Today I read an article in The Wall Street Journal by Ralph Gardner, Jr. He was talking about the movie "A Christmas Story" which always appears this time of year.
Mr. Gardner was a fan of Jean Shepherd who wrote the movie about Christmas in the '40s. My husband introduced me to Jean Shepherd's radio show. We used to listen every night.
In the mid '60s I worked for a patent lawyer who, one day, told me about this great humorist he had heard on the radio. We talked about this show for a while and I told him how much I enjoyed it. One Monday I came to work and there was a tape and dictaphone on my desk. Since he rarely used this method of dictation, I questioned him. He told me that I was probably busy on Saturday night and hadn't heard the show. Len had taped it for me.
Everyone thought I was very busy that Monday and for many Mondays after. What they didn't know was that I was actually listening to a recorded radio show.
2 comments:
Sometimes it's just such a joy to find someone who shares an uncommon interest, it trumps other things!
The Ralph Gardner article in the WSJ is indeed a good one. Many thousands of people still follow Jean Shepherd's work through recordings of his shows, easily and inexpensively available (see flicklives.com and ebay, for example). Media people who are fans include Harry Shearer, Keith Olbermann and Jerry Seinfeld, who said: "He formed my entire comedic sensibility. I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." My book about Shepherd's entire creative career was published in early 2005 and still sells a couple of hundred copies a year. I'm so obsessed with his work, I'm now seeking a publisher for my second book manuscript about him! Excelsior!!!
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