"Hogan's Heroes" (1965) TV series 1965-1971

Creators:

Bernard Fein
Albert S. Ruddy
(more)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Release Date:

17 September 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Tagline:

If you liked World War II, you'll love Hogan's Heroes!

Plot:

The inmates of a German World War II prisoner of war camp conduct an espionage and sabotage campaign right under the noses of their warders.

Plot Keywords:

Sabotage | Pow | Gestapo | Radio | Escape

Awards:

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 11 nominations

Cast

Bob Crane	...	Col. Robert E. Hogan (168 episodes, 1965-1971)
Werner Klemperer	...	Col. Wilhelm Klink (168 episodes, 1965-1971)
John Banner	...	Sgt. Hans Georg Schultz / ... (168 episodes, 1965-1971)
Robert Clary	...	Cpl. Louis LeBeau (167 episodes, 1965-1971)
Richard Dawson	...	Cpl. Peter Newkirk (166 episodes, 1965-1971)
Larry Hovis	...	Sgt. Andrew Carter / ... (165 episodes, 1965-1971)
Ivan Dixon	...	Sgt. James 'Kinch' Kinchloe / ... (141 episodes, 1965-1970)

Series Directed by
Gene Reynolds		(34 episodes, 1965-1967)
Edward H. Feldman		(28 episodes, 1966-1971)
Bruce Bilson		(25 episodes, 1967-1971)
Marc Daniels		(19 episodes, 1968-1971)
Bob Sweeney		(17 episodes, 1966-1970)
Howard Morris		(14 episodes, 1965-1967)
Richard Kinon		(13 episodes, 1968-1970)
Jerry London		(10 episodes, 1969-1971)
Robert Butler		(5 episodes, 1965-1966)
John Rich		(2 episodes, 1968)
Irving J. Moore		(2 episodes, 1970-1971)

Series Writing credits
Bernard Fein		(168 episodes, 1965-1971)
Albert S. Ruddy		(168 episodes, 1965-1971)
Laurence Marks		(68 episodes, 1965-1971)
Richard Powell		(29 episodes, 1965-1971)
Arthur Julian		(24 episodes, 1965-1971)
Phil Sharp		(16 episodes, 1966-1971)
Bill Davenport		(13 episodes, 1967-1971)
R.S. Allen		(11 episodes, 1965-1971)
Harvey Bullock		(11 episodes, 1965-1971)
Art Baer		(4 episodes, 1966-1968)
Ben Joelson		(4 episodes, 1966-1968)
David Chandler		(3 episodes, 1965-1966)
Jack H. Robinson		(3 episodes, 1965-1966)

Series Produced by
Edward H. Feldman	....	executive producer / producer / ... (168 episodes, 1965-1971)
William A. Calihan Jr.	....	producer / associate producer (136 episodes, 1966-1971)
Jerry London	....	associate producer / assistant producer / ... (76 episodes, 1968-1971)
Bernard Fein	....	associate producer / producer (32 episodes, 1965-1966)

Series Original Music by
Jerry Fielding		(24 episodes, 1965-1966)
Fred Steiner		(20 episodes, 1965-1966)
Will Schaefer		(unknown episodes)

Series Cinematography by
Gordon Avil		(141 episodes, 1965-1970)
William B. Jurgensen		(24 episodes, 1970-1971)
Robert C. Moreno		(2 episodes, 1968-1969)

Series Film Editing by
Michael Kahn		(131 episodes, 1965-1971)
Ken Zemke		(17 episodes, 1969-1971)
Clay Bartels		(7 episodes, 1968-1969)
Jerry London		(6 episodes, 1965-1966)
Thomas Neff		(4 episodes, 1968-1969)
Beryl Gelfond		(4 episodes, 1969-1970)

Series Casting by
Milt Hamerman		(32 episodes, 1965-1966)
Lynn Stalmaster		(32 episodes, 1965-1966)

Series Art Direction by
Rolland M. Brooks		(117 episodes, 1965-1969)
Howard Hollander		(107 episodes, 1965-1971)
Eugene Harris		(60 episodes, 1966-1969)

Series Set Decoration by
Edward M. Parker		(104 episodes, 1965-1969)
William Stevens		(50 episodes, 1969-1971)
Robert Priestley		(13 episodes, 1965-1966)

Series Costume Design by
Marjorie Wahl		(165 episodes, 1965-1971)
Ray Harp		(134 episodes, 1965-1971)
Reeder P. Boss		(32 episodes, 1965-1966)

Series Makeup Department
Armand Delmar	....	makeup artist (132 episodes, 1966-1971)

Series Production Management
Houseley Stevenson Jr.	....	post-production supervisor / production supervisor / ... (166 episodes, 1965-1971)
William A. Calihan Jr.	....	unit production manager / production supervisor / ... (160 episodes, 1965-1971)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Floyd Joyer	....	assistant director (142 episodes, 1965-1971)
Carl 'Major' Roup	....	assistant director (12 episodes, 1965-1966)
Donald L. Gold	....	assistant director (10 episodes, 1965-1966)

