Dear Reader,

In the late 1970s, Spoede School let out at exactly 3:30 p.m. We would line up in the back and board our school buses for the ride home. I was on Bus #3, and Mr. Matt was our bus driver. Matt knew that he had exactly 30 minutes to get all the kids on his route home. Our route went south on Spoede, right on Ladue Road, and drove west up the hill towards Mosley Road in Creve Coeur.

As we would near the top, Matt would make a left into Ladue Estates and promptly have me home by 3:50ish.

I’d get home, say hello to the mom, grab some barbecue Charles Chips right out of the can, drop my butt in my dad’s big orange chair and flip on Channel 11. For the next 2-and-half hours, I was in pre-TVLand bliss, because KPLR had the greatest lineup of after-school programming ever created by a local television station.

This is what they aired.

4:00 p.m. – Gilligan’s Island
4:30 p.m. – Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.
5:00 p.m. – Bewitched
5:30 p.m. – The Munsters (I think)
6:00 p.m. – Get Smart
6:30 p.m. – Hogan’s Heroes

It would be Hogan’s Heroes that would become my favorite show. In fact, my first attempt at writing something creatively was trying to create an episode of the show when I was 9. I also found a comrade in the character of Cpl. Louis LeBeau. Like me, LeBeau was on the shorter side of tall, but still, all the girls dug him, so of course, I related to him.

It would be decades before I learned that the actor who played LeBeau, Robert Clary, was Jewish.

Related: Robert Clary, ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ star and Holocaust survivor, dies at 96

Robert Clary passed away this week at the age of 96. He was the last surviving member of the show’s cast. In tribute to Mr. Clary, here are 5 of my favorite episodes of Hogan’s Heroes, featuring Robert Clary as Cpl. Louis LeBeau, courtesy of Hogan’s Heroes Fandom.

Thanks for reading,

Jordan

Hold That Tiger

The POWs smuggle a new Tiger tank Klink has been boasting about into camp in order to photograph and study it.

The Flight of the Valkyrie:

Because of all the “funny business” going on Klink brings in Colonel Crittendon to replace Hogan as officer in charge of POWs. His arrival louses up plans to help a German baroness escape to England.

LeBeau and the Little Old Lady

LeBeau tells the others he is taking messages to a little old lady, when really she is a beautiful underground agent he has fallen for.

Gowns by Yvette

Hogan plans to use the wedding of Burkhalter‘s niece by having LeBeau design her gown to get a defector out of Germany.

Man in a Box

Hogan is ordered to capture LeBeau, but not before he lets him complete his mission. In the episode, we learn that Hogan is six feet tall and LeBeau is about five feet tall.