will post up excerpts from his book, so everyone can get a look at what he was working on. The telling of his life story, especially the story of his childhood escape from Nazi Germany with his parents is a harrowing tale.

I may also scan some of his photographs as well.

Those of you who remember garyfraklin.com from some years ago, will remember that Gary updated that site almost everyday with a new commentary usually enhanced with some of his favorite photos.

When Gary quit updating garyfranklin.com I coaxed him into blogging. Since he didn't want to deal with the technical details, he would email me his commentaries and then I'd post them here. He had a wide ranging intellect. He was concerned about the future of humanity. He called himself a "law and order Democrat". He had ideas about how the all news radio stations could fix up their programming. He felt local TV news and network news also needed a great deal of reforming and new ideas. And so he shared his ideas here on this site, and the L.A. Radio website.

But, he also continued to write about film, and rate them on his famous Franklin Scale. He also had a deep love for classical music, and swing era jazz.

If you read through this site you will find recent films he enjoyed such as Sicko, An Inconvenient Truth, The Lives of Others, and so many more.

If you want to see Gary in a film, check out his short scene playing a radio reporter at the end of the 1977 film Rollercoaster. Gary shows up right at the end to interview George Segal who's just saved the roller coaster.

Thinking back of films Gary talked about often, he really admired John Frankenheimer's The Train from 1964, staring Burt Lancaster. But, I think his favorite film was On The Beach, staring Gregory Peck, Eva Gardner, Anthony Perkins, and Fred Astaire in his most dramatic role.

Gary Franklin had good taste. And if you are able to think about films, theatre, television, music and culture through the prism of his higher standards, you'll find yourself developing a more refined sense of good taste in art and culture yourself.

More Thoughts

2007-10-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

There's been more coverage of Gary's passing, and Gary's life.

The O.C. Register:

'CAR 98' RETIRED

Gary Franklin was a vocal and passionate man. You could see it in his photography, his movie reviews, and when he was the "Car 98" roving reporter on KFWB/980 AM in the 1970s.

Franklin, 79, died Oct. 2. While we remember him for his radio days, he is best known for creating "The Franklin Scale," one of the first 1-to-10 ratings for movies when he was on Channel 2 and later Channel 7 and Channel 13.

Gary's former employer, KABC channel 7.

L.A. Daily News.

San Jose Mercury News.

TV Squad.

Also, Daily Variety.

L.A. Times Obituary

2007-10-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

Here's Gary Franklin's obituary in The Los Angeles Times written by Dennis McLellan.

Memorial Site for Gary Franklin

2007-10-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Los Angeles and Beyond,

Mr. L. E. McClintock, my dad's blog guru, has suggested that this might be an excellent place to remember my dad. I agree.

Although my father has not been publicly active these past years, his legacy lives on. It never occurred to me the extent of his popularity, until I noticed that the people on the streets of Bangkok, Thailand seemed to constantly stare at them. We joked that his bald head perhaps reminded the locals of their beloved Buddha. However, the real reason is that he made such an impact on Los Angeles households in the 1970's and 1980's.

His fierce independent streak probably started when his parents insisted that he roam Leipzig, Germany BY HIMSELF, in the 1930's. His parents were worried by the doom of their future and wanted him to be able to survive on his own. Finally, immediately after Kristallnacht, a German police office approached my grandfather and told him that he was in danger, and to get out immediately. My doctor grandfather treated Germans for VD and had friends in strange places. After the SS destroyed their apartment and threw my dad and grandmother down the stairs, my dad had to go crawl back into the apartment with toppled furniture and get the last of the money stashed away.

Fast forward to the Korean War, my father had the time of his life stationed in Tokyo as a cameramen. Much of the real footage recorded during this time was from the work of my father, friend Bob Hummel, and Bert Stern (of Marilyn Monroe picture fame). Photography later became his passion.

