Batman's Chief O'Hara Eulogy

Actually, the eulogy is for Stafford Repp, the veteran character actor who portrayed Chief O'Hara in the campy 1960's television show and movie. Stafford, who was my father's first cousin, was in hundreds of television and movie roles over his career, and died young in November, 1974.

I remember meeting him just one time.  He lived in the Los Angeles area and our family in the San Francisco Bay Area.  He and my grandfather (Stafford's uncle) Mervyn Raphael Marks were spitting images of one another.

The eulogy was written by Stafford's only sibling, his sister, Elisabeth Repp Cooper, and it is beautifully written:

IN MEMORIAM

Stafford was unique. No one else was quite like him. He had many talents - a gifted actor, a fine singer, and a wit, but most of all, he had a gift for friendship. Like Will Rogers, he never met a person he didn't like or who didn't like him. He was never heard to say an unkind word about anyone. Where most of us see only the faults, he was blind to these and saw only the virtues. His friends were many and from all walks of life - from race track gamblers to TV stars, the most ordinary and the most famous, to him they were all the same, his friends.

He was generous to a fault and never refused to help when help was asked. He was gentle and kind, compassionate as few men are.

He was human, of course, with human faults and virtues, but his virtues were many and his faults few. His temper was short but quick. His explosions of anger were brief and his contrition long.

Stafford loved life. He ate and drank and worked and played with gusto. As Chief O'Hara in "Batman", his face was familiar to children all over the world, and that was as it should be because there was so much of the child in him - the happiness he found in the smallest pleasures, the total honesty, the innocent trust.

He was a loving son, a devoted brother, an adoring uncle, a good husband.

The last day of his life was perhaps one of the fullest. He had what an actor always hopes for, a good role. This one in "Mannix" was a physical and emotional challenge. And like the good trouper he was, he finished the job that very day. And a rare occurrence, his wife was on the set watching the filming. It was their fourth anniversary.

Then, later, he was at the place he always loved, Hollywood Park. And there he died the way he always said he wanted to - at the track with a winning ticket in his pocket. God tapped him on the shoulder and in Stafford's own words, "It was post time at the big race track in the sky."

We should not weep for him. His life was not as long as we would have wished, but it was full with success, with fun, with friendship, with love. We weep for ourselves for the loss of a friend, an uncle, a brother, a husband. We weep for the void he has left in our lives. But we also remember how he brightened each life that he touched, and we will cherish that memory forever.

Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara in the Batman TV Show

Another cousin of my Dad - Stafford Repp, was also in movies and television.  His most famous role was as Chef O'Hara in the campy Batman series of the 1960s.  Below is a segment of one of the shows where he was featured.

Stafford Repp Is On Qwiki

If you haven't tried Qwiki (www.qwiki.com) you should.  Although it is in just the alpha or beginning stages. it has great promise.

My first cousin,  once removed (my father's cousin) - Stafford Repp is on there.  Check him and try others.  His link is

http://www.qwiki.com/q/#!/Stafford_Repp

Another "relative" - who actually married into the family as Gloria Metzner's husband was Hal Borne.  His Qwiki link is

http://www.qwiki.com/q/#!/Hal_Borne.

Gloria is also my first cousin, once removed.

New Marks, Raphael and Repp Photos Uncovered

With great thanks to my second cousin Kit Crawford, who with her husband Jim paid us a visit this week, we now have more photos of the Marks, Raphael, and Repp families. Kit and I share common great grandparents - Joseph Marks and Mollie Raphael Marks. Kit's grandmother Carol Marks married Herbert Repp and Carol's only sibling was my grandfather Mervyn Raphael Marks.

In honor of her visit, below are a few pictures. The first is Kit as a child with her mother Elisabeth Repp. The second is Joseph and Mollie, and the third is the Repp family (the two individuals on the outer left and outer right are unknown and not family members). The remainder are in the Marks Family Photos album accessible via the Photo Page

The Entertainers

There have been many in the family who have been in the entertainment industry as musicians, actors, writers, magicians, and dancers. Some have actually been in the entertainment industry making a living, while others performed as a hobby or sideline.

My first cousin, once removed (my dad's first cousin) Clyde Pound, has been a pianist, keyboardist, arranger, musical director, etc. for over 50 years. He started with the Dukes of Dixieland and through his career has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hawaii, Colorado, and now Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was musical director for the Hungry I nightclub in San Francisco and has been musical director for and played with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Liza Minelli, Dizzy Gillespie, and many others.

Another one of my Dad's cousins, Stafford Repp was a television and movie actor, best known for the part of Chief O'Hara on the television series Batman in the 1960s. He started his career in San Francisco repertory theatre after serving in World War II. He moved to southern California where he subsequently appeared in character roles in hundreds of television shows and movies.

Stafford Repp's sister, Elisabeth Repp, was a television writer. She was a writer for the pilot episode of the long running TV soap opera - "General Hospital".

Yet another of my dad's cousins was Gloria Metzner, whose stage name was Gloria Dea. Her father, Leo Metzner was an amateur magician known as "The Great Leo". She started her career as a child magician and performed at The Hotel El Rancho Vegas, the Las Vegas Strip's first casino resort. Later she danced as part of Earl Carroll's Vanities in Hollywood and the Billy Rose Aquacade at the San Francisco World's Fair. She later was in several movies and serials. She was in the "King of the Congo" serial with Buster Crabbe in the starring role of "Princess Pha". Although she had small parts in many successful movies such as "Around the World in 80 Days", she also had a small role in what has been called the worst movie of all time - Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space". She currently lives in Las Vegas.

The first of Gloria's husbands was Jack Statham, who was a bandleader who also played the accordion. Her second husband was Hal Borne, most famous for being Fred Astaire's rehearsal pianist, as well as band leader for Tony Martin and Ginger Rogers' touring shows. He also wrote the music for one of the last Marx Brothers movies "The Big Store". Here is a photo of Gloria and Hal in 1945.

Clyde Pound's mother and father had a vaudeville show. Henry Pound had a group that was looking for a piano player. Mynette Heyman was hired and they got married shortly thereafter. Myn and her first cousin Edith Markheim Stone played together later in life for senior groups as "The First Cousins".

Arthur Heyman was a "smoothie dancer" and won several awards for his dancing later in his life.

My great grandfather Joseph Marks was a vaudeville agent and my great great uncle Isaac Marks was a stage manager for several San Francisco musical theatres in the late 1800s and early 1900s.