Warsaw - After annual Christmas Feast, 1,000 ambulances were required to haul off all the gluttens.
Seaford, Delaware - A scientist has started an experiment to make a man fly like a bird.
Dear Abbey - "How can I break my husband's habit of sucking his thumb?"
Louisville - Road department replaces "Dead End" signs with "No Outlet" signs
Radio call signs around the world. Who uses what letters. Pirate stations that set up all around the world using amateur bands.
Communication systems are beginning to govern the world. How football games are being governed by communication companies in order to show more commercials.
A monument in Germany dedicated to a radio tube which lasted well beyond its normal expected life.
The perfect automobile designed entirely by a computer.
Why I'm Such A Sorehead Date: 01-06-65
10.4 MB
45:38 min
Comments: Why he is such a sorehead
River Boats
Shep tells how he got interested in ham radio and about his first time in front of the microphone.
A Day at the Races Date: 01-07-65
7.8 MB
45:21 min
Comments: Why he is such a sorehead
River Boats
Shep tells how he got interested in ham radio and about his first time in front of the microphone.
A Taste for Dime Stores Date: 01-13-65
20.2 MB
44:09 min
Comments: Shep opens show looking for what life is all about.
The Glunts (hypochondria)
The dime store mentality & his addiction
Bath-Mat Date: 01-14-65
10 MB
43:47 min
Robert Service Date: 01-15-65
10 MB
43:47 min
Comments: Shep starts out this show in one of his silly moods, taking up nearly the first ten minutes riffing to "Trouble in Mind", "After You're Gone" and other jazz and blues ditties over honky-tonk piano recordings, even adding a little rare acapella.
This is a winter show. "New Yorkers fear cold weather," Shep says, but "I love it." Shep reads some of his favorite "rotten cold-weather poetry" by Robert W. Service, including all or portions of:
-The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill
-The Call of the Wild
-The Cremation of Sam McGee
-The Ballad of the Northern Lights
He also reads "The Frozen Maid" (apparently not Service and uncredited) and another bit of unnamed verse about the glories of drink.
Shep does not credit Service either, in this particular reading of his work.
Sheps Early Radio Obsession Date: 01-16-65
9.9 MB
43:16 min
Shepherd Marches On Date: 01-22-65
10.4 MB
45:13 min
Comments: Shep opens the show proposing a change to the opening theme. "Just like the grasshopper, I've outgrown my old skin" He continues for the next few minutes singing along to 'funky honky tonk music' and acting silly.
"Great truths which have been discovered in the world of science" A psychology professor from Harvard has found alcoholics drink because of a hunger for holiness.
The New York bartenders and people who visit. The New York deli. Having lived in may cities New York is the easiest town he has lived in. You know where you can buy the best stuff for practically nothing. He talks about showing Shel Silverstein all the little places to eat good meals. "New York is a lousy place to visit but a fantastic place to live - absolutely the 'endsville'.'"
Critics and Effluvia Date: 01-26-65
7.5 MB
43:41 min
Comments: Nutty page of the New York Times
Interruption for a news bulletin
Shep offers a collection of WORs best news bulletins
A head of his time, Shep gets on the overly skinny female models
Abstract horror
Women giving up their femininity and role reversals
People who work in a field not knowing anything about their field
The Herald Tribune advertisement for Fanny Hill
History rewrites itself Shep opens the show proposing a change to the opening theme. "Just like the grasshopper, I've outgrown my old skin" He continues for the next few minutes singing along to 'funky honky tonk music' and acting silly.
"Great truths which have been discovered in the world of science" A psychology professor from Harvard has found alcoholics drink because of a hunger for holiness.
The New York bartenders and people who visit. The New York deli. Having lived in may cities New York is the easiest town he has lived in. You know where you can buy the best stuff for practically nothing. He talks about showing Shel Silverstein all the little places to eat good meals. "New York is a lousy place to visit but a fantastic place to live - absolutely the 'endsville'.'"
Army Pass Date: 01-28-65
10.3 MB
44:52 min
Comments: KP in the Army - tying the white towel at the foot of your bunk so that you get woke up for KP.
Shep discusses being moved to a new camp, being the strangers amongst the other companies.
They are confined to the company area for 3 weeks and finally it is announced that passes will be given. When everyone stands inspection Captain Cherry knocks the passes down one by one over a simple item. He measured everyone's arm patches. They were supposed to be exactly 1-1/4 inches down from the seam and no one passed!
Ham Radio Date: 01-29-65
10.1 MB
44:18 min
Nostalgia Date: 02-03-65
7.7 MB
45:02 min
Comments: Dear Mr. Shepherd you can't fool me . . .
Adam's gums
Humane war or what's so bad about chemical warfare.