After many stints in the radio and television business, including, Norfolk, Virginia, Baltimore, Maryland (PBS), at ABC news (a writer) in New York, WIND (all news as a reporter), and KYW (a much despised job as a News Director), he moved on to "Car 98" at KFWB. I can't tell you how many times my mom got mad as we dashed home smelling like a forest fire. He loved Los Angeles. The schools were outstanding and competent. The LAPD was world reknown. Stephen Speilberg once told him that he was the "Forest Gump of Journalism".

Finally, he ended up as the local LA film critic. I still see his quotes on movie rentals.

To steal Councilman Zine's words this morning. "Car 98 Out!"

Thank you to the mayors office for assisting us with the death of my father. I have never experienced something so traumatic before, but thanks to the support from the people of Los Angeles, I am at peace..and so hope the same for my father.

No memorial service is scheduled.

Daryle

GSF

2007-10-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to report that Gary S Franklin has passed.

His daughter sent word via email to those on Gary's email list:

My name is Daryle Esswein. I am the daughter of Gary Franklin.

I figure that the recipients on this list might want to know that my father passed away today. I'm guessing that most of you are friends.

I'm sorry to notify you by e-mail.

Regards.

Daryle

Responding to the the email list came this comment from L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine:

Gary Franklin, KFWB Car 98 was a legend in Los Angeles radio. I met Gary when I was a Sgt. with the Los Angeles Police Department. Gary was a reporter who knew how to cover news stories and get to the point. I assisted Gary with many stories and always enjoyed listening to him on the radio.

I have kept in touch with Gary over the years and am so sorry to hear of his death. Like Gary would say.......Car 98 Out......May Gary Franklin Rest in Peace.

I will be adjourning the Los Angeles City Council meeting in memory of Gary Franklin....

Dennis P. Zine
Los Angeles City Councilman

Gary was a great friend to have and everything he did with his life, from his extraordinary photographs from the war in Korea, to Hollywood celebrities, his writing and reporting for news radio and television, to his work as L.A.'s most significant and intellectual film and cultural critic of all time, still doesn't fully convey what a great man he was.

Condolences to his friends and family....

Valkyrie

2007-09-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

The new Tom Cruise film "Valkyrie", now being shot in Berlin, reportedly deals with the attempted Hitler assassination of 1944. It's a story often told, reported and written about. The plotters were a group of unhappy German generals and colonels, as well as several civilians.

The actual bomb-placer was Count von Stauffenberg - a badly wounded Nazi combat veteran. He's played in the new movie by Cruise.

Because Colonel von Stauffenberg's bomb ended up behind a big table post, Hitler was not seriously injured by the blast. But many of the attending military people were badly hurt and killed.

The would-be assassins, in Berlin - several hundred miles away - assumed wrongly that the blast had killed Hitler, and started to take over the Berlin government. The Hitlerites immediately started counter-action and all the plotters - as well as most of their families - were eventually executed - mostly in the most painful manner, via slow strangulation.
As we all know, Hitler eventually killed himself in the Berlin bunker, together with his mistress, in 1945 - a few days before the European part of the war ended. According to the voluminous publicity, that's what this latest Hitler film is all about.

There are some theories regarding "Valkyrie" - that are not generally reported ... and I suggest that the film-makers quickly take these theories into consideration.

There are - and were - some theories, that the Hitler assassination attempt was not so much motivated by anti-Naziism (if at all !), nor by the daeth camps in which millions were painfully executed (including a good chunk of my family) .... but by fear of the revenge-seeking and approaching Russians, millions of whom had been murdered by the Germans.

The suspicioun exists, that the Hitler assassination attempt was motivated by the hope that, with the obnoxious Hitler out of the way, the Germans could make separate peace with the western allies - America, Britain, France - creating a new alliance which might then march, together with the changed Germans, against Russia.

Remember, at this stage America and Britain were close to exploding their first A-bomb and it's quite possible - though so far, never proven - that Germany was also enroute to atomic blasting.

