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In this broadcast, hosts Andy Reid and Mike Porter remember a friend and former guest, Thomas Courtenay-Clack, who passed away in July of 2022. His full biography appears below.

The Blitz was in full effect when Thomas Edward Ralph Courtenay-Clack was born in Dallington, East Sussex, England. He was the youngest child of four. Educated at Wellington College prep school, Clack went straight from there to a radio training program at the BBC in London. Along with his passion for sound recording came an interest in travel, almost as strong; in the early '60s he joined a ship's crew in the British Virgin Islands, prompted by a classified ad in the Times. For decades, he carried a reel-to-reel tape recorder at all times, eventually amassing his large library of sound effects and field recordings.

Tom Clack arrived in New York in 1964, a few months before the Beatles, and assimilated fast into this gritty, cut-throat Madison Avenue world despite his fundamentally sanguine personality. His sound art was used in a variety of radio spots, major-label records, and several animation projects for Rankin-Bass. He went into business for himself, founding Clack, Inc. in 1970 in midtown Manhattan.

On the front door of Clack Studios was the company logo, a jagged comic-book balloon drawn by Tom himself, blaring the distinctive name: CLACK! As one of the leading sound effects studios in the country, Clack Inc. provided sounds for major ad agencies in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and London. Throughout the Eighties and Nineties, their work was regularly heard in commercials that aired during the Super Bowl, including the iconic Budweiser frog's spot. Clack and his staff of engineers worked with the new cable network MTV as they were launching-going on to record on-air promos almost daily for its family of cable channels, including VH1, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central. Clack resided on the Upper West Side, his studios were on West 45th Street, and he usually walked the 30 blocks to work.

Almost every weekend, regardless of weather, would find him driving the four hours to his country house in Jefferson, Schoharie County. There, he would hike, ski, feed the wild birds, and prepare foods of many nations for his inner circle. No trip abroad was complete without the purchase of spices to add to his pantry. In 1982 Clack, intending to take a one-year sabbatical, stayed away for a year and nine months. He traveled across 26 countries in Central America, South America, and Africa in a restored 1970 Land Rover named Winnie.

Tom and Clara Courtenay-Clack were married in June 1986, welcoming a daughter in 1987. In 2000 Clack retired to Jefferson, where he enjoyed gardening, walking in the woods with his dogs, and cooking sumptuous meals for visitors. For 10 years, he volunteered at nearby SUNY Oneonta, teaching radio production to college students. Clack became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2008. The former Clack Studios business continues in Manhattan as HotHead Productions.

This episode of Catskill Cabin Conversations originally aired in 2017.