 2006
Lifetime Achievement:
Congratulations to this year’s Lifetime Achievement
Award recipients Herb Kraus and Fred Strauss.
Fred Strauss
 Fred
Strauss began his career in the talent business
operating the Fred Strauss Agency and providing public
relations for many celebrities visiting Cleveland.
Fred’s first big hit was by the Crew Cuts and their
songs "Sh-Boom" and "Earth Angel," which garnered a gold
record. It was one of rock and roll’s earliest hits. He
managed the band in the mid-to-late 1950s, during the
time of their greatest popularity and readily admits he
had a great deal of fun, not to mention success.
With the Crew Cuts, Fred’s next move was to New York
where he established the Talent Corporation of America.
He had casting responsibilities for New York television
shows including ‘Strike It Rich" and "The Big Payoff."
Among the personalities that Fred has managed throughout
his career are gospel singer Clara Ward and, in the
1980s, Lara Flynn Boyle.
In 1960, Fred established the Communications
Corporation of America in Chicago, which he still
operates today. Fred was public relations director for
the American Cancer Society in Chicago for fifteen
years. He also was executive director of the Lincoln
Park Chamber of Commerce and the River North
Association.
Always interested in imparting knowledge on students
of communications, Fred was an instructor at Roosevelt
University and has lectured at Loyola University,
Northeastern Illinois University and Columbia College.
Fred’s expertise in the film industry was highlighted
as executive producer of "Last Full Measure of
Devotion," a documentary dealing with the assassination
of John F. Kennedy with the deaths of Franklin D.
Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The film won the Chris
Award at the Columbus Film Festival and New York Film
Festival. He was involved with TV productions including
"The Teens of the World," which was an annual cover
story in Teen Magazine, its sponsor in the United
States. During a twelveyear period, Fred visited and
garnered press coverage in 28 countries for this
program.
In the live event area, Fred has produced a number of
events familiar of Chicagoans. He developed and produced
for the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce the Medieval
Faire in Oz Park and the original Oz Fest. For the
Chicago Paint and Coating Association, he originated
Chicago’s Finest Painted Ladies, an annual contest for
the houses in Chicago which he has coordinated and
publicized for the past 20 years.
For the League of Women Voters, Fred has coordinated
State of the City and mayoral debates since 1984. The
Harold Washington Mayoral Debate was nominated for an
Emmy when he was coordinator of TV production.
Fred has been active in the Publicity Club for many
years as a member of the board, president and continues
to head the eligibility committee of the PCC.
Fred is listed in Who’s Who in Entertainment and is
in the Festival Hall of Fame. He is a member of the
Television Academy and the National Association of
Recording Arts and Sciences.
Fred attended Purdue, DePaul and graduated from
Western Reserve College with a bachelor’s degree in
English. He was an intelligence officer for the U.S.
Army.
Fred stresses the key to public relations is dealing
with people and providing sensitivity to human issues.
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 Herbert
M. "Herb" Kraus began his career doing public relations
for the National Jewish Hospital at Denver and State of
Israel Bond Drive and opened his public relations firm
in 1954. He has represented clients in a wide variety of
industries, , education, entertainment and theatrical
fields for the last five decades.
His Chicago area clients have included , the George
Bernard Shaw Centenary, The Clarence Darrow Centennial,
The Bresler Ice Cream Company. Superior Tea and Coffee,
The Vienna Sausage Manufacturing Company, Inland Steel
Container, and Lever Brothers, to name just a few.
For non-profits , Herb has handled fundraising and
public relations for the All-Chicago Committee for the
Harry S. Truman Library and for the 50th anniversary of
Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil’s ordination. He managed
public relations for the dinner that established the
John Cardinal Cody Chair for the American Friends of
Hebrew University, as well as been responsible for
public relations for the American Jewish Committee,
Anshe Emet Congregation, a dinner honoring Rabbi Herman
Schaalman of Emanuel Congregation attended by Cardinal
Joseph Bernardin, and served as public relations counsel
for Spertus College supervising openings and special
exhibits.
In entertainment, Herb represented Tommy Bartlett’s
Water Ski Sky and Stage show in the Wisconsin Dells for
more than three decades, and has been the Chicago press
agent for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus,
while representing many summer and dinner theaters
including the Candlelight Dinner and Drury Lane
Theaters.
In 1973, Herb merged his firm into Manning Salvage &
Lee. After heading their Midwest office for ten years,
he became president of Kraus Dunham Nikolich Public
Relations, senior counselor for the Weiser Walek Group
and the Financial Relations Board. Today, Herb, once
again, heads his own agency.
Always concerned about the importance of educating
future public relations professionals, Herb is a
longtime instructor at Columbia College Chicago. Herb is
a past president of the Publicity Club of Chicago, and
active with the Chicago Chapter of PRSA.
Herb is listed in Who’s Who in America and was
presented the prestigious Richard Alschuler Award by the
American Jewish Committee. He is a member of the
Headline Club, Society of Professional Journalists and
has written a column for The Chicago Journalist: On
Writing Well.
Herb earned his bachelor’s degree in political
science from the University of Illinois and served
during World War II as an infantry combat correspondent
in the South Pacific.
Herb has earned his reputation as the dean of
Chicago’s public relations counselors and credits his
success to his writing ability and his close working
relationships with the media.
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