The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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LES CRANE

“DESIDERATA”

(Max Ehrmann, Fred Werner)

Warner 7520

No. 8   December 4, 1971

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Not much is known about where he came from or even where he went to, but the San Francisco

born’n’bred TV talk-show host Les Crane (b. 1935) annoyed plenty of people in the mid-’60s with his

sandpapery commu­nication style.   ABC had set up “The Les Crane Show” to compete against NBC’s

“Tonight Show.”   The attempt, like similar efforts today, was short-lived–Crane’s show nose-dived into

oblivion within four months.   The successor to the Crane program was billed “Nightlife,” which featured a

different guest host each week.  Within months, Crane was back as regular host; the obligatory sidekick

was wordsmith Nipsy Russell.  Les was finally dethroned in April 1967 when the show was converted into

“The Joey Bishop Show,” with sidekick functions for the next quarter decade being sup­plied by Regis

Philbin.

Four years later, the sometime DJ had a Top 10 hit with a reading of Max Ehrmann’s 1906 poem, “Go

Placidly Amid the Noise and Haste.” (Ehrmann had died 27 years earlier.)  The groundwork had been laid

a year earlier.  In 1970, ex-Nice drummer Brian David­son’s group Every Which Way had utilized

Ehrmann’s words for a song on their only album; that same year, King Crimson, thinking the poem was an

ancient doc­ument, had also used it, in an ad for their Lizard album.

The Crane dubbing did garner a Grammy for “Best Spoken Word Recording” of 1971, but, to no one’s sur­

prise, Les never charted again.  The follow-up, “Children Learn What They Live,” was heard’n’heeded by

few.

Crane was married to Tina Louise, the long cher­ished movie star Ginger Grant in the inane but perennially

favorite TV series “Gilligan’s Island.”

Les Crane died July 13, 2008.