The Washington Post - 19.03.2020

B6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAy, MARCH 19 , 2020

obituaries

Michael Clurman was born in

the Bronx on June 23, 1952, and

grew up in Bowie, Md. His father

worked at Newsday and later the

Government Printing Office. His

mother was a homemaker.

He graduated from Bowie

High School in 1970 and complet-

ed a bachelor’s d egree in business

administration at the University

of Maryland during his Post ca-

reer.

After leaving The Post, he did

consulting work for a venture

capital firm and was board chair-

man of the nonprofit housing

organization Habitat for Human-

ity’s Metro Maryland chapter. He

was also on the board of the

Robert Packard Center for ALS

Research at Johns Hopkins Uni-

versity.

His first marriage, to Joanne

Beeker, ended in divorce. Survi-

vors include his wife of 21 years,

Sally Kittell Clurman of Chevy

Chase; three sons from his first

marriage, Anthony Clurman of

Woburn, Mass., Michael Clurman

Jr. of Spring Hill, Fla., and Jason

Clurman of Davidsonville, Md.; a

brother; a sister; and six grand-

children.

[email protected]

“If you buy a bad press, it can

ruin your life,” Graham said.

Mr. Clurman sent a team of

pressroom veterans to Japan for

months to ensure the machinery

would work in Washington. Gra-

ham approved the replacement of

the old presses with eight Mitsub-

ishi models for the manufactur-

ing facilities in Springfield and

College Park. They began operat-

ing in 1999 and still print the

paper today, although the College

Park site has since been sold.

large as The Post.

The selection of the Japanese

presses entailed technical obsta-

cles, Graham said. Among them

was the difference in size be-

tween The Post, which ran ap-

proximately 130 pages, and the

Japanese newspapers, which

were drastically smaller. Changes

in production speed could cause

problems with the ink or rip the

fragile newsprint. Any incorrect

calibrations could be disastrously

expensive.

paper continue to attract adver-

tisers and readers.

According to Graham, one

American company had for de-

cades held a virtual monopoly on

printing presses sold to U.S.

newspapers, but Mr. Clurman

pushed for a model designed by a

subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy

Industries. The Japanese con-

glomerate had persuaded news-

papers in Richmond and Win-

ston-Salem, N.C., to use its prod-

uct but had yet to land a client as

printing plants that allowed The

Post to begin printing news pages

in color.

The Post, which at t he time still

used at least one press dating to

the Truman administration,

lagged behind competitors in the

adoption of color technology.

Some traditionalists feared that

color printing would cheapen a

serious-minded product, but Mr.

Clurman insisted that the new

technology — soon recognized as

the norm — would help the news-

BY WASHINGTON POST STAFF

Michael Clurman, who began
his Washington Post career as an
apprentice printer and became a
top-level operations executive
who oversaw the largest capital
project in the newspaper’s histo-
ry, the purchase of eight new
presses for $250 million, died
March 15 at his home in Chevy
Chase, Md. He was 67.
The cause was pancreatic can-
cer, said his wife, Sally Clurman.
Mr. Clurman spent 38 years at
The Post before retiring in 2008
as vice president of operations for
technology and engineering, re-
sponsible for the paper’s produc-
tion and manufacturing opera-
tions.
His father had been a newspa-
per printer, and Mr. Clurman
began his career after his high
school graduation as one of the
last composing room trainees at
The Post. Singled out for manage-
ment potential, he rapidly ad-
vanced after the violent press-
men’s labor strike of 1975-1976
and the rise of cold-type technol-
ogies.
In the years that followed, he
attended the executive manage-
ment training program at Har-
vard Business School and became
manager of the Springfield, Va.,
printing plant and then produc-
tion director. Along the way, he
helped create an education pro-
gram that allowed all production
employees, including pressmen,
mailers and electricians, to pur-
sue free college-level degrees in
printing management.
“He built a sophisticated man-
agement team for the future and
created a team that still runs the
production department,” former
publisher Donald E. Graham
said.
Mr. Clurman’s most tangible
achievement came during his
tenure as vice president of pro-
duction from 1990 to 2000, when
he spearheaded construction of
the newspaper’s state-of-the-art

MICHAEL CLURMAN, 67

Post executive modernized newspaper’s printing presses

FRANK JOHNSTON/THE WASHINGTON POST

Post Publisher Donald E. Graham, left, and Vice President of Production Michael Clurman, second from left, t ake Virginia Gov. James S.

Gilmore III, center, a nd Washington Post Co. President Alan Spoon on a tour of the new presses at the Springfield, Va., plant in 1999.

