Jean Shepherd
Jean Shepherd at WOR
Born	July 26, 1921(1921-07-26) Chicago, Illinois
Died	October 16, 1999 (aged 78) Sanibel Island, Florida
Pen name	Shep (nickname), Frederick R. Events 657 - Battle of Siffin. 811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Events 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Sanibel Island is an Island located on the Gulf coast of Florida, just offshore of Fort Myers. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a Pseudonym adopted by an Author or their publishers to conceal their identity Ewing
Occupation	Writer, raconteur, radio host
Nationality	American
Writing period	1948-1990s
Genres	humor, satire
Influenced Jerry Seinfeld

Jean Parker Shepherd (July 26, 1921 - October 16, 1999) was an American raconteur, radio and TV personality, writer and actor who was often referred to by the nickname Shep. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A literary genre is a category of literary composition Genres may be determined by Literary technique, tone, Content, or even (as in the case of fiction Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born on April 29 1954 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American comedian actor and writer Events 657 - Battle of Siffin. 811 - Battle of Pliska; Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar Events 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Storytelling is the ancient art of conveying events in Words Images and Sounds often by Improvisation or embellishment Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic ^[1]

With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is best-known to modern audiences^[2] for narrating the film A Christmas Story (1983), which he co-wrote, based on his own semi-autobiographical stories. For other uses see A Christmas Story (disambiguation A Christmas Story is a 1983 film based on the Short stories

Biography

Early life

Born on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, Shepherd was raised in Hammond, Indiana, where he graduated from Hammond High School in 1939. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Hammond (ˈhæmənd is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. Hammond High School can refer to Hammond High School (Columbia Maryland Hammond High School (Indiana in Hammond Indiana ^[2] As a youth he worked briefly as a mail carrier in a steel mill and earned his Amateur radio license when he was 16. Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is both a Hobby and a service in which participants called "hams" use various types of Radio communications He later attended several universities.

During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. ^[2] Shepherd then had an extensive career in a variety of media:

Radio career

Shepherd began his broadcast radio career on WSAI-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1948. WSAI is an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati Ohio. From 1951 to 1953 he had a late-night broadcast on KYW-AM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after which he returned to Cincinnati for a show on WLW. KYW is a class A AM Radio station on 1060 kHz licensed to Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə WLW is a Clear channel radio station located in Cincinnati Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications and broadcasting on 700 kHz AM. After a stint on television (see below), he returned to radio. "Shep," as he was known, settled in at WOR radio New York City, New York on an overnight slot in 1956, where he delighted his fans^[3] by telling stories, reading poetry (especially the works of Robert W. Service), and organizing comedic listener stunts. The City of New York Robert William Service ( January 16, 1874 &ndash September 11, 1958) was a poet and writer The most famous^[4] of the last involved creating a hoax about a non-existent book, I, Libertine, by the equally non-existent author "Frederick R. I Libertine was a literary Hoax that began as a practical joke by late-night radio Raconteur Jean Shepherd. Ewing", in 1956. Later co-written by Shepherd, Theodore Sturgeon and Betty Ballantine, this Ballantine Book is now a collector's item. Theodore Sturgeon (born Edward Hamilton Waldo on February 26, 1918; died May 8, 1985) was an American Science fiction The Ballantine Publishing Group, better known as Ballantine Books, is a major American book Publisher founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine. Among his close friends in the late 1950s were Shel Silverstein and Herb Gardner. The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein (September 25 1930 &ndash May 10 1999 was an American poet songwriter musician composer cartoonist screenwriter and author Herb Gardner ( December 28, 1934 in Brooklyn - September 25, 2003) Commercial artist Cartoonist Playwright With them and actress Lois Nettleton, Shepherd performed in the revue he created, Look, Charlie. Lois June Nettleton ( August 6, 1927 &ndash January 18, 2008) was a American Actress of film stage and television Later he was married to Nettleton for about six years.

When he was about to be released by WOR in 1956 for not being commercial, he did a commercial for Sweetheart Soap, not a sponsor, and was immediately fired. His listeners besieged WOR with complaints, and when Sweetheart offered to sponsor him he was reinstated. Eventually, he attracted more sponsors than he wanted—the commercials interrupted the flow of his monologues. He broadcast until he left WOR in 1977. His subsequent radio work consisted of only short segments on several other stations. In later life he publicly dismissed his days as a radio raconteur as unimportant, focusing more on his writing and movie work. This distressed his legions of fans who fondly remembered nights with Shep on WOR. He once made such comments during an appearance on the Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. Tom Snyder ( May 12, 1936 - July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, News anchor and This contrasts with his frequent criticisms of television during his radio programs.

