BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story

Subject: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 01:46 PM

Very many of you (at least, in the US) are more than familiar with the cult favorite "Christmas Story" movie shown repeatedly on TBS cable over the 24-hour period starting at 8pm Christmas Eve.

Not so many may be aware of the story's creator, the late radio personality Jean Shepherd, who provided the voice-over narration for the movie. Only those of us "of a certain age," who grew up within range of the AM radio signal of WOR in New York City and who listened in late every weeknight (often after bedtime, with a tiny new transistor radio equipped with an earpiece) really understand the deep, rich saga of 20th century mid-American childhood that Shep created,a gigantic iceberg of which the famous screenplay is only the tiniest little tip.

A friend sent me this link yesterday, to a Christmas-day article published in the online magazine "Slate":

http://www.slate.com/id/2207058/

As the writer points out, Shep's true vision was somewhat darker and more complex than the lighthearted nostalgia presented in the film. In his world, childhood was a time of helpless subordination to a world full of authority figures, and therefore a pretty good metaphor for life ~ adult life in the modern world~ as we know it.

Shep was buddies with Jack Kerouac and Lenny Bruce, among others. And although his work was free of cusswords, and of any references to outright rebellion, he shared a very similar viewpoint and was very much the same kind of misfit in mainstream society.

Every weeknight, five nights a week for 20+ years, this man would sit in front of a microphone for 45 minutes and tell an absolutely spellbinding story, working from the most minimal notes. His improvisational "verbal jazz" was pretty unique, an artform no one else has practiced on such a public stage before or since.

The Slate article will probably disappear from the web within a short while, but it contains links to other, more permanent, Shep-related sites. I'm posting this now, but expect to return before too long to provide some of those links, and maybe a cut-and-paste excerpt or two, for those of you reading this in the future, who won't have access to the article.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: MarkS
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 01:58 PM

Poppa

Thanks for the post and the links. I am one of those "of a certain age: who remembers Shep.   I even met him in person once, while giving a talk at University. During the Q&A he assured me that his stories were true!

Shep was the person on whose shoulders all those now on talk radio stand.

I only wish that {"The Genie of the Open Hearth" would be made avalable on CD but I understand that estate and copyright issues are standing in the way.

But thanks for the memories.

Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 02:08 PM

Check out the link to the main "fan" website. Somebody somewhere has MP3s for sale of almost the entire Jean Shepherd ouvre ~ hundreds and hundreds of hours worth. If the "Open Hearth" piece that you remember isn't included, there are probably several 45-minute shows during which he includes bits and pieces of the same story ~ there was a lot of "overlap" among his huge repertoire of monologues.

Where'd you go to college? Rutgers? (That's where Shep made most of his campus appearances.)

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 02:12 PM

Link to an ad that appeared with this thread at one point: an online store specializing in "Christmas Story" merchandise, including the infamous Leg Lamp in four sizes from night-light to floor-model:

http://www.redriderleglamps.com/?gclid=CPbfg-D93pcCFQ7aDAodfz8oBw

(I'll "blue-clickify" non-commerical links, but not blatent profiteering like this!)

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: MarkS
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 02:24 PM

Thanks again

Yup, it sure was Rutgers. (RC '67)

And I did indeed find somebody selling "Open Hearth" on the net - advising it was a dupe of a home made video.

Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 03:13 PM

Interesting. I only found out about his movie a few years ago and didn't know all of the rest of it until this thread. Thanks! (I DID read MAD and worshipped Bill Gaines!)

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 03:19 PM

Poppa, I got the mp3's years ago and one of the best shows was the one about going to the MLK rally in DC. I might add that Keroac and Lenny Bruce knew Jean - and not the other way around. Jean was the verbal Norman Rockwell of his time but with a sense of humor that is forever refreshing.

Many shows are virtually lost however. I remember the story of the Jr. High that went on strike on one hot day when all the students began chanting Mr. Spone is a fink.
I listened to nearly every story every night for years under the blanket with a transitor radio.

People in Clevland rent the house that the Christmas Story movie was made.
The highest price is $1.200 for the Christmas holiday.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 03:39 PM

I used to listen to his radio show back in the very early '70s in the Washington DC area. I can't remember who carried it, but it might have been a public radio station.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 03:43 PM

WOR out of NYC on a 100,000 watt carrier wave.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 03:47 PM

BTW, I used to listen to it with my boyfriend (I was 16 and he was 18). After the show in which they burned down the school with a hot air balloon, we made one ourselves using a laundry bag and some drinking straws. Wouldn't you know it, the damn thing headed straight for the nearest school (a private Catholic school). We nearly shit our pants. Fortunately, it landed in the yard outside the school.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 07:00 PM

I will guarantee there is not a bigger fan on this site. His style and substance would never be noticed by the big awards folks but for me he was the supreme storyteller. Part of that comes from a similar view of childhood and part from the fact that although we were 20 years apart, we grew up in the midwest heartland and for many years it changed very little.....in some ways it is still the same.

For every Jean story I have a corresponding experience. Sure there are variations but at the center it is still the same tale. I've been to those same 4th of July "festivities" and frankly the scene in my own Cletus story of the 4th of July blatantly stole the giant Dago bomb explosion from him. One of my prom experiences was not so different than "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories" and I've been to our own "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss."

All through his stories I see myself in my own childhood. From the county fair to the roller rink, I've been there. I had a secret decoder pin from Ovaltine except mine came from their sponsorship of "Captain Midnight and the Secret Squadron" instead of Little Orphan Annie. I figure now they were leftovers.   Reading Jean always takes me back......and makes me laugh....and cringe.....and sometimes cry right before I laugh again.

