“Mitch, did you really know Joe Franklin?” You bet I did, little Timmy! Although, to be honest, that wasn’t really such a distinguishing characteristic. If you were involved in NYC street life in the Eighties (as well as a number of other decades), there were a whole bunch of people who you couldn’t help knowing, at least to say hello to, and Joe Franklin was certainly one of them. You would see Joe around Times Square and he always seemed to have a minute to share a couple of stories.
Years later I discovered that we went to the same doctor and I would see him in the waiting room (dude must have had some serious health issues because he was there a LOT!). We would while away the interminable waiting period with ME interviewing HIM.
Being in broadcasting, I asked him about the back stories of the TV biz. He seemed surprisingly tangential to the whole thing. The situation between him and WOR sounded like one of benign neglect: he cost them practically nothing and they sought as much in return. I was sad to hear him say that he never owned the show; he was a wage-earner like the rest of us slobs all those years.
That said, he was certainly a genuinely sweet man and he seemed to take nothing but delight in the warm regard we New Yorkers had for him. Considering the way our engagement with media has changed over the years (like the fact that you are reading THIS right now), there won’t be another like him ever again.
Now, as a reward for having read waaaaay down to here, I ask you my fellow New Yorkers to name another NYC street character from then or now. Who is there, or was there, that belongs to all of us? (and I’ll tell you now that you get no points for Naked Cowboy).