TV/Radio Pioneer Joe Franklin Has Died at 88

New York's treasured radio and TV host Joe Franklin died on Saturday, Jan. 24, from prostate cancer. He was 88.

Franklin was best known for his late-night TV show which aired 1950-1963, which set the Guinness World Record for the longest running talk show of all time.

Joe Franklin (born Joseph Fortgang; March 9, 1926 - January 24, 2015) was an American radio and television host personality from New York City, best known for pioneering the television talk-and-variety show format that set the standard for television talk shows. His show began in 1950 on WJZ-TV (later WABC-TV) and moved to WOR-TV (later WWOR-TV) from 1962 to 1993. He claimed to have interviewed over 300,000 guests during his 43 year television career.

He was born as Joseph Fortgang on March 9, 1926. Both parents were Jewish. As a teenager Franklin "followed around" Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, the latter of whom eventually began buying jokes from the young Franklin and whose Carnegie Hall show he later produced. At 14, Franklin began working behind the scenes for The Kate Smith Hour and at 16, Franklin officially began his entertainment career as a record picker on radio sensation Martin Block's Make Believe Ballroom where he became known as "The Young Wreck with the Old Records". He was 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 Canada Dry Ginger Ale on the air.

A&E's documentary It's Only Talk, The Real Story Of America's Talk Shows, (Actuality Productions) 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 Johnny Carson's run.

After retiring from his television show, Franklin concentrated on his overnight radio show, playing old records on WOR-AM on Saturday evenings, and mentoring thousands of aspiring entertainers who for decades have sought an audience with him at his notoriously cluttered Times Square office. Through mid-January 2015, in spite of failing health, Franklin continued working and his celebrity interviews called "Nostalgia Moments" could be heard daily on the Bloomberg Radio Network.

Franklin died of prostate cancer at a Manhattan hospice on January 24, 2015 at the age of 88.

Franklin's guests included (sometimes on the same panel) Charlie Chaplin, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe (with whom Franklin co-authored "The Marilyn Monroe Story" in 1953), Jayne Mansfield, Cary Grant, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Rudy Vallee, Jimmy Durante, Madonna, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Bing Crosby, The Ramones, Captain Lou Albano, and five U.S. Presidents juxtaposed with countless unknown local performers, fringe bands, balloon-folders, self-published authors, celebrity impersonators and lounge singers, all of whom gave the show a surreal atmosphere.

Franklin never employed a co-host however his producer, Richie Ornstein, worked side-by-side with Franklin for decades and was a standard feature on the Joe Franklin Show to interact with guests and to discuss trivia.

Many well known talents such as Woody Allen, Andy Kaufman, Liza Minelli, Barbra Streisand,Julia Roberts, Bruce Springsteen, Robin Williams, John Belushi and Richard Pryor got their first television exposure on The Joe Franklin Show. Others, notoriously shy of live interviews, made frequent appearances on Franklin's programs: Frank Sinatra, for instance, appeared four times.

In 1999, Joe Franklin joined Riese Restaurants to open "Joe Franklin's Memory Lane Restaurant" in Manhattan's Theater District, where Franklin appeared frequently and even conducted live, in-person interviews with entertainers such as Billy Crystal, who famously impersonated Franklin on Saturday Night Live.

Franklin appeared as himself in countless films, notably Ghostbusters and Broadway Danny Rose. Franklin would appear on the very first episode of This American Life giving host Ira Glass advice on how to have a successful show. He was also a guest on an early episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Franklin was mentioned several times on The Simpsons and appeared regularly with Conan O'Brien. He was also seen on The David Letterman Show and Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee.

Franklin made several 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 Terror Firmer, as well as the 1993 infomercial The Troma System as the result of the commercial's host transforming into "the ultimate talk show host".

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

In the mid-1990s a section of West 42nd Street at 8th Avenue in Manhattan was temporarily renamed "Joe Franklin's Memory Lane" in recognition of his contributions to entertainment history, and although his broadcasts on WOR Channel 9 were closely associated with the rival New York Mets franchise, the New York Yankees nevertheless honored him with "Joe Franklin Day" at Yankee Stadium.

In 1997, Franklin starred in the documentary film "50,000,000 Joe Franklin Fans Can't Be Wrong", directed by Joshua Brown.

In the 2005 film The Aristocrats, comedian Sarah Silverman tells a facetious story about Franklin raping her as a child. Franklin, who also appears in the film, filed a defamation lawsuit against Silverman in California which was settled out of court.

In 2014, Franklin starred in Owen Kline and Andrew Lampert's short film Jazzy for Joe, which featured Franklin raising an abandoned baby discovered on his doorstep.