Is it possible, that with "Valkyrie" a success - and one has to wonder if, possibly, the allies were in on the plot -the western allies would have immediately ended their European campaigns, with the Germans cheering lustily (as they often did), as the western allies marched into their bombed-out cities.

Had those new allies now marched together against Stalin's Russia, one of two things might have happened:

1. The exhausted Russians would have been defeated and a new order would have been created, with America and Germany the guiding forces ... or:

2. The Russians would have been able to complete work on their A-bombs,and a nuclear war would have erupted, which would have made Hiroshima and Nagasaki minor event ... the globe facing possible nuclear extinction.

Thus, I might advise the makers of "Valkyrie", now at work in Berlin, to consider this historic facts, possibilities and theories ... before again turning the unsuccessful German anti-Hitler plotters into great heroes.

(Incidentally, one of those plotters, the former Mayor of Leipzig - Goerdeler [sp.?] - was one of my physician/father's acquaitances, in connection with veneral disease control work in that city, during the '30's).

Cheers,
gary franklin

Two films get a 10!

2007-07-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

I want to recommend two of currently new films ... Ratatouille - kinda fun, if you don't mind being entertained by a cartoon about rats ....

The other one - Michael Moore's Sicko - which I recommend to all those with good taste and a social conscience ... and I think you outta take your intelligent kids to see this, too. It's both fun, as well as educational.

Cheers,
gary s franklin

A Film Worth Seeing

2007-06-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

Friday, 6/15 - from Gary Franklin

I highly recommend a new film out (in LA) today: La Vie en Rose ... French ... a bio pic ... the story of Edith Piaf ... the magnificent French pop singer of the 1940's-1950's.

Fascinating life ... raised amid Paris whores and thieves ... a street singer, until dicovered by hip music hall operators ... a voice like none other in my area of understanding ... and, at the same time, a sickly druggie/drinker.

What I find kind of fascinating about this French (subtitled) film, is that it makes no mention of Piaf's life during World War II and the German occupation of France, when Piaf apparently entertained enthusiastic Nazi occupation troops. Does one forgive her for this ? ... I dunno ... but it should be remembered that many, many of her fellow French entertainers, directors and producers were stuffed - sometimes alive - into the Nazi gas ovens ... and she and her handlers must have known about that ... or did she just shrug off those folks' sudden disappearances ? And what about after the war, surely the singing ex-whore must have been told.

In any case, it's a fascinating film, one that held me spellbound ... and also wondering: why is it nowadays so impossible for Hollywood to turn out meaningful, adult-themed films and TV programs ? Is it the money-grubbing childishness of the industry ... or recognition of the general lack of sophistication and education amid the current mass audiences ?

In any case, go see La Vie en Rose, starring a magnificent Marion Gotillard ... and I know you'll vehemntly argue with me about this, but I think it's a far better film experience for very intelligent over-13 youngsters, than the awful collection of crap that's on American screens these days. Even if these bright kids don't understand everything that's going on on that screen, it will expose them to some of the world's greatest pop-singing ... as well as to useful reality. My parents took me to adult films, when I was ten and eleven ... and it helped to prepare me for the realities of life.

I know ... I kniow ... please don't send me nasty notes.

Best,
gary s franklin

Film Review: Black Book

2007-05-21T00:28:00.000-07:00

I don't see many movies these days ... mostly because I think that Hollywood is turning out stuff that really doesn't interest me ... the best current example of that being that comic book thing that broke all the attendance records, over the past weekend.

However, this afternoon, I saw a film that - at least, for me - was as powerful as anything I've seen in recent years:

BLACK BOOK is a 2006-released World War II story (and, yes, I'm one of those Europe-raised people who believes that that war was the most important and most far-reaching event within our lifetime). It's a Dutch film, but the production credits also contain many German names.

It's a seemingly fact-based story of the Dutch underground, and specifically an (now) Israeli woman who played a powerful role in the fight against the Nazi occupation of Holland. It's also the story of German occupiers - one of whom - a high-ranking SS fellow - falls in love with this Jewish gal. Ditto, she in him.

