Harry Fender

Clarence "Harry" Fender (1896–1995) was a tenor, Broadway performer, police detective, and radio and television personality born in St. Louis, Missouri. He appeared on Broadway between 1918 and 1925 and later became a recognizable figure in St. Louis media, hosting the children's television program Captain 11's Showboat.

Fender began performing in St. Louis opera companies during his teenage years. During World War I he served in the Navy as part of an entertainment unit. Following the war he worked as an actor and dancer on the J.J. Shubert theatre circuit in New York. His Broadway debut came on March 2, 1918, when he played Alfred Vanderveer in Follow the Girl, a run that closed March 23, 1918. A Billboard review of that production noted that Fender sang with pleasing effect, though some of his lower-register notes were too restrained. He next appeared in Shubert Gaieties of 1919, which ran from July 17 to October 18, 1919.

His Broadway work continued into the early 1920s. He played Captain Arthur Donegal in Florodora from April 5 to August 14, 1920, and took the role of Baron Ippolith in The Last Waltz, which ran from May 10 to October 29, 1921. Outside his verified Broadway credits, Billboard reviewed his performance in the 1922 musical The Lady in Ermine at the Ambassador Theatre, writing that Fender was sincere throughout and sang each of his numbers excellently. In 1923 he appeared as Stephen Hayes in Adrienne at the George M. Cohan Theatre, a run lasting from May 28 to December 15 of that year; a Billboard review from that production described him as possessing a delightful singing voice. He then originated the role of Tom Sterling in Kid Boots, a Florenz Ziegfeld production that ran from December 31, 1923, to February 21, 1925. His final Broadway credit was Louie the 14th, in which he played Captain William Brent, A.E.F., from March 3 to December 5, 1925.

Fender was considered for the role of Gaylord Ravenal in Ziegfeld's Show Boat before withdrawing from the production. Ziegfeld wrote to him that the part would be the opportunity of his life. Musical historian Miles Kreuger attributed Fender's departure to a fear of performing on stage, and Fender himself later said the pressures of show business had become too great. One news account reported that he had suffered from hypochondria. His last stage appearance before leaving New York was in Palm Beach Girl at a restaurant-theatre in Palm Beach. His papers were subsequently donated to the St. Louis Public Library, and in 1970 he was reportedly working on a memoir to be titled I Left Broadway to Be a Cop.

After returning to St. Louis, Fender joined the police force in 1932 and eventually rose to the rank of detective. He served on the anti-gambling squad and worked against the numbers racket, remaining in law enforcement until 1945. He then joined KXOK as a radio news commentator, with a program that aired six nights per week from the Chase Park Plaza from 1954 to 1975. He also worked at KMOX from 1948 to 1969, appearing as a semi-regular on Jack Carney's radio program and occasionally hosting the big band remote broadcast Saturday at the Chase. In addition to his radio work, he was known as the host of the St. Louis children's television program Captain 11's Showboat. Fender continued to record introductions for the St. Louis Muny into his nineties. He died in 1995 at the age of 98 in Clayton, Missouri, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.