9 minute read
Bob Carr - A Man for All Seasons
WRITTEN BY SANDRA SCALISE JUNEAU
Following full and successful careers, and after raising their family in New Orleans, Bob and Jan Carr made the move to enjoy their retirement years at The Christwood Community in Covington. There, to their surprise, they discovered how many fellow residents still remembered them. According to Bob, “It was the ‘60s and ‘70s when we were at our height, and that was a long time ago.”
Through their 71 years of marriage, blessed with four children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, broadcast legends Bob and Jan created an aura of charm - lasting impressions for family, friends, and their New Orleans radio and TV audience. As residents of Christwood Retirement Community since 2018, they continued their signature style with good-natured banter, interviewing fellow residents through an in-house weekly TV Show they established, called “Home at Christwood”.
Bob lost his beloved Jan just over a year ago, on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. In remembrance of his lifelong co-star, Bob Carr at age 96, still sharp-witted and active in his community, performed at Christwood his “Ode To Jan”, written in the cadence and vernacular of the Edgar Allan Poe classic, “Annibal Lee”.
Ode To Jan
by Bob Carr
T’was many and many a year ago in a city near the sea that a maiden there lived whom you may know, I call her my Janet Lee.
This maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child, and she was a child in our city by the sea.
For seventy-two years, We loved with a love, that more than love, I and my Janet Lee.
Alas, one night, so dark, and dreary, as she lay ill, and also weary, an archangel descended from heaven, and sat by her bedside very still…
And then they were gone!
The angel, and Janet Lee, but not me!
And then she was gone my Jan my Janet Lee, but not me!
A year has passed.
I thought by now, I could learn to live alone, but habits are so hard to break.
I think of her still, and still I ache.
It takes so long, to learn to live, Alone.
Born Janet Lee Fitzsimmons in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Dec. 12, 1930, and following the death of her mother, Jan was raised in Ohio by her grandparents who nurtured her early interest in performing with dancing and elocution lessons. Jan later earned a degree in speech and communications from Chatham College, now Chatham University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Bob, from Painesville Ohio, met Jan at age 23 when Jan was 21 years old while both were students of theatre at Carnegie Tech, – now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In 1951 Jan was named by Bob’s fraternity, “Dream Girl of Pi Kappa Alpha”, and as college sweethearts, Bob and Jan became an early ‘50s “Item”. Dancing their way through a six-month whirlwind romance, they eloped to be married on May 21, 1952, with friends shaking their heads and saying,” It won’t last”.
The newlyweds soon settled in New York, with fresh-from-college, “ShowBiz” aspirations. While Jan trained with the Rockettes, Bob appeared on billboards and in print ads for Coca-Cola, Colgate and Zippo. Before long through family connections, they were offered an on-air radio job in Wheeling, West Virginia, with the potential of hosting their own show on Wheeling’s new TV station. There, Bob and Jan created from scratch their “Calling All Carr’s” TV Program, writing the script, while helping to build background sets and assemble TV cameras.
Though they had planned a move to Los Angeles, the Muses conspired to bring them to New Orleans, and according to Bob, “We never thought we’d want to come to Louisiana.” But a New Orleans’ friend working in radio promised them work at WWL 870 AM. They arrived in 1960, and before they were hired by WWL, for the radio broadcast from the Roosevelt Hotel’s third floor, the owners of the radio station, The Jesuits of New Orleans had to receive Papal Permission to allow a “married couple” to work together in broadcasting. With permission granted, trendsetters Bob and Jan presided over their own shows, interviewing celebrities who performed at Roosevelt’s famous Blue Room, and diners at the hotel’s restaurant. The list included such diverse luminaries as screen legend Sophie Tucker and the world’s premiere televangelist, Bishop Fulton J Sheen.
With 1960s New Orleans on the cusp of cultural change, both Bob and Jan were surprised by the centuries’ old European influences of traditions and mores they encountered but were entranced by its Vieux Carre architecture. With Rice and Gravy as the mainstays of their culinary experience, they were excited to taste such exotic fare as Crawfish Etouffee, Truite a la Amandine and Beignets with Café au Lait. Most of all they were delighted by the kindness and welcoming reception they received from locals, and both embraced their new home with enthusiasm.
They were soon tapped by WDSU TV to host a startup morning show to promote the new Royal Orleans Hotel. Filmed live each morning from the rooftop of the Royal Orleans, “Second Cup” broke the mold of the existing television format. Filmed outside, with the New Orleans skyline for its background and with the rooftop swimming pool as a prop, in casual dress usually provided by sponsors, like D.H. Holmes Department Store, Bob and Jan, unscripted and working from an outline, welcomed guests with their signature style of breezy conversation punctuated by insights into upcoming local happenings. Bob explains, "We were the first husband and wife team, so we represented the family image of New Orleans."