It is also a story of trickery and betrayal - both within the underground fighters, as well as the German occupiers. And this film also brings up the vulgarity and drunken misbehavior of the the victorious British post-war occupation forces.

Yes, yes ... I know ... you're probably snickering over my interest in - and devotion to - books and films dealing with that period of sixty years ago. Well, go ahead and snicker. Pretty soon those of us who lived through those awsome times will be pffft, either in the form of ashes, thrown into the wind ... or rotting and stinking in some outrageously expensive cemetery hole.

Incidentally, if the subject - as outlined by me - of BLACK BOOK, doesn't greatly interest you, behaps I can entice you by mentioning that this Dutch film has some very, very vivid sexual coupling scenes, frontal nudity and all ... Thank God for the Dutch !. On the other hand, also be prepared for some awful Nazi torture scenes. Furthermore, the ending - though powerful - is anything but satisfying .... but, then, c'est la vie.

Hope I can get you to see this film ... but if you're a reasonably sensitive person, be prepared to leave the theater in tears - just as I did. But also, you'll find that the experience will scour and cleanse your soul.

Gary S Franklin

The Lives of Others gets a 10!

2007-04-16T17:14:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 4/15 ... Even tho I realize that my filmic tastes are not exactly mainstream and most probably not in synch with most of yours ... I do want to pass along a powerful filmic experience I had this afternoon at my local Laemmle:

Title: "The Lives of Others" ... a German flick (subtitled), written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ... and released via Sony Pictures Classic.

It isn't often nowadays, that a new motion picture has a shattering effect on me ... but this one sure did.

The story takes place in pre-reunification (Communist) East Germany ... with endings in the post-reunification period ... and it deals with the stirrings of unrest in Red Germany ... and the Stasi days .... the main characters: a playwrite .... his stage actress girlfriend ... and several high Stasi operators, including one who's beginning to waver.

The film has been a huge success in Europe ... has won a number of major awards. I should also note, that you find the sociopolitical content running against your grain. (But, then, this note/review is being written by a 78-year-old German-born/raised Jew, whose life was saved by the fact that among my Leipzig/city health official dad's secret dermatological/venereal disease patients, were a number of pre-WW2 high-level city/police officials who had failed to take precautions against contraction of syph and the clap ...)

As some of you know, I've always had deept emotional and intellectual dichotomies, when it came to my relationships with Germany ... and this film sort of underlines those personal divisions and attitudes. They can't be erased, because of the deaths and the ultimate personal effects they had on my parents and me. There's something special - perhaps you say "weird" - in the makeup of our rapidly dying genereation. Just this week, I saw a TV documentary report, that included new facts and figures on the current growth of anti-Semitism in Germany (and elsewhere in Euope) ... so I guess we're going full circle.

Anyway ... you could do worse than going out of your way to see this German film - "The Lives of Others".

Cheers,
gary s franklin

Radio Days

2007-04-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd pass along to my few intimates, a piece I wrote ... and which was reproduced today (Saturday, 4/8) on Don Barrett's widely read LARadio website (LARadio.com):

Time to rethink the all-news business

Isn't it time to rethink the whole damn radio news business ?

1. Major outlets have to decide who/what their audience is. I think it's a waste of time, money and valuable broadcast air, to appeal to the undereducated know-nothings. Let them watch those stupid, no-talent "talent" shows on tv. They're certainly not going to listen to all-news radio. Instead, appeal to those (and they're not just the over-40's !) who want to know what's going on in Washington and the world, as well as important local news.

I bit of sophisticated humor, now and then, won't hurt.

Traffic news is important, especially between 7am and 9am, and between 4pm and 6pm and it shouldn't be rushed to the point of unintelligibility, as it is now.

Film and tv reviews are important to these listeners - do 'em short and sweet, but frequently (twice an hour). Find new, interesting and sophisticated talent for this.