Although I should have discovered him in any number of other ways, I first encountered Jean Shepherd when he wrote for "Car and Driver" magazine. Once found though I was hooked and every story had meaning for me. It may have been nuts and silly to a lot of readers but it was my childhood too that he told and I loved the way he told it.

The movies are composites of several stories together and I think they did a good job with most of them, but nothing replaces reading the books of collections. Go pick up "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" or "Wanda Hickey" or "A Fistful of Fig Newtons" and see for yourself. One thing you'll find is that my Cletus stories are pathetic imitations of him but there is no writer I would rather flatter with even a bad imitation.

I was very sad when he died. But I tell ya' what........Many of the stories which I've read a dozen or more times can still make me laugh uproariously, cringe deeply and sincerely, and cry uncontrollably. A great writer can do that and Jean Shepherd was a great writer.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 07:12 PM

I second that emotion.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: EBarnacle
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 07:25 PM

I was a fan of Shep from the days he appeared in the daytime on WOR. Many a weekend day was spent sitting in traffic on the Bronx River Parkway [recently completed at that time] listening to him at that time. I really enjoyed his stories when they they were printed in Playboy [of course I only read the magazine for its literary value] and later as books [which I still have somewhere]. I never did get to run my cars in the Greenwich Village Sports Car Rallyes when he ran them as an event sponsored by the Village Voice during the '60's.

I met him once at Rutgers during one of his appearances at The Ledge, our then student center. I asked him why I had never received the Bronze Figligigy with Oak Leaf Clusters I had won for answering one of his trivia questions. He explained that it was actually the White Whale of awards, often won but never received.

Lady Hillary told me last night that she was also one of his "under cover" fans.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 09:31 PM

Spaw, your reaction made me think about how different it must have been to encounter Shep in print first, before ever hearing him.

By the time I first found anything he had published, I had already been a listener for a while, so I couldn't possibly read the words without hearing his voice, intonations, etc. I'm not saying its a "better" persective, just different. Interesting.

I always thought of Shep as a product of and spokeman for the urban Midwest. It's a region that provides a true cross-section "Americana" experience because you grow up visiting the good old-fashioned rural world pretty easily (state fair, etc.) while living day-to-day in the industrial rust-belt.

************
I've been at The Ledge, by the way, having grown up in Plainfield and gone to high school in Metuchen...

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Michael S
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 12:46 AM

I was a pre-teen when I began listening to Shep around 1966 or so. I recall using the "earphone" that came with my transistor radio because my father was pretty rigid about bedtimes. I loved the weeknight studio shows but they were quite subdued compared to the Saturday night events, broadcast before a live audience at the Limelight in Greenwich Village. Shep got pretty raucous then. I had never seen a nightclub except in movies, and those all struck me as horribly square places, filled with "adults." I just knew that the Limelight had to be much cooler and I wanted so much to go there and see Shep, which wasn't going to happen for a 12 or 13 year old.

Sometime or other I stopped listening. I presume that was when I went off to college in '72. When Shep made a personal appearance at SUNY-Binghamton while I was there I couldn't believe it. I recall him telling stories in his Hohman character, then breaking the wall and answering questions as Shep. All I can remember specifically is that he called us "kids" in a kind way, and described himself as an actor.

Years later, I heard the Limelight described as a disco and felt sadness at what I imagined was the loss of a once cool place. I never saw it. I have no idea what it was like, at any time.

Like others here, I still own most of Shep's books. Good memories.

-Michael Scully

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 09:22 AM

Hey Mike, we were at SUNY Binghamton at the same time.
If you took any Constitutional Law classes you may have had my dad as your prof. He was known for his whacky hypotheticals.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: SINSULL
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 09:28 AM

The Wanda Hickey character was made into a movie sequel to A Christmas Story. It is hilarious.

I too remember listening on WOR. But I also remember Bob and Ray.
Great radio for anyone "on the road" selling.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 09:53 AM

trivia:
The school teacher was played by the wife of the director.

The Chinese Restaurant scene was filmed without rehearsal. The wife and kids were not told of the cleaver chopping the duck's neck ahead of time, so we get to see true shock and surprise on the screen.

Jean was banned from the set for most of the movie filming.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Michael S
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 01:55 PM

Donuel, I sent you a PM. I may have known your dad.

--Michael Scully

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 02:42 PM

I've missed the connection between Jean Shepherd and "A Christmas Story" which I inadvertently watched part of this holiday season. I was quite taken by surprise, expecting a Disney style production. LOL

The Chinese restaurant scene with the roasted duck reminded me of Sarah Palin's pardon the Thanksgiving turkey video. What a shock!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 06:53 PM

Jean appeared in the movie as a shopper before the Santa scene.

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Dec 08 - 11:02 PM

GO TO YOUTUBE AND TYPE IN "JEAN SHEPHERD".................You'll be pleasantly surprised!


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: GUEST,Eugene B. Bergmann
Date: 28 Dec 08 - 10:22 AM

I'm pleased and impressed by all the posts about Jean Shepherd, many-talented American genius! There's lots more to experience about his art in many fields at www.flicklives.com. And there's lots more to know about all of Shepherd's life and work in my book: EXCELSIOR, YOU FATHEAD! THE ART AND ENIGMA OF JEAN SHEPHERD. It was published in March 2005 and got a fair number of country-wide reviews and interviews of me about it (most of the audios archived on the flicklives site).

Subject: RE: BS: Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Dec 08 - 10:55 AM

The Wanda Hickey movie (maybe: "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories") had the mother joining a chain mail group for old washclothes. Hilarious when after Dad went on and on about how this never works, hundreds of old washclothes start arriving. And she is thrilled. LOL
The Polish wedding, the fourth of July fireworks catastrophe, - worth watching and probably funnier than The Christmas Story.
I dearly love that lamp. There is a full sized one in an apartment on Fore Street in Portland - right in the front window.