Lane Crockett

Lane Tyler Crockett (born November 8, 1941) is the retired entertainment writer and theater/arts critic of The Shreveport Times, the largest newspaper in North Louisiana.

While he was at The Times, Gannett syndicated Crockett for a decade as a film and television writer. Sometimes called the "prince of performance critics", he subsequently wrote entertainment articles from 2004 to 2008 for The Forum Newsweekly, an Internet and print newspaper which circulates in northwestern Louisiana and East Texas.^[2]

Biography

Crockett was born in Ballinger in Runnels County, Texas, to D. B. Crockett (1915–2007), a World War II veteran and the owner for many years of Bal-Tex Distributing Company,^[3] and the former Wanda Lane (1919–2004).^[4] Located northeast of San Angelo in West Texas, with a 2010 census population of 3,767, Ballinger calls itself "The Greatest Little Town in Texas." Crockett's forebears are David Montressa Crockett (1891-1978) and the former Bertha Gertrude Hambright (1892-1973)^[3] and R. F. "Ike" and Mary E. Houghton Lane, all of Ballinger. D. B. and Wanda Crockett were active in the Christian Church in Ballinger.^[5]

Crockett graduated in 1960 from Ballinger High School and received two bachelor's degrees in 1964 in journalism and history from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.^[2] For three years, he was the entertainment editor for the Texas Tech student newspaper, The Daily Toreador. After graduation, he entered the United States Air Force for four years and wrote for Stars & Stripes newspaper.^[6]

In 1968, at the age of twenty-six, Crockett moved to Shreveport in Caddo Parish, to join the staff of the since defunct Shreveport Journal under then publisher Douglas F. Attaway. In 1977, after Attaway had already sold The Journal to businessman and professor Charles T. Beaird, Crockett joined the staff of The Shreveport Times, where he remained until his retirement in 2004.^[2]

Crockett resides in Shreveport, where he is involved in various cultural activities and is a strong supporter of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and the Shreveport Arts Council.^[2] A Shreveport blogger writes that Crockett "has the ability to touch upon all aspects of a performance, from book to players to the scene. His writing has a conversational flow but demonstrates deep background. While his critical remarks are moderate - focus on what he omitted to get the full tale - they fulfill a distinct need."

Crockett is single. He has a sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Wayne Johnson, and two nieces, Vicki Bowman and Cindy Spreen, all of Ballinger.^[3]

References