Stanley Frazen

Editor


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About
About this interview

In his two-hour interview, Stanley Frazen (1919-2011) recalls his World War II duty, then his job with Warner Bros. Studios in the mail room, then in publicity. Frazen then talks extensively about the various positions he held at Warner Bros. and the stars who he came in contact with there. He progresses to his first editing experiences as a music cutter, then as a freelance editor. He then discusses working for George Burns, Bob Cummings, and editor Dann Cahn and briefly discusses the craft of editing. He ends the interview by talking about work on The Beverly Hillbillies, My Favorite Martian, Get Smart, Kojak, and The Fall Guy and about his professional and personal relationship with producer/director Garry Marshall. Karen Herman conducted the interview in a joint venture with American Cinema Editors (ACE) on July 17, 2001 at Universal Studios in Universal City, CA.

All views expressed by interviewees are theirs alone and not necessarily those of the Television Academy.

"The longer that you're around, you've got to just anticipate what do you want the audience to see, what should they feel... Sometimes it takes a while to learn when not to cut. That sounds like old school but I think it's always true."

People Talking About ...
Highlights
Stanley Frazen on how he came to be the editor on The Beverly Hillbillies with Paul Henning
Stanley Frazen on editing the Lone Ranger on ABC
Stanley Frazen on what he learned about comedy from George Burns which he applied to editing 
Stanley Frazen on editing Get Smart; on the complexities of his style of editing
Full Interview

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Chapter 1

On his early years and influences; on his World War II duty; On getting a job at Warner Brothers; working as a publicist
On deciding he wanted to be an editor; getting a job as an apprentice cutting sound on Fantasia

Chapter 2

On the Army Signal Core; his early editing jobs on films
On transitioning from film to TV editing on pilots for many shows including Truth or Consequences, The Lone Ranger, and Art Linkletter's People Are Funny and Linkletter and the Kids
On television's technological innovations during the early 50s; working with director Ralph Levy and comedian Jack Benny 

Chapter 3

On working with Art Linkletter, George Burns, Bob Cummings, Joan Davis, Jack Benny
On editing The Beverly Hillbillies and My Favorite Martian ; working with special effects

Chapter 4

On The Guns of Will Sonnet; Get Smart; his editing style
On editing The Monkees; on career highlights, advice to aspiring editors
Shows

Beverly Hillbillies, The

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Stanley Frazen on how he came to be the editor on The Beverly Hillbillies with Paul Henning

Get Smart

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Stanley Frazen on editing Get Smart; on the complexities of his style of editing

Guns of Will Sonnett, The

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Stanley Frazen on editing The Guns of Will Sonnett, a Western series on ABC

I Married Joan

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Stanley Frazen on editing I Married Joan with Joan Davis

Lone Ranger, The

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Stanley Frazen on editing the Lone Ranger on ABC

Monkees, The

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Stanley Frazen on editing The Monkees; working with Carol King

My Favorite Martian

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Stanley Frazen on his experience editing My Favorite Martian on CBS; editing with special effects

People Are Funny

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Stanley Frazen on editing Art Linkletter's People Are Funny on NBC

Truth or Consequences

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Stanley Frazen on editing Truth or Consequences on CBS
Topics

Technological Innovation

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Stanley Frazen on the mutli-head movieloa innovation, which he used while editing early television shows
Professions

Editor

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Stanley Frazen on what he learned about comedy from George Burns which he applied to editing 
Genres

Comedy Series

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Stanley Frazen on what he learned about comedy from George Burns which he applied to editing 
People

George Burns

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Stanley Frazen on working with George Burns
Stanley Frazen on what he learned about comedy from George Burns which he applied to editing 

Jack Benny

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Stanley Frazen on Jack Benny appearing on Burns and Allen; a funny anecdote about how long he should pause

Ralph Levy

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Stanley Frazen on director Ralph Levy, who he worked with while editing Jack Benny specials in the early 50s; on his comedy style

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