In addition to his stories, his shows also contained, among other things, humorous anecdotes and general commentaries about the human condition, observations about life in New York, accounts of vacations in Maine and travels throughout the world. The State of Maine ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean Among the most striking of his programs was his account of his participation in the March on Washington in August 1963, during which Dr. Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, and the program that aired on November 25, 1963—the day of President Kennedy's burial. The following is a list of protest marches on Washington DC. Pre-1900 April 30, 1894 - Coxey's Army. Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader " I Have A Dream " is the popular name given to the historic public speech by Martin Luther King Jr Events 1034 - Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots dies Donnchad, the Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. However, his most scintillating programs remain his oftimes prophetic, bitingly humorous commentaries about ordinary life in America.

At the time of the WOR radio show, Shepherd rode a Vespa motor scooter and parked it in the lobby of the WOR building.

On January 9, 2000, Zippy recalled Jean Shepherd. Zippy the Pinhead is the main character in the Comic strip of the same name created by Bill Griffith.

Throughout his radio career, he performed entirely without scripts. His friend and WOR colleague Barry Farber marveled at how he could talk so long with very little written down. For the Friends character see List_of_recurring_characters_in_Friends. Yet during a radio interview, Shepherd once claimed that some shows took several weeks to prepare. On most Fourths of July, however, he would read one of his most enduring and popular short stories, "Ludlow Kissel and the Dago Bomb that Struck Back," about a neighborhood drunk and his disastrous fireworks escapades. In the 1960s and 1970s, his WOR show ran from 11:15pm to midnight, later changed to 10:15pm to 11pm, so his "Ludlow Kissel" reading was coincidentally timed to many New Jersey and New York local town fireworks displays, which would traditionally reach their climax at 10pm. New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. A firework is classified as a low explosive pyrotechnic device used primarily for aesthetic and entertainment purposes It was possible, on one of those July 4 nights, to park one's car on a hilltop and watch several different pyrotechnic displays, accompanied by Shepherd's masterful storytelling. Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples The term "pyrotechnics" can also be used for Fireworks events

The theme song used on his long-running radio show was "The Bahn Frei Polka" by Eduard Strauss. Eduard Strauss (Eduard Strauß ( 15 March 1835 &ndash 28 December 1916) was an Austrian Composer who together with brothers The particular version he used was recorded by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. Arthur Fiedler should not be confused with Arthur Fielder, a Kent Fast bowler of the 1900s The Boston Pops Orchestra was founded in 1885 as a subsection of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO founded four years earlier

Print

Jean Shepherd posed as Frederick R. Ewing on the back cover of Ballantine's "I, Libertine (1956). "

Shepherd wrote a series of humorous short stories about growing up in northwest Indiana and its steel towns, many of which were first told by him on his programs and then published in "Playboy. The State of Indiana ( was the 19th US state admitted into the union Playboy is an American Men's magazine, founded in Chicago Illinois, by Hugh Hefner and his associates which has grown into Playboy " The stories were later assembled into books titled "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash," "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories," and "A Fistful of Fig Newtons. In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash ( 1966, ISBN 0-385-02174-7 is the title of a book by Jean Shepherd. " Some of those situations were incorporated into his movies and television fictional stories. He also wrote a column for the early "Village Voice," a column for "Car and Driver" and numerous individual articles for diverse publications, including "Mad Magazine. This article is about a New York newspaper For the Ottawa Hills Ohio magazine see The Village Voice of Ottawa Hills. Car and Driver is an American automotive enthusiast Magazine. Mad is a monthly American Humor Magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952 "

When Eugene B. Bergmann's "Excelsior, You Fathead! The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd" was published in 2005, "Publishers Weekly" reviewed:

This prismatic portrait affirms Shepherd's position as one of the 20th Century's great humorists. Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade News magazine targeted at Publishers Librarians Railing against conformity, he forged a unique personal bond with his loyal listeners, who participated in his legendary literary prank by asking bookstores for the nonexistent novel I, Libertine (when Ian Ballantine had Shepherd and Theodore Sturgeon make the fake real, PW called it "the hoax that became a book"). Storyteller Shepherd's grand theme was life itself. . . Novelist Bergmann (Rio Amazonas) interviewed 32 people who knew Shepherd or were influenced by him and listened to hundreds of broadcast tapes, inserting transcripts of Shepherd's own words into a "biographical framework" of exhaustive research.