Trivia question:
What company changed the color of their carton for patriotic reasons late in WWII? - Lucky Strike
Alternate lyrics that were popular in the war that are lost to history.
Battles against the elements never shown in war movies
Pigeon Company - Old WWII Cruiser Date: 02-04-65
9.7 MB
42:12 min
Protective Coloration Date: 02-08-65
10.1 MB
43:58 min
Comments: Shep receives all sorts of prison newspaper from all around the country and reads a poem from one of these about a little bird - "I gently closed the window down and crushed his stupid skull."
The pecking order of animals. Put a group of chickens together and within 5 minutes there is a head hen and a number two hed and so on down the order.
Does Charlie the dog really know what a car is, does he know the scenery is moving past him. Is he aware the vehicle is moving?
Does a horse have a concept of winning? Does the cat show independence because it is so smart or because it is dumb?
We are the only animals that get hung up on other animals. Have you ever run across a chipmunk that has a turtle as a pet.
One thing that man shares with other animals is protectice coloration. He assumes the color of the atmosphere he lives in. Like a chameleon. Shep decribes having chameleons as pets when he was a kid, pinning them on the curtains and scaring girls. Man changes his 'color' to adapt the the surroundings.
Using pet names, smoothing your way with magic words, being utterly helpless, sloppy natural emotions, are all examples of protective coloration.
Kris Metropolis Date: 02-12-65
10.3 MB
45:12 min
Comments: Shep begins the show by talking about "folk talent," which mentions pop art and Andy Warhol.
Shep asks the audience ehat event did "Lord Windesmere" excel in and announces that he will award the Brass Figlatee with Oak Leaf Palm for the correct answer.
Then, Shep tells the story of Chris Metropolis, and we get into the main business of the evening for the rest of the show.
Shep describes the fuction of the "L.O." (Latrine Orderly)
Drive In Date: 02-18-65
10 MB
43:50 min
Comments: Comments on the farting contest
Protest songs of the current generation
Book review of a 'Season in Hell'
Chicago candy trivia surrounding Mandies Candies
Dements Turtles craze started in Chicago
Cafeteria craze in the east
Large Drugstores in the Midwest vs. the east
The Drugstore nation drink was Lemon Coke
Drive-in eatery protocol
Roscoe and the Diner Date: 02-26-65
9.9 MB
43:25 min
Comments: Shep talks about the Blue Roscoe, the time his father's office was held up and about the time he was working for a Cincinnati radio station for the summer during collage, and was held up in a little restaurant called the "Wheel In" in Covington, Kentucky by "Carla and Howard", an 18 year old girl and her little brother.
Advertising & the American Dream-Travel Date: 03-01-65
7.8 MB
45:37 min
The Rottenest Job-Killing Rats Date: 03-02-65
11.4 MB
49:48 min
Comments: "This is a good studio"
"First studio in 3 weeks where we are on the air"
Popular Mechanics - System to flavor turkeys and chichens before they are killed.
The Old Man's scorn when behind a car that smokes
Board games that popularize the services of selected companies like banks and ad gencies.
Rotton jobs - cleaning 400 chickens in Ft Monmouth in the Army. Working at the Sinclair gas station for $3 a week.
Shep talks about working in the steel mill and being on the various shifts, eating there, Polish food, 'fish fry night' on Fridays.
One day he is called to J.M. Snyder's office. He is the chief clerk and assigns Shep the position of "Rat Killer" handing hin a big can of rat poison and telling him to go out and kill all the rats.
Evils of Drink aka Drinking with the Bull Gang Date: 03-05-65
9.8 MB
42:49 min
Comments: "Where's the crowd?" Shep is in search of recognition.
A listener calls in - "Yeah Shep - the Village" Shep hangs up and calls him a klutz. He quotes either Marcel Proust or Dorothy Kilgallen, he's not sure which, who says: "I shall be un done by naives and fools"
He tells everyone in the booth to stop taking calls, there's a show to do.
Friday night is a drinking night. He tells about steel workers drinking on Friday nights.
"Hammond hangs to the underbelly of Chicago like a rotton barnacle hanhing on the bottom of a rusty scow"
"Jean Shepherd - Live at the Limelight" came out on Wednesday. Many people don't think that the Limelight shows are live.
The old man was not a regular drinker. Big drinking night was Old Man, Uncle Carl, Uncle Fred, and Uncle Al sitting around the kitchen table on a Friday night having a shot and telling dirty stories. A "Peripheral Activity"
Working at the steel mill at 16 as a member of a "Bull Gang" (Roving Laborers). He tells about being called to clean the 40 inch soaking pits, being lowered down wearing wooden shoes and scraping scale for 2 minutes before being hauled up out of the intense heat.
After work on Fridays everyone would head across to the Eagle for shots and a beer. Shep describes his first experience doing this and becoming one of the guys.
