Thomas Healy
, New Jersey |
Joined: January 11, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1972
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 404
|
Jake Scheele
, New Jersey |
Joined: May 13, 2002 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 771
|
David Gilbert
, New Jersey |
Joined: March 20, 2010 |
|
Shep fan since: 1974
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2891
|
Comments:
I was a late comer to Shep; but I was fourteen years old when I discovered him on WOR radio, which is probably about the time that most males would begin to really appreciate his sense of humor and insight into things; or, maybe I was just a late bloomer. The first show I heard was dedicated to train whistles and their meanings. He played the recordings of the whistles and explained what they signaled. He also described how wonderful it was to watch those magnificent old steamers come roaring by. I still remember Shep's gleeful enthusiasm and passion for those trains. What a great show; and what a great way to discover a master at his craft. Boy, I miss those days. Too bad he is gone.
|
John Harris
, New Jersey |
Joined: October 01, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 843
|
Comments:
I was born in 1963 and thats when i discovered Jean Shepherd. My father would sit us around the radio and we would listen to him on WWOR. I even got to see him live in Clinton at the mill. I wanted so much to take my children to see him but unfortunatly he passed before i could. there will be nobody who can take you back and put u into his stories like he did.
I have not been able to find any of his radio shows or TV shows so if anyone can help please let me know.
|
Patricia Mancini
, New Jersey |
Joined: September 03, 2002 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 877
|
Comments:
I listened to his 11:15 PM broadcasts in the early 60's in my NJ bedroom with my clock radio on very low volume (I was supposed to be asleep!).
---hearing Shep's voice on the website downloads brings back wonderful memories. Was told about it by a colleague who also grew up in the NY Metropolitan area and was a listener during his formative years. Before there was Garrison Keeler and Lake Woebegone, there was Shep! Thanks!
|
Tom Fenton
, New Jersey |
Joined: April 01, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 933
|
Comments:
When I was a kid, my brother and I would stay up listening to a transistor radio waiting for that opening racetrack theme song. I remember that small black radio, tucked under my pillow turned way down low so my mother would'nt hear it as I was supose to be sleeping. He would come on WOR at such an hour that is was difficult to stay up so late. Many a time I fell asleep before the end of the show. I remember my brother eating rabbit food once because of some story or other Jean Shepherd told, and another story about pigs attacking a plane in South America or some such place. You just never knew what was going to happen. Thanks for the site, it brings back memories.
|
Vince Attacap
, New Jersey |
Joined: August 04, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1031
|
Comments:
I still give copies of In God We Trust, All Other's Pay Cash as gifts to friends who have never heard of Shep. But as great as Shep was as a writer he was even better on radio. I was lucky enough to have seen him in person twice in college shows.
Thanks for a great website!
|
bob pasternak
, New Jersey |
Joined: December 25, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1405
|
Comments:
In the late 1950's, it was my brother who was the first to introduce me to the wonderful world of Shep's stories (Saturday morning on WOR). And, I don't think that I have ever enjoyed a story teller more than Jean Shepherd. He was the best.
|
Michael Moschella
, New Jersey |
Joined: August 04, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1504
|
Peter Farabaugh
, New Jersey |
Joined: October 29, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1539
|
Comments:
In loving memory of my best friend with whom I shared so many laughs and conversations about Shep.
|
Frank Reck
Aberdeen, New Jersey |
Joined: June 04, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 595
|
Jean Shepherd
Allamuchy, New Jersey |
Joined: July 14, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 638
|
Bob Cmil
Annandale, New Jersey |
Joined: November 28, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 318
|
Robert Cmil
Annandale, New Jersey |
Joined: August 10, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1284
|
Comments:
What a great web site. I learn something new every time I visit. Like that Shep used to broadcast from the WOR transmitter in Carteret - my home town!! I could have "visited" him like Curt Henderson did with Wolfman Jack in "American Graffiti". Keep up the good work. And spread the news!!!
|
John Rea
Annandale, New Jersey |
Joined: November 21, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1350
|
Comments:
There are still none in his class.
|
THOMAS WELCH
ATLANTICHIGHLANDS , New Jersey |
Joined: November 17, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1346
|
Comments:
use to listen after my farther went to work at night
|
Charlie Hollinger
Audubon, New Jersey |
Joined: February 28, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1640
|
Comments:
11:15 PM WOR. I could not find Shep's reading of Hell Bound Train on search. Are there no recordings? There was a lot of great listening.
These came up for me: (Jim)
8-5-64
6-19-73
12-23-75
|
Mark Phelps
Basking Ridge, New Jersey |
Joined: June 16, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 121
|
George Wanko Wanko
Bayonne, New Jersey |
Joined: July 27, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 146
|
henry wolenski
bayonne, New Jersey |
Joined: May 27, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1975
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 980
|
Comments:
There is no one better! I knew this at 9 years old. Thanks dad for introducing me to your friend.
|
Teresa Zigh
Bayonne, New Jersey |
Joined: September 17, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2541
|
Comments:
My mom (usually asleep by 8pm) didn't find out for decades that my dad let us stay up and listen to Shep on WOR at 10:15 every night. When "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories" was published, we stood for hours in line, at Brentano's in Morristown, to get his autograph. He said I was an "elegant young lady"...totally far from the case, but I BELIEVED him back then. I've also never washed my "Shepherd's Pie" shirt he autographed - a fact which probably would've had him shaking his head. I wish kids today could have someone as observant, wry, and affectionate to listen to.
|
Mike Drury
Belford, New Jersey |
Joined: November 17, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1512
|
Comments:
What a great site. I love listening to those old shows again.In the mid 60's my friends and I would get together in Johnny Gordons apartment in Jersey City,drink beer(Iron City),smoke cigerettes and listen to Jean Sheperd. We were in heaven
|
Jack Fitzpatrick
Belmar, New Jersey |
Joined: December 13, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1861
|
Dave Ruby
Bergen Cty. NJ, New Jersey |
Joined: June 09, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 602
|
T. J. "SKIP" Arey N2EI
Beverly, New Jersey |
Joined: October 10, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 256
|
Barbara C.
Bloomfield, New Jersey |
Joined: May 07, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1982
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 190
|
Bob Dougherty
Bloomfield, New Jersey |
Joined: August 30, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1950
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1297
|
Comments:
One word "Great". Had the pleasure of seeing Shep several tines in Clinton, NJ and at Somerset College back in the 70's with the Smith Street band.
|
Ron McGrail
Bloomfield, New Jersey |
Joined: August 09, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1507
|
Comments:
I miss Jean's nightly WOR broadcasts. And I have to agree with you. When I had my little transitor radio tucked under my pillow each night Shep was talking to only me.
|
Jim Regan
Bloomingdale, New Jersey |
Joined: December 16, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1563
|
ken marshall
bound brook, New Jersey |
Joined: December 28, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1579
|
Comments:
saw your name in "excelsior, you fathead"- googled the name-and saw the article I wrote for the Valkyrie all those years ago....so the universal thump is passed round. Lately, while playing a sort of slow blues/ragtime version of "hail to the Varsity"..I know you know it..I had indelible orange and black visions of "gus" and "sudsy lux" and all of us children caught between eras....still, it is, I suppose, good to know that the once night people are still around...a bit less intense. Yeah, it's all there, and a yard wide.
|
Catherine Just
Branchville, New Jersey |
Joined: May 24, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 579
|
Leslie Rowland-McCarthy
Brick, New Jersey |
Joined: September 17, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 2003
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 1063
|
Comments:
Please set the record straight about the identity of Knuckles O'Toole. My father, Billy Rowland, was responsible for most of the recordings made under that title.
Dick Hyman would be the first to admit that. They had a great mutual respect.
My father also recorded the Crazy Otto Rag which made the top 10 in 1955 under the name of Johnny Maddox. Johnny Maddox was not available to record at that time and Dot records had my father do the recording. As a result, he got royalties from the record that were quite substantial for that time.
Thanks, Leslie Rowland-McCarthy
|
CHARLIE COSTELLO
BRICK, New Jersey |
Joined: January 23, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1905
|
Comments:
HEY THERE GANG! JUST LIKE THE REST OF YOU "KIDS" OUT THERE, I DISCOVERED SHEP ON WOR ONE NIGHT...AND NEVER TURNED HIM OFF! ENDED A FEW DATES EARLY TO LISTEN ON THE WAY HOME IN THE CAR...RADIO IN FRONT OF THE BUNGALOW AT THE JERSEY SHORE...GOT ALL HIS BOOKS, READ 'EM COUNTLESS TIMES! THE BEST STORY-TELLER, BAR NONE! WENT BACK & FORTH BETWEEN IMUS & KLAVAN IN THE MORNING...BUT THE NITES BELONGED TO OL' SHEP.
MISS HIM LIKE CRAZY...OK MENS. AT EASE!
|
Bob Peyser
Bridgewater, New Jersey |
Joined: November 19, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 738
|
Bob Durma
Bridgewater, New Jersey |
Joined: January 31, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1981
Discovered Shep: Read one of his books
Guest No: 793
|
Bob Lefever
Bridgewater, New Jersey |
Joined: April 04, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1457
|
Comments:
Never got tired of Jean Shepherd. Great stories told by a great voice.
|
Bob Maher
Bridgewater, New Jersey |
Joined: December 05, 2008 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2802
|
Comments:
Many a night I fell asleep listening to the Shep. I remember when I returned from overseas the first night back home I once again drifted off to the sounds of the kazoo and the Bear missed the Train
|
Ron Boguszewski
Brigantine, New Jersey |
Joined: October 25, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1799
|
Comments:
My entire Mechanical Drafting class was introduced to Gene Sheppard by our teacher, Mr. Sobon, who played tapes of the radio shows in class while we worked. Of course, the next step was listening to the radio shows ourselves. I'm now trying to find tapes of those shows. Any information you could pass along would be appreciated.
|
Dawn Masterson
Budd Lake, New Jersey |
Joined: February 14, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1979
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 2830
|
Comments:
I call my chocolate lab the bumpus hound, because he is a beast! i got a leg lamp for my father, and my mother refused to let him put it out in the livingroom, so he kept it in his workshop until she passed away. then he put it in the front window, but the bulb kept burning out! i think there's a short in the lamp, but he says my mother's mad.
|
Jackie Nolan Reardon
Burlington , New Jersey |
Joined: May 29, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 212
|
Susie R.
Califon, New Jersey |
Joined: January 23, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1904
|
Comments:
Like many other fans, I, too, used to listen to Shep in bed at night with the radio turned very low so my parents would not know I was still awake. My father would not have mind, however, as he, too, was a Shep fan.
I was fortunate to see him in concert once. Fantastic!
Several years ago, I had major surgery and knew I would be out of work for several months. To help me while away the time, I ordered several tapes of Sheps shows from the 70's and spent hours listening to them. Over time, I've either misplaced (loaned out) most of them - the dog ate one or two also - and was thrilled to recently find CD's from the 60's.
Life has now come full circle, as I am once again lying in bed late at night listening to Shep.
|
Bob R
carlstadt, New Jersey |
Joined: July 05, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 138
|
MaryAnn Kleban Rossi
Carteret, New Jersey |
Joined: August 29, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 688
|
Frank Tidroski
Carteret, New Jersey |
Joined: October 28, 2008 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2787
|
Comments:
For years I've thought about Shep and Flick and finally googled them. Wow, there's allot of us out there. We were into talk radio long before there was such a thing. I rememebr many nights in Carteret, NJ lying in bed with a transistor radio listening to Shep without my parents knowing about it. Then I was ten and have often thought of those simpler times, Flick and Shep!
|
Ken Ronkowitz
Cedar Grove, New Jersey |
Joined: February 28, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1231
|
Comments:
Used to listen to WOR broadcasts with my transistor radio under my pillow. I wrote him a letter once with a tall tale and he read part on the air (uncredited) At 11, it was like winning an Oscar.
Saw him over the years at a number of places in Jersey (Seton Hall, Princeton U., Summit High School, Lambertville) Glad to see how many people know him beyond A Christmas Story.