TODD CROSS/THE WASHINGTON POST

Mr. Clurman, who started at

The Post as a composing room

trainee, worked at the

newspaper for 38 years before

retiring in 2008.

quest, changed a dinette to a

makeup area for Te ri Hatcher and

even switched a trailer that Jaclyn

Smith got “bad vibes” in. Martin

Sheen, who played the president

in “The West Wing,” and a real

president, Bill Clinton, both used

them, Clinton during a 1996 trip

to California.

“I used to go o n location and sit

outside in a canvas chair with a

fold-down counter as a makeup

station,” Mr. Waggoner told the

Associated Press in 1998. “Now

we have these 40-foot, eight-sta-

tion electronic slide-out rooms

with surround sound and CD

players. Our job is to spoil the

actors.”

Mr. Waggoner continued to

perform occasionally, appearing

in TV specials starring old pal

Burnett and guest starring on

shows such as “Murder, She

Wrote,” “Ellen” and “The Love

Boat.”

Lyle Wesley Waggoner was

born in Kansas City, Kan., on

April 13, 1935, and completed

high school in Kirkwood, Mo.

After Army service, he held a

variety o f odd jobs before starting

his acting career.

Survivors include his wife, the

former Sharon Kennedy; two

sons; and four grandchildren.

— Associated Press

fought Nazi agents with her se-

cret powers while posing as

Steve’s secretary.

In 1977, “Wonder Woman”

moved from ABC to CBS as “The

New Adventures of Wonder

Woman” and from the ’40s to

contemporary times, with Carter

still the superhero and Mr. Wag-

goner as Steve Trevor Jr., his

previous character’s son. The se-

ries ended in 1979 and Mr. Wag-

goner focused on his rental com-

pany, w ith acting jobs on the side.

“I was always looking for a

backup because I knew the [tele-

vision] series; they don’t last for-

ever,” he told CNBC in 2002.

“They can yank the rug out from

under you at any time.”

He got the idea for his business

while working on “Wonder Wom-

an,” when he was assigned a mo-

tor home rented from an individ-

ual. When Mr. Waggoner asked

the studio if they would rent a

motor home from him, he bought

one and started charging for it.

That gave rise to Star Waggons,

which were up to 40 feet long,

cost as much as $100,000 and

included carpeting, leather easy

chairs and satellite television.

He eventually had hundreds of

them, customized to meet special

requests. Star Waggons covered

mirrors at Steven Spielberg’s re-

him, and funny, so he could con-

tribute laughs.

“In walked Lyle Waggoner,” s he

recalled in her 2010 book, “This

Time To gether.” “Gorgeous? Yes.

But so much more. He w as incred-

ibly funny. He had a sly, tongue-

in-cheek delivery that told you he

was putting himself on and not

taking himself seriously.”

As the series evolved, she said,

he showed such great comic in-

stincts that he got roles in sketch-

es and became a full member of

the cast. He stayed with the show

from its beginning in 1967 to 1974

(it ran on CBS another four years).

Along the way, h e made history

of sorts in 1973 when the fledgling

Playgirl magazine chose him as

his first centerfold, calling him

“the stuff of which sexual fanta-

sies are made, a 6-foot-4 hunk of

gorgeous beefcake.”

Two years later, Mr. Waggoner

was picked to star in “Wonder

Woman,” based on the venerable

comic book heroine. Lynda Cart-

er was Wonder Woman, who

came f rom a lost island where she

was one of a band of Amazon

women with superpowers. Maj.

Steve Trevor (Mr. Waggoner),

crashed onto the island during

World War II. Wonder Woman

joined him on his return to the

United States, where she mostly

BY LYNN ELBER

Lyle Waggoner, who used his
rugged good looks to comic effect
on “The Carol Burnett Show,”
partnered with a superhero on
“Wonder Woman” and was the
first centerfold for Playgirl maga-
zine, died March 17 at his Los
Angeles-area home. He was 84.
The cause was cancer, accord-
ing to a family statement.
A household name in the 1970s,
Mr. Waggoner went on to become
a successful entrepreneur. He
built a behind-the-scenes busi-
ness providing custom trailers
that keep stars comfortable dur-
ing production breaks. Playing on
his surname, he called it Star
Waggons.
In the mid-1960s, the Kansas-
born Waggoner was appearing in
run-of-the-mill movies such as
“Swamp Country” and “Catalina
Caper” and was a finalist to play
“Batman” in the campy TV series
that eventually starred Adam
West. Then he was called to audi-
tion for Burnett’s variety show.
The actress-comedian recalled
that she wanted an announcer for
the show who could do more than
introduce the commercials. He
had to also be good-looking, so
she could do her ugly-duckling,
romance-besotted character with

LYLE WAGGONER, 84

Rugged actor gained fame as star of ‘Carol Burnett Show,’ ‘ Wonder Woman’

BILL HOLZ/MEDIAPUNCH/IPX/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lyle Waggoner went on to become a successful entrepreneur,

providing custom trailers to actors with his business Star Waggons.

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