Television and films

Early in his career, Shepherd had a television program in Cincinnati called "Rear Bumper. "^[2] Reportedly he was eventually recommended to replace the resigning Steve Allen on NBC's "The Tonight Show. Steve Allen, born Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen ( December 26 1921 – October 30 2000) was an American The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as appropriate --> The Tonight Show is a long-running " NBC executives sent Shepherd to New York City to prepare for the position, but they were contractually bound to first offer it to Jack Paar. The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC) is an American Television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's The City of New York Jack Harold Paar ( May 1, 1918 &ndash January 27, 2004) was an American Radio and Television talk show host The network was certain Paar would hold out for a role in prime time, but he accepted the late-night assignment. Prime Time is the major News analysis current affairs and Politics programme broadcast on Radio Telefís Éireann in Ireland However, he did not assume the position permanently until Shepherd and Ernest Kovacs had co-hosted the show. Ernie Kovacs ( January 23, 1919 — January 13, 1962) was an American comedian whose

In the early 1960s he did a weekly television show on WOR in New York. Between 1971 and 1994, Shepherd became a screenwriter of note, writing and producing numerous works for both television and cinema. Screenwriters or scenarists are Scriptwriters who write the Screenplays from which Films and Television programs are made He was the writer and narrator for the show "Jean Shepherd's America," produced by Boston Public Television station WGBH in which he told his famous narratives, visited unusual locales, and interviewed local people of interest. Public broadcasting refers to radio television and other electronic media outlets that receive some or all of their funding from the public For the radio station specifically see WGBH (FM. WGBH is a non-commercial Television and Radio broadcast service located in Boston He used a similar format for the New Jersey Network TV show "Shepherd's Pie. The New Jersey Network, or NJN, is a state-wide Public television and radio network serving the U " On many of the Public TV shows he wrote, directed and edited entire shows.

He also wrote and narrated many works, the most famous being the feature film "A Christmas Story," which is now considered a holiday classic. For other uses see A Christmas Story (disambiguation A Christmas Story is a 1983 film based on the Short stories In the film, Shepherd provides the voice of the adult Ralph Parker. (This narrative style was later appropriated, without acknowledgment, in the popular television sitcom "The Wonder Years. ") He also has a cameo role playing a man overseeing the line at the department store waiting for Santa Claus. A cameo role or cameo appearance (often shortened to just cameo) is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the Performing arts, such as A department store is a Retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant merchandise line. Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply " Santa " is the Much to Ralphie's chagrin, he points out to him that the end of the line is much further away.

A 1994 movie sequel, "My Summer Story," was narrated by Shepherd but featured an almost entirely different cast from the previous film. My Summer Story, originally released as It Runs in the Family, is a 1994 film that follows the further adventures of Ralphie Parker and his family from the holiday The PBS series "American Playhouse" aired a series of television movies based on Shepherd stories, also featuring the Parker family. American Playhouse is an Anthology Television series periodically broadcast by PBS. These included "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss," "The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters,"^[5] and "The Phantom of the Open Hearth. Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss was a 1988 TV movie following the family from A Christmas Story on their annual "^[6]

Live performances and recordings

Shepherd also performed for several years at The Limelight Cafe in New York City's Greenwich Village, and at many colleges nationwide. Greenwich Village (ˌgrɛnɪtʃ ˈvɪlɪdʒ often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern Manhattan His live shows were a perennial favorite at Rutgers and Fairleigh Dickinson Universities. Rutgers The State University of New Jersey (also known as Rutgers University) is the largest institution for higher education in the state of New Jersey Fairleigh Dickinson University is an American Private university founded in 1942 He performed at Princeton University annually for 30 years, until 1996. Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. The Limelight shows were broadcast live on WOR radio.