I had a number of buddies that listened too, but oddly enough, the wives never quite got it - other women did (I saw them at the shows) but not the wives.
|
Bruce Badger
Cherry Hill, New Jersey |
Joined: February 26, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 21
|
Chick Eggert
Clementon, New Jersey |
Joined: May 06, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1952
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 186
|
Lowell Thelin
Clifton, New Jersey |
Joined: February 18, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 7
|
Ron Burgess
Clifton, New Jersey |
Joined: November 08, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 282
|
Gary Anolik
Clifton, New Jersey |
Joined: May 23, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 577
|
Bob Sivilic
Clifton, New Jersey |
Joined: August 17, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 665
|
Bill Toth
Clifton, New Jersey |
Joined: February 23, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1227
|
Comments:
I remember hearing the wild kazoo antics of Jean Shepherd
on WOR back in the late 60s but was not formally introduced to the story telling maestro until May 8, 1970. I drove several classmates of mine from Clifton High School down to Princeton in my fathers decrepit 63 Rambler. Even though
this was 34 years ago I can still recall Jean Shepherd being wildly animated telling an army story in which he and the rest of the army baseball team were playing in the nude because it was so hot. Then the general shows up with his wife.
The trip back from Princeton was also an adventure. The lights on my Rambler failed, and the NJ State Police escorted the bunch of us off the Garden State Parkway
at 2:00AM, right into a gas station located in Newark NJ.
We got out to look for a map under the seat and realized we were surrounded by a motorcycle gang.
|
John Kungl
Clifton, New Jersey |
Joined: January 03, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1594
|
Comments:
Listened to Shep from the age of 13--totally warped my mind forever. Still have my original kazoo from the Town Hall performance New Years Eve in 1968. Bring it out occasionally and play a few lines of the Shiek in memory of Shep.His humor is timeless and everytime someone mentions Christmas Story it's my opportunity to recap his life for them and provide some MP3's for their listening pleasure. Excelsior!!!
|
Todd Winter
clifton, New Jersey |
Joined: January 30, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1617
|
Comments:
After discovering him on the radio after a New York Mets rain out,
I never did look at life the same again.
I got a chance to meet Shep at a book signing In Wayne, NJ 1973.
I still have his Autograph I collected that night.
My ol'man got me there before he arrived and I was the last one in line before he left. I listed to him for 2-3 hours that night. One of his tales that evening, in between signing copies of his book, was of the "Great Eastern" and the "stale donut sale" at 5 minutes before closing. I was 12 years old, I remembered those sales and he knew about them too. How cool is that!
Excelsior!
|
Frank Chiarello
Colonia, New Jersey |
Joined: August 25, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 169
|
Philip Donnelly
Colonia, New Jersey |
Joined: April 22, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 548
|
Robert DeMarco
Colonia, New Jersey |
Joined: March 06, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1645
|
Comments:
My mother was a great fan of Jean Shepherd and it was she who introduced me to the wonderful raving and story telling of the greatest raconteur since Mark Twain. It was in 1956 and Shep was still a relatively new commodity on WOR radio in New York. In 1956 even I was young and I can tell you that listening to Shep for all those years had a dramatic affect on my personality and wit.
I felt like I personally knew Flick and Schwartz and Breunner and Kissel. His descriptions of "the old man" and his penchant for very used Oldsmobiles seemed to describe not only my father but also every other "old man" in my neighborhood in Bayonne, N.J.
Being from Bayonne I could readily identify with the industrial belching and noxious fumes that plagued Shep's neighborhood. Instead of the Grasselli Chemical Co. we had the refineries of Standard Oil, Texaco and Tidewater.
Anyone who has ever swum in the Kill Von Kull river or Newark Bay or New York Bay can easily relate to Shep's description of the water in Cedar Lake; the scene of his fishing expedition for the known 47 crappies. It would kill a buonic plague bacillus!!.
As I grew older I continued to listen to Shep right through high school and into college. While in Fairleigh Dickinson University I finally got a chance to see Shep in person as he performed for us on campus. As usual he railed against those pretensious fatheads in our society and he told us about his mission to get an unwritten book on the New York Times best seller list. Legions of his "night people" met him in New York and went to all the bookstores asking for a copy of "I, Libertine" by Fredrick R. Ewing. In due order after hundreds of Shep's enlistees went again and again to these bookstores the unwritten book actually made it to the top ten best sellers list.
He told us of his flying invectives where he would have his listeners put their radios on the ledge of an open window on late summer nights and then Shep would scream "ALL RIGHT YOU TWO, COME DOWN OFF THE ROOF WE'VE GOT THE PLACE SURROUNDED."
The sweetest music I ever heard was Shep playing The Shiek Of Araby on his kazoo or his Jews' harp.
Shep would often times use actual newspaper articles as fodder for his shows. Once while on a business trip to Ohio I read an article in a Dayton paper about a kid and his sister who were selling worms and crawfish as bait to local fishermen. They were busted during an undercover sting by agents of the Ohio Department of Fisheries or some such agency. The case was eventually thrown out of court by an irate judge who demanded to know who the fool was who dreamed up this assault on minor children expressing the entreprenaurial spirit. The Ohio Department of Fisheries could not be reached for comment.
I laughed like crazy and kept the article because I knew Shep would appreciate the lunacy of it all.
When I got back to New Jersey I mailed it to Shep and indeed he not only read it on the air but he did the entire show about the ineptitude and stupidity of bureaucrats. As much as I enjoyed his reading my article I was somewhat dismayed that instead crediting me with a byline he referred to me "some guy from Jersey".
I have all his books including a sigjned copy of "Wanda Hicky" and I re-read them all.
I sometimes get maudlin thinking that his genius is gone forever; bit it isn't really. It remains with us, his loyal fans, in our hearts and minds.
Bob DeMarco
Colonia, N.J.
p.s. - Excelsior you fathead and keep your knees loose.
|
Philip Donnelly
Colonia, New Jersey |
Joined: December 24, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1396
|
Comments:
As a kid growing up in Newark, New Jersey I was a night owl. I had an old Emerson radio next to my bed. I had discovered that I could use the dial light as a reading light, this was how I discovered "Shep" on WOR. If memeory serves me right Jean came on after the 11 O'clock news and before Long John Nebel. I didn't have to read by that paulty light anymore but just lay back and listen to those great stories he would weave. After his book "IN GOD WE TRUST, all others pay cash" came out the Newspaper announced that he would be doing a book signing in Bambergers in Newark. I went, bought a copy and waited in line. When my turn came I mentioned that I was a Ham Radio operator like him and he sined the book "To Phil, much DX man!, Jean Sheperd K2ORS" When ever I see one of the movies based upon his work, the characters seem like old friends.
|
Liz Mitchell
Colonia, New Jersey |
Joined: April 07, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1970
|
Comments:
Flick Lives!
|
David McShane
couple of em ; lets say Orange, New Jersey |
Joined: December 26, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1884
|
Comments:
Talkin about "the old man" ,flick, his ma ,his brother,christmas dinner at the chinese joint.I remember stories woven,coming out the philco radio I got thru my paper route bonus. Started listening to Jean Shepard because my Aunt told me about this guy. Couldn't explain him to any of my friends. Clavin; heard that name before seeing this site, cant recall where. Read "One More Hat on a Man" by Randall Shepard on this site under people. Thanks for that Clavin.And all thats here. How to get him broadcast now?
|
Jeff Rosen
Cranbury, New Jersey |
Joined: November 16, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2879
|
Comments:
Shep, Lord Buckley, Bucky Fuller and Brother Blue - the preeminent 20th century artists of the spoken word. How I miss them.
|
Mark B
Cranbury, New Jersey |
Joined: February 26, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2832
|
Comments:
EXCELSIOR!
|
Andy Flacks
Cranford, New Jersey |
Joined: May 19, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 976
|
Comments:
I was the kid with the little transistor radio and the white ear phone. I always hoped that when I went past 1440 Broadway I'd run into Shep...no such luck. Now my son is getting into the old tapes.
Excelsior, all you fatheads!!
|
Duncan Mathews
Cranford, New Jersey |
Joined: February 13, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1222
|
Comments:
great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He would be pleased
|
Arnold Strauss
Denville, New Jersey |
Joined: November 06, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1089
|
Comments:
While attending college, I used to work at a service station in northern New Jersey until late Sunday night. Jean kept me company on my way back to school and kept a lonely ride as enjoyable as could be. I wish he were back on WOR today (along with many of the other great talk show hosts who are since gone).
|
Gene Eckert
Denville, New Jersey |
Joined: December 26, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1414
|
Comments:
He taught me how to tell stories....nothing ever looked the same after hearing him.....caused me to see the details in life and also find humor in some everyday events
|
Burt Zastera
Deptford, New Jersey |
Joined: June 10, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 108
|
Terry McKenna
Dover, New Jersey |
Joined: June 12, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 110
|
George Wells
Dover, New Jersey |
Joined: December 25, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1162
|
Comments:
As I entered High School a new friend introduced me to the wonderful world of "Shep." While I loved the stories, his real impact on me was his reading of Robert Service poems. I wasn't much of a reader at that time, but listening to Shep read those poems drove me to the library. I can still remember reading "The Cremation of Sam McGee" to my sopohmore English class, much to the dismay of the teacher and the delight of the male students. From there I got hooked on reading. Through his reading of Haiku, I developed an enduring interest in all things Japanese and now read, write, and speak that language.
I actually met Shep and Leigh once at a book signing (In God We Trust), but I never got to personally thank him. So, here's to you Shep, you actually changed one life for the better.
|
Danny Kubert
Dover, New Jersey |
Joined: June 15, 2010 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2895
|
Comments:
Of course I love all of the existing Shep stuff (always have, always will), but whenever I hear him I can't help thinking what his motives were behind years of disendowing his real family. A real wife, real kids, real house. They all existed. But to his listeners he seemed a devote bachelor. Privacy is understandable, and maintaining his public image is also viable, but to go out of his way to consciously distance himself from reality is something I'll never understand. I don't think they will either.
|
Jim Clavin
Dumont, New Jersey |
Joined: February 18, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 1
|
Brian Carr
Dumont, New Jersey |
Joined: February 16, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 2001
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 447
|
William S. Greenwald
East Brunswick, New Jersey |
Joined: March 16, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 512
|
Bruce Sigman
East Brunswick, New Jersey |
Joined: January 26, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 790
|
Bob Gleason
East Brunswick, New Jersey |
Joined: November 20, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1513
|
Comments:
Love it. Thanks!
|
Frank Williams
East Hanover, New Jersey |
Joined: September 27, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 830
|
Comments:
When I moved to the NY area in 1969, I had a table radio that had been badly damaged in shipment. After buying some parts and rebuilding the radio, I turned it on one Saturday morning, not really expecting it to work. The first thing I heard was this strange laughter, and I was in the middle of a "classic Shepherd" broadcast. It wasn't like any radio program I had ever heard, and I thought I was picking up some Ham broadcasting. Been a Shepherd fan ever since.
|
Bill Miller
East Hanover, New Jersey |
Joined: February 07, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1926
|
Comments:
My father introduced me to Shep when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I used to fall asleep listening to him on WOR, on a small transistor radio tucked under my pillow. I can still remember how clearly I could picture the stories in my mimd, how Shep's ability to paint a picture with words could transport me to another place and time. I can still see Ludlow Kissle staggering up the street as clearly as if I was actually there.
I was a big fan of Shepherd's Pie and Jean Shepherd's America, too. I don't know if they are being broadcast anywhere, but I would certainly tune in.
