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Last Summary Update: 10-25-2026 |
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Shep & Schwartz Raising Band Money In Subzero Weather
Airdate:
Thursday - January 11, 1973 (Airdate Confirmed)
WOR Show
Original Airing
(NOTE ABOUT TIME REFERENCES: Since there are many different copies of shows out there from different sources, all time references are from the beginning of one single recorded copy, since various copies, depending on when the recordee started recording, had news at the beginning or shortened themes. The times would vary from copy to copy.)
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| First Spoken Line After Theme Ends |
| Enough of that George, come on quick. . . |
| Show Description |
| [ Courtesy: GROK Summary - - ]
This is a typical free-form Jean Shepherd broadcast: stream-of-consciousness storytelling, banter with engineer George, improvised commercials, singing, and a long autobiographical monologue. The centerpiece is a childhood memory triggered by seeing a kid selling band tags.
Opening and Early Bits
- Shepherd and George start the show with casual banter and a quick musical intro.
- A commercial for the 5th Annual Jersey Coast Trailer and Camping Show at Convention Hall in Asbury Park (Raspberry Park), promoting trailers, camping vehicles, and family admission prices.
- Shepherd sings a rambling, aggressive version of something like "Miss the Train / Bear Miss the Train."
- He describes a junk-mail "decadence cruise" / "porny cruise" featuring pornographic films on the poop deck, a stop at Pompeii, and hosts who are 42nd Street porn stars (including one known for black socks, a mustache, and a derby). He briefly considers going, then catches himself.
- Reflection on resisting temptation: people who avoid sin their whole lives then snap, and a childhood trauma from a tent revival at age six (with friends Schwartz, Flick, and Bruner). A redneck evangelist scans the crowd declaring he sees "sin and degradation," which left a mark on Shepherd.
More Commercials and Digressions
- A Lifesavers commercial that turns into an improvised pitch for them as an aphrodisiac.
- A pitch for the House of Chan (52nd Street and 7th Avenue) as a place for Chinese food that supposedly enhances romantic evenings; he jokes about asking for "Stanley the real thing."
- A cold-weather anecdote involving a supermarket visit, a brass monkey gag, and the expression "colder than a well-digger's…" that he can't quite finish.
The Main Story: Band Tag Day
Seeing a shivering kid in a band uniform with a can outside a supermarket ("Watch on Band Uniform Tag Day") sets Shepherd off on a long memory of his own freshman-year Tag Day in high school in Northern Indiana (Hammond area, near Lake Michigan's wind tunnel).
- He played double B-flat sousaphone (four-valve) in the concert/marching band.
- The director announced Tag Day to raise money for new uniforms: meet at 6 a.m. outside the auditorium in uniform, get cans with the school's purple-and-white wildcat insignia, be dropped off at street corners, and get picked up at 10 p.m.
- It was brutally cold (around 15 below, strong wind off Lake Michigan).
- He and Schwartz were stationed near a Shell station. Their first "customer" was a drunk who staggered over, asked what they were doing, and threw up about 14 quarts of used Schlitz on Schwartz.
- An old lady with a shopping bag told them to get out of the way and threatened to call the police.
- By nightfall they had sold almost nothing. Shepherd ended with roughly $1.17 for the entire day (about 12 tags at a few cents each); Schwartz did similarly poorly.
- Contrast: Jack Morton, the school's golden boy (tall, athletic, state-champion trumpet player, baton twirler, popular with girls and faculty, offered scholarships), sold over $700 - more than the entire bass, trombone, and drum sections combined. He kept filling cans and asking for more.
- Shepherd reflects that he was an apologetic, embarrassed solicitor ("Please, just one tag…"), while Morton had natural sales charisma. The experience taught him that "talent is talent," some people are born salesmen, and (as his mother supposedly said) those who have it will get more, while those who don't will have less. Standing in the freezing wind reduced people to the "bare bones of reality."
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| WOR ID |
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Station ID (All times approximate)
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| 13:50 |
I see the devil . . .which reminds me this is WOR New York. . .
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| Commercials
(All times approximate) |
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| Music (All times approximate) |
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