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This review from
Eugene Bergmann who viewed it on December 14, 2001 at the Museum
of Television and Radio
WNET Playhouse: “A Generation of Leaves, I:
WNDT-TV 1970/02/20.”
It is one hour and twenty minutes long,
mostly color, with bits of “documentary” footage in black and
white. I requested to see it and was astonished and delighted
to see in the beginning, OUR HERO in an ochre sports jacket,
yellowy open shirt, sitting against a plain background. clean
shaven, bushy sideburns, and looking great in fine close-ups.
Here is the museum’s summary of the program:
One in a series of plays and films, “America, Inc.” is the first
presentation in a special 8-part international series that
focuses on the rift between generations. This program, filmed
in cinema verite style, involves a young British TV
actor/producer, David Silver who, after parting with his wife,
Karen, leaves England in search of America along with his
friend Edward. David and Edward, once in New York, visit
derelicts on the Bowery, meet with members of the Hare Krishna
movement, and travel to Ellis Island where they imagine the
experience of the immigrants. Edward returns to England and
David travels on to Washington. where he participates in the
November 1969 anti-Vietnam War demonstration and sees Abbie
Hoffman. Afterwards, he is reunited with his wife, Karen.
Interwoven with Silver’s viewpoint is commentary by radio
humorist Jean Shepherd, who gives his thoughts on Americana such
as drive-in movie theaters and turnpikes. Also included are
public service announcements by the program’s mythical corporate
sponsor, America, Inc.
Produced in cooperation with WGBH-TV Boston
Venza, Jac Executive Producer
Loxton, David Producer
Barzyk, Fred Producer Director
Jean Shepherd Cast Special Guest Star
Silver, David Cast
Silver, Karen Cast
Robinson, Vickie Sue Cast
O’Neil, Michael as the Voice of America
Seawright, James
Hoffman, Abbie
WNDT-TV running time 1:20:00 airdate 1970/02/20 Fri 8:30 PM EST
Color drama TV-Drama WNDT (NY, NY) –TV series, 1966-1970
The program starts with a narrator saying: “A generation of men
is like a
generation of leaves….”
Then Shepherd’s voice begins, and in a few seconds he appears,
seated,
waist-high shot. His first talk is as follows:
“Hello fellow Americans. Fellow travelers on the yellow
brick road of life. Do you ever have a secret ambition to have
your birthday announced on television? [laughs] Wouldn’t that be
great? Charlie Gutstop of Dayton, Ohio is 47 today. Happy
birthday, Charlie. You know it ain’t easy being an American.
Have you ever tried to explain it to somebody? I mean, just
BEING an American. Well, for example, what is more American
than second grade teachers? Do you remember yours? Man, I’ll
tell you, I can remember mine. Miss Shields. She was tall,
thin, she looked like she was made entirely out of a cake of
Lady Esther Face Powder. Carved out of it. And she had this
fantastic blue Brillo Pad that she used for hair. “And every day
she’d stand out in front of us and read Raggedy Ann and
Raggedy Andy. And now my head’s all filled with stuff like
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, and Joe Dimaggio, and The Camel
with the Wrinkled Knees. Well, how can you explain the
Woolworth’s mystique, let’s say, to somebody from Belgium?
“Ohhh!, I’ll tell you, you go into a
Woolworth’s on a Saturday night, and you smell that smell—Ohhh—that
candy counter, those Woolworth’s girls [laughs]. That’s
America.
“Have you ever had the suspicion that your life is on tape
and that you’re the victim of some really lousy editor? He’s
cut out all the great stuff—left you with nothing but all the
dull junk like waiting in line at the cleaners—stuff like that,
and your life just goes on and on, and the tape machine keeps
running and you keep running, and—it ain’t easy friends—being an
American.”
Then the story starts, with abrupt cuts, some of it documentary
footage, other straight story, some with the characters actually
in the March on Washington, etc. In one of the cuts to Shep, he
is talking to us from the driver’s seat of a car.
At the end, we see Shep again in the studio: “Well, sports
fans, that’s it. Exciting, wasn’t it? You can’t win the all.
By the way, we’d like to remind you to stay tuned to our next
big public feature show, which I’m sure you’re going to enjoy.
‘The Window Box and You,’ with Dr. Mabel Gubberman.
Well, that’s it, fans. It’s been a great night.”
Shep plays the Jew’s harp for a minute or two as the mike
appears on a boom, the camera backing up, the boom operator now
visible, and the empty studio with overhead lights on a rack.
Shepherd is seated in an orange fiberglass bucket chair. camera
continues receding, lights dim out except for those on Shep.
Then these dim out also. Then we see the Statue of Liberty
through low grass, and screen titles: NET Playhouse America,
Inc. With special guest star Jean Shepherd.
I think it’s a great program. Shepherd is on maybe twenty
percent of the time. It is great to see Shep talking to us in
close-up just as though he were on radio doing his broadcast.
Everyone should rush to Manhattan’s Museum of Television and
Radio on West 52nd Street and view it!
-gene b
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