# Hogan's Heroes & Stalag 13 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048 "2012-09-07T23:19:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/61 "2012-09-10T20:33:49Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > On camera and off. Who cares about the “on” part? > [@](#): > > The first one, Helga, left the show after things got sticky. The second one, Hilda, he ended up marrying after he was divorced (his wife finally caught on to what was happening). > > Apparently all three were perpetually as horny as March hares. Well, Crane was, anyway. There’s proof. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/62 "2012-09-10T20:37:49Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > On camera and off. Considering that Crane was involved, much more on than off, I reckon. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/63 "2012-09-10T20:38:46Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Considering that Crane was involved, much more on than off, I reckon. Oooh, yeah! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/64 "2012-09-10T20:40:24Z")
Are you saying that Hilda and Helga appeared in Crane’s home movies? ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/65 "2012-09-10T20:41:26Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Are you saying that Hilda and Helga appeared in Crane’s home movies? Are you saying they didn’t? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/66 "2012-09-10T20:58:36Z")
Watch the Crane biopic sometime. All your questions \*\*will \*\*be answered. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/67 "2012-09-10T20:58:50Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Are you saying they didn’t? 😉 I’ll believe it when I see it. That’s what I’m-a saying. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/68 "2012-09-10T21:46:38Z")
I saw Klemperer on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. IIRC he said he might not have taken the role except for a misunderstanding. He was given the impression that it was about a concentration camp and refused. When he found out that it was a POW camp it seemed so benign in comparison that he began to seriously consider it. About twenty years ago I was reminiscing about watching shows like Hogan’s Heroes and Dragnet in syndication, and it occured to me for the first time that the name of the humorless character, Grupenfuhrer Freitag, was German for Sgt. Friday! The overhead whooshing noise was deafening, having been building up for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/69 "2012-09-11T04:36:53Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Watch the Crane biopic sometime. All your questions \*\*will \*\*be answered. 🆒 I really enjoyed “Auto Focus” and the actor who plays Werner Klemperer could pass for his DOUBLE! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/70 "2012-09-11T13:31:29Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Carter was demolitions. Their first tailor was Vladimir Minsk, in the series’ pilot. After that, LeBeau and Newkirk seemed to do most of the tailoring. They could have come up with a dress uniform for Hogan, I suppose, but getting the proper insignia, buttons, and other accoutrements would have been a bitch. (In _The Great Escape_, German insignia were made by melting the thin foil in cigarette packs and pouring it into molds carved from soap, IIRC.) Ah right! My memory placed Carter in Newkirk’s role. I think at one point they had a whole rack full of uniforms somewhere in the tunnel or hidden in closet. Carter was a common trope of a simple minded or goofy technical expert. I’d forgotten about Newkirk altogether. Dawson may have achieved the most post-Heroes career success on Family Feud. One of his early roles was in the movie King Rat, a small part at the end, you can barely tell it’s him. LeBeau also spent time on a soap opera (Days?), surprising to me when I ran across it on TV one day. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/71 "2012-09-11T13:51:17Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > I really enjoyed “Auto Focus” and the actor who plays Werner Klemperer could pass for his DOUBLE! Kurt Fuller. He’s been in a ton of things. Currently in a reoccuring role role on _Psych._ ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/72 "2012-09-11T14:12:56Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Kurt Fuller. He’s been in a ton of things. Looking at his IMDB page, it seems like he’s been in _everything_. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/73 "2012-09-11T14:32:51Z")
all this time i had been thinking this was a documentary. next think you know someone will say Officer Muldoon wasn’t an accurate portrayal. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/74 "2012-09-11T14:34:17Z")
McHale’s Navy was an excellent documentary, as well. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/75 "2012-09-11T16:48:28Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > McHale’s Navy was an excellent documentary, as well. Believe it or not, I once spent an afternoon trying to find the island of Taratupa on a map. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/76 "2012-09-11T16:53:23Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > all this time i had been thinking this was a documentary. > > next think you know someone will say Officer Muldoon wasn’t an accurate portrayal. All well and good for you armchair QB’s to cast aspersions on a fine police officer, but do you think for one minute you’d be able to handle it when, all in one day, there’s a scout troop short a child, but simultaneously across town, Kruschev’s due at Idlewild… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/77 "2012-09-11T16:59:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Believe it or not, I once spent an afternoon trying to find the island of Taratupa on a map. :rolleyes: I did that when I was a kid too. I figured it couldn’t be too far from New Caledonia. Could have been any little island around there if it wasn’t fictional. At least they had a storyline for dropping Fuji when they went to Italy. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/78 "2012-09-11T17:00:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I did that when I was a kid too. I figured it couldn’t be too far from New Caledonia. Could have been any little island around there if it wasn’t fictional. At least they had a storyline for dropping Fuji when they went to Italy. Fuji stowed away on the PT73, didn’t he? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/79 "2012-09-11T17:12:58Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I grew up watching that show (in reruns) in the early 70s. There was an episode where the Germans put a notorious escape-artist prisoner into Stalag 13 because they though it was so secure. Hogan tried to keep the guy from escaping again, saying how it would interfere with his whole underground operations, but the guy escaped anyway. Maybe there was an epilog I missed, but I’m pretty sure the show just ended with Hogan in Klink’s office trying to cheer him up about losing his perfect record. Then they just forgot about it. IIRC, he didn’t “successfully” escape; at the end, he was going to be transferred to a much more secure facility. I think the last two lines of the show were something like: (Newkirk) If anybody can get out of there, he can, but I’d lay 1000-1 against it. (Flood, in one of the bunks): I believe I’ll take that bet! There were two escapes, but in one, Klink explained it away as, “Officially, I do not consider him a prisoner,” and in the other, Hogan convinces Klink that the “prisoner” was really put there by the Germans to spy on Klink. > [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > I feel pretty dumb asking this but what the hell: I have seen at least one episode where Kinch was out with the others dressed in a German Uniform, is there \*any \*chance that could have happened? I am guessing the answer is DUH, no, but I await your expertise…🙂 I remember one episode where Hogan is looking for someone to play a German officer, and Kinch says, “How about me?”, to which Hogan replies, “Don’t be ridiculous!” As for actors playing bit parts who would later become more famous, didn’t William Christopher (Father Mulcahy on _M_A_S_H\*) play both Allied and German soldiers in different episodes? I know Gavin MacLeod played a German officer at least once (he was stealing works of art from France), but can’t remember if he played any Allied soldiers or not. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Did they ever acknowledge Kinchloe’s absence? No. They can’t even agree on his last name. (It’s James in one episode, and Ivan in another.) Then again, an early episode took place on D-Day, which was in 1944, but later episodes took place in 1943. > [@Declan](#): > > I never understood why Shultz was not an officer. Well, in one episode, they said he was a private in World War I; maybe he just wasn’t officer material. (Klink was a pilot in WWI, so presumably he was already an officer.) One final bit of trivia: there really is a Hammalburg, Germany, and Luft-Stalag 13 really was located there, but its only claim to fame was that General Patton’s son-in-law was there at one point, and supposedly Patton went out of his way to try to liberate him. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048/80 "2012-09-11T17:27:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Fuji stowed away on the PT73, didn’t he? :dubious: Yeah. Once in Italy he joined the Japanese American troops there. One of the guys was his cousin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hogans-heroes-stalag-13/634048.md?page=5)