stan kann the gadget man

In about 1990, I got a letter from Stan, who had been given my name by Stacey Krammes, the then-curator of the Hoover Historical Center. We corresponded and then talked by phone. I drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles to meet him. We opened every closet door in his large apartment, dragged every vacuum out into the open, ran them all, and laughed and ate and laughed some more. I remember that we went out to a restaurant and sat outside. We were interrupted 2 or 3 times by people who knew Stan and stopped to say hello. The man knew EVERYBODY!

The next day, Stan took me to a local "alternative" church that he was an organist at. It was a church started by a man who was then in his 80s. It was kind of a "new-age" place. I bet Charles remembers the name. After the service, we were standing out on the patio and Stan said, "Oh, I've got to go over and say hello to a friend". He walked over and spoke to a beautiful, elegantly dressed older woman. I asked him later who she was, and he said "Cyd Charisse!" I almost fell over. But, before we left, the former star of Dobie Gillis, Dwayne Hickman, walked up and started talking to Stan. He was with his wife. He and Stan had a lively conversation about a screenplay they were collaborating on. It was about aliens that invaded a planet, and vacuum cleaners played a prominent part in the screenplay. I asked Stan years later if they ever finished it. He said that it had never been finished. Too bad!

During my visit, Stan took me to the garage carriage house on the property of two friends. Stan rented this space from them to store the rest of his collection, and his Lincoln Continental. Inside that garage was a treasure trove of vacuums. Many of them were in boxes. Almost all had original bags and cords. We dragged many of them out onto the driveway. I believe someone did a video of the collection - I think it was Mike Pupek, when he visited Stan on another occasion. There were wonderful things: Royals, Hoovers, Singers, Apexes. Just wonderful vacuums. Stan talked a mile a minute about their features and history.

The thing I loved the most about Stan was his story-telling. No story was EVER completed all the way to the end. Read Charles Lester's interview with him from years ago, and you will see what listening to him was like. You would start on one subject, jump to something else, and end up on 8 other subjects and stories before you collapsed in laughter.

Stan died the day after my mother died. I was already reeling from Mom's death when Charles called me. As soon as he said "I have some bad news. You'd better sit down", I knew exactly what I was going to hear. I can't tell you why...I just KNEW. I had lost touch with Stan in the last few years, something that I will regret forever. I can't go back and re-do that, but it is a reminder of how fragile life is. Stay in touch with those you care about. You never know when they might be "called away".

I miss you, Stan!

John Lucia


Forum Topics & Rules Manuals & Literature	New users Click-here to sign-up

Post# 85568 12/7/2009 at 18:39 (5,252 days old) by kirbyg4 ()
Checkrate/Likes hello everybody, i am relatively new to this site. i would like to here from anybody who has ever known Stan in person, i have only ever seen few videos about him and only heard of the absolutely "epic" collection of vacuum cleaners he had, from what i have heard he was a very nice and very down to earth person, and i wish that i could have met him in real life. he is a huge part of my reason for liking vacuums so much, to this day i wonder what he was like and just how he could ever have obtained such a collection of genuine and marvelous machines, i will put a link below of a video of him for anybody that wishes to see him and some of his collection. i will end this post by saying hi to you all and also, Stan if you can read this you will always be missed and respected. CLICK HERE TO GO TO kirbyg4's LINK

Post# 85580 , Reply# 1 12/7/2009 at 20:13 (5,252 days old) by electrolux~137 ()
Checkrate/Likes Hello, I was a friend of Stan's for nearly 20 years. I have a tribute to him on my web site. See link. CLICK HERE TO GO TO electrolux~137's LINK

