The Peculiar Truth about Joe Franklin, the Eccentric Talk Show Host
Published in
3 min readJan 31, 2023
- There was never a late-late-night TV talk show quite as peculiar as the Joe Franklin Show.
- For decades, it aired at 1:00 am or later on WOR-TV Channel 9 in New York (which became WWOR), and the signal didn’t reach far beyond the Tri-State area. No one could view it, for instance, in Boston or Buffalo.
- Few people watched a full episode. Either the extremely late hour, the bewilderingly awkward conversations, or Joe Franklin’s monotone would make viewers nod off.
- Short and doughy with sleepy eyes, a comb-over, and always wearing a bargain basement suit and tie, Joe Franklin looked more like a carpet salesman than a TV personality.
- He was born Joseph Fortgang in the Bronx. In his teenage years, he wrote comedy material for the singer Eddie Cantor. He grew up with actor Tony Curtis. Franklin served in WWII and then returned to New York City.
- Joe Franklin’s Memory Lane aired in 1950 and ran for 12 years. Then he joined WOR in ‘62, and the program was rechristened the Joe Franklin Show.
- Franklin claimed to have invented the talk show.
- Everything about his telecast was low-rent, slightly better than cable access programming.
- The show never had a live audience…
