Although Jean Shepherd in fact transferred quite successfully to print -- his seemingly rambling shaggy-dog tales were more tightly structured than they appeared in performance -- there's no doubt that he was a radio guy, and for those of us lucky enough to have had access to his show on New York's WOR, it was a nightly ritual.
There are a whole bunch of pieces posted on YouTube, and I've picked this one more or less at random. We can listen together. --Ken
TOMORROW in JEAN SHEPHERD TONIGHT: I'm looking at "The Attic"
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
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Interestingly, the young chess genius Bobby Fischer was a fanatic Jean Shepherd fan in the late 50's. Fischer almost never missed a broadcast and sent Shepherd several letters and attended Shepherd's live performances at the Limelight coffee house. The two of them got together for a hot dog at Grant's on Broadway several times. A very unlikely pairing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this tidbit, Paul. I didn't know that! It surely tells us . . . er, something.
ReplyDeleteA very unlikely pairing indeed!
Cheers,
Ken