Jean Shepherd Tonight: "The Attic"

We might contrast [two contrasting performances of Johann Strauss II's polka Amid Thunder and Lightning] even further by tossing in what must be the best-known piece composed by Johann II's younger brother Eduard Strauss (1835-1916), Bahn frei! (Clear Track, in the sense of a railroad track, 1869 -- conducted here with a wonderful blend of flair and poise by Willi Boskovsky, whose name is almost synonymous with the Vienna of the Strauss dynasty), which will be familiar to any fan of the late great radio monologist Jean Shepherd or to any fan of one of Jean Shepherd's great fans, Keith Olbermann, who uses it to introduce the "Oddball" segment of Countdown.

-- DWT Sunday Classics, Sept. 13, 2009

No, this isn't the performance of Bahn frei! Jean Shepherd, which began with a race-track fanfare and was quicker and tackier. Still, if we're going to listen to one of his classic radio monologues, it helps set the tone. Here he tells the story of one of his father's apparently numerous ambitious but doomed projects. -- Ken





TOMORROW in JEAN SHEPHERD TONIGHT: Another of his radio monologues


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, and JEAN SHEPHERD TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

#