|
Shepherd Gibes Benefit A.F.S.
Airdate:
Saturday - May 20, 1967
Last Update: 05-21-2020
|
 |
| Show Description |
|
Englewood - Jean Shepherd likes to insult his audience and his audience likes to be insulted.
"It must be really irritating lo live in Englewood and be so close to civilization," Shepherd said last night to a full crowd at Academic Hall. The crowd roared its approval.
The radio personality, night-club performer, writer, and actor appeared in "An Evening with Jean Shepherd" to benefit the scholarship fund of the local American Field Service chapter.
Shepherd's wit, always incisive and pointed, was directed for a good part of the program at the State of New Jersey. A few samples follow.
Tunnel A Bathroom
"The Holland Tunnel is like a long bathroom. You're out of it and instantly you know you're in Jersey. You see the crud. There's a kind of sad sign which says 'Welcome to Beautiful Union City.' Have you been to Union City?"
"You ride on the New Jersey Turnpike. On all sides, you see these crumby, miserable, stinking swamps. Only a State with the kind of guts like Jersey would call these crumby, miserable, stinking swamps meadows.
"When I thought of New Jersey, it sounded like such a clean place. I hadn't heard of Hackensack. It sounds like a bad cough."
Shepherd told the story of his arrival one time at 5:30 A. M. in Hackensack. While stopped at a light, Shepherd said he had a strange feeling that something was looking at him and there was nobody around.
Concrete Images
He saw a face on what he terms a little suburban Jersey lawn. "It's a concrete Mexi¬can." Shepherd said he later had the image of a little suburban Mexican lawn with a concrete American.
Just about everything, includ¬ing the locale of Shepherd's personal appearances, falls victim to his satiric view. Among the victims are the movies and television commer¬cials.
"Millions of people feel they've never fallen in love because they don't hear music," Shepherd said. He notes the true discovery of love seen in the movies is always accompa¬nied by the sound of violins. "Problems are solved so easily in the commercial world," he said.
Shepherd feels that television commercials for mouth washes have instilled among members of the viewing audience what he terms a terrible fear of facing St. Peter with bad breath.
Reality Unseen
Commercials, according to Shepherd, never show the real New York woman. He said television ads depict tall, thin, beautiful women getting into high-priced sportscars. We nev¬er see the little, old woman with a shopping bag.
"I think a lot of people would like the United Nations better if Sir Laurence Olivier were Secretary-General; he's an ex¬perienced king. That funny looking guy with glasses, what movies has he ever made?"
Shepherd fielded questions from the audience when he finished his informal presenta¬tion. When asked his opinion of Twiggy, he said: "She reminds me of my cousin Buddy. They never really said she's a girl, you know,"
"My mother keeps asking me when I'm getting a job. Making people laugh is my job," Shepherd said. And, he does a fine job. |
|
| Commercials |
| Not Determined yet |
| Music
|
|
None Listed
|
| Engineer and others in Booth
|
|
Unknown |
| Summary |
|
None Yet
|
|