Post# 85581 , Reply# 2 12/7/2009 at 20:27 (5,252 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *The late, great Stan Kann!* Hi buddy: Where do I start? Stan was one of the sweetest people I ever knew. Warm hearted, funny, an expert when it came to vacuum cleaner history. I was proud to call him a friend! By right Stan should have been the founder of our club, and in a way he was! As a kid of about 10 (1960), I read an article about him in our local paper "The New Haven Regester" (New Haven, Connecticut.) The title of the article was "Watch His Dust!" When I decided to form this club I wrote to Stan, asked him to be a part of our group but he opted to stay out of the management part of the club, though did provide me with material that I used in the newsletters. In time, Stan did become a member of the club. When I finally met him in 1994 I was overwhelmed by his warm gentle nature, he was a very sweet man! There is one picture of Stan in my hotel room in North Canton, dressed in his suit made of vacuum cleaner bags. The following year I moved out to San Diego, Stan was then living in Hollywood, California. He had me over to his house, showed me dozens of machines and played the organ for me. The last time I saw Stan was in his home in St. Louis. I had just lost my partner and Stan drew me into his arms and told me how much he had liked my (partner) Charles. Stan was the father of the vacuum cleaner, he helped launch our club and took no credit for it. My co-founder John Lucia and I made it crystal clear that Stan was an honorary member. I'm proud to have called him my friend. Alex Taber

Post# 85582 , Reply# 3 12/7/2009 at 20:37 (5,252 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Thank you Charles Richard!* Dear Charles Richard: Thank you for posting the tribute you did to our Stan. Can you please post the picture of Stan in his vacuum cleaner bag suit. I don't know if you are aware of this, but that was taken in my hotel room, in fact the picture on the mirror is of my grandmother. The two Hoovers were given to the club by the hotel. That is one fantastic article. Thanks buddy Alex Taber

Post# 85585 , Reply# 4 12/7/2009 at 20:54 (5,252 days old) by kirbyg4 ()
Checkrate/Likes *thank you alex taber.* thank you Alex Taber for you're input on the subject, i did not know you knew stein kann, you see i am only 16 years old, but i found this website and knew i would fit right in, ever since i was the age of 1[believe it or not] my mom recalled i used to love to watch her vacuum around the house and i even pushed around a toy guitar on the floor as if it were a vacuum cleaner. but such memories are not present for me and when i had turned 10 i had collected my first vacuum cleaner[Kirby g4] and still have it and as well as many others to this very day, i only own very few and wish to have more and learn more about the history of the cleaners i collect. as far as Stan goes, i have only known about him since i was 14 and still think the world of him, i feel very sad that i was never able to meet him in person especially after what you describe him to be, i had often thought that i was the only odd ball in the world that liked vacuums, then when i saw Stan's collection and was awestruck by the number and rarity of the machines he had known, one thing i like about him is the fact that he seemed to know everything about all of the cleaners he has. i wish that one day i could own even a quarter of what he has. i will miss him for ever and always respect him for who he was. thank you again Alex for sharing you're information with me.

Post# 85586 , Reply# 5 12/7/2009 at 20:59 (5,252 days old) by kirbyg4 ()
Checkrate/Likes *oops* oops i made a spelling error, i meant stan so sorry about that.

Post# 85589 , Reply# 6 12/7/2009 at 22:29 (5,252 days old) by portable (Corvallis, OR)
Checkrate/Likes *Dear Stan -* In about 1990, I got a letter from Stan, who had been given my name by Stacey Krammes, the then-curator of the Hoover Historical Center. We corresponded and then talked by phone. I drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles to meet him. We opened every closet door in his large apartment, dragged every vacuum out into the open, ran them all, and laughed and ate and laughed some more. I remember that we went out to a restaurant and sat outside. We were interrupted 2 or 3 times by people who knew Stan and stopped to say hello. The man knew EVERYBODY! The next day, Stan took me to a local "alternative" church that he was an organist at. It was a church started by a man who was then in his 80s. It was kind of a "new-age" place. I bet Charles remembers the name. After the service, we were standing out on the patio and Stan said, "Oh, I've got to go over and say hello to a friend". He walked over and spoke to a beautiful, elegantly dressed older woman. I asked him later who she was, and he said "Cyd Charisse!" I almost fell over. But, before we left, the former star of Dobie Gillis, Dwayne Hickman, walked up and started talking to Stan. He was with his wife. He and Stan had a lively conversation about a screenplay they were collaborating on. It was about aliens that invaded a planet, and vacuum cleaners played a prominent part in the screenplay. I asked Stan years later if they ever finished it. He said that it had never been finished. Too bad! During my visit, Stan took me to the garage carriage house on the property of two friends. Stan rented this space from them to store the rest of his collection, and his Lincoln Continental. Inside that garage was a treasure trove of vacuums. Many of them were in boxes. Almost all had original bags and cords. We dragged many of them out onto the driveway. I believe someone did a video of the collection - I think it was Mike Pupek, when he visited Stan on another occasion. There were wonderful things: Royals, Hoovers, Singers, Apexes. Just wonderful vacuums. Stan talked a mile a minute about their features and history. The thing I loved the most about Stan was his story-telling. No story was EVER completed all the way to the end. Read Charles Lester's interview with him from years ago, and you will see what listening to him was like. You would start on one subject, jump to something else, and end up on 8 other subjects and stories before you collapsed in laughter. Stan died the day after my mother died. I was already reeling from Mom's death when Charles called me. As soon as he said "I have some bad news. You'd better sit down", I knew exactly what I was going to hear. I can't tell you why...I just KNEW. I had lost touch with Stan in the last few years, something that I will regret forever. I can't go back and re-do that, but it is a reminder of how fragile life is. Stay in touch with those you care about. You never know when they might be "called away". I miss you, Stan! John Lucia

