{{short description|American screenwriter (1914–99)}} {{about|comedy writer Harry Crane|the Mad Men character Harry Crane|List of Mad Men characters}} {{Infobox person | name = Harry Crane | image = | caption = | birth_date = April 23, 1914 | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | birth_name = Harry Kravitsky | other_names = | death_date = {{death date and age|1999|09|13|1914|04|23}} | death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S. | death_cause = | education = | occupation = Comedy writer | known_for = Co-creator of the concept behind ''The Honeymooners'' | children = 2 Stephanie Crane Hirsh and Barbara Gilbert Cowan | spouse = {{plainlist| * Julia Grandes * Lillian Reifman }} | parents = | family = Melissa Gilbert (granddaughter)<br> Sara Gilbert (granddaughter)<br> Jonathan Gilbert (grandson)<br> Warren Cowan (son-in-law) | website = }}
'''Harry Crane''' (né '''Kravitsky'''; April 23, 1914 – September 13, 1999) was an American comedy writer who helped to create the concept for ''The Honeymooners'' and its signature characters.<ref name=NYTObitCrane>[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/20/arts/harry-crane-85-who-helped-create-the-honeymooners.html New York Times: "Harry Crane, 85, Who Helped Create 'The Honeymooners'" by Nick Ravo] Monday September 20, 1999</ref><ref name=Variety>[https://variety.com/1999/scene/people-news/harry-crane-1117755715/ Variety: "Harry Crane" by Doug Galloway] September 16, 1999</ref>
==Biography== Crane was born Harry Kravitsky<ref>[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0p3017jh/ Harry Kravitsky Online Archive of California: "Finding Aid for the Harry Crane Papers, ca. 1915-late 1990s (bulk 1940s-1980s)"] retrieved October 4, 2015 | "''Harry Kravitsky (later changed to Crane) was born in 1914 in Brooklyn, New York''"</ref> to a Jewish family on April 23, 1914, in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name=NYTObitCrane /> He worked as a stand-up comedian<ref name=Variety /> in the Borscht Belt while a teenager.<ref name=NYTObitCrane /> In 1943, he was hired as a writer by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer<ref name=NYTObitCrane /> and wrote several screenplays including ''Air Raid Wardens'' (1943) starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy,<ref name=NYTObitCrane /> ''Lost in a Harem'' (1944) starring Lou Costello and Bud Abbott;<ref name=Variety /> ''The Harvey Girls'' (1946) starring Judy Garland and Angela Lansbury;<ref name=NYTObitCrane /> the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (uncredited) (1946) with Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, and Fanny Brice;<ref name=UCLA>{{Cite web|first= Teri Bond|last= Michael |authorlink= |title= UCLA Library Acquires Papers of Television Pioneer Harry Crane |website=UCLA Newsroom|date= November 18, 2004|url=http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/UCLA-Library-Acquires-Papers-of-5661 |accessdate=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428094742/http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/UCLA-Library-Acquires-Papers-of-5661| archive-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref> the ''Song of the Thin Man'' (1947) starring Myrna Loy and William Powell.<ref name=NYTObitCrane /> He also wrote additional dialogue for ''Two Sisters from Boston'' (1946)<ref name=Variety /> and ''Take Me Out to the Ball Game'' (uncredited).<ref name=Variety />
In the 1950s, he began working in television with the DuMont Television Network. Crane successfully recommended Jackie Gleason, whom he knew from his time as a comedian in New York, to DuMont as host for their show the ''Cavalcade of Stars''.<ref name=UCLA /> In 1951, while working with Joe Bigelow on ''Cavalcade of Stars'', Gleason asked them to produce a sketch of him as a working class Brooklyn guy with a nagging wife. The two created the characters Ralph and Alice Kramden, who became a recurring act in Gleason's show.<ref name=Variety /> The act eventually became a standalone program entitled ''The Honeymooners'' on CBS, which ran from 1955 to 1956.<ref name=NYTObitCrane /> Crane wrote comedic scripts and jokes for many comedians including Jimmy Durante, Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, Milton Berle, and Jerry Lewis. He also wrote jokes for singers including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Perry Como, Alan King, Dean Martin,<ref name=NYTObitCrane /> Eddie Fisher, Red Skelton, Liberace and Henny Youngman.<ref name=Variety />
Crane wrote for the Academy Awards in 1957 and 1959; the Golden Globes in 1968; and the Emmy Awards in 1968, 1971, 1973 and 1974.<ref name=Variety /> In 1965, he resuscitated the ''Dean Martin Show'' which had been suffering from poor ratings and added the concept of the celebrity roast;<ref>[http://splitsider.com/2015/05/the-head-writer-at-the-end-of-an-era/ Split Sider News: "The Head Writer at the End of an Era" BY Michael Barrie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907000756/http://splitsider.com/2015/05/the-head-writer-at-the-end-of-an-era/ |date=2015-09-07 }} May 28, 2015</ref> he was nominated for an Emmy in 1966-67 for his efforts.<ref name=Variety />
==Personal life== Crane married twice. He had two daughters with his first wife, Julia Grandes: Stephanie Crane Hirsh, and Barbara Gilbert Cowan (married to publicist Warren Cowan).<ref name=UCLA /><ref name=Barnes/> Julia Grandes Crane, born in Connecticut on April 28,1917, died on December 1, 2018, in Los Angeles, California, at age 101.<ref name=Barnes>{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/julia-grandes-crane-dead-widow-honeymooners-creator-harry-crane-was-101-1166312|title=Julia Grandes Crane, Widow of 'The Honeymooners' Creator Harry Crane, Dies at 101|first=Mike |last= Barnes|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|date=2018-12-04|accessdate=2018-12-17}}</ref>
In 1958, Crane married his second wife, Lillian Reifman (1918-2010) to whom he remained married until his death.<ref name=LATimesLillianObit>[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?pid=143178635 Los Angeles Times: "Lillian Crane"] May 28, 2010</ref> Crane mentored her son from a previous marriage, writer Ed Scharlach.<ref name=LATimesLillianObit /> Crane is the grandfather of the television actresses Melissa Gilbert and Sara Gilbert and actor Jonathan Gilbert. His daughter Stephanie Crane was in a relationship with Bill Cosby's son, Ennis Cosby who was killed in 1997 while on his way to visit her.<ref>[http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/honeymooners-creator-harry-crane-dead-85-article-1.851230 New York Daily News: "'Honeymooners' Creator Harry Crane Dead at 85" by Bill Hutchinson] September 16, 1999</ref> Crane was interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery.<ref name=Variety />
== References == {{Reflist|30em}} == External links== *{{IMDb name|0186355}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crane, Harry}} Category:1914 births Category:1999 deaths Category:American comedy writers Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Jewish American screenwriters Category:Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery Category:20th-century American comedians Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:20th-century American Jews Category:Comedians from Brooklyn Category:American male comedians Category:Jewish American comedians Category:Jewish male comedians