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Antique Auto Show
August 13-14 1966 - New Hope, Pa |
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These were taken at the New
Hope PA antique auto show.
He was the emcee and announcer.
This was a 2 day event (Sat. and Sun)
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Photos courtesy of Mike
Schultz - Used with permission |
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Shep fan Gary Evans of
Lavallette, NJ met Shep at the auto show and tells his
story of a one to one encounter with the man himself.
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On a beautiful day for a
car ride, I found myself in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It was
the first or second weekend in August, 1966. There was a
fair going on, its purpose being mostly to separate the
tourists from their money. Wandering over to the nearby
high school athletic field, I found that there was an
antique car show in progress, and the cars were slowly
going around the running track. While listening to the
announcer commenting on the cars, it struck me that the
announcer sounded very familiar. I wondered who it was,
and tried hard to place the voice. Suddenly I realized...
it was Jean Shepherd! Shep! Like so many others at that
time, I was a big fan and a devoted listener, and I could
hardly believe the good luck to find myself in the
presence of the man himself.
He announced each car and gave some interesting fact about
each one. It was great. I imagined myself going up to
greet him after the show, but I thought that he would be
mobbed, and I wouldn't get near him. But when the show was
over, everyone left, presumably for the next event at the
fair. They didn't seem to know him as anyone other than
the car announcer. Shep was left alone behind the mike,
gathering his notes and getting ready to go.
As he left and began walking across the field toward the
parked cars, I hurried up to see him and tell him I was
one of the Thirteen (from time to time he claimed to have
about thirteen listeners.) "Excelsior, Fathead!" I
shouted, hoping to identify myself as a true believer. To
my amazement he called back the standard Shepherd answer,
"Seltzer!" I started to walk with him and asked him what
had induced him to leave Greenwich Village and come all
the way down here to New Hope to announce a local car
show. He replied that if I was a regular listener, then I
knew that he was a car nut. (I did know that, and even had
read his occasional contributions to Sports Cars
Illustrated, the former name of Car and Driver magazine.)
I told him that I knew that, but why did he agree to do
the announcements instead of just coming down to see the
show. He said he could have just come down, but then he
would have to listen to someone else do the announcing
poorly. He explained, imitating a fictional inept
announcer: "And now ladies and gentlemen, here is
another...car. Yes, it is a car. This one is... I’m pretty
sure it is... green! And this green car has... (one, two,
three...) I think... yes, four wheels!" Shep continued the
"schtick" until we reached his car, a fastback Mustang in
which a leggy blonde sat waiting for him.
After he left I had to pinch myself. Was I awake, or did I
merely dream that Jean Shepherd and I were walking across
a field in New Hope, and he was doing a routine - just for
me? |
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