Post# 85616 , Reply# 7 12/8/2009 at 11:35 (5,251 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Kirbyg4* Welcome to the club buddy. You started at age 1? Wow, perhaps a club record! There is a whole world of information out there. If you need the history of a given brand perhaps I can help. I really love to share what I know. Please feel free to contact me anytime. You are the future of this club. The age of membership is 18, as you are only 16 you will need a parent to be with you, but I urge you to think about attending next years convention. 25 years is a big step for us. I hope you can share it. Once again welcome to the Vacuum Cleaner Collector's Club! Alex Taber Founder

Post# 85627 , Reply# 8 12/8/2009 at 15:00 (5,251 days old) by kirbyg4 ()
Checkrate/Likes *thank you again alex* i really do feel honored to be in a club like this and also do in part, because of how many of you knew Stan so well. like i said he was a primary reason during the age of 10-today for me loving vacuums so much, and as for the the convention, my dad is not super about vacuums but he thinks it would be a really awesome experience. thank you again alex and to all of you for being so kind and letting me join this club, i hope to see some of you guys at the convention and share some of my stories about the few machines i have owned, i hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and when ever you get the time Alex if you could it would be nice to update me some time next year about the upcoming convention what day's time and place it will be. thank you all and have a wonderful day.

Post# 85644 , Reply# 9 12/8/2009 at 18:50 (5,251 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *25th convention* Kirbyg4: Certainly. The convention will be in Texas, I believe the date is June 3-5, and will be called the Rainbow Round-up. I will post more info as I get it! Our conventions are always a topic in the forum so you will have no problem getting details. Contact our club President Morgan and he will be happy to help answer whatever question you have. Feel free to contact me about any question you have as to vacuum cleaner history. The oldest known machine is the Whirlwind. It was designed by Ives W. McGaffy in Chicago, patented in June 1869, manufactured in Boston by the American Carpet Cleaning Co. and sold for $25.00.(about $300.00 in todays money!)There are only three that we know still exist, and I own one of them. I also have several non-electric one and two person pumpers, as well as several early electric vacuum cleaners. If you like, I can give you a lot more info on this subject as well as the history of Air-Way, Electrolux, Hoover and Kirby. Alex Taber.

Post# 85652 , Reply# 10 12/8/2009 at 19:33 (5,251 days old) by kirbyg4 ()
Checkrate/Likes *Whirlwind?* i have never heard of a Whirlwind being one of the oldest machines ever, and you have one?, that is truly incredible. if you could be so kind as to email me some pictures or just some info about it i would be honored. and as far as history goes, main thing i want to know about is Kirby's, Kirby has always been my most favorite vacuum cleaner company, they simply out last and out perform any other cleaner[but that is just my opinion] and i have always loved them, so if you have information into the older 500's and before that, i would be greatly thankful, also any information on the omega, tradition, classic, heritage and so on. all the basics, via email. again i can't thank you enough nor can i find any more to say but, have a wonderful and safe holiday season this year. ~Frankie~

Post# 85698 , Reply# 11 12/9/2009 at 14:14 (5,250 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAN* Even though our club member Stan Kann is not with us, this would have been his 85th birthday. I think that is worth celebrating. Tonight I will drink a toast to our dear Stan and say a prayer that he is now swapping stories with James B. Kirby, Boss Hoover, the guys who invented the Air-Way, Electrolux and others. Rest well dear Stan, you will truly be missed. Alex Taber