THE MAN BEHIND THE HELMET: JOHN BANNER’S UNFORGETTABLE ENCOUNTER
Interviewer: John, looking back at Hogan’s Heroes, people always ask about the comedy, but for you, it must have been a bit surreal. You were a Jewish man…
THE RADIO WAS PLASTIC BUT THE SILENCE FELT HEAVILY REAL
The warehouse at the edge of the studio lot was a cathedral of forgotten things. It smelled of old sawdust, ozone, and the kind of heavy, settled dust…
THEY LAUGHED BENEATH THE BARRACKS… BUT THE SILENCE SPOKE LOUDER
The sun was dipping low over the old backlot in Culver City, casting long, skeletal shadows across the patch of dry earth where Stalag 13 used to stand….
THE SGT SCHULTZ INCIDENT THAT NEARLY BROKE STALAG 13
The studio lights were a bit too bright for an early Tuesday morning, but Robert Clary didn’t seem to mind. He sat on the edge of the velvet…
THE DAY SERGEANT SCHULTZ ACTUALLY BECAME A PERMANENT PART OF THE TUNNEL
The studio lights were always a bit too warm for a man of my particular displacement. I remember sitting across from a young talk show host in 1972,…
THE DAY COLONEL KLINK FINALLY LOST HIS COOL ON THE SET
The studio lights were low, casting a soft glow over Werner Klemperer as he sat back in the leather chair. He looked remarkably different from the stiff, monocled…
THE STRUDEL INCIDENT THAT BROKE SERGEANT SCHULTZ ON THE HOGAN’S HEROES SET
The studio lights are warm, and the late-night talk show host leans across the mahogany desk with a mischievous glint in his eye. He reaches into a manila…
THE DAY THE STALAG 13 GUARD DOGS FORGOT THEIR TRAINING
The studio lights were a bit warmer than John Banner liked, but he sat there with that familiar, jolly grin that had made Sergeant Schultz a household name….
THE DAY COLONEL KLINK HEARD THE MONKEES IN HIS INTERROGATION PHONE
The auditorium was quiet, the kind of respectful silence you only get when a veteran of the craft is about to share something from the deep vault of…
THE DAY SERGEANT SCHULTZ LITERALLY SAW NOTHING AT ALL
John Banner sits back in the armchair, the soft studio lights of the 1970s talk show set reflecting off his glasses. He looks every bit the jolly, grandfatherly…