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This is
from a March 1963 Valkyrie News
(Somerville High School, New Jersey
newspaper) Author unknown - I cut it
out and put it in my scrapbook,
where it still is!
Lowell
KING OF THE NIGHT PEOPLE
"Night People" who come on strong
during the dark hours from 11:00
p.m. to 5:00 a.m., already know
about late night radio. Members of
the "Day people's" society, however,
as most of us are, may be missing a
fascinating opportunity to explore
the world of late hour listening.
The best example of this type of
radio is found on station WOR.
Beginning at 11:15 p.m. the King of
the Night People, Jean Shepherd
arrives amidst blaring trumpets. For
the next 45 minutes, Shepherd
reminisces about his Indiana
childhood during the Depression, his
career as an Army private and his
early days in radio broadcasting.
Shepherd's stories about his high
school years are especially
interesting. One evening he told of
how, as a freshman, he joined the
football squad and after weeks of
tough workouts for the "big game" he
felt he was ready. He had become
hard as nails. He was now a
red-blooded he-man. Yet,
amazingly his team lost its first
game by a score of 70-0.
Apart from nostalgia, "Old Shep"
holds forth on the burning issues of
the day which include spotting
phonies, and the evils of being a
status-seeker. Shepherd is
indescribable. One must hear him to
believe him.
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Shep gave an
approximately one hour
talk to the students of
Muhlenberg College in
Allentown, Pa on the
morning of February 3,
1967. He referred to
Muhlenberg College as
"that great appendage to
Manhattan Island" He
also attacked "small
time hypocrites who
think Philadelphia is
anything more than
Allentown to the third
power!" He did a book
signing in the cafeteria
for his book "In God We
Trust, All Others Pay
Cash."
Lowell |

Here is
Shep in the Muhlenberg
College cafeteria just
after his 1 hour talk to
the students in Memorial
Hall on February 3,
1967. Taken from the
Muhlenberg College 1967
Yearbook |
Muhlenberg
Weekly Vol. 87 Number 15
Friday February 10,
1967 Muhlenberg College
Allentown, Pa.
SHEPHERD LAUDS MANHATTAN,
POSTULATES "AMERICAN DREAM"
by Aaron Boxer
Jean Shepherd, hailed by many as
the "leading Satirist of the
Underground," gave some personal
observations last Friday
[February 3rd] of "that great
appendage to Manhattan Island:"
Muhlenberg College. Before a
packed student assembly in
Memorial Hall, he calculated,
then diagnosed his listeners
from the vantage point of a
"native to civilization," a
sojourner from a sublime place
(New York City) where society
and God pay daily public
avowal.
If he seemed extremely biased to
Manhattan Island during his
brief appearance, it was because
he wanted to master that
expression at the time. Shepherd
spoke extemporaneously,
gathering little morsels of
satire while en route to
Muhlenberg.
Graceful Crud
When he
spoke of the crud settling
gently "over the merry swamps"
of New Jersey, we cannot
question him further. The
character analogous to "Shep"
saw it. And when he envisioned
dead birds gliding
aimlessly above the Garden State
amidst the "sultry crud," we
graciously accepted it.
Shepherd exudes more than fun.
Behind the facade of savage wit
that attracts a devoted 27-state
audience each night over WOR
Manhattan radio, bubbles a warm
medium of thought, true purpose
and "serious" analyzation.
As Mr. Shepherd is carefully
scrutinized by the observer
during a casual conversation,
the first impression we receive
is the entertainer's provocative
sincerity and honesty. Through
his close association with
publisher Hugh Hefner and
Playboy magazine, Shepherd
articulated the difference
between "Hefner's Empire" and
other magazines that have long
endured the tag of "socially
acceptable" and the "Good
Housekeeping seal" in American
society. "I have never known Hef'
to write anything in Playboy
that he didn't honestly believe
in."
Knits doilies
His comments on Vogue and The
New Yorker ran somewhat
different to the above
statement. "Those guys on The
New Yorker sound like
they're knitting little doilies
for their readers. It's a big
joke. John O'Hara told me he
submitted one article eight
times and each time they sent it
back for revision." He went on
to say that the author finally
gave up and told them to write
it themselves. Several weeks
later, O'Hara saw a text that
faintly resembled a topic he had
written previously, lacking all
the forceful elements of its
original being.
Shepherd's biting satire, then,
must be seen through the
spectrum of sincere desires
and unpretentious passions. He
stands for the crusaders of
truth, "the saying-something
crowd," and attacks the
small-time hypocrites that think
culturally depraved Philadelphia
is anything more than Allentown
to the third power.
Shepherd remarked that he
prefers Al Capp humor to that of
his close associate Jules
Feiffer. This is pure honesty, a
common trademark to all those
who know Mr. Shepherd. Unlike so
many in his field, he isn't
satirical for the sake of
comedy. There is an underlying
purpose, a motive, always,
behind his hilarious glimpses of
the world. |