Editing Jane Dornacker

{{Short description|American musician, entertainer, and reporter (1947–1986)}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = Jane Carroll Dornacker
| image              = Photo of Jane Dornacker.jpg
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| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1947|10|01}}
| birth_place        = [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1986|10|22|1947|10|01}}
| death_place        = [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_cause        = Helicopter crash
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| occupation         = Musician, comedian, traffic reporter
| years_active       = 
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'''Jane Carroll Dornacker''' (October 1, 1947 – October 22, 1986) was an American rock musician, comedian and [[traffic report]]er. She gained fame as an associate songwriter for the San Francisco rock band [[The Tubes]]; she also led her own band, [[Leila and the Snakes]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Group |first=Gary Richards {{!}} Bay Area News |date=May 16, 2021 |title=Jane Dornacker remembered for hilarious traffic reports and chilling last words: Roadshow |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/15/jane-dornacher-a-glib-traffic-reporter-still-remembered-decades-after-her-death-roadshow/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021233716/https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/15/jane-dornacher-a-glib-traffic-reporter-still-remembered-decades-after-her-death-roadshow/ |archive-date=October 21, 2022 |access-date=April 4, 2024 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Career==

Dornacker was born in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], the daughter of John L. Dornacker. Her family lived at 1701 Las Lomas Road, NE Albuquerque,<ref>'Come to Church' Albuquerque ''Journal'' 8 November 1953 p. 1</ref> in a house built in 1928 by her grandfather, Dr Edward C. Matthews, a physician. She had two sisters, Ann and Mary.<ref>Toby Smith 'The Entertainer: the Short, Zappy Life of Jane Dornacker' Albuquerque ''Journal'', ''Impact'' supplement,  6 January 1987, pp. 4-14.</ref> She was a performer from a young age, and wrote a six-act play while she was in Monte Vista Elementary School; at 8, she sang all the parts in an opera of her own composition "in a language no one could understand".<ref>Toby Smith 'The Entertainer: the Short, Zappy Life of Jane Dornacker' Albuquerque ''Journal'', ''Impact'' supplement,  6 January 1987, pp. 4-14.</ref>

In her late high school years, Dornacker was a featured performer in a number of local Albuquerque dramatic productions. In March 1964 she played Sophie in [[Jerome Kern]]'s ''[[Roberta (musical)|Roberta]]'';<ref>'Leading Cast Members' Albuquerque ''Journal'', 20 March 1964 p. 50</ref> in August she appeared in [[Maxwell Anderson]]'s [[The Bad Seed (play)|''The Bad Seed'']]<ref>'Bad seed' Albuquerque ''Journal'' 2 August 1964 p. 16</ref> and in October, she played Christina in [[Sidney Howard]]'s play ''The Silver Cord''.<ref>'Highland Senior Class Presents Play Tonight' Albuquerque ''Journal'', 14 October 1964 p. 5</ref>

In 1965 Dornacker moved to San Francisco and in the same year vied to become [[San Francisco State University]]'s Homecoming Queen. Her campaign saw her riding a bicycle enclosed in a cage; she described herself as an 'Earth Mother' and declared that she was magic. Although she won election to the position, she withdrew stating that she 'didn't want the responsibility'.<ref>'College Queen Contest Back to Normal' San Francisco ''Examiner'' 6 November 1965 p. 6</ref> She did not pursue her college degree beyond this first year.

She married Bob Knickerbocker, whom she had met at university, and their daughter Naomi was born in 1969. They divorced after eight years of marriage; Knickerbocker would die of a heart attack in July, 1986.<ref>Toby Smith 'The Entertainer: the Short, Zappy Life of Jane Dornacker' Albuquerque ''Journal'', ''Impact'' supplement,  6 January 1987, pp. 4-14.</ref>

===Music===
Dornacker was the lead singer ('Leila'), keyboardist, and songwriter of the 1970s/1980s San Francisco "tack" rock group [[Leila and the Snakes]]. Pearl E. Gates and Pamela Wood provided supporting vocals. Their repertoire included "Rock and Roll Weirdos," "Pyramid Power" and a spoof version of Peggy Lee's "[[Is That All There Is?]]". Dornacker described the group as closer to musical theatre than rock music: "I worked with a couple of girls I knew from dance classes, and we did nutty dance routines and songs, and I did these long, rambling monologues.'<ref>Robert Gearty 'Lady was Always Up' NY Daily News 23 October 1986 p.</ref> Gates and the band became [[Pearl Harbor and the Explosions]] without Dornacker. Guitarist Miles Corbin formed the surf instrumental band the Aqua Velvets.

