Harry Fender – 2012
Harry Fender liked to tell anyone who would listen that he walked away from a great job offer by entertainment entrepreneur Flo Ziegfeld. Returning to St. Louis from New York, Fender became a member of the city police gambling squad. But as WW II ended, he found a niche in local show business on radio stations KXOK and KMOX. Those eventually led to the electronic media stage of local television where he finished his career at Captain 11 on KPLR-TV. It was in this 1960s daily kids’ show that Clarence “Harry” Fender endeared himself to thousands of youngsters, hosting live audiences of kids in the studio and introducing many to the antics of the Three Stooges each day.