In a town renowned for its advertising jingles, “Its Bob. And Jan. For Luzianne” still resonates as their on-air identity.
Their next TV venture was to join the team of The Midday Show on WDSU TV. Working with television legends like Terry Flettrich, Nash Roberts and Al Shae sharpened their on-air personae, and Program Director Jerry Romig encouraged incorporating their kids in commercials and shows. Bob recalls, “Terry and Jan were trailblazers in the TV industry. They outpaced women’s expectations of the 1960s. As working mom’s, able not only to successfully juggle busy schedules, they also were able to celebrate both family and careers!”
Despite having their four children virtually raised in the public eye, Jan managed to maintain her Girl-Next-Door, All-American charm, and when asked how she managed this paradox, Bob replied,” It was her naturalness. Jan had no pretense and was totally guileless.” And adds, “With innate graciousness, she was loved by all for her genuine goodness and prized for her cheerful personality.” About their working together relationship, Jan told New Orleans Magazine, “I love working with my husband. That’s the big thing.”
In his book, “Raising Our Kids On Bourbon” Bob describes their journey of establishing a family at home in New Orleans. With the purchase and renovation of a French Quarter house, enrolling their children in a walking distance school while discovering the enchanting nuances of their unique neighborhood, setting down roots in the Vieux Carre’s fertile soil brought Bob and Jan adventure and discovery beyond their mid-America expectations!
Fulfilling their destiny, Bob and Jan became French Quarter community activists through various organizations, including The Spring Fiesta Association, Patio Planters, and just steps away from their Bourbon Street home, at Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré where they worked backstage and On the Boards for various stage productions. Rallying to stop the proposed “riverfront expressway”, which had been designed to cut right through the heart of the Quarter, with an elevated roadway that promised to disrupt the olde town character, blocking the Mississippi River view and adding 24-7, the noise of whizzing cars overhead. They enlisted neighbors and neighborhood children, including their own, to bombard City Hall in protest. Their efforts succeeded and we can thank Bob and Jan, among many others for protecting the French Quarter riverfront from this atrocious intrusion.
When new management took over WDSUTV in the early 1970s, Bob said, “Everything changed.” Moving forward from their broadcast career but having been trained in public relations and with valuable contacts in the business community, Bob was offered the position of Deputy Managing Director of the International House, the forerunner of the New Orleans World Trade Center. Reading like a “Who’s Who” of Louisiana politicians and entrepreneurs, Bob Carr led delegations of the International House Board and local business leaders on trade missions to potential trading partners across the globe, showcasing New Orleans and the Mississippi River as the gateway to national and international commerce. Always the adventurer, Bob thrived with each new challenge, and Jan, more the homebody, grew to relish their international travel ventures.
About their varied careers, Bob described, “We once did a weekly series for Gertrude Gardner Realtors, giving sweeping tours of the interiors and neighborhoods of houses for sale. Sort of like a precursor to those Home and Garden shows now on TV.” Since his retirement, And Bob muses, “Since my retirement, now, my favorite TV shows are on the Home and Garden Channel. Those renovations remind me of the many vintage New Orleans houses we restored.” First, there was the house on Bourbon Street. Then, a Garden District home on Prytania Street. Later, in 1991, they found a three-story mansion on Esplanade Avenue, the very street where Bob’s maternal great-grandparents, Antoinette Henriette LaRoche and Pierre Robert Aupagnier had lived in an anti-bellum mansion in the 1800s. Once restored, they moved again, to 1750 St. Charles Avenue, in what was known as The American Sector of New Orleans.
When asked what fuels his passion, Bob mused, “You have to get up each morning and seize the day. You have to be doing creative stuff, keeping your mind alert.” His advice, “Stay active and interested. It’s not easy, but you gotta do it!”
When I last spoke with Bob he was headed to California - for a visit in San Francisco with a grandson who works for Google. No doubt there will be interesting conversations about what to expect from the latest cutting-edge telecommunications and robotic technology!
Contributing Writer
Sandra Scalise Juneau A native Louisianian and resident of Madisonville, Sandra Scalise Juneau is a journalist focusing on local history, cuisine, and culture. Her book, Celebrating with St. Joseph Altars, published by LSU Press in March 2021 has received nationwide acclaim and is now in second printing.