Dornacker came to the attention of Bill Spooner of [[The Tubes]] when he came to see Leila and the Snakes, and he asked her to be a part of the group's live show. "For a better part of two years," she later recalled, "I was out on the road with them."<ref>Leslie Goldberg 'They Laughed When Leila t. Snake Sat Down to Play Piano', San Francisco ''Sunday Examiner & Chronicle'', ''Datebook'' section, 26 August 1979 p. 36</ref> She toured with The Tubes as backing singer and dancer. She co-wrote the song "Don't Touch Me There" for the group with the ceramicist and musician [[Ron Nagle]]. The song was sung by Re Styles and appeared on The Tubes' second studio album, ''[[Young and Rich]]'' (1976), and was released as a 7" single. "Cathy's Clone", written entirely by Dornacker, appears on the third Tubes album, [[Now (The Tubes album)|''Now'']].

Dornacker also provided lead vocals on "Christopher Columbus" (1978), a song by [[R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders]].

Other groups Dornacker formed included Jane Door and the Door Knockers<ref>Burr Snider, 'AKA Jane Dornacker' San Francisco ''Examiner'' 18 July 1983 p. 19</ref> and The Final Solution.<ref>Toby Smith 'The Entertainer: the Short, Zappy Life of Jane Dornacker' Albuquerque ''Journal'', ''Impact'' supplement,  6 January 1987, pp. 4-14</ref>

===Acting===

Dornacker built on her early experience as an actress throughout her career, notably in works by [[Sam Shepard]] including  the 1977 jazz opera ''Inacoma'' at [[San Francisco]]'s [[Magic Theatre]].<ref>Leslie Goldberg 'They Laughed When Leila t. Snake Sat Down to Play Piano', SF Sunday Examiner & Chronicle  Datebook section 26 August 1979 p. 36</ref> She was featured in, and created, other works for the Overtone Theater including ''Jane Door and the Five or Four Children'', which was staged in October 1980 alongside work by two men who were important to her career: Shepard, creator of a "percussion event", and [[Wes Nisker|Wes "Scoop" Nisker]]'s ''The Last News Show''.<ref>Steven Winn, "New Theatre Season is Getting into Full Swing" San Francisco ''Sunday Examiner and Chronicle'', ''Datebook'' section, 5 October 1980 p. 18</ref> She also appeared in ''The Stand-Up,'' ''Anita Sperm'' and as Nurse Murch in the film ''[[The Right Stuff (film)|The Right Stuff]]'', which also had Shepard in the cast.

===Stand-up comedy and radio===
Dornacker's music and acting had long had a comedic element. She developed a career as a stand-up comic in San Francisco. In 1979, she told journalist Leslie Goldberg: "To me, the funniest things are visual things. Like [[Jonathan Winters]]. I mean it doesn't matter, even if it's a bad script or if it's a [[Cheetos]] commercial, he's always funny. He just is."<ref>Leslie Goldberg 'They Laughed When Leila t. Snake Sat Down to Play Piano', SF Sunday Examiner & Chronicle  Datebook section 26 August 1979 p. 36.</ref>

She gained some success in stand-up and was a notable comedian in San Francisco in the early 1980s. In 1982, along with [[Kit Hollerbach]], [[Nora Dunn]], Susan Healy, [[Paula Poundstone]] and the improv group Femprov, she participated in a benefit for Big Sisters Friday at [[Great American Music Hall]] in San Francisco.<ref>Clark Peterson 'Women Doing Standup – No Laughing Matter' San Francisco ''Chronicle'', ''Datebook'' section, 28 March 1982 p. 50</ref> She also cohosted a television show with Wes "Scoop" Nisker, ''Video West'', on [[KTSF|channel 26 (KTSF)]] on Wednesday and Saturday nights in 1979.<ref>Leslie Goldberg 'They Laughed When Leila t. Snake Sat Down to Play Piano', SF Sunday Examiner & Chronicle  Datebook section 26 August 1979 p. 36.</ref> Dornacker and Nisker were the MCs for the Bay Area Theater Critics' Circle Awards in May, 1983.<ref>Allan Ulrich, "Theater Critics Circle Pays Tribute to Social Commentary" San Francisco ''Examiner'' 10 May 1983, p. B13.</ref>

Dornacker's work as a traffic reporter in the early 1980s emerged from her media work with Nisker. She was initially employed in this role by [[KFRC (defunct)|KFRC]], a popular Top 40 radio station. She worked with [[Don Rose]], who was that station's morning [[disc jockey]] at the time. She was noted for her exceptionally fast speech, so fast it required concentration to understand her. As she did traffic, she would tell her daughter Naomi to get up and get to school.

She moved to [[New York City]] to become a much-loved, raspy-voiced "trafficologist”.