I also think that the classical music stations should be presenting more short/tight world news summaries and important traffic, like major accident-caused freeway stoppages. SHORT - no more than 20 or 30 seconds.

2. The TV people should start thinking about giving up the decades-old concept of early-evening news broadcasts - that age-old standard 4pm-7pm thing. One - maybe just one - of the net tv stations should consider a half-hour news program for either 8pm or 9pm, and do away with the early evening thing (and again ... no traffic accidents, unless they're truly newsworthy ... like, for example, Thurday's deaths of the well-known tv producer and his son, hit head-on by an alleged drunk).

In summary: Rethink the whole radio business - including the stations - especially along the west coast - that aim themselves strictly at at the Spanish-speakers.

Cheers, from a broadcast veteran - Gary Franklin

"Bobby" a 10+

2006-12-06T01:58:00.000-08:00

Have just returned from seeing "Bobby" ... and it's been a shattering experience.

As I indicated in the previous note, in which I told of the awfulness of that night's breaking news in our New York ABC net studio and control room ... and how that great staff handled the event, being the only net operation that was still on the air from LA ... whereas the other two had already goodnighted their stations, and thus releasing their nets till morning, it being next-to-impossible to bring them back till then.

Anyway, seeing the film "Bobby" today, was devastating ... and at times I found it impossible to stop the tears and even an embarrassing sob. The younger people around me probably thought they were sitting near an antique moron.

The cast, heavily dominated by some of Hollywood's most powerful stars, none of them glamorized, was perfect .... and I won't bother to list them all.

"Bobby"'s producers, writers and director used a mix of studio sequences (to show the lives and personalities of some of the LA people at the Ambassador Hotel) skillfully mixing in TV, newsreel and Signal Corps/Vietnam footage ... so that it was unnecessary to have an actor portray Robert F. Kennedy, except in a few shots - including some of the devastating scenes in the Ambassador kitchen - in which you see only "his" legs and torso and one or two of the hotel arrival shots, in which we see only the back of "his" head.

At the end of the film, over shots of Vietnam, Washington and RFK's visits with kids, old people, street/campaign crowds, etc. ... we hear the senator make a powerful, powerful speech (or broadcast ?), in which he speaks of the need to really handle our social ills and shortcomings ... and at this point, even the laughing idiots, sitting near me in the (almost filled)theater, fell silent.

I urge you to see this film.

You'll thank me.

Gary Franklin

PS: The LA Times, in its "Weekend Calendar", capsule reviews of new and running films, today ran "Bobby", not with its "Critics' Choices" ... and not even under the "Also Recommended" ... but, instead, under "Also in Theaters", tries to demolish this powerful film (" ... writer-director Emilio Estevez has exceeded his reach .... a film drenched in sincerity and oozing with nostalgia that ..... falls flat dramatically ....") - but this guy (or gal) apparently loves so much of the other new garbage, churned out by the Hollywood mills, and so beloved by the juvenile morons, busy groping each other in the theater darknesses.

RFK

2006-12-01T10:02:00.000-08:00

With all the writings and broadcast comments these days, relating to the new film, "BOBBY" - a semi-documentary on the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 ... one radio newsman's memories brought back:

I was working as a writer/producer for ABC Radio (network), in New York, at the time ... and we'd been handling the California primary that evening, June 5th, 1968. Bobby Kennedy had won and had made his joyful victory comments at the Ambassador, and was now on his way out, by way of the hotel kitchen.

We all know what happened next - Sirhan Sirhan shooting Kennedy and five others with a .22 revolver,

Back in New York, two of the three networks (remember, this is long before all the cable outlets) - NBC and CBS - had signed off, so that all their local stations were now disconnected from the their nets. We, at ABC, were still in the process of doing the same, and we were running the long end-credit crawl.

Suddenly, there was loud commotion on our direct line to LA and shouted word from our news reporter on the scene .... "Some shots have been fired .... people have been hit !"

