Stalemate

Les Crane has passed away. It made the local paper a few days ago, which listed him as a late-night talk show host. Which he was, but that's not what he was to me.

In 1989, shortly before Thanksgiving, I was hired by The Software Toolworks, marking my transition from writing industrial automation software to writing games. As always, getting hired is not like pushing a button. You apply, you wait, you get interviewed. I was interviewed by then-Project Manager Dave Grenewetzki, a big, affable, funny, funny guy. After Dave had decided I was the one for the job, there was one more hurdle for me to jump. I had to get the "blessing" of Les Crane, the top dog. At that time, before it was a much larger company, Les liked to chat with every candidate himself before that person was hired. I don't remember the conversation, but I passed.

At The Software Toolworks, which was to later become Mindscape, I worked on many, many project over seven years, including Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and Chessmaster. My team taught the Chessmaster to speak, among other things. I learned to type really, really fast. (Thank you, Mavis.) I learned, from Dave Greno, to make mundane email amusing.

Les Crane had a hands-on approach to management. In addition to being the final approval of every new hire, and approving new games, he liked to walk around the building, seeing how projects were progressing, and often requiring changes to suit his vision. This was called MBWA... management by walking around.

It was sometimes frustrating having Les stop by and request sudden changes in your project, but I had to respect his care for the products, and his changes were usually for the better, even if it was just tweaking the color scheme.

Les was a funny guy. He once told me he wanted to open a shop selling Israeli cheese. He was going to call it "Cheeses of Nazareth". Ha ha.

Les had a passion for classical music. When I brought up the Disney movie Fantasia, he went on a rant against it. Les complained that when he listened to that music, he now had Disney's images in his head instead of his own images.

Les could be a touchy guy. He'd once been married to Tina Louise, "Ginger" on Gilligan's Island. (He had a later wife whose actual name was Ginger. Go figure.) He didn't like talking about Tina Louise, and any mention of her would result in a backlash. I can understand that. My parents divorced when I was young, and there are few things touchier than talking about an ex.

I enjoyed working at "Toolworks", and I enjoyed working for Les. He knew that, at the end of the day, the company's main assets went home for the night. He cared for the products and the people that produced them. He respected our abilities and let us do our jobs without micro-managing. He kenw us all by name. We had pizza on Fridays, we went on field trips and special outings. It was a fun place to work. That's something that starts at the top.

As is the destiny of all of us, Les eventually ran out of moves. Les Crane died from natural causes last Sunday at Marin General Hospital at age 74. Good game, Les.


Posted by Dave    Blog Tag: News