Does anyone else remember the water tower in/near Brick, NJ with "Flick Lives" spray painted on it? Where exactly was it, and is it still there?
|
Rich Baumann
East Windsor, New Jersey |
Joined: March 10, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 499
|
Steve Welzer
East Windsor, New Jersey |
Joined: June 28, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 823
|
Comments:
Living in South Orange, NJ, listened every night (WOR). Went in the city to catch him at the Limelight. Ordered and devoured "In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash" as soon as it came out. (hey, what's an Orpheum Gravy Boat?)
|
VICTORIA NAGTALON
EATONTOWN, New Jersey |
Joined: December 11, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1980
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 1376
|
Comments:
I AM TRYING TO FIND A COPY OF "OLLIE HOPNOODLE`S HAVEN OF BLISS" I READ THAT IT WAS MADE FOR PBS, I SAW IT YEARS AGO AND LOVED IT AND WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN AND SHOW MY DAUGHTER
THANKS FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE---------- VICKI----
|
Stewart Weiner
Edison, New Jersey |
Joined: June 10, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 864
|
Comments:
Jean kept me company for many years and the Limelight on a Saturday night was a great place to take a date. His WOR radio shows that have been saved for us are as fresh today as they were when originally broadcasted. On one of his last shows on WOR, he talked about how radio is for the now and unlike movies and television shows which are rerun, radio just fades away. Thankfully for us, he was wrong.
|
Ed Daniher
Edison, New Jersey |
Joined: January 23, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1955
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1212
|
Comments:
Other than Mark Twain, Shep has no peer as America's greatest humorist/satirist.
|
Ken Sovart
Edison, New Jersey |
Joined: June 28, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1270
|
Comments:
I met Shep at Bamburgers, when he signed my copy of Wanda Hickey...still have it, an autographed first edition.
|
John Lagomarsino
Emerson, New Jersey |
Joined: December 30, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 375
|
dean ecke
englewood, New Jersey |
Joined: October 19, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1074
|
Comments:
the picture of shep on the back of one of his album covers wth the credit photo by duckworth,my friend Artie and i were convinced that he had chosen the photographer for the weird name and nothing else.
|
John Ferrari
Fair Haven, New Jersey |
Joined: April 05, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 529
|
Bob Szpila
Fairfield, New Jersey |
Joined: June 28, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 133
|
Arthur Zirul
Fairview, New Jersey |
Joined: June 21, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 130
|
Richard Morrison
Flemington, New Jersey |
Joined: July 30, 2002 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 775
|
Gus Manz
Flemington, New Jersey |
Joined: September 04, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1303
|
Comments:
I remember riding in the back seat of my parents' '65 Chevy one Christmas Eve while my Dad fiddled with the AM radio, and heard this most amazing man tell a wonderful story about a Red Ryder BB gun. I asked my Dad who it was. He told me proudly, "Jean Shepherd". From that night on, I kept a small transistor radio under my pillow to listen to Shep for many years to come. I remember seeing him "live" at Fairleigh Dickinson in Madison, NJ many years later with my younger brother (who also became hooked on Shep), and listened to him spin childhood tales ... of getting his tongue stuck on an icy flagpole in the winter and "writing" his name in the snow (including an extra wiggle for the exclamation point). 35 years later, I'm introducing my kids to Shep, now that they're old enough to enjoy him. Yet another generation, mesmerized under his magic spell.
|
Charles King
Florham Park, New Jersey |
Joined: May 06, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 963
|
Comments:
High School Shep Fans were the nerds of their time in the '60's. We didn't care! Each afternoon before boarding the bus home we would shout a hearty EXCELSIOR YOU FATHEAD
to all who were within earshot. We also had "EYF" pocket
protectors.
|
Jim Peluso
Florham Park, New Jersey |
Joined: January 19, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2828
|
Comments:
I remember listening in bed and a small leap of excitement would occur when the theme music would come on and the opposite when Shep was ending the show talking over the theme. There were times I laughed out loud and times when I wanted to scream "stop playing the damn Kazoo!" But he was always entertaining. My favorites were when he talked about working in the steel mill.
The theme music takes me right back to those nights
|
Ann O'Gara-Morgan
Frankford, New Jersey |
Joined: July 08, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 632
|
Steven Monath
Franklin, New Jersey |
Joined: January 13, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 408
|
Leon Pietrusiak
Freehold, New Jersey |
Joined: May 29, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 213
|
Jeff J. Schaeffer
Freehold, New Jersey |
Joined: June 03, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 593
|
Harold F. Bennett
Freehold, New Jersey |
Joined: June 06, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 598
|
Bill Dennis
Freehold, New Jersey |
Joined: December 26, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2661
|
Comments:
It's too bad Jean Shepherd never lived to see his talent and style become appreciated by the world of pop culture in the way that "A Christmas Story" has. I've always felt thankful that someone thought to give him a cameo appearance in the movie, and I never fail to point him out to my kids as the genius who conceived this story and these characters and narrates the film.
The best part about this movie is that it ensures that Jean Shepherd will not be forgotten when we former radio listeners are no longer around.
|
joe dupont
Gillette, New Jersey |
Joined: September 26, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 829
|
Comments:
I grew up listening to Jean on my crystal set first.
He was the neatest thing going and non of my friends could give a hoot about him.
On friend.. Dave Ward of Chatham had him over for dinner!
Jean was at the Chatham Borough high school giving a performance. I use to go into the village .. on college break to hear him at the limelight. It did not get
much better than that!!!
He was a pilot.. and flew the Grumman Yankee.
He signed my book.." Keep your air speed up!"
He had a special stare and look about him..
that made your contact with him great.
|
Art Golden
Guttenberg, New Jersey |
Joined: June 09, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2191
|
Comments:
Shep was the greatest. Used to tape his shows when I knew I wasn't going to be home. Got into huge fights with my father about how much electricity I was using (wasting) and what the cost was!
|
SUZANNE CAVALIERE
GUTTENBERG, New Jersey |
Joined: July 02, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2246
|
Comments:
WOW!HOW MY GRANDMOTHER,MOTHER&I LOVED TO LISTEN TO SHEP
ON WOR-ALL THOSE MANY NIGHTS AGO/ON A SUMMER NIGHT LIKE
TONIGHT
|
Jim Lane
Haddon Twp., New Jersey |
Joined: December 25, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1950
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1571
|
Comments:
Listened to Jean every night in the 50`s while I worked on the night shift in new York City on 40th street.He made tje time fly with his stories.
|
Craig Giangiulio
Haddonfield, New Jersey |
Joined: November 27, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1980
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 756
|
Mark A. Conover
Hamilton, New Jersey |
Joined: June 29, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 997
|
Gary Wilson
Hamilton Square, New Jersey |
Joined: December 16, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1564
|
Comments:
When I was in High School on Long Island, my kid brother told me about Shep's Radio broadcasts in 1965 and I got hooked. I have to admit I didn't use a transistor radio under the pillow, but my GE tube clock radio was set for a 45 minute "sleep" routine every night at 10:15. I even remember getting everyone to listen to his "Ludlow Kissel and the Dago Bomb" broadcast while visiting a friends boat off Shelter Island one fourth of July.
Of course Shep's stories are just that, but having experience in the Scouts, Amateur Radio and the military, you can tell that he knew what he was talking about from the details he throws in.
It was harder to hear him while at college in Bethlehem PA, but I kept up with his writings in Playboy and his books.
My girl friend (now my wife) told me that he was doing a show at her school, Cedar Crest College in 1973. Although we were just dating at the time, the fact that I liked Jean Shepherd helped me a lot because because her Dad was Shep fan too and came out for the event! So I met Shep and future in-laws at the same time!
Later, it was Shep's voice on the ARRL tapes that helped me get my Amateur Radio License in 1975. And of course I followed Jean Shepherds America on NJN.
We hams hold Shep in a special light. I'm currently working with anither ham to research his callsigns through the FCC records and hope to be able to provide you with some more facts on that aspect of his life.
73
Gary Wilson, K2GW
|
Daniel G. Dawson
Hampton, New Jersey |
Joined: January 02, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 385
|
Charlie Fasciano
Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey |
Joined: April 03, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2843
|
Comments:
Truth is always more humerous than fiction, and Jean Dhepard was the greatest humorist of the 20th century.
|
Scott Henderson
Hazlet, New Jersey |
Joined: February 25, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 467
|
patrick whitney
hewitt, New Jersey |
Joined: April 14, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 853
|
Comments:
MY OLDER BROTHER OF 7 YRS. TURNED ME ON TO SHEP WHEN I WAS TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER, BUT I DO REMEMBER. HIS STORIES TOOK ME SOMEWHERE AND I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE! THANKS WALT, FOR SHEP, AND EVERYTHING ELSE.
|
Paul Kiefer
High Bridge, New Jersey |
Joined: January 08, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 397
|
Wayne Hally
High Bridge, New Jersey |
Joined: November 26, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1515
|
Comments:
Listening to Shep, and watching Johnny Carson made me what I am today
|
Karen Cooke
Highland Lakes, New Jersey |
Joined: November 26, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1985
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 1356
|
Comments:
He is the greatest story teller ever!
|
Tom Walsh
Hightstown, New Jersey |
Joined: April 14, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 87
|
Thomas H. Walsh
Hightstown, New Jersey |
Joined: August 18, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 160
|
David Reading
Hightstown, New Jersey |
Joined: December 27, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1173
|
Comments:
Gene, Thank you so much for this site. When I try to convey to people who did not have the pleasure to listen to Jean, I am at a loss for words. It is as you say, you felt he was just taking to you. My mother was a regular listener while I was listening to Cousin Brucie on WABC. On evening I was tuning on the AM dial and heard him taking about working in a steel mill. It was very hot in the mill, but he had to wait for a break to have a coke. By the time the break came and he drank that coke, I had to have one! After that I was hooked. His stories in my dark bedroom lit by the light from the radio where some of the best times I ever spent in my own head. If coca-cola had the copyrights to that bit they have the best commercial they ever produced.
I also remember a story about him knocking a magpie off of a telephone pole wire and so on.
He was a great talent and I miss him taking to "me."
Best regards, David Reading
|
Frank Patrick
Hillsborough, New Jersey |
Joined: July 21, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1012
|
Comments:
My audio/humor late adolescence was dominated by Jean Shepard and Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach). Unbelieveable...I go looking for Shep on the net, and I come across a listing of shows from BAI that starts with the first Shep I ever heard -- the Old Man's Fireworks stand. '63 sounds a bit early to my memory, but that was definitely the story -- he probably did repeat it on subsequent 4ths. I was a rabid fan all through high school, listening at night with the radio under the pillow. There were enough of us fans in East Brunswick (NJ) High School to get him to appear there. There's a picture in our class of '68 yearbook, but I think it might have been a year or so before...probably '67.
|
Karen Pellichero
Hillsborough, New Jersey |
Joined: September 05, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1304
|
Comments:
Thank you for the site... thank you for posting the real audio clips... I am sure that you hear this all the time, but listening to these recordings I am 10 , its a warm summer night , crickets chirping, katydids... and I'm sitting on the porch with my radio , listening to my personal buddy talking to me... I had no friends that listened to Jean.. he was my own personal find.!!! Man I did not realize how much I missed him , until I heard the audio.... thank you.
karen
|
Ron Grossmann
Hillsborough, New Jersey |
Joined: December 11, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1972
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1853
|
Comments:
I was a faithful listener through my formative years but left the area for a few years and couldn't listen anymore. By the time I got back to NJ Shep had left WOR and I thought he was lost to the ages. Thanks for this site. Hearing some of the clips on this site really sends me back.
|
Joe Adams
Hillsdale, New Jersey |
Joined: February 27, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 474
|
Garry Breithaupt
Hillsdale, New Jersey |
Joined: July 04, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 624
|
Sandy Adelman
Hillside, New Jersey |
Joined: November 04, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 281
|
Joe Moskowitz
Hoboken, New Jersey |
Joined: March 13, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1449
|
Comments:
So I'm an old guy like Shep was when I started listening to him on WOR when I was 13. Weird, my life seems more clearly defined by the memories formed when I listened to that show then what has happened in the intervening years. The march of time will not be stopped.
|
Paul Chandleer
Hoboken, New Jersey |
Joined: December 21, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2649
|
Comments:
From WOR radio and the Limelight on Saturday Nights, to actually push Dickens from the tv screens on Christmas Eve and Day. WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT for the great storyteller from Holman, Indiana.