Our producer (I'm not sure, but I think it was Bob Siegenthaler) reacted quickly, to prevent our giving up the net ... and yelled at the engineers to keep running the credit crawl ... slow it down ... re-run it, if necessary !

Now word came through our line to LA, that Senator Kennedy had been one of those shot, and seemed to be in serious condition.

To make a long story short, our producer kept up the net connections for the rest of the night .... using slides, file film and audio reports .... and we were thus the only TV broadcaster to provide reports from LA, for the rest of the night ... since it was, back then, next to impossible to open a TV network, requiring all sorts of approval from top executives, not to mention the technical problems ... with most engineers having gone home and to sleep.

One of the saddest moments in our broadcast lives ... but also, deep down, a feeling of pride over what we had achieved as broadcast journalists.

Long, long ago ......

Gary Franklin

Kristallnacht

2006-11-10T01:02:00.000-08:00

The following may be of no interest to anyone ... especially these days and nights of monumental changes in our political, military and social situations ... so I won't be hurt or insulted if you hit the delete key. On the other hand, I get a sort of harmless self-satisfaction out of recording this anniversary, which did much to shape my life and attitudes ... and thus, I guess, had some effect on the personalities off my neglected off-spring, their offspring ... and acquaintances:

It was 68 years ago tonight and this morning - November 10th, 1938 - when a bunch of German thugs barged into our magnificent Leipzig apartment ... smashed up our furniture, and threw my mom and me down the Christianstrasse stairs.

My dad, telephonically warned during the predawn hours by one of his patients - a high-level Leipzig police official - managed to escape to Berlin, via a pre-dawn express train - on which he shared the First Class compartment with a black-uniformed, swastika festooned, SS officer ... who probably didn't realize he was sharing space and conversation with a Jew ... and who, upon learning that my father was a physician, specializing in venereal disease control, pumped my dad for information on how to avoid catching gonorrhea or syphilis.

Hours later, on this day, 68 years ago today, my father stood on the Fasanenstrasse (sp.?) sidewalk, and watched Berlin's huge synagogue burning ... one of many, that day, throughout Germany. Later, he took advantage of the fact that none of us "looked" Jewish ... and spent several days reading books and newspapers, in the lobbies of Berlin's best hotels ... and eating in their excellent restaurants ... until around November 15th, by which time the government decided that it was time to stop the pogroms ... especially in view of the fact that the Kristallnacht actions had cost Germany huge amounts of plate glass, much of which had to be imported ... my mom and I managed to catch another train to Berlin ... and where we were reunited ... and spent the next week or so, at my grandmother's apartment. (That fine businesswoman was later shipped to Lithuania and murdered in one of those very efficient death camps).

Among the weird aftermaths: we managed to have our smashed furniture repaired, and have it shipped to New York ... and today ... at this very moment ... both of my daughters, in Fremont (CA) and Sugar Land (TX) ... have large, fancy items of furniture on which - if you look closely - you can see where those fine German craftsmen repaired the Nov. 10th Nazi hatched marks.

November 10th ... for me, always an interesting anniversary date.

As I said in the beginning ... I don't expect anyone to be much fascinated by this retelling of ancient history ... but, nevertheless, these next few weeks I'll be completing the rewrite of my photo-illustrated book, The Jew from Christian Street, which I'll leave for my offspring ....

But Those were surely interesting times.

Cheers,
gary s franklin

Who should Be President in 2008?

2006-11-10T00:59:00.000-08:00

1. Anyone between 35 and 60 (no higher !) ... male or female.

2. With a degree from a good university. Doesn't matter what degree, but would love to see a physician become President ... even a proctologist ... maybe, the way the world is going, ESPECIALLY a proctologist.

3. Reasonably liberal and not too tightly bound by religious restrictions. Atheists OK, too.

4. Well traveled, and in full command of at least one language, other than English.

5. Military experience is good.

6. Devoid of regional attitudes.

7. Sports experience(s) not necessary.

8. A decent, well-educated human being, with a sense of humor, who can lead America and the world through the very dangerous periods that are sure to develop over these next years.
- - - - - - - - -

Cheers,
gary franklin

Must See Film: Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth

2006-06-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

Sat., 6/3 .... I am urging everyone I can reach, to see the documentary that opened in most theaters around here today ..... "An Inconvenient Truth" (Global Warming).

