CRAIG GLAZER TALKS STAN TONIGHT!!!

TKC NOTE: A really thoughtful note from Craig tonight regarding his Dad and career. Check it:

So What’s the deal with Stan?
I Never Sang for my Father

This past Sunday, Father’s Day, my brother Jeff and I took my father , Stan, out for dinner to the Hereford House. We looked like a normal family. My father and his wife, Lori, Jeff and his two sons and I all out together for a meal just like any other family. However, The Glazer family has been far from normal for decades.

I think it’s safe to say that between my father and myself we have graced the cover of the Kansas City Star and other local and national periodicals as much or more than any other private citizens living here in the past half century. In Stan’s case, he has attracted media attention with many things he’s done including; opening one of the first indoor shopping malls in America (Sav-On), opening and running Stanford and Sons Restaurant, which later gained new life as a comedy club, opening both comedy clubs and restaurants in other cities like St. Louis and Little Rock, his vision on how downtown should work including his idea for a casino and heliport where Union Station is today, but most stories written about Stan would have to be about his two runs for Mayor especially the first one where he garnered the nomination but lost the race to Kay Barnes in a fairly close race. The most notable story had to be a front page of the Sunday pull out about the lawsuit he filed against my brother and I for ‘commandeering’ the comedy club away from him back in the ‘90’s. That incident still pops up in questions to me, my brother and my dad even to this day. We’ll get back to that.


My front page stories and stories in other media have been even more high profile. My story started off quite innocently with a 1961 front page photo of me and my brothers getting a sleigh ride on Christmas in my grandfather’s horse drawn sleigh. Unfortunately, that might have been the only truly acceptable event of what was to follow. In the 1970’s, it would be my indictment as a special agent to Attorney General Vern Miller, we had a morning and evening paper in those days so I got to enjoy reading about myself and the court case morning and evening for a couple of years. In the late ‘70’s, there were even a few stories about how I’d mellowed out and the fact that what I had done years before was now a common practice among federal and state agents. That sure was fun, Not. In the eighties, there were several front page stories about the sale of my life story entitled ‘Outlaws’ to CBS and later, Paramount Studios. Later, the shooting death of my partner, Don Woodbeck not only made front page news not only here in KC, but all over the country. These were also not happy times. What appeared to be a summation of my life was written in the mid-eighties that compared me to Butch Cassidy and Woodbeck to the Sundance Kid. It sure didn’t end there. In the early 90’s, there was upbeat front page press about Jeff and I bringing comedy back to Westport. This also included coverage of the ‘Red Friday’ events I headed up in Westport at the time. There were articles on my sports films including ‘Champions Forever: Ali’. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, my 1985 indictment in California for money-laundering for a sting operation against the Feds posing as Colombian drug kingpins. This one sent me to prison with more publicity and press. Along the same lines, there was also the September 11th fiasco that was my 2001 drug indictment by the feds. More recently, when Stanfords became ‘Johnny Dare’s’ and similar business moves have kept me in the press.

I just wanted to clear up a few things regarding fathers and sons. In my book, The King of Sting, I have a whole chapter about my relationship with my father. I may have been too harsh as I look back at it. We only have one mom and one dad. I love both of them. My father simply got married too young, at age 20, he was born to be an entertainer and should have lived out his years in LA as a stand-up comic or talk show host. He sure had the talent for it. Look, lots of kids come from broken homes where the dad just doesn’t have time for his children because he’s chasing his own dreams. That was the case in our family.

When we opened ‘Stanford’s’ in 1975, I still had some money left from the Arizona days and owned ten percent of the stock the entire time Stanford’s was open. Even though I was an owner, I was treated as a low-level employee by my father and his hand-picked General Manager, as were my brothers. The harsh treatment led to belittlement and ill feelings between me and my brothers and our father. Years later when it became clear that Jeff and I had more than enough talent and smarts to run the club and then some, the damage was done. In fact, what most people don’t know, it was Jeff and I who brought comedy to Stanford’s, not Stan. This was back in 1980. As Stan expanded his comedy clubs and restaurants through the mid-west and south, he later fell on tough times. Jeff was his top manager while I was out in LA focused on my movie career…or what I hoped would become my movie career.

It all culminated with Stan having to vacate the original Stanford’s in Westport in 1990, Jeff and I bought the business from the bank with help from our Grandfather, Bennie and our mother, Rita. Jeff and I followed that with a 23 year run of success in the industry. In 1994, Stan lost his last comedy club, Jeff and I thought to add comedy back to where it originally was in the eighties, above the restaurant. Nobody stole anything from anybody. We were already ‘Stanford & Sons’ a name that was ours as much as our fathers and anyone can open a comedy club, we didn’t need permission. We did, however, feel badly four our Dad and told him we would do all we could to assist him as he was reaching the age where launching a new career would be next to impossible. My Dad has always lived high and we just couldn’t afford to keep him living at the level he was accustomed to. He was upset, the past was a big part of it, so was everyone’s ego and he filed a lawsuit that was fairly frivolous that the court felt had no cause whatsoever. In the end, Jeff and I won in court. In retrospect, I am sure that all three of us are very sorry it happened and if my Dad had it to do over again, I am sure he wouldn’t.

Today my father is 81 years old and completely retired. Our family spends many enjoyable evenings spending time with him and his wife or getting together for family events. Stan is completely supportive of anything Jeff and I do in business and with our lives. Our immediate family is growing smaller with the passing of both my little brother Jack and my mom, Rita. That makes us all grateful for the time the rest of us have together.

As I said at the top, we all love each other and realize we have all made mistakes. Maybe it’s those mistakes we’ve made that have kept us in the public eye over the years. Me, I’m ready for that permanent life on the beach, an early evening poker game and whatever football game is on so I can watch it with my dog, Junior. Well, it just doesn’t go that way for us, at least, not yet. July 3rd you can read the Pitch Weekly cover story by Pitch Editor, David Hudnall about the life and times of your favorite (or in some cases, least favorite) scribe. I’m sure it won’t be boring. They even interviewed Tony. Now, if they’ll just interview my dog, Junior, I’ll come out on top. I guess it’s my job and my family’s to entertain this city with comedy and our own lives. At least, it seems that way.

Follow me on Twitter @KCKingofSting.
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