Jean, you lived to see your name and Christmas Story become a permanent part of the Christmas Season, forever.
Taking Christmas from Scrooge and "Bah humbug!" to "Ralphie, you'll shoot your eye out!".
Who wouldn't remember Jean Shephard in the Christmas Season? Like holly and Christmas Trees, what's Christmas without Jean Shephard?
"Merry Christmas, Jean!"
Paul
|
Margaret Newitt
Hopewell, New Jersey |
Joined: September 10, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 219
|
Maggie Newitt
Hopewell, New Jersey |
Joined: July 01, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1684
|
Comments:
I gleefully discovered 2 new CD sets in B&N the other day . (Don't be a Leaf and the X Random Factor) I couldn't believe after all this time, since the audio tape set of Shepherds Pie (I wore out 2 sets)... there would be New Shep stuff! As I listened to the first CD I browsed thru the insert. This website was mentioned on the 1st page...
WOWIE! A dream come true...I can sit down at the computer anytime I need a Jean Shepherd fix and WHAM! it's
1959 on Washington Square again (where my brother and I grew up).
We're curled up in our respective beds (I'm 13 he's 15)listening to Shep talk about bein' out on the lake with his Old Man catchin'crappies. I remember that broadcast before it was a part of a written down, stuctured, short story.As we listened, I could feel the fetid air, smell the oil floating on the water, and hear the Guys in the other boats out there in the dark! It was brilliant! I wonder how many other kids began to form thier sense of humor, thier vocabularies, the rhythm of thier speech, and their appreciation of the magic of words..layin in our beds... out there listening to Shep. Thank You for this site...There's not a lot of things that bring me such joy these days.
|
Russell Campbel
Howell, New Jersey |
Joined: June 14, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 114
|
Gary Salomon Salomon
Howell, New Jersey |
Joined: July 18, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 144
|
Michael McCormick
Howell, New Jersey |
Joined: March 23, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2837
|
Comments:
Dad turned me on to him when I was young. I made sure I didn't order Rusty Nails before my prom!
|
Barry Benowitz
Indian Mills, New Jersey |
Joined: February 29, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 25
|
James Rekulak
Irvington, New Jersey |
Joined: May 05, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: Saw his TV show
Guest No: 1247
|
Comments:
I would like to know with whom the original tapes of "Jean Shepherd's America", originally aired by PBS in the early seventies, now reside. I would have thought, given their profundity, humor, and timelessness and all the PBS stations that there are (i.e., not to mention all the cable stations which have come on the air since), that they would have arisen repeatedly in reruns by now; instead, to my knowledge, they have not been aired in 30 years.
I am very pleased to have discovered this web site and the vintage WOR Shep programs re-broadcast on WBAI-FM at 5:15 AM evry Tuesday.
Flick lives!
|
John A Stavola
Iselin, New Jersey |
Joined: March 26, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 72
|
Jack Kelnhofer
Jackson, New Jersey |
Joined: September 10, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 220
|
Bill Zukowski
Jackson, New Jersey |
Joined: September 12, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2531
|
Comments:
A high school class-mate told me about Shep, and I started listening in 1962 on WOR in NY. I had a Jefferson-Travis transistor radio connected to a pair of army surplus headphones, connected in such a way to produce near FM quality (too techy to go into). I needed the headphones, as I was supposed to be sleeping, but had to listen to Shep. I remember hearing the tick-tock of a clock in the background, which could also be heard when listening to him on WOR-FM. Met him at the Limelight, where he autographed a napkin for me, which I used as a bookmark for "In God We Trust....." Went to a Merv Griffin TV show in the late '60s where he was a scheduled guest. Well, they ran over, and he never appeared. The show was terrible!!
Loved his army shows and ham radio related stories.
I'd love to get some CDs of his WOR shows to listen to when driving to and from work. EXCELSIOR!!
|
Jim Smith
Jamesburg, New Jersey |
Joined: November 09, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 286
|
Margaret Carne
Jersey City, New Jersey |
Joined: March 16, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 513
|
Ray Nickerson
Jersey City, New Jersey |
Joined: August 16, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 662
|
Jim Roman
Jersey City , New Jersey |
Joined: June 10, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1674
|
Comments:
I think I first saw Shep on the Merv Griffin Show in '66 or '67. I remember finding him intriguing because he seemed irreverant, and though he appeared to be a comedian, he didn't tell jokes! I had no idea he had a radio show. But I started to listen to a folk music program that preceded Shep's Limelight Show on Sat. nights, and one night left the station on after the music ended. I was simply astounded by what I heard, and became a fan in matter of minutes.
I was living in rural South Jersey at the time, and though I was not supposed to be listening to the radio on school nights (same old story), my little blue Korean transistor radio played quietly against a backdrop of the sounds of a country night. (it always seems to be summer, in my memories of listening to Shep in rapt wonder.) I was a fan all through high school and college, but I seemed to lose opportunities to hear him over the years. I did see him at a book signing at Brentano's in '71, for the "Wanda Hickey" book. He signed an elaborate inscription in my copy, specifically addressing our shared taste in Jazz. I was thrilled.
The miracle of the internet and mp3s has brought huge portions of Shep's broadcasting work back for us to absorb again. Now, hearing this stuff with the ears of an adult, I am more amazed than ever at the creativity, energy, wisdom, and incorrigible attitude of Ol' Shep. Thanks for a great website.
|
Paul Chandler
Jersey City, New Jersey |
Joined: December 24, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1874
|
Comments:
I remember when he broadcasted on WOR from the Limelight Cafe in Greenwich Village and told funny stories, a one-man show. I remember one story from 1965 about when he, Flick and the others had a "mystery man" with a huge handlebar moustache who had a secret in his back yard storage shack.
The guy was a circus animal trainer and in the off-season he kept the circus' camel in this shack(or garage, I don't recall) and ....to make a long story short,the kids found the camel in there and it spit at Jean. He went home smelling and got soap in the mouth when his mother asked why he smelled so awful and he said "A camel spit at me."
I remember when IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH came out in the mid-60's. How would I ever have believed as a 5th grader back then(I heard his broadcasts on the radio Sat. nights), that, especially as I scan the tv sections for Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, it's Jean Shepard's "A CHRISTMAS STORY" that's dominating cable tv....the first time in my life Dickens' isn't on. He lived to see his story of Ralphie and the BB gun become a permanent Christmas Tradition. It will remain so ...as long as Christmas remains a holiday. As Dickens reminded us of the importance to be kind and generous to the downtrodden and forgotten at Christmas, Jean Shephard gave us laughter. And maybe this year with war overseas and a country politically divided, it's what we need right now. And in a way, even Baby Boomers, we can relate to some of the situations in his Christmas Story, recall a funny moment, recall when we were caught saying a curse by our parents for the first time, those winter outfits like "deep sea divers outfits" with the gloves on the string, recall some stupid stunt we or another kid did on a dare....I think the magic is we can identify with alot of what goes on in that story. LEAVE IT TO BEAVER was a made-up family - not real, a family as it really was/is. I think that's why Ralphie is overtaking "Tiny Tim" at the Christmas Season. Christmas 2006, I see no listings for Christmas Carol but TBS is doing a marathon of A CHRISTMAS STORY. Shep lived to see his short story become a permanent part of our Christmas Traditions. He was even interviewed on the History Channel's THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS...right after they discussed Dickens' times and entered the modern era.
I am so glad the house in which A Christmas Story was filmed was saved, restored and open to the public.
"Merry Christmas, Shep !" And I'm sure you and Charles Dickens have alot to discuss ( if you haven't already and have Mr. Dickens laughing himself breathless). You are now BOTH permanent Christmas TV Traditions.
|
Paul Chandler
Jersey City, New Jersey |
Joined: December 24, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1875
|
Comments:
I remember his show at the Limelight would start with an audience booing and he'd yell into the microphone, "If you don't shut up I'll play John Gambling's hit songs for you!"*(*or something along that line) and they'd applaud..and his one-man story-telling show would begin.
|
Robert Spearing
Kearny, New Jersey |
Joined: February 24, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 463
|
Joseph J. Brachocki
Kearny, New Jersey |
Joined: July 14, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 639
|
Ken Domeraski
Kendall Park, New Jersey |
Joined: February 26, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1975
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 471
|
Dan McGrath
Kendall Park, New Jersey |
Joined: July 06, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1275
|
Comments:
Truly a night of "Golden Memories.....". My brother Dennis, George F, John A and a few others at SBHS were Shep's fans in South Brunswick NJ. Saw Shep live inconcert at Princeton University around the year 1970. A great story teller, sad end it seems. Listened to him on WOR-710 . Radio still rules the night, someone please bring back music to AM in the Tri-State Area.... Flick Lives and I insist!
|
Bob Ferretti
Kinnelon, New Jersey |
Joined: November 10, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2630
|
Comments:
I am now a Seventy year old "kid" because I have rediscoverd Shep. I can't believe that I survived the absence of his incredibly astute human observations and his
comedy. I have tried, for years, to turn my sons on to Shep. I think that I have succeded, as we often talk about him and his shows. I am now trying to get my Grandchildren
to listen to tapes of this earthly, philosophical genius.
I am in the process of acquiring tapes an CDs of his shows.
Thanks Shep..........Excelsior
|
Kevin Bolan
Lake Hiawatha , New Jersey |
Joined: July 13, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1973
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 637
|
richard evans
lakewood, New Jersey |
Joined: January 07, 2008 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2668
|
Comments:
I remember Shep's Channel 13 (PBS) Special when He toured NJ. He wonder "How Many People Out There Had Been Conceived Behind Moving Windsheild Wipers." I would be in tear's While
attempting to negotiate Rte 1&9 on my way to Newark Airport and roaring at the Radio stories being spun via Jean's Comic Genius. He made us Smile. Hell, He made us LAUGH and often.
|
Bruce Nadelson
Lambertville, New Jersey |
Joined: November 16, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1955
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1096
|
Ken Fallon
Laurelton, New Jersey |
Joined: October 22, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 721
|
Gary Evans
Lavallette, New Jersey |
Joined: September 09, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1955
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1058
|
Comments:
I have a Shep anecdote about an appearance by him in New Hope, PA. Although I'm just a fan, he and I ended up walking together and I was treated to his doing some "schtick" just for me.
Will send details of the story if you are interested.
Love the site!
|
Jeff Nabinger
Lawrenceville, New Jersey |
Joined: December 24, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1158
|
Lee Walton
Lawrenceville,, New Jersey |
Joined: July 16, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 643
|
John DeHuff
Liberty, New Jersey |
Joined: May 21, 2008 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2761
|
Comments:
Loved listening to him at night on the radio. The consummate storyteller. He could weave a tale that would be absolutely mesmerizing. Simply the best.
|
Greg Cierpial
Linden, New Jersey |
Joined: September 24, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1324
|
Comments:
Shep was one of a kind. I can vividly remember lying in bed and tuning into 710 WOR in NYC, awaiting the shows theme music -- which brought on the rush of excitment, that Shep would soon be on the air. My brother and I shared a room, and although he was much younger I have found out that he would pretend to be asleep, but was sneaking a listen anytime he could stay awake. My brother and I both love to listen to recordings of his shows, as does my son.
What I came to appreciate about his storytelling was the way he could bring everything to closure in a few words. I recall hearing his closing music coming on, yet his being what seemed like only half way through an (almost) hour long story -- yet at that point in the last 3 minutes, he knew he had to bring closure and he did by a few crafted sentences that just flowed.
