Sad to discover Joe's passing. I somehow thought he'd live forever feeling he's a big part here of New York City's entertainment landscape (just like Ed Sullivan was) watching/listening to his variety shows with different guests. Joe always exuded such a warm civilized friendliness. Condolences to his family and many close friends.
I bought the book he wrote a while back on his vast memorabilia collection. Whoever has to organize his massive showbiz collection will be able to open a small museum. I remember Joe Franklin most from the early 70's when he had his daytime show on WOR Channel 9. I was 8 or 9 years old at the time and I would catch it when I was home from school. I remember him having Bing Crosby on. Joe loved Crosby and I thought it was cool to see a big star like that on a small budget local NY talk show.
And there were others like a young Pacino and Dustin Hoffman who were still green at the time. So many more. There weren't that many talk shows on then and Joe's show had that local feel. He didn't have a fancy set or a fancy desk and he wasn't handsome and charismatic like Carson, but if you really watched those shows the guests he had on always looked like they really enjoyed being there. It was a relaxed setting. They opened up.
His show was spoofed a lot by New York area comedians who were having a bit of fun but they were also showing a sign of respect. I remember some sort of feud developed between Joe and "Uncle" Floyd Vivino. Floyd used to spoof the Franklin show on his own local program. Floyd admired Joe and always said so. I used to listen to Joe's radio show from time to time years ago and he played a lot of classic tunes and artists that I never would have discovered that I liked had it not been for his show. Johnny Mercer for one. Rest in Peace Joe.