==Death and aftermath==
Dornacker was aboard during two unrelated crashes of the helicopters leased to [[WFAN (AM)|WNBC Radio]], approximately six months apart. She survived the first crash, on April 18, 1986,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/23/nyregion/traffic-copter-crash-in-hudson-kills-reporter.html Norman, Michael (1986).  "Traffic Copter Crash in Hudson River Kills Reporter,"  ''The New York Times'', October 23, 1986.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406085130/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/23/nyregion/traffic-copter-crash-in-hudson-kills-reporter.html |date=April 6, 2019 }} Retrieved December 13, 2020.</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Gearty |title=Lady was Always Up |journal=New York Daily News |date=23 October 1986 |page=3}}</ref> but was killed in the second.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Standora |first=Leo |date=May 5, 2004 |title=’86 Tailspin Killed a Traffic Reporter |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2004/05/05/86-tailspin-killed-a-traffic-reporter/ |access-date=January 6, 2025 |work=New York Daily News}}</ref>

On October 22, 1986,<ref name=":0" /> Dornacker was giving one of the station's N-Copter traffic reports during the ''[[Joey Reynolds]] Show'' on WNBC in [[New York City]]. At 4:44&nbsp;p.m.,  the [[Enstrom F-28]] helicopter she was aboard plunged into the [[Hudson River]] from an altitude of roughly {{convert|75|ft|m}}. Her [[last words]] were, "Hit the water, hit the water, hit the water!"<ref name=":0" /> The F-28 helicopter nose-dived, struck the top of a [[chain link fence]] at a river pier, crashed into the Hudson River very near to the Manhattan shore and sank in {{convert|15|to|20|ft|0}} of water. Both occupants were trapped for nearly 10–15 minutes before help arrived. Dornacker died on her way to [[Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center]]. Pilot Bill Pate, the only other occupant, was severely injured but survived.

In the subsequent investigation, the [[NTSB]] found that the [[sprag clutch]] that was installed in the helicopter, which was on lease to WNBC Radio by Spectrum Helicopters of [[Ridgefield Park, New Jersey]], was a military surplus part which was not designed for use in a civilian aircraft, and that the part had not been adequately lubricated. It directly led to a mid-air seizure of the main [[Helicopter rotor|rotor blade]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20001213X35064&AKey=1&RType=Final&IType=MA |title=NTSB's report on helicopter crash |access-date=2017-07-12 |archive-date=2018-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501160900/https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20001213X35064&AKey=1&RType=Final&IType=MA |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Isgro |first1=Anna Cifelli |last2=Coll |first2=Arieh |title=THE HIDDEN THREAT TO AIR SAFETY A pernicious problem with aircraft maintenance is coming to light. No one wants to talk about it, but substandard and bogus spare parts may be causing crashes. |url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1987/04/13/68877/index.htm |access-date=23 July 2022 |work=fortune.com |date=April 13, 1987}}</ref>

Dornacker's 16-year-old daughter, Naomi, was orphaned, having lost her father, Bob Knickerbocker, three months earlier. Naomi received $325,000 in a settlement with owner Spectrum Helicopters of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, and the maker of the helicopter.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19861024.2.37 |title=Trust fund established for Dornacker daughter |date=October 24, 1986 |publisher=Desert Sun |access-date=April 6, 2019 |archive-date=January 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125122513/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19861024.2.37 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Shortly after the incident, several on-air interviews with WNBC Radio staff described the incident and their feelings in detail, including how other news organizations "pumped news" into the WNBC Radio newsroom as they were all in shock. Joey Reynolds broke down on-air when talking about Dornacker's daughter. WNBC played other interviews with friends and recordings of Dornacker talking about the first helicopter crash earlier that same year. Her music was also played during these tribute shows, including [[Young and Rich|"Don't Touch Me There"]], which she had co-written for The Tubes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JWyP7SNGAk  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/3JWyP7SNGAk| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=The Joey Reynolds Show |website=[[YouTube]]|date=October 23, 1986}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

A memorial concert in celebration of Dornacker took place at [[The Warfield Theatre]] in [[San Francisco]] on Saturday, November 22, 1986, with performers including [[Jerry Garcia]], [[The Tubes]], [[Bobcat Goldthwait]], Jeremy Kramer, Sluts a Go Go, [[Carol Doda]] and [[Dennis Quaid]].

A memorial to Dornacker is located in [[Wayne, New Jersey]], where she was living at the time of her death.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb name|0233870}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081201005504/http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~jbenda2/jebhp9/useless/dornacker.html Unofficial transcript of the traffic report by Jason Elliot Benda]
* [http://www.ohms.com/tragedy.wav Aircheck of the Jane Dornacker tragedy from ohms.com]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OewD0zAIXow Audio of the live broadcast]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dornacker, Jane}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:American women comedians]]
[[Category:American rock musicians]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Singers from California]]
[[Category:Radio personalities from New York City]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1986]]
[[Category:Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents in the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:The Tubes members]]
[[Category:20th-century American comedians]]
[[Category:Comedians from New Mexico]]
[[Category:Comedians from New York City]]
[[Category:American women punk rock singers]]