Excessior you fathead, and may Shep, Flick and Bruner live on in our memories.
|
Anon Ymous
Linden, New Jersey |
Joined: November 12, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1344
|
Comments:
I love my dad. He died years ago. But we often found an excuse to go out together when I was a boy just to have fun listening to Jean Shepherd. For my entire life dad was always awarding me with a "bronze" figalagee. Now I'm doing ths same with my kids. And I make sure they listen to Shep too. G-d bless Shep. I think of my dad often, but usually when I listen to Shep.
|
Jeffrey Beckman
Linden, New Jersey |
Joined: December 14, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1863
|
Comments:
I was an real addict of Shep along with Barry Farber for about five years. Those were the days!
|
Janice Dudas
Linden, New Jersey |
Joined: January 02, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2821
|
Comments:
AH! That voice, that spontaneous creativity, brings back such memories. Discovered Jean while driving back from the Jersey shore w/my boyfriend in his '60 Chevy Impala. Shep was one of a kind, never to be forgoten by those who experienced his genius. Flick, give us more!!
|
Chris Handel
Little Egg Harbor , New Jersey |
Joined: December 15, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1865
|
Comments:
Great site! I started listening to Jean the same as many of you, on WOR at bed time.
I remember my dad took me to see him live at the Clinton Museum back in the 70's. And while standing near the stage, enthralled that I would finally see him in person. And as he walked to the stage, he stopped looked at me, rubbed me on the head and said "how you doing kiddo". That was the greatest!
|
George McCoy
Little Ferry, New Jersey |
Joined: July 05, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2252
|
Comments:
I was always amazed how he was able to come on the radio each night and never run out of stories. Many a night I listened to Shep with my transister radio under my pillow so my mother wouldn't know I was still awake.
|
Harvey Hoff
Livingston, New Jersey |
Joined: December 21, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 352
|
Robert (Bob) Drury
Livingston (up from West Orange), New Jersey |
Joined: January 05, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1191
|
Comments:
Jean servedas my guide through a troubled adolesence and a checkered college experience. I recall how the end of any of his great stories would have the same impact of finishing a favorite novel ...Kind of lost but quasi satisfied and yearning for it to go on. The only thing that could fill that void was another Shep story - Which you could always count on. His death came when I turned fifty, and for the first time in my life, I felt old. I get younger every time I hear one of his stories.
This is a magical site!
Mr. Bob AKA: Neamer
|
Raymond Kriessler
Long Branch, New Jersey |
Joined: November 08, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1545
|
Comments:
Thank you,Max Schmid,for leading me to this site.It defines the phrase"labor of love'.
|
Tim Conway
Long Valley, New Jersey |
Joined: May 14, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 566
|
Ed Jacobus
Long Valley, New Jersey |
Joined: August 27, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 685
|
Tim Conway
Long Valley, New Jersey |
Joined: October 24, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 723
|
Paul Guerriero
Madison, New Jersey |
Joined: October 21, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 720
|
Chuck Lundt
Madison, New Jersey |
Joined: June 29, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2868
|
Comments:
If I remember correctly Flick died in WWII.
Is this assumption correct?
(Actually it was Schwartz that died in WWII according to Shep in his book "In God We Trust...")
|
Jim Krause
Mahwah, New Jersey |
Joined: February 18, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 449
|
David Erickson
Mahwah, New Jersey |
Joined: November 26, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1357
|
Comments:
Used to doze off to sleep listening to him on my grandfather's old AM radio in the early '60's. The stories he told and the images he could conjure up in my mind were beyond belief. Thought he was a little known secret of mine until just a few years ago. May God bless him.
|
Tony Belkowski
Mahwah, New Jersey |
Joined: April 26, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: Read his Playboy short stories
Guest No: 1468
|
Comments:
I was lucky enough to get to talk to Shep after a show he did at Rutgers in the 70's. He signed my copy of The Ferrari In The Bedroom with "Poor Tony, be brave!"
|
John Mucha
Mahwah, New Jersey |
Joined: July 03, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1685
|
Comments:
My Dad and I listened to Shep in the 60's...my Dad is a ham radio operator and knew Shep by his call letters...I listened to him every night in bed with my little transistor and Saturday nights were a special treat with his shows from the Limelight. Needless to say my kids love him as the writer of A Christmas Story.
|
Robert Cox
Manahawkin, New Jersey |
Joined: October 17, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1338
|
Chas. Costello
Manchester, New Jersey |
Joined: July 03, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 623
|
Ron Regetz
Manville, New Jersey |
Joined: May 15, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 972
|
Comments:
Here in NJ we can listen to Shep on radio station WBAI 99.5 on tuesday mornings at 5:00. Unfortunatly I'm getting up that early for anything. My question is where can I buy tapes of the old WOR shows?
|
Mike Messina
Marlboro, New Jersey |
Joined: July 30, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 656
|
Jeff Sickles
Matawan, New Jersey |
Joined: September 29, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 699
|
David M. Razler
Mays Landing, NJ, New Jersey |
Joined: January 03, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 367
|
Pete Whitman
Medford, New Jersey |
Joined: August 14, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1288
|
Comments:
Hi,
For years I went to night school and listened to Shep on the way home. He was the greatest story tell I've ever heard. I lived in Southport, CT and He lived in Westport, CT. I saw him a few times in the town. I can still to this day recall his voice when I think about some of the shows I listened to. I was very disapointed to hear of his passing in 1999. A freind of mine sent me all the newspaper clippings. He was as big a fan as I was. I just found out about the web site and ordered 2 CD's. I can't wait to hear them.
Best regards, Pete
|
s russell
medford, New Jersey |
Joined: May 11, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1980
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 2857
|
Comments:
does anyone know if the decoder pin was around in the l930's and what it may have looked like?
|
James Rees
Middlesex, New Jersey |
Joined: August 13, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1982
Discovered Shep: Read one of his books
Guest No: 1039
|
Comments:
I actually discovered Shep when I attended one of his shows in Clinton, New Jersey. From that I found his books and read them, and finally saw A Christmas Story. I found this site in reading a book about the rebel comedians of the fifties and sixties and the chapter on Shep mentioned this site.
|
Bartolo Falcone
Milford, New Jersey |
Joined: July 25, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1973
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1500
|
Comments:
Where are the General tire Comercials? and the singing of look for the union label?
|
Jim Hutchinson
Mizpah, New Jersey |
Joined: August 28, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 687
|
Richard Hutnik
Montague, New Jersey |
Joined: November 23, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1514
|
Comments:
My father was a advid fan and I was introduced to Jean on the radio by him.
|
Diane E. Israel
Montclair, New Jersey |
Joined: June 07, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 106
|
Michael A. Puglisi
Montclair, New Jersey |
Joined: June 16, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1953
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 120
|
Christopher Parker Parker
Montclair, New Jersey |
Joined: August 10, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 151
|
John W. Buzby
Montclair, New Jersey |
Joined: May 24, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1955
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1255
|
Comments:
I moved to the Village in'55 and started to listen to Shep, all nite long.I read his book, went to Washington Square Park to "mills" to New Hope PA where he announced the Car-Shows. He has been a big influence in my life, though I never owned a Morgan. I did sell my Ford and bought an MG.
Can't believe he's not down in Sanibel,knocking back a martini, sitting on his boat.
|
Andy Palley
Montvale, New Jersey |
Joined: March 31, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 33
|
Harold Bailey
Morris Plains, New Jersey |
Joined: January 03, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1593
|
Comments:
I have been a fan of Shep's since 1968. I am the proud owner of an autographed copy of "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters", Signed by Shep for me at a book signing at Bloomfield College.
The autograph says: " To Howard...Flick lives!!
Excelsior, dad.... "
Jean Shepherd. 1971
|
Jules Posten
Morris Plains, New Jersey |
Joined: August 16, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1713
|
Comments:
you know i never realized that Shep had so many fans. i always had the imprression he was speaking me to alone.
i discovered Shep completely by accident. i was about 19-20 years old, and there used to be a radio show in NYC, called the "Voice in the Night", where the narrator told horror and ghost stories late at night. i always had difficulty finding the station that broadcast that show, and i was searching the AM dial one late night, and i picked up what i thought was the "Voice in the Night".
actually it was Jean Shepherd reading from"Fu Man Chu", and from that point on i was what can only be called a fan. a couple of years later, i found myself in the army, and far from New York, and of course no shep broadcasts. after about a year, i received overseas orders and came home for a leave before i was shipped off to France for less then a year. driving back to NYC, i was some where outside of Baltimore, when Sheps voice came out of my Buicks radio and i knew i was almost home. of course, spending a year overseas meant that again i was shepless, so it took my full return in 1963, to once again hear him on the radio. right now, i have several CD's of Jean Shepherd but only one treasured audio tape taken from his radio. side A is the KP Tale, and side B is the Tribute to the Slob
|
Tom Osowiecky
Morris Plains (formerly East Rutherford), New Jersey |
Joined: September 04, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 177
|
George Young
Morristown, New Jersey |
Joined: December 28, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 325
|
Alan Kapp
Morristown, New Jersey |
Joined: August 29, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 807
|
Comments:
Like many others I went to sleep each night with a transistor
radio to listen to Jean each night way past my bedtime. His
story telling transported me to places and people I never
knew but he 'laughed' me to sleep 5 nights a week. I met
him twice at "press conferences" he held for high school
newspapers in the late 1960's....However my Jean Shepherd
highlight is that when I moved to Rhodesia in 1972 I had my
father tape his shows with an old reel to reel and send them
to me in Africa. They became very popular within my circle of friends and in my army unit. In fact a fellow soldier
who was with Radio Rhodesia in civilian life tried to initiate the airing of Jean Shepherd in Rhodesia but existing
trade sanctions against Rhodesia prevented that possibility.
I drive a truck for a living at times and listen to a lot
of radio these days and NOTHING currently on the radio comes
close to Shepherd. His voice and talent is sorely missed.
|
John Shine
Morristown, New Jersey |
Joined: July 27, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1021
|
Comments:
Anyone know what month/year the Sears Prefab House story ran? I can't ssem to find the info anywhere...I know it happened 'cause I listened to it !!
|
Stephen Pellegrino
Morristown, New Jersey |
Joined: September 05, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1973
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1529
|
Comments:
Jean Shepherd is a true underrated genius! First heard him on WOR in the early '70s. I was about 8. He was fascinating to me even then! Later I read "Wanda Hickey" and other books. I have an autographed copy of "Wanda" which he signed, "Keep America Beautiful! Jean Shepherd 1971."
Shep is especially important because he trafficked in deep spiritual matters such as sin, death, hell, and the vanity of mankind without "preaching" in the traditional sense. Tragically, I can find no evidence that he accepted salvation in Jesus Christ which is the answer to many of the problems he discussed.
Just read Bergmann's insightful book on Shepherd-- it was beautifully done; I can't imagine anyone doing a better job!
Jean Parker Shepherd, I salute you!
|
Laurie Niblick
Mount Arlington, New Jersey |
Joined: June 15, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 118
|
Edward Korndoerfer
Mount Holly, New Jersey |
Joined: December 08, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1550
|
Daniel Chappelle
Mount Laurel, New Jersey |
Joined: April 06, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1976
Discovered Shep: Saw his TV show
Guest No: 938
|
Comments:
I caught Shep the first time on WHYY in Philly. I think the show at that time was called Shepherds Pie? The episode I first remember was of Shep demonstrating the many ways to eat Pizza. Folding the pizza, or eating it flat or god forbid with fork and knife! Now thanks to this great site and the internet I am listening to Shep every, just like it was meant to be heard but replace the radio under my pillow with an iPod. Keep up the great work!
|
steve grossman
Mount Laurel, New Jersey |
Joined: July 19, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1694
|
Comments:
As the producer of the all night John Wingate Show (WOR), I had the pleasure of working along side, Bob and Ray, Arlene Francis, the McCann's and of course Jean Shepherd. I would set the Wingate Show guests from 12 noon until about 5, sit in on Bob and Ray and then watch Jean from the control room weave his magic. Every once in a while Jean would say, "Ain't that right Steve", and that would be me. Jean was a different "duck" who I learned to love and admire. I would sit in amazement 2 or 3 days a week as Jean would adlib for 45 minutes I miss him and his talent and Leigh Brown too!
|
larry liebowitz
mountain lakes, New Jersey |
Joined: September 16, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1955
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1313
|
Comments:
my earliest memory was listening to Shep on my honeymoon (in Brooklyn) while on leave from Ft. Dix. All these years later, I am happy to say that my GRANDCHILDREN love his stories as much as i do. FLICK LIVES!!!!!!
|
Paul Parkinson
Mt Royal, New Jersey |
Joined: February 01, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1983
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 795
|
Comments:
I think Phantom was the first I'd discovered Shep, then likely Christmas, and I've been junked out on the Radio shows, etc. since.
