It's the birthday of humorist Jean Shepherd, born in Chicago, Illinois (1921) - Writers Almanac

Some men are Baptists, others Catholics. My father was an Oldsmobile man--- Jean Shepherd 

July 26, 2022

Every morning I get an email from Garrison Keillor who manages Writers Almanac, a daily chronicle of well-known literary figures and events. I learn so much every day from this short post. I recommend subscribing - it's free, though donations are welcome: Subscribe now

Today I was reminded of one of my favorites as a teenager, Jean Shepherd. You know him from the great movie, Christmas Story -- that's him narrating - I listened to that voice on my transister radio in bed every night. His stories were mesmerizing. I went with some friends to see him in person at the Village Voice Car Rallye July 26, 1959, a fun event which he narrated. 

 learn more about Shepherd here. And a tribute site: https://www.flicklives.com/

Here's Keillor's short description --

It's the birthday of humorist Jean Shepherd, born in Chicago, Illinois (1921). He's remembered for the autobiographical stories he told on the radio about a boy named Ralph Parker growing up in Hohman, Indiana. One of his stories was made into the movie A Christmas Story (1983), which he narrated. It's about a boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas, even though every adult in his life says that he'll shoot his eye out.

The stories Shepherd told on-air were always improvised, but he later wrote them down and published them in collections like In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash (1967) and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters (1972).

Jean Shepherd said: "Some men are Baptists, others Catholics. My father was an Oldsmobile man."

Jean Shepherd Takes Down the Press

Listening to NPR right now:

August 28, 2003
Forty years ago Thursday, radio storyteller Jean Shepherd took a crowded bus from New York City to participate in the March on Washington. The next day he went on the air and told about the experience from his perspective in the crowds. He was surprised by the good-natured attitude of most of the demonstrators, and by how they were received by regular people walking around in the city. We hear an excerpt from his broadcast of Aug. 29, 1963. - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1414581

Shepherd tells how his experience differs so from that of the press corps. Probably because they didn't cover it as a participant. They didn't take a bus down. The flew in the day before and stayed at hotels. Then covered from behind the press ropes.

He's still talking so catch the wave. Or check archives.

http://www.radio4all.net/responder.php/podcast/podcast.xml?series=Jean+Shepherd+Rewound


For my next present - if my wife ever gets me one - I want the entire Jean Shepherd archives. And every night at around 11pm I will plug in a sert of earphones and go back to being 16 years old.

Jean Shepherd

My wife called me this morning from her car to tell me NPR was running a repeat of the Harry Shearer ten year old tribute to Jean Shepherd. As teenagers growing up in the East NY section of Brooklyn, my friends and I went to sleep with the transistor radio under the covers listening to Jean Shepherd spin tales of his childhood and early adulthood. If you saw Christmas Story, one of the funniest movies ever, that is Shepherd's work – Ralphie was the Shepherd protagonist.

Today they had the first hour (next Sunday at 7am will be part 2). The show ended with a great story where they took Shepherd's entire corps of expert coders and put them in a beginners course - in coding. They all played dumb and became the worst students ever. If you've dealt with the BloomKlein DOE you will see familiar patterns. Think of some idiot professional development telling you stuff you know. Maybe Shepherd and his buddies are models. Just play dumb. Duh- Does "differentiated instruction" refer to those instruction manuals in 4 languages?

Take a look through the archives to see if you can find the show and also look on the net for some of Shepherd's broadcasts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Shepherd

Jean Shepherd - On NPR -Hearing Voices

Talk about the Woodstock nostalgia craze going on this weekend (later, see my personal story - no, I was not there but in Europe that summer).

My friends and I were fierce Shepherd fans as teens.
Even if you have no idea who he is (best known as author of "A Christmas Story" story) check it out.

The narrator, Harry Shearer, just told the story of Shepherd holding a milling where he tells listeners to go to an empty parking lot late at night to just mill about and crowds showed up (he didn't). Certainly confused the cops when they asked what was going on and were told, "We're just milling"). Maybe we should do Tweedings.

And remember that scene from the movie Network when Peter Finch yells out the window, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"? Must have come from stuff Shepherd did. He used to have listeners put their radios on their window sills facing out and he would should things like "You filthy pragmatist."

I remember one great story of a lightning storm at Yankee stadium and Shepherd's description of the absolute fear of Phil Rizzuto. Priceless stuff.

If you miss it check the archives at http://hearingvoices.com/news/2009/08/hv067-jean-shepherd-1/

Or you might want to capture this show for future listening, preferably in bed late at night with earphones.

More on Shepherd at http://www.ep.tc/realist/42/