Les Crane

Most Les Crane Show episodes pictured in the Look feature story, such as the one with Winters and Robinson, were completely destroyed, and what the participants said is not known.

Les Crane's confrontational interview technique, along with a "shotgun" microphone he aimed at audiences, earned him the name "the bad boy of late-night television." In truth, critical opinion was divided. Some critics, like The New York Times media critic Paul Gardner, thought he was an incisive interviewer who asked tough questions without being insulting. One of the critics who did not like his show also found Crane's trademark shotgun microphone distracting. "Each time he points this mike into the audience, it looks as though he's about to shoot a spectator." (Laurent, 1964) The one thing nearly every critic agreed with was that Crane was very photogenic—or as one critic described him, he was "a tall, handsome and personable lad " (Smith, 1964) In fact, expectations for Crane had been quite high, but like many others, Crane would not be able to make a dent in Carson's ratings, and his new show lasted just 14 weeks before ABC executives transformed it into the more show-business-oriented ABC's Nightlife. Although his ratings proved disappointing, Crane was able to get some outstanding guests. Bob Dylan, who rarely appeared on American television, was one of them. Along with such offbeat subjects as the voice of radio's The Shadow, Bret Morrison, Crane also interviewed (in addition to the aforementioned Malcolm X) leading figures such as Richard Burton, Martin Luther King, Jr., George Wallace and Robert F. Kennedy. Read Less