I'm always looking for material, especially the movies (many of which I do not own), so if anyone knows where I can buy, I appreciate the info: integratedjava@hotmail.com
|
Steve Carr
Mt. Tabor, New Jersey |
Joined: October 24, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1081
|
Comments:
Having grown up in the Chicago area not far from Hammond, his radio programs brought back many fond memories after my family moved to the East Coast. Really special experience. Fortunate enough to see him perform live at Notre Dame. Never saw a personality dominate a stage the way he did. He always gave his audience 110%.
I really miss his vitality and good-natured view of life. I'd love to get a collection of his radio shows. Are they available on CDs?
|
Jim Stekas
Murray Hill, New Jersey |
Joined: January 15, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 409
|
Bryan Boyle
N. Brunswick, New Jersey |
Joined: January 14, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1199
|
Comments:
There are lots of ways we came about learning about this singular genius...some through his movies, others through his magazine articles, still others through that ubiquitous 'transistor radio under the pillow' so the old man didn't hear the racket at 10:15 every weeknight up and down the eastern seaboard (well, mine was a self-built crystal radio set...and WOR was the strongest station I could pick up...).
But, somehow, everyone here has their own story. His humor, his dry, penetrating way at examining our own (and, I suspect, his) foibles, the incredible yarns he spun with an imagination that very few could hope to have, touched something in the combined consciousness.
Even better is listening to the old shows. It drove me to look back into the pile of airchecks I had (his example drove me into the broadcast industry...) and come up with
some tapes to listen to...the jokes are (for the most part..) just as fresh and can get the same chuckle the second time around...30 years later...you can remember where you were (almost) listening to them.
You know...maybe, just maybe, you CAN hear that mournful whistle of the train off in the distance driving across the prairie as you remember what a great performer, raconteur, and observer he was.
Excelsior!
|
Jerry Varley
Neptune, New Jersey |
Joined: November 14, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1510
|
Comments:
"What a strange, strange trip it's been".....
Recently on a rediscovery tour of Shep. It started with an MP3 set (under $20 on Ebay),the Bergmann book (FABULOUS!) as filler and about three hours a day commuting from the Jersey Shore (and back) listening to Shep in chronological order.
Never really connected the dots before, but learned to fly because of a Shep program on PBS (he was soaring). Haven't thought about that in ages.
I highly recommend your own magical mystery tour, if you have the time, that is. Listening to the old shows takes you back to what YOU were doing that day...but it's addictive. Mindless commuting is ideal.
|
Pete Leather Jr.
Neptune City , New Jersey |
Joined: January 01, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 383
|
JOSEPH A KARAS
new brunswick, New Jersey |
Joined: September 11, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1972
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2877
|
Jonathan Fox
New Egypt, New Jersey |
Joined: April 07, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1459
|
Comments:
Loved him then; love him now.
|
Lynn Spillane Lawlor
New Providence, New Jersey |
Joined: October 31, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 276
|
Warren Gerber
New providence, New Jersey |
Joined: January 01, 2008 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2665
|
Comments:
EXCELSIOR! You Fathead! Keep up the great work!
|
Grace Cohens
Newark, New Jersey |
Joined: September 23, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1979
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 696
|
Ed Amorino
North Bergen, New Jersey |
Joined: April 03, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 38
|
Tom Mongelli
North Bergen, New Jersey |
Joined: December 30, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 378
|
Tom Mongelli
North Bergen, New Jersey |
Joined: December 28, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1581
|
Comments:
I found the web page by reading the Eugene Bergmann book, "Excelsior You Fathead!" The content of Shepherd's salvaged broadcasts is incredibly durable. It can be appreciated on multiple levels. Even when we reach the day when the social mores he targeted, and those he championed, are no longer relevant, the audio and video he left behind will offer testament to a certain period of American life. I'm sure it will be useful for people in the future to refer to them when trying to understand how they reached their point in civilization.
|
Joe Karas
North Brunswick, New Jersey |
Joined: February 11, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1622
|
Comments:
I really appreciate this site...Thanks too all that made
and maintain it.!.
|
Kevin Mooney
North Brunswick, New Jersey |
Joined: January 13, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1893
|
Comments:
Man, I remember coming home one night. My father driving and listening to the radio. Then that camel racibng music came on. And the raspy, throary chuckle. "You gotta hear this guy," my father said. One of the best things he ever told me.
|
John Maimone Maimone
North Plainfield, New Jersey |
Joined: August 15, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 156
|
Richard K. Phoenix
North Plainfield, New Jersey |
Joined: October 17, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 263
|
Craig Carey
Nutley, New Jersey |
Joined: December 16, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1386
|
Comments:
I did my high school homework before 9:15 pm and then after 10:15. WOR radio in NY had Shep on from 9:15 to 10 and then my best friend and I would talk about the show for another ten or fifteen minutes. I met him and Leigh Brown twice when I arranged for shows at my college in 1963. A passing comment about the long gone Route 3 drive-in theater turned into twenty minutes that night. The guy was brilliant.
|
Jackie Bell
Oak Ridge, New Jersey |
Joined: May 06, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2028
|
Comments:
Jean, you were closer to me than my own father. You influenced me greater than anyone I can remember. In an awful childhood, you were always there for me, every night with my little tan 6v Admiral transister. You gave me the courage through your stories, to explore the world, travel, assimilate into parts of the country to become what I am now. Your irrevance had many of us in the 60's to question authority and see the hypocrisy. Your voice soothed, gave self esteem to young people and the laughter, oh the laughter was the brightest light before going to sleep. I think of you often as a friend I had and I thank you.
|
Curt Hudson
Oaklyn, New Jersey |
Joined: March 11, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 505
|
Allan Zelkin
Old Bridge, New Jersey |
Joined: February 14, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1935
|
Comments:
...........I can still hear the final " Aahhhhh " !!!
|
Frederick Capuano
Old Bridge, New Jersey |
Joined: July 09, 2008 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2766
|
Walter F. Elliott
Orange, New Jersey |
Joined: May 07, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1248
|
Comments:
Thanks for posting the 1974 New York Times articles Shep wrote on the Indianapolis 500. They'll put me in a good frame of memory when I'm down there covering the 500 this year.
I can't remember the year I discovered Shep -- I was too young! My parents put me to bed with Shep on WOR and woke me up with Gene Klavan on WNEW-AM.
Jean and Gene, on the surface, may have little in common. Their ability to ad-lib for hours, however, is unmatched in current broadcasting.
Their mikes aren't silent -just moved to a better studio!
Excelsior!
|
John Fenyar
originally Perth Amboy NJ - now Charlotte NC, New Jersey |
Joined: December 05, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 323
|
Jack Adragna
Park Ridge , New Jersey |
Joined: December 24, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1156
|
Comments:
Back sometime in the mid sixties I had the privilege of having a drink with “Shep.” It was in Art Dulugofs “Village Gate.” on Bleeker St. in the village. It is now sadly a drug store. I remember that it was a Monday evening because they had a special price on drinks on Mondays. It was down in the basement bar. A few of the jazz musicians off that evening would wander in and play for tips. It was a quiet night and I was standing at the far end corner of the bar, my favorite spot, having a drink. Two men were off to my left drinking and chatting. Eventually one of them broke out in laughter.
The laugh was familiar and unmistakable. It was “Shep.” I motioned over to the bartender. “Please give those two guys a drink on me.” I said quietly. I was making all of 250 bucks as a commercial artist in those days. The bartender went over and made them fresh drinks and pointed to me. “Shep” looked over at me. “Do I know you?” He asked. “No.” I replied. “I’m a listener.” Both men tipped their drinks at me. Tipping my drink I said. “Excelsior.” “Shep” smiled at me and they returned to their conversation and I went back to my drink. I would have loved it if they had called me over to discuss the “carnival of life” with them but no such luck. Some nice soft Jazz was now coming from the small stage and I took my drink over to a table to sit and listen. Later, when I retuned to the bar they were gone. Another evening in a place we called “The Village.” You guys from Nebraska or Iowa eat your hearts out. By the way,“Shep” was into martini’s.
|
Barbara Sanchelli
Parsippany, New Jersey |
Joined: September 12, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 223
|
michael clayton
parsippany, New Jersey |
Joined: December 24, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1395
|
Comments:
i was one of those teenagers with the transitor radio under the pillow.my offical bedtime was 10 pm.i would faithfully listen to shep each night. he was anti-establishment,traveled and witty. with pals who could drive,i made a pilgrimage to seton hall to see him live.he signed my copy of " in God we trust..".he seemed so worldly-wise and sophisticated to a parochial school kid in suburban new jersey.because of him i read "Moby Dick" and Robert Service, Jack London and Mark Twain. shep,i sure miss you.you were there when i needed you. thanks
|
Emna Solares
Passaic, New Jersey |
Joined: November 08, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 2000
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 283
|
frank jankoski
pennington, New Jersey |
Joined: July 05, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2253
|
Comments:
I just came across this as i was searching for info on the great american fourth of july and other disasters.
I look forward to viewing the site when i get more time some evenings--Its bringing back many memories of listening to the WOR broadcasts as a young kid.Thanks
|
Eddie Stafford
pennsville, New Jersey |
Joined: January 06, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: Saw his TV show
Guest No: 1890
|
Comments:
I saw one of his P.B.S. shows about drive-in movie theatres in N.J. and was hooked. Where can I get tapes of his P.B.S movies and shows?
|
Stephen Martin
Pequannock, New Jersey |
Joined: July 28, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2330
|
vince mallon
philadelphia, New Jersey |
Joined: December 13, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1972
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1381
|
Comments:
a great service you are performing, keep up the good work.
|
pETER mULSHINE
Phillipsburg, New Jersey |
Joined: January 21, 2007 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1901
|
Comments:
I saw him at Coucil Rock High School,outide of New Hope,NJ.Rode in a pc.of merde Chrysler bigass 4 dr,sedan in the middle ver the drveline hump.pc o shit seat,,,no padding ,lik they never thought that anyone would be riding in the middle of the back seat,FATHEADS!!!
|
Joe Rossi
Piscataway, New Jersey |
Joined: February 25, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 468
|
Dave Hunt
Piscataway, New Jersey |
Joined: November 10, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1820
|
Comments:
A college friend of mine, Jerry H, called me at home from the Limelight one night while Shep was performing there and simultaneously being broadcast on the radio. The pay phone was just to the right of the stage. He offered the phone to Shep, but Jean just smiled and waved his hand to refuse. A cool moment for all of us, I think.
Excelsior, you fatheads!
|
John Salvia
Pitman, New Jersey |
Joined: December 11, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1978
Discovered Shep: Read one of his books
Guest No: 1375
|
Comments:
Jean Shepherd was introduced to me my senior year of high school, 1978, in a english class called "Satire and Search For Eutopia." I never connected with english classes or english teachers before this. "Wanda Hickey's night of golden memories" opened up the world of "enjoyable literature" to me. Despite my learning disabilities, he helped me discover that there are authors that write so vividly, anyone can get it. I often laugh so hard when I read his stories, I have to wipe the tears from my eyes.
