In Memory of Robert Lorick (Jack Flanders)

[kentauros]

Last edited Mon Jan 25, 2016, 04:47 PM - Edit history (1)

I figure most here won't recognize who this is, unless they remember a radio play from 1972 titled The Fourth Tower of Inverness. Robert was the voice of Jack Flanders.

The following is from a ZBS email announcing his death:

In Memory of Robert Lorick

Robert Lorick died last week. As many of you know, Robert was the voice of Jack Flanders. Jack came into being in 1972 with The Fourth Tower of Inverness. It was a fluke that Robert got the part.

Fulton, who wrote the script, and all the other Jack adventures, had a different actor in mind. But when there was a scheduling problem, Valerie who was to play Lady Jowls, said, “I know just the person.” She had Robert call, and he did an audition on the phone. “I was thinking of someone a bit more macho, more an adventurer,” Fulton said. “But when I heard his voice, there was a kindness, a sensitivity, a sense of humor, and I thought, why not?”

And so Jack Flanders came into being, he was a collaboration between Fulton and Lorick. Robert enjoyed playing Jack, especially coming up here to spend days recording in the country.


Broadway Bob

The photo above was taken in our studio in 1972. As you can see, he was a pretty suave looking guy. Probably not what you thought Jack looked like. When it comes to radio, actors rarely resemble what you envision. Robert had written a couple of successful Broadway musicals. One was “The Tap Dance Kid,” played by Gregory Hines. So whenever Robert came up to ZBS (this is back in our radio-commune days), we’d all sit around our long dining table, and pester Robert to tell us stories about Broadway. Robert was a writer, he had a lot of stories to entertain us with. And he was so charming, so sophisticated, we started calling him, “Broadway Bob”

I know that sounds slick, and the photo above may appear to confirm this, but he wasn’t at all. He was a very kind, generous, thoughtful person, with a droll sense of humor.

We have so many stories to tell about Robert, after all we’ve known and worked with him for 44 years now.


The Voice of Chanel

You may be surprised to know that Robert was the voice of Chanel. Yes, that Chanel. You could hear his voice on their commercials. Of course he didn’t sound like Jack, but he certainly sounded suave.

Robert lived in Manhattan. In 1973, a year after recording “The Fourth Tower,” he was standing on a corner in NYC, waiting for the light to change, a couple guys asked him for a cigarette, Robert explained he didn’t have any. When the light changed, and he stepped off the curb, one of them shot him in the back. He fell into the street, lying there unable to move, watching the car tires coming at him and then wheeze past his head. The bullet was lodged next to his spine, the doctors didn’t dare remove it. The bullet remained there for the rest of his life. Robert often walked with a cane.

This happened while Fulton was traveling in Morocco recording sounds for “Moon Over Morocco.” When he spoke to Robert on the phone some weeks later, he could hear his pain, and asked if Robert felt he could record, sitting in a studio for hours at a time. Robert said, no problem.


Good Ol’ Jack

It didn’t matter what was going on in Robert’s life, he was always eager to do another Jack Flanders story. So to make things easier for Robert with “Morocco,” so Jack didn’t have to carry the whole story by himself, Fulton wrote in a couple more main characters, Kasbah Kelley and Mojo Sam.

Our studio is located in a separate building. After a day of recording episodes for “Morocco,” Robert would get up and slowly, somewhat painfully, lean on his cane and walk to the main house. But he never complained. And he recovered, though he continued to use his cane.


Another Near Death

In 1980, Robert was back in the hospital. He was there for weeks. The doctors had no idea what it was, he getting weaker by the day and thought, maybe this is it? Finally a young doctor from India examined Robert, then took a pencil and made a little dot on the back of Robert’s hand. He said, “This is the size of the bug that bit you.” It turned out to be one of the first cases of Lyme Disease. With antibiotics, he recovered.


One Last Story

Over the last year, Robert was in and out of the hospital. He was on dialysis, he needed a kidney. He was a tall guy, 6’ 2”, he’d lost a lot of weight. We didn’t know if he’d be able to record “The Green Velvet Chair.” But Robert kept assuring us, he can do it. He was able to get a portable dialysis machine, and have a friend drive him up here. He’d lost a lot of weight, he was using a walker. While he was taking a break to do his dialysis, we’d record the other actors. He looked frail, but he still had his sense of humor, and his voice sounded great.


What Now?

Fulton has been writing “The League of the Green Velvet Chair.” But he knew Robert’s health was fading. So to take some of the burden off Robert, he wrote in other characters to join Jack & Mojo in Inverness. The script wasn’t completed, we don’t know what he’ll do with it now.

Even though we knew Robert was in poor health, we were stunned to hear of his death. We still are. I end this with sadness, sniffles, sighs and damp eyes. My wife may have said it best, “He was a wonderful man.”

Tom Lopez

Copyright © 2016 ZBS Foundation, All rights reserved.

[GreydeeThos]

1. Jack got out his 12 foot aluminum extension ladder, and crossed for the final time

RIP Robert Lorick

You can now listen to the Whirlitzer without using nickels

RIP

[steve_NYC]

2. Jack steps onto the raft. The ferryman takes up his pole and they slowly drift off with the current.

"Jack steps onto the raft. The ferryman takes up his pole... and they slowly drift off with the current..." from Bob's last episode, "League of the Green Velvet Chairs.'

Thank you for your wonderful Lorick remembrance, kentauros.

I was his 'computer guy' in his last years... and feel about him as you: he was very kind and creative.

And it's fun to see this early photo of Bob. Thank you!