Jay Krause worked on hundreds of variety TV specials, featuring the likes of Bob Hope, Shirley Temple, Diana Ross, the Jackson Five and more, and designed sets for 'The Hollywood Squares' and 'Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.'

E. Jay Krause, an Emmy Award-winning art director and set designer who worked on many of the biggest variety shows of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 98.

Over this three-decade career, Krause designed sets for more than 180 productions, work on TV specials featuring such iconic performers as Bob Hope, Diana Ross, Mitzi Gaynor, Shirley Temple, Bing Crosby, Jerry Lewis, Esther Williams, Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, the Jacksons, Don Knotts, Wayne Newton, Carol Channing, Pat Boone and Rudolf Nureyev.

He also designed the original sets for for The Hollywood Squares and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and received two Primetime Emmy Awards for best art direction — one for The Diana Ross Special and another for The Mitzi Gaynor Special.

In 1983, Krause founded Omega Cinema Props, which went on to become one of the industry’s largest independent prop houses. Alongside his wife, Doris, Krause spent more than three decades sourcing rare and distinctive set dressing from around the world, curating a collection that remains integral to film and television productions today.

A Los Angeles native, Krause served with distinction in the U.S. Navy during World War II, taking part in the harrowing 82-day Battle of Okinawa. After his military service, he attended Pepperdine University, where he studied design, and he began his professional career at NBC in 1951.

He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Carson and Barry Pritchard; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

By Kimberly Nordyke
"The Hollywood Reporter"
April 13, 2025
 

SDSA Business Member & Founder of Omega Cinema Props

E. Jay Krause was born in Los Angeles in May of 1926.  A child of the depression, Jay was raised with his sister Roberta in southwest Los Angeles by his mother who struggled to make ends meet after Jay’s father passed away when his was a small child.  Upon graduating  high school Jay enlisted in the Navy during WWII and his ship was involved in the battle of Okinawa.

After the war Jay enrolled at Pepperdine University and began to study theater design. It was here that he really started to saw that he wanted to design- his love was opera and live theater and he planned to go into that field when he was hired straight out of the theater design program by NBC TV for The George Gobel Show in 1954. He was 28 years old and designing for live network TV!  After a few years at NBC Jay struck out on his own when Bob Hope agreed to hire Jay directly and not use him as the NBC staff designer.  Jay was the first designer in Hollywood to set out on his own apart from the Studio and Network system.

Jay’s career as a designer spanned the next 30 years and included nearly 200 productions including TV series like Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Bob Hope Show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, Three’s Company and The Gong Show.

“Specials” were clearly Jay’s opportunity to shine and he was the “go to” designer for every producer in town. Among the many great specials he designed was “TCB” in 1968, a show that showcased the top two Motown groups, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and the Temptations singing their hits. The sets were amazing and the calls kept coming in!

Two other notable productions were Mitzi’s 2nd Special which aired in 1969 and which led to Jay being awarded a Primetime Emmy For Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction or Scenic Design. And again, for Diana!,  which aired in 1971, Jay was again awarded a Primetime Emmy For Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction or Scenic Design.

In 1968 Jay opened his first prop house a small place on Sunset Blvd. His first employee was his sister Roberta. Never in a million years did they ever think that it would grow to what it is today.  But grow it did as Jay started to make shipments from Europe and began acquiring existing prop house inventories.  Eventually he moved Omega to Santa Monica Blvd. just down the street from the biggest prop house in town, Cinema Mercantile.  Omega continued to grow and in the early 1980’s Jay was able to acquire the inventories of both Cinema Mercantile and Cinema Props and consolidated the inventory into the Omega Cinema Props location. It was then that Jay stopped designing and concentrated on making Omega the best prop house around.  Expansion continued for the next three decades and as your read this Omega Cinema Props has been and continues to be the greatest prop house resource the industry has ever known.

By Ryan Pritchard
for the SDSA

E. Jay Krause Courtesy of Omega Cinema Props