I too feel I got to know Shep personally through all his works. I was grieved to hear he died. The announcement was a quick, and unfittingly brief notation that I heard on the radio several years ago. I'll always wish he was still with us.
|
Walt Hetfield Hetfield
Plainfield, New Jersey |
Joined: July 24, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 145
|
Russ Allison
Plainfield, New Jersey |
Joined: December 05, 2008 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2801
|
Comments:
My mom turned me on to Shep. She listened every night. This was in the later years of the regular, weeknight show. I was too young to stay up late every night (yes, another listener-on-the-sly though I think my Mom knew). It was a special treat for me to stay up late with her on the 4th of July hoping Shep would tell Ludlow Kissel and the Dago Bomb. That was our favorite story. My poor Dad had to get up for work but was subject to the two of us laughing our butts off. I grew up in Plainfield so when Shep mentioned The Flagship on Route 22 it was kinda cool. I wonder how many listeners ventured to Union to see it. When I went to Lehigh in the fall of 1971, I made some new fans (and some enemies) playing one of his albums over and over. I can't remember the name and all I remember of the cover was that it had a drawing on the front with an Army guy standing in an open file cabinet drawer. Anyone know which one that was? Radio was spotty but I could occasionally get a good signal and would sometimes call my Mom to talk about last night's show. In 1978 I saw him at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. I was so excited; like a little kid at Christmas. Early in the show, he revealed that the stories were not true; they were fiction. I remember feeling hurt and betrayed. Like he had pulled the wool over everyone's eyes all those years. But it quickly rebounded my affection and admiration for the man when I started thinking about the talent it took to pull that off. I didn't find out until years later that the broadcasts, for the most part, were off the top of his head. More respect. After the show, I stood in line with my "Wanda Hickey" (my other books were at my parents). I couldn't believe the imbecilic (sp?) things the people in front of me were saying. Shep was doing his best but I could read the consternation on his face. And these bums were clueless! Fortunately, I was the last one in line. Finally my turn! Don't blow it! Remember to ask for the Red Ryder BB Gun! Just kidding. The one thing I remember talking to him about was where he got the idea for Wanda Hickey (the story). He said he had been walking down the street in Manhattan in the wee hours. Two couples in prom clothes came bursting out of a bar nearly knocking into him. They went sprawling onto the sidewalk in an obvious rookie-drunken manner. That moment ignited a spark that led him to write the story. More pure genius. I wanted to stand there and chat all night but by then he was done drawing a charicature of me and signing the book. Thanks for a great site. Keep your knees loose!
|
Al Vetrini
Point Pleasant, New Jersey |
Joined: November 06, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 727
|
Bob Morrell
Port Monmouth, New Jersey |
Joined: April 02, 2012 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2902
|
Comments:
Found Shep in 1968 on WOR, was hooked immediately. Would stay up listening to him on my Portable AM/FM radio. Was fortunate to meet him 2 times. Have all his books, and through reading them over and over they have become a tad dog eared.
|
Ed Percarpio
Princeton, New Jersey |
Joined: September 03, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 174
|
David Misiura
Princeton, New Jersey |
Joined: June 06, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1974
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 599
|
John Bojarski
Princeton, New Jersey |
Joined: July 03, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 622
|
Adrian Shepherd
Princeton, New Jersey |
Joined: August 04, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1029
|
Comments:
I'm just now discovering how funny Jean really is since I've been so bitter and confused for most of my life reason being that Jean is my father and I never really got to know him.
I thank all of those that have helped me to see the funny side of Jean that I blanked out before.
Keep up the good work Jim!!!
Adrian
|
Reed Petak
Princeton Junction, New Jersey |
Joined: January 03, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2823
|
Comments:
Thanks!
|
Reed Petak
Princeton Junction, New Jersey |
Joined: January 03, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2824
|
Comments:
Transistor radio under the pillow....Mom and Dad thought I was asleep. Thanks!
|
Stanley Siwczak
Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey |
Joined: January 11, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 403
|
David R. Taylor
Rahway, New Jersey |
Joined: March 01, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 481
|
steve novalany
rahway, New Jersey |
Joined: March 31, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1242
|
Comments:
It was because of the original napster that I first got the idea to search for Jean Shephers radio show recordings. The original Napster was a great place to find obscure recordings that would never be offered for sale by the conglomerates
What A great site this is, and what a tribute to Jean Shepherd, the man that I most associate with the radio as I was growing up in the 60's.
I loved Shep and saw a number of his live shows also.
|
Joe Carey
Ramsey, New Jersey |
Joined: June 20, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 126
|
Bob Tullman
Randolph, New Jersey |
Joined: May 13, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1480
|
Comments:
I always use '6SJ7' for prototype numbers as indelibly etched in my mind by Shep. My father worked in an electronic parts store, and we recently went through and catalogued all the old vaccuum tubes left behind. Alas, there were no 6SJ7's in the bunch.
Somewhere I think I still have a cassette tape of one of Shep's 'name shows' from the early 70's where me and my buddy actually got our names read off!
What memories!
|
Paul Pindris
Red Bank, New Jersey |
Joined: March 07, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 493
|
Ken deGruchy
Ridgefield Park, New Jersey |
Joined: June 16, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1968
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 607
|
Tom McCarthy
River Edge, New Jersey |
Joined: November 20, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 302
|
harry buscher
riverside, New Jersey |
Joined: December 21, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1391
|
Comments:
I was lucky enough to meet Shep in the early 60's a book signing.He came all the way to South Jersey to talk to us and sihn his books. I always said that if I could sit and have dinner and a chat with anyone in the world,Shep would be it. I wish NJ TV would run some of his old Shepherd's Pie.
|
Jeff Wayne
Rochelle Park, New Jersey |
Joined: March 11, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1974
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 504
|
Jake McBean
Rockaway, New Jersey |
Joined: November 28, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1097
|
Comments:
One Xmas around 1963 I received a radio shaped like a rocket ship. You had to attach an alligator clip to a metal surface to receive an AM signal. As I rotated the nose-cone to change the station I entounter a guy telling a story about a train trip with his army unit. That was Jean Shepherd and I was hooked, especially when he got a little risque like "May The Second Grade Stripper".
Waiting for the news to end and the K-E-D-I-M wine commercial to play was torture until the theme song started and you waited and waited until Shep thought it was the right time to sigh and then you were off on to the races.
|
Rich S
Rockaway Boro, New Jersey |
Joined: April 14, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 88
|
Henry Koeppel
Rockleigh, New Jersey |
Joined: April 11, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1955
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 851
|
Comments:
I lived way uptown Manhattan (Inwood) back then. Good Lord did I loose sleep! But I never dropped my radio out of the window.
|
Jan Flanagan
Roebling, New Jersey |
Joined: December 28, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 328
|
MaryAnn Kleban Rossi
Roosevelt , New Jersey |
Joined: May 16, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1483
|
Comments:
i was 12 and Shep broadcast from wor transmitter in my town of carteret, nj. that caught my attention. then i heard him say things i could not then feel comfortable expressing to anyone. he saved my sanity in an oh so perfect 50's society. spoke with him at the limelight and when i bought 'in god we trust...'. wish his later years were not so full of angst. i love what he did...
|
Etaion Shrdlu
Roseland, New Jersey |
Joined: September 25, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1955
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 235
|
Chris Aslin
Rumson, New Jersey |
Joined: September 12, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1979
Discovered Shep: Saw his TV show
Guest No: 1722
|
Comments:
You've put together a Great site. Jean was a the best.
I'm trying to locate recordings of Shepard's Pie from NEw Jersey Network, do they exist?
|
Mildred Kaye
Saddle Brook, New Jersey |
Joined: December 15, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 342
|
vic tamblyn
sea girt, New Jersey |
Joined: June 22, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1681
|
Comments:
Shep appeared at Newark State College (now Kean Univ.) in 1965.
He hung out with the college newspaper staff in our office before his performance and joked a bit. He was quite relaxed, and mentioned that our campus pub, Eddie Malones Lounge was one of the nicer ones that he had seen and he liked the tiffany lamp collection there. I saw him again many times at the Limelight in the Village and also several times at Princeton.
|
Barry Cogan
Short Hills, New Jersey |
Joined: June 06, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1673
|
Comments:
Began to listen to Shep in 1956 while in HS; continued through College and credited him with me getting through Organic Chemistry.
|
David J. McCartney
Somerset, New Jersey |
Joined: February 27, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 473
|
Joe Lippencott
Somerset, New Jersey |
Joined: January 22, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1613
|
Comments:
I used to listen to Shep when he was doing his "long" program on WOR every night. I used a homemade crystal radio that was hooked up to the bedspring for the antenna. I discovered him when I found WOR was the only station strong enough to receive reliably with my radio. I was hooked, and his broadcasts were one of the great highlights of my adolescence. A fan forever!
His passing affected me more than J.F.K.s
|
Jack Jack Farley
South Amboy, New Jersey |
Joined: July 04, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 628
|
K D
South Brunswick, New Jersey |
Joined: January 27, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1973
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1615
|
Comments:
Finding this website and sampling just a bit of the WOR shows at http://shep-archives.com/netjuke/, has brought back some very nice memories. From your radio time line web page, I deduce that I was most likely introduced to Jean Shepherd’s tremendous storytelling skills around the beginning of 1974. Some nights, I’d find myself going down to the basement where my father would be toiling at his workbench – the one he had cobbled together from recycled wooden planks and boxes, a couple of sheets of rolled steel, and a cast off file cabinet, and whatnot, years prior. The ancient radio would be tuned into WOR. He’d often be fixing some inexpensive, beat up, household item, with the process usually involving some combination of a soldering iron, epoxy cement, old telephone wire, or some oddball doodads – little metallic things that wished they could have been nuts, or bolts, or washers, or something that most people could name outright, instead of being referred to as “those little black things in the third baby food jar from the left on the second shelf”. On exceptional nights, the project might involve all of the above. If the hour was right, it would also involve 45 minutes of Jean Shepherd joining us via the radio. Being in my early teens at the time - an age when I’d oscillate between enjoying the comforts of having a stable, if boring, lower-middle class family, and the Darwinian need to at time rebel against my elders in order to establish my pseudo-independence – I’d find myself hanging out, watching the workbench surgery while on one hand hoping my father would let me help, imparting some of his obvious Mr. Fix-it wisdom to me in the process, while on the other hand I be wondering why the heck he’d go through all that instead of just buying a new one for a couple of bucks. Clearly I didn’t appreciate the permanent psychological imprint – the imperative for self sufficiency - left on him and many others whose formative years were spent in the Great Depression, and who had gone straight from high school graduation to boot camp to the European theatre of World War II. Anyway, in addition to the sounds of the humming fluorescent shop light and the humming sounds my father would emit when contemplating his strategy to outwit the planned obsolescence of yet another item in need of fixing, I recall the old radio, its tubes glowing, tuned into WOR and Jean Shepherd’s memorable voice. I was convinced that for most of the day, my parents’ reluctance to twist our radios’ wobbly tuning knobs to anything other than WOR was some sort of perverse punishment. I wondered if they realized that subjecting my Vietnam era teen ears to Patrica McCann, John Gambling, and The Fitzgeralds would be much more likely to push me to join the Weather Underground than it would convince me to vote Republican or develop a desire to shop at “Flemington Furs of Flemington, New Jersey”. But Jean Shepherd’s show was different. I found that, just like my father, I’d listen to Shepherd’s voice – his vivid, humorous descriptions were effortless to visualize – he seemed to be talking right to us - and marvel when he’d manage to always wrap up even his most complex yarns just as the top of the hour “beep” would sound. The father vs. teenage son tensions that popped up too often at other times would be put on hold down there in the basement workshop when my dad and I were joined by Jean Shepherd on the radio. Looking back at it now, I suppose that Shepherd’s shows resonated with my father in part because of some shared experiences – born about the same time, both had been in the Army Signal Corp, and they shared what I can best describe as a friendly, old-time crankiness when it came to societal changes, trends or fashion. I now see why my father “identified” with Shepherd. And though I didn’t realize it at the time, my father would have been correct if he took my interest in Jean Shepherd’s stories as a sign that I wasn’t rejecting all that my father stood for. Well, many years have passed since those nights at the basement workbench. Shepherd died in 1999, less than two years before my father died. Finding these web pages, and listening to some of the WOR shows after all those years, has left me with some of those same good feelings I’d have when at the workbench. I once again feel closer to my dad. Thanks for the web pages.
|
John Verity
South Orange, New Jersey |
Joined: June 06, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 101
|
Edw. Salomon
South Orange, New Jersey |
Joined: February 06, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 431
|
Ed Cichorek
South River, New Jersey |
Joined: February 02, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 429
|
Kevin J Boland
Spotswood, New Jersey |
Joined: September 20, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 692
|
Dave Wantuch
Spotswood, New Jersey |
Joined: November 23, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 747
|
Merrill Yeager
Spring Lake, New Jersey |
Joined: November 03, 2002 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 875
|
Bill Welsch
Springfield, New Jersey |
Joined: November 22, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 304
|
Leo Eckmann
Springfield, New Jersey |
Joined: January 20, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 415
|
Bill Welsch
Springfield, New Jersey |
Joined: January 30, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 425
|
Jerry Rubin
Summit, New Jersey |
Joined: May 24, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1961
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 206
|
James G. Fitzsimmons
Sussex, New Jersey |
Joined: November 27, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1953
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 314
|
Robert Borris
Tabernacle, New Jersey |
Joined: June 03, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1954
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1263
|
Comments:
I have an autographed copy of "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories", autograph dated 1971. Also autographed "In God We Trust, All others pay cash", also dated 1971. I saw Shep at Counsel Rock High School in the late 1960's and again I attended his last show in Princeton, New Jersey May 26, 1995. I spent many late nights listening to Shep's radio show coming over WOR out of New York.
|
Gerald Carcione
Teaneck, New Jersey |
Joined: August 31, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1298
|
Comments:
I love your site, thanks so
much for it. I met Shep at a
Wanda Hickey book signing at
Huffmann Koos and i vividly recall
how he made me feel like it was an
honor for "him" to shake "my" hand.