I've urged my offspring to take my bright grandkids, too ... it's such a magnificent piece of filmic work !

If you haven't already ... go, go, go .... NOW.

gary f

Read Roger Ebert's full review here.

Why I won't see United 93

2006-04-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Friday, 4/28

The newspapers as well as most radio and TV commentary programs, are packed with stuff about the movie that opened today - "United 93".

The New York Times reviewer ends his/her long and thorough - perhaps too thorough - review with these lines: ".... five years after the fact and all the books, newspapers and magazine articles, committees and scandals later, I think we need something more from our film artists than another thrill ride and an emotional pummeling. "United 93" inspires pity and terror, no doubt. But catharsis? I'm still waiting for that." (The NYT's always excellent reviewer, Manohl Dargis)

The equally excellent Los Angeles Times's reviewer, Kenneth Turan, review concludes with the lines: "... it (the film) may play better in the future. If we have one."

I sort of feel sorry for these highly respected film reviewers. One can only imagine the discussions and arguments that went on in the editorial offices, before these final reviews were put into print. Incidentally, I have no faith whatsoever, in most of the major radio & TV station commentaries vis-a-vis this film ... and if you need me to explain that last line, I'll do that as a separate writing.

I will never see "United 93".

Why ?

I don't have to. Nor do you. What can possibly be gained from sitting through this film/theatrical sound-stage recreation ... almost every detail of which (the actual event) is known, and which have been written about, over and over and over and over again. Why would any sane person want to have his emotions rung out by having himself put through this filmic wringer. It adds nothing to our existing knowledge of those horrible 9/11 events. It adds nothing to our knowledge, or our appreciation, of those last-moment, desparate, heroics of the United passengers and crew.

Actors.

On sound stages .... under 2000-watt movie lights ... and breaks for lunch and dinner.

And the viewers' emotions inevitably damaged and processed - perhaps beyond even long-time repair.

For what purpose, other than "entertainment", since it is surely not a documentary ?

Can't think of any.

Gary S Franklin

Gary Franklin Commentary

2006-03-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

Thursday, 3/9/06 - Herewith tryimg out new commentary website ... Writer is a German-born, former New York and Los Angeles broadcast news-writer/producer/air personality (ABC, CBS, Westinghouse, etc.) and LA area film/media critic 1955-1998 ... as well as much-exhibited and published documentary and art photographer ... currently completing work on book, "The Jew of Christian Street".

Most recently viewed (at the Laemmle, in Encino) film: the German "Sophie Scholl -The Final Days" ... the true story of a young German student, her brother and close friends who, in 1942, just after Germany's Stalingrad military disaster, were caught distributing anti-Nazi, anti-war literature. They were swiftly tried and executed (via beheading).

Although the Sophie Scholl story has been often told - via print, film and TV - this version is most powerful, because it avoids scary scenes, such as Gestapo torture and/or execution scenes (the latter - the beheading - is told very quietly, against a dark, blank screen ... no wordage, no screams).

A fascinating German film ... and particularly emotion-packed for German-born me ... If she had lived, Ms Scholl would be just a few years older than I.

Another film, currently playing: "Mrs. Henderson Presents:" - also a WW2 story - this one (also a true story) about a rich widow, who created female-nude musical theater for Allied servicemen in downtown London. Nothing extremely deep or thought-provoking ... but two hours of good, old-fashioned, filmic entertainment.

Because of a projection problem, and delay of the day's first showing of the Henderson film, the Laemmles had me sit and wait in one of their other showings at the Encino complex ... " Transamerica " ... couldn't wait to get the hell atta that screening room ... awful, ragged stuff about a man undergoing a sex-change ... and traveling across the nation with his/her son ... who doesn't know she/he/it is his dad/mom ... I never got to see the end of the film ... because they fixed the other projection room ... and I jumped at the chance to get out of that theater.

