That cartoon brought a smile and a flood of memories back for me. I grew up listening to Shep’s Army stories and cultural musings on WOR’s clear-channel signal on a transistor radio under my pillow at night. When I was 12, I got a clock radio for Christmas and was able to hear him louder and clearer than before and the very next night, I think, he recited Robert Service’s “The Cremation of Sam McGee”. To this day, I owe a good portion of my wild imagination and sardonic sense of humor to Jean Shepherd. I’ve got a fair collection of airchecks from his shows, which I listen to rarely, but appreciatively. And I can still recite extended passages of Mr. Service’s work when so challenged.
Yes Shep was great. I have DVDs of A Christmas Story (and
also My Summer Story, the sequel, which was narrated
by him as well). I also have tapes of 4 of his comedy albums
and a friend of mine has videos of some of his TV shows
(”Shepherd’s Pie”, “Jean Shepherd’s America”).
Jean is not to be confused with country singer Jean Shepard...
His name is spelled the French way but is pronounced like
“Gene”. This dilemma—having what seemed like a girl’s
name—prompted his friend Shel Silverstein to write what
later became a hit for Johnny Cash: A Boy Named Sue!
Some of the army stories (Signal Corps) show up on
the albums and in his books (I have 3 of em: A Fistful
of Fig Newtons, Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden
Memories, and A Christmas Story—which features stories
from “Wanda Hickey” and “In God We Trust, All Others
Pay Cash”. His tales of “dish night at the movies”
and “rainy summers at camp”—hello, Allen Sherman—
were hilarious.
Great book: Excelsior You Fathead by Eugene B. Bergmann
Great site: http://www.flicklives.com
I think he did do an album with him reading Robert
Service’s works.
The airchecks are available, to those who are
curious, at sites related to flicklives.
“You’ll shoot your eye out, kid...”