Shep is part of my soul, and I'm very happy
to have found him, and Max, and you.
|
Kerr Lockhart
Teaneck (Low Slob Art Quotient), New Jersey |
Joined: March 14, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 58
|
Carmen Di Clemente
Toms River, New Jersey |
Joined: November 01, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 817
|
Comments:
Until discovering your page, I thought I was the only kid who had ever tucked his transistor radio under the pillow to listen to Shep every night. Reading of how you (and surely countless others) did the same brings back fond memories of being amazed, amused and absorbed as the great man talked to me about life in the quiet darkness of the night... just to me.
|
Howard Robboy
Trenton, New Jersey |
Joined: May 11, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 197
|
Don Misiura
Trenton, New Jersey |
Joined: April 09, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 530
|
Calvin Iszard
Trenton, New Jersey |
Joined: January 12, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1604
|
Comments:
I produced and directed Shepherd's Pie - a 26 program series that aired nationally in 1970's and was shot at NJN studios in Trenton, NJ.
Also, some TV specials with him including an outdoor concert at the Clinton Museum on a very hot summer night in July.
We became great friends and I miss him more each year, especially around the holidays.
|
Dennis McGrath
Trenton, New Jersey |
Joined: May 26, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1670
|
Comments:
Hope springs eternal ...
|
Tom Goff
Tuckerton, New Jersey |
Joined: May 14, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 565
|
Lou Rossi
Union, New Jersey |
Joined: January 29, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 423
|
Melissa ....
Union city, New Jersey |
Joined: April 06, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 2003
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 939
|
Comments:
I was born in '83 when A Christmas Story came out, but it is re-ran every holiday season. Till this day it is still a tradition that my brother and I must watch on the holidays. (I'm older by a year) "Ya gonna poke you're eye out kid." I wish I had a favorite part to talk about but the whole movie is so funny that I love it overall!! And in reference to Mark Sceurman's little fact, I'm glad Macaulay Culkin didn't play Ralph!! I've always watched the movie but didn't know who wrote it or who the voice was till I read his column in Weird NJ, in 4/2003
|
Sandy Middlesworth
Ventnor, New Jersey |
Joined: January 02, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 384
|
Michael Fielo
Verona, New Jersey |
Joined: March 01, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 480
|
Richard Titus
Voorhees, New Jersey |
Joined: May 24, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 578
|
George Osgoodby
Waldwick, New Jersey |
Joined: February 25, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 19
|
Charles Florance
Wanaque, New Jersey |
Joined: December 29, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1419
|
Comments:
I stumbled on Jean Shepherd by accident around 1970 and was rivited by his descriptive stories. I then became a big fan of his books and missed him terribly when he stopped his radio broadcasts on WOR.
|
Mark Baldassare
Wanaque, New Jersey |
Joined: April 23, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1465
|
Rob Pettet
Wanaque,, New Jersey |
Joined: January 17, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1204
|
Comments:
I was saddened to hear that Jean passed away. When the
Carousel of Progress made a change a few years ago, I
recognized Jean's voice. (I even think he mentions the
Swartz family). I've been telling my daughters about "my
radio under my pillow" and how Shep would have enjoyed definate prominence in today's radio market. Just got back
from FLA and decided to see waht he was up to or if he was still living. I wish I could have looked him up a few years ago so I could have personally thanked him for such a great
influence in my young life. He indeed "was talking only to
me".
Rob Pettet
|
Rob Nolan
Washington, New Jersey |
Joined: December 23, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 359
|
Joseph Ahart
Wayne, New Jersey |
Joined: May 02, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1975
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 99
|
Mimi Lakind Lakind
Wayne, New Jersey |
Joined: August 08, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1975
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 150
|
Richard J Beck
Wayne, New Jersey |
Joined: December 26, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1955
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1577
|
Comments:
My wife and I and our four boys had the enjoyment of hearing Gene S. on many of our auto trips. My wife Rosemary smiled when we speak of going to bed as we listened to Gene's hilarious stories. We have also seen some of his TV movies-Christmas story and 4th of July Fireworks as well as the Army story of his glasses. We are going to try to find some tape or disk recordings of Gene's stories.
|
Bob Nulman
Wayne, New Jersey |
Joined: December 29, 2005 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1582
|
Comments:
In 1958, I discovered Shep on WOR from my bedside radio in Fall River, MA. From the first show, I was hooked!
In the mid-80s, when I was the mayor of Clinton, NJ, I got to go to dinner twice with Jean. The dinners were just prior to his concert appearances at the Clinton Historical Museum.
He was charmingly sour and loved to come across as the benign curmudgeon. Interestingly, he didn't like to talk about his radio days and seemed to downplay the WOR stuff as ethereal ephemera that no longer existed and was no longer relevant. His concerts were pure genius.
I can still remember him on WOR playing his cranium by knocking his knuckles on his head and forming noted with his mouth as he accompanied a record. I proudly learned his technique.
There will never be another Jean Shepherd! I miss him.
|
Carol Posthumus
Wayne, New Jersey |
Joined: December 04, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1847
|
Comments:
Thanks for a great site--just took a quick look now, but will browse (devour)it in detail soon. I was one of those kids who listened late into the night on WOR, on my clock radio in Clifton. His kazoo rendition I remember most was "The Shiek of Araby" -- seemed he used up at least 5 minutes on it, when he temporarily ran out of stories. Then there was Jean Michel!
|
Kevin McElroy
West Berlin, NJ, New Jersey |
Joined: December 25, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1412
|
Comments:
Is '4th of July' movie available to buy?
|
Henry E (Hank) Rose
West Long Branch, New Jersey |
Joined: February 15, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1954
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1223
|
Comments:
Jean Shepherd was the guy I would listen to on my car radio coming home (Teaneck, NJ) from a date at 1:00 A.M. or 2:00 A.M. circa 1954-56 and I could not get out of my car sitting in our driveway for fear I would miss something! I am so glad he wrote the Christmas Story with the be-be gun and Santa Claus and the leg lamp. It's a movie that I, my children, AND my grandchildren enjoy so much now. Little did I know in the fifties that his life stories would transcend three generations... so far! We all miss him so much.
|
Ray Healy
West Milford, New Jersey |
Joined: February 18, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 6
|
Jackie Bell
West Milford, New Jersey |
Joined: October 29, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1085
|
Comments:
Word can't describe how this man affected my life. If it weren't for listening to him on my Admiral 9V transister, I think I would have gone mad growing up being totally ignored by my parents. I thought Shep was talking to me personally, taking me away from the lonliness. I loved this man for what he gave to so many: the irreverance towards the absurd, the irony of life, the rules established by our elders that only (back in the 50's & 60's, children were to have no say in anything) were in "the family's" best interests.
This man, relating his travels, put the confidence, that I too, could search the world for some sort of meaning (which I did) He was instrumental in forming my intellect more than any teacher/relative/establishment.
I will miss him. But in his works, in his influence (which we pass on to our children) he will live forever.
With great affection,
Jackie Bell .....catangel@nji.com
|
Marvin M. Hittner
West Orange, New Jersey |
Joined: June 20, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1950
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 124
|
Roger Deitz
West Orange, New Jersey |
Joined: April 25, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 550
|
marc mustacchio
west orange, New Jersey |
Joined: March 05, 2009 |
|
Shep fan since: 1998
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2834
|
Comments:
I am a devoted fan of Max Schmid's WBAI "Mass Backwards" show and listen to the Jean Shepard shows Tuesday mornings from 5:15AM-6AM. I started in 1998. I am too young to remember Shep when he was on WOR orginally and am greatful to max for his efforts to bring Shep back to the airwaves.
|
John N Newitt
Westwood, New Jersey |
Joined: June 13, 2002 |
|
Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 773
|
Joe Mc Neill
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey |
Joined: May 17, 2001 |
|
Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 569
|
Austin "Duke" Herzog
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey |
Joined: November 20, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1956
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1347
|
Comments:
Found site via WBAI, as a 3-year listener
As many of your shows have demonstrated, Max, if Shep had been walking around and scartching 2700 years ago in Israel, he'd have been called a 'prophet', and chased out of town of course.
(Note: a prophet doesn't primarily predict the future. No, what they do best is incisively describe the present, from God's (or the gods) point of view. Out of this, the 'meaning' of the 'times' can be discerned.
Thank you, Max, and thank yoy, Shep!
|
edward dworchak jr
wildwood, New Jersey |
Joined: November 25, 2004 |
|
Shep fan since: 1975
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 1354
|
Comments:
also on shortwave radio,wbcg,maine
|
Mike Callahan
Williamstown, New Jersey |
Joined: December 22, 2000 |
|
Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 353
|
Bob Walton
Wyckoff, New Jersey |
Joined: March 26, 2006 |
|
Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1627
|
Comments:
My older cousin, Trudi, a college student, was a Shep fan. She would stop by from time to time to visit with my mother. She introduced me to Shep, and I began to listen every chance I got. Shep's show helped me get through life with a sense of humor. Like Shep, I also played the BBb Sousaphone in HS, spent some time in the military and love anything about automobiles. He may also be the reason my students know me as a story teller. One of my favorite memories of Shep was the only time I saw him in person. He did a show at Montclair State College, probably around 1967. I had an aisle seat out of which I literally fell and rolled down the aisle. Needless to say, my date was mortified, but it was worth it. My best friend, Paul, who worked at his college radio station, WFDU, actually interviewed Shep at Fairleigh Dickinson University when he came to do a show, probably about 1966. Thanks for the website. I have never before spent this much time in one site. Excelsior!
|
Ken Weingartner
Yardville, New Jersey |
Joined: December 24, 2003 |
|
Shep fan since: 1975
Discovered Shep: Saw his TV show
Guest No: 1159
|
Comments:
My father introduced me to Shep was I was about 9 years old by having me watch "Shepherd's Pie" with him. My dad listened to Shep on the radio beginning in the late '50s, I believe. In my opinion, Shep was one of the truly great comic minds and social commentators ever. It's great that "A Christmas Story" has kept his legacy alive, but unfortunate so few know more about his work on radio. His radio shows, of which I have many thanks to Max Schmid and other collectors who have put them out on tape and mp3, are simply incredible. No one comes close to being the storyteller Shep was. As a writer, I appreciate what he did and marvel at it. Simply hearing the opening to one of Shep's radio shows brings a smile to my face; you know you're in for a wonderful ride. Thanks for this site. I've shared it with my father -- returning the favor, I guess, for his introducing me to Shep. Excelsior.
|
