BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Veteran television and radio host Bob Braun is the star of a new production -- a museum exhibit.
Cast members from Mr. Braun's former TV show, The Bob Braun Show, plan to reunite this afternoon at the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Devou Park, where show memorabilia are being displayed through Aug. 2. Mr. Braun said he was surprised and pleased when approached about having the exhibit.
"On the other side of it, I think, "My God, they're putting me in a museum,' " he said.
Mr. Braun said this is the first exhibit devoted exclusively to the show, which aired locally on Channel 5. The show ran from 1967 to 1984, originating in Cincinnati and broadcast throughout the Midwest. During discussions with former show producer Dick Murgatroyd, one of the exhibit's coordinators, Mr. Braun's first reaction was: Why?
" "What do I have that people haven't seen or heard of before?" Mr. Braun recalls asking. "And he said, "You'll be amazed when you start looking through your things.' "
Many of the pictures and plaques came from his house.
"Our walls at home look a little barren," said Mr. Braun, who now is host of a morning show on WSAI-AM (1530).
The pictures from the old Bob Braun Show catalog a guest list that included such major stars as Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Red Skelton.
"I even found myself very nostalgic," Mr. Murgatroyd said. "It's a pretty impressive group."
He donated a tape of highlights from 1975 shows, among other memorabilia.
Mr. Braun started his TV career on Cincinnati's WCPO-TV Dottie Mack Show in the early 1950s, pantomiming to Frank Sinatra records. "I always wish I had a chance to interview him," Mr. Braun said. Mr. Braun, 69, a Ludlow High School graduate, remembers riding his bike and walking around the Covington park as a boy from neighboring Ludlow.
"That's just right over the hill," he said. He'd go to Tuesday-night concerts in the park at the amphitheater.
His show's exhibit at Devou Park is a return engagement of sorts. His first Devou Park performance was in 1957, following his victory on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts earlier in the year. The exhibit carries special meaning, he said, because it is near his boyhood home.
"Once a Kentuckian, always a Kentuckian," he said.