More blogs to come.

Lemme know if you find the above interesting.

Gary Franklin

kzlot88@earthlink.net

Photos

2006-02-16T16:27:00.000-08:00

Thur., 2/16 - 3pm'ish

... Interesting medical findings announced yesterday: seems that better educated, and brighter, people don't suffer Alzheimer's so easily at below-60's (possibly because active and activity keeps the brain muscles exercised ... but there's a negative flip-side to this finding: when the condition hits a man at a more advanced age, the bad effects come faster and more powerfully.

Interesting photo news: news stories yesterday ... I think it was in Europe ... an Ansel Adams print went ... at an auction ..... for more than (if I recall correctly) $ 2-million ... a new record for a photograph.

Hey, I've got some great Gary Franklins, I'm willing to sell for a sacrifice one-million smackeroos .... maybe even for a sacrifice $ 750,000 !

Rain forecast for this part of California, next few days ... so travel plans uncertain.

Cheers,

gsf

The whole Kwan

2006-02-12T18:01:00.000-08:00

Sunday 2/12 evening

... A shame about Michelle Kwan's groin ... but now she'll make millions as a future TV commentator ... and I think it's cute that a gal named Cohn is about to take her place ... can't wait to see how the Arab sports commentators handle that one. It'll also be interesting to see how the loss of Kwan will further affect Olympics' TV ratings ... which ain't been great so far. (NBC tried to get Kwan to come aboard as a commentator, after her resignation ... but that smart gal refused.)

Incidentally, the TV show "American Idol" beat the so-far Olympics ... which sez something, but I don't know what.

And then, there's VP Dick Cheney accidentally shooting lead into a fellow hunter's face and shoulder ... in that great sport: people shooting animals for fun.

Cheers,
gary f

Olympics and other observations...

2006-02-10T19:45:00.000-08:00

Fri., 2/10 afternoon ....

I know it ain't funny, but I think it's funny: note on the sites today, that Elizabeth Vargas - the other half of the ABC evening news anchor duo - is knocked up ... and expecting in the late summer. Meanwhile - and certainly NOT funny - her partner, Woodruff, so badly hurt in the Iraq thing, is still in intensive care ... with hardly any details on his condition - present and future - leaking out. What a dilemma for ABC !
Other things:
Am I in a tiny minority ? ... but why do I find myself not giving a rat's ass about the winter Olympics in Italy ... so much stuff going on with drugs ... and all the commercialization ... and the gambling interests ... but then I've never cared much for professional sports and those guys painting up their faces in the pro football audiences. Last time I paid to get into a ballgame audience, was when I was around 12, and an uncle in the Bronx thought he could interest the German 'fugee kid in the fortunes of the New York Giants, at the Polo Grounds. I think admission price (for good seats !) at the time, was $ 1.50.
One other touchy subject:
One of the very bright people with whom I e-communicate, seems to be a bit upset with me, because I wrote in one of my short tomes, that I was raised in an environment, headed by a superb physician-father (and recognized, during the '30's, as a leading expert on venereal disease control), who worked his profession on the theory that most male homosexual activity was medically dangerous .... and this was long before AID's. (Since neither he nor I believe(d) much in psychiatry, the mental/emotional/social aspects of homosexuality, were/are far less important, than the physical dangers.). As a result, I may be losing a writing partner .... seems the fellow considers me a Neanderthal on this subject.
And I worry about any of my four grandkids (including the one female) falling victim to these people with their same-sex urges. Actually, I couldn't care less about their bed-activities ... but with Hollywood now sort of legitimizing homosexual activity in several new films, including making one a leading Oscar contender (and who knows, how many in preparation or production) ... it feels quite OK not to be in the critic-biz any more.
Touchy subject; I know.

Happy Friday.

Cheers,
gsf