Series Sound Department
Wallace R. Bearden	....	sound engineer / production sound mixer / ... (134 episodes, 1966-1971)
Robert G. Henderson	....	sound editor (72 episodes, 1967-1970)
James J. Klinger	....	sound editor / sound engineer (54 episodes, 1966-1971)
Gordon L. Day	....	sound re-recording mixer (50 episodes, 1969-1971)
William M. Andrews	....	supervising sound editor / sound editor (32 episodes, 1965-1966)
S.G. Haughton	....	sound / sound engineer (27 episodes, 1965-1966)
Ross Taylor	....	sound editor (8 episodes, 1968-1969)
Leon M. Leon	....	sound engineer (6 episodes, 1965-1966)
Milton Lustig	....	sound engineer (unknown episodes, 1969-1970)

Series Editorial Department
Jerry London	....	editorial supervisor / supervising editor (113 episodes, 1965-1969)

Series Music Department
Jerry Fielding	....	composer: theme music / composer: title music / ... (146 episodes, 1965-1971)
Milton Lustig	....	music editor / music supervisor (134 episodes, 1966-1971)
Richard Berres	....	music supervision / music editor (32 episodes, 1965-1966)

Series Other crew
John Pommer	....	production executive (1 episode, 1965)

Production Companies

• Bing Crosby Productions
• Bob Crane Enterprises (1970-1971)

Distributors

• Paramount Television (1965) (worldwide) (TV)
• CBS Television Network (1965-1971) (USA) (TV)
• Canal Plus (1987) (France) (TV) (Cable TV premiere: 'Stalag 13') (dubbed version)
• Kabel 1 (1994-1995) (Germany) (TV)
• M6 Métropole Télévision (1989) (France) (TV) (rerun: 'Papa Schultz') (dubbed version)
• Me-TV (2010) (USA) (TV)
• Viacom

Other Companies

• Cinema General Studios  filming location
• Desilu Studios  filming location
• Paramount Studios  filming location
• Post Cereals of General Foods  original sponsor
• Post Cereals of General Foods  original sponsor (Maxwell House coffee, Jell-O)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

25 min | 30 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | French

Color:

Black and White (pilot) | Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G (some episodes) | Singapore:PG | New Zealand:G (season 1) | USA:TV-PG | Australia:PG (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

Cinema General Studios - 846 N. Cahuenga, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bing Crosby Productions

Trivia:

The show was still very popular in its final season on the air. However, it was caught up in the "rural purge" that took place just before the 1971-1972 television season. The main reason it was canceled was due to the fact that it was felt that the show mainly appealed to rural audiences and older people in much the same way that shows like "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1962), "Green Acres" (1965) and "Hee Haw" (1969) were.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Hogan and the other Heroes would never have been stationed together. There was a separate POW camp for officers.

Quotes:

Schultz:Col. Hogan if you ever escape...
Hogan:Yeah?
Schultz:Be a good fellow and take me with you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Walking Dead: Guts (#1.2)" (2010)

A Show that has lost its context

The problem with Hogan's heroes is that it has lost its context. People criticize it as a comedy set in a German prisoner of War camp, saying that trivializes the real human tragedies created by the Nazi regime. The thing is, Hogan's Heroes is not a spoof of prison camps. It's a spoof of World War II movies and TV shows. It came out in the wake of films like `The Longest Day', `The Great Escape', etc. which produced shows like `Combat', `The Gallant Men', 12 O'Clock High', all of which were hyper serious because of the subject matter. Such a trend requires a leavening spoof. And `Hogan's Heroes' and `McHale's Navy' provided that comic relief. Nobody ever criticized McHale's Navy for trivializing the Pacific War, any more than they criticized `F Troop' for not being a documentary about the Old West or `Get Smart' for not being written by John LaCarre. Why do we indict Hogan's heroes for being insensitive to the deprivations of the Nazis?

This show is itself based on a hit Broadway play and movie from a decade before called `Stalag 17' which won William Holden an Oscar. If you've seen Stalag 17, the humor there is much cruder and more oblivious of the real threat of the Nazis than Hogan's Heroes. Robert Strauss and Harvey Lembeck, (later to show up in another Military spoof to which HH also obviously owes a lot), decide at one point they would like to see some female Russian POWS take showers. They grab a bucket of paint and begin painting a stripe down the middle of the road toward the building where the showers are. This fools the guards until the paint a stripe right over to the window of this building, (the showers have windows?), and peer in. There is nothing this crude or insensitive in any episode of Hogan's Heroes. Yet this is a highly regarded film.

But now, 30 years later, when there are fewer films about that era made, the old show is viewed not a spoof of a show business trend but as a parody of the real event, which it was never really intended to be. This has allowed the critics to `pile on' and rip the show for being insensitive to the victims of Nazi oppression. All I remember is a funny show and that's all it was ever intended to be.