He also performed before sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall and Town Hall. Carnegie Hall (generally ˌkɑrnɨgi ˈhɔːl is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east He was also emcee for several important jazz concerts in the late 1950s. Shepherd improvised spoken word lyrics for the title track on jazz great Charles Mingus's 1957 album The Clown. Improvisation (also called extemporization) is the practice of acting singing talking and reacting of making and creating in the moment and in response to the stimulus of Lyrics (in singular form Lyric) are a set of words that accompany music either by speaking or singing Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Charles Mingus ( 22 April 1922 &ndash 5 January 1979) was an American Jazz Bassist, Composer, The Clown is an album by Charles Mingus recorded and released in 1957 Eight record albums of live and studio performances of Shepherd were released between 1955 and 1975. Shepherd also recorded the opening narration and the voice of the Audio-Animatronics "Father" character for the updated Carousel of Progress attraction at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom. The Carousel of Progress is an Attraction located in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort, currently operating Walt Disney World Resort is the most visited and largest recreational resort in the world containing four Theme parks two Water parks twenty-three themed hotels This article is about the Theme park at Walt Disney World Resort.

Music

Many of his broadcasts were accompanied by novelty songs such as "The Bear Missed the Train" (a parody of the Yiddish ballad "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen") and "The Sheik of Araby", or by Shepherd himself, playing the Jew's harp, nose flute and kazoo. A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High A ballad is a Poem usually set to Music; thus it often is a story told in a Song. " The Sheik of Araby " is a song that was written by Harry Smith, Francis Wheeler and music by Ted Snyder in 1921 The Jew's harp, juice harp, jaw harp, mouth harp, Ozark harp, or marranzano pancake is thought to be one of the oldest Musical The kazoo is a simple Musical instrument ( Membranophone) that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when one vocalizes into it

On radio as well as on his WOR-TV show, he frequently used his own head as a musical instrument, knocking the top of his skull with his knuckles while changing the size of his open mouth to produce different notes. Shep facetiously claimed that his "Head Thumping" (as he called it) spanned about an octave.

Ham Radio

Jean held the Ham Radio call K2ORS. He was very active on ham radio until his death. Jean is also credited as the voice for the ARRL's tape series 'Tune in the world with Ham Radio'. This series of tapes helped many young people become ham radio operators.

Fact and fiction

What is still unknown is to what extent Shepherd's radio and published stories were fiction, fact, or a combination of the two.

The childhood friends included in many of his stories were people he claimed to have invented, yet high school yearbooks confirm that many of them did exist. His father was always referred to as "my old man" who worked in the Borden Milk Company offices. Borden Inc was an American producer of food and beverage products consumer products and industrial products During an interview on the Long John Nebel Show -- an all-night radio program that ran on WOR starting at midnight -- Shepherd once claimed that his real father was a cartoonist along the lines of Herblock, and that he inherited his skills at line drawings. Long John Nebel (born John Zimmerman) ( June 11, 1911 – April 10, 1978) was an influential New York City Talk radio Herbert Lawrence Block commonly known as Herblock ( October 13, 1909 &ndash October 7, 2001) was an American This may well not have been true, but Shepherd's ink drawings do adorn some of his published writings.

The 1930 Federal Census Record for Hammond, Indiana indicates that Jean's father did work for a dairy company. His actual occupation is illegible, but may read "cashier. " The 1930 census record lists the following family members: Jean Shepherd, age 30, head; Anna Shepherd, age 30, wife; Jean Shepherd, Jr, age 8, son; and Randall Shepherd, age 6, son. According to this record, Jean Sr, Anna, Jean Jr, and Randall were all born in Illinois. Jean, Sr's parents were born in Kansas. Anna's parents were born in Germany.

Jean Shepherd had two children, Randall and Adrien, but publicly denied this. Randall Shepherd describes his father as having frequently come home late or not at all. Randall had almost no contact with him after his parents' divorce. ^[7]

Shepherd's life and multimedia career are examined in the 2005 book Excelsior, You Fathead! The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd by Eugene B. Bergmann (ISBN 0-55783-600-0).

Influence

Shepherd's oral narrative style was a precursor to that used by Spalding Gray and Garrison Keillor. Speech refers to the processes associated with the production and perception of Sounds used in Spoken language. A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written spoken poetry prose images song Theater, or Dance) that describes a sequence of Spalding Rockwell Gray ( June 5, 1941 &ndash ca January 10, 2004) was an American Actor, Screenwriter, Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American Author, Storyteller, Humorist, Marshall McLuhan in Understanding Media wrote that Shepherd "regards radio as a new medium for a new kind of novel that he writes nightly. " In the "Seinfeld Season 6" DVD set, commenting on the episode titled "The Gymnast" Jerry Seinfeld says "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility—I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd. Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born on April 29 1954 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American comedian actor and writer " Furthermore, the first name of Seinfeld's third child is "Shepherd. "

Shepherd was an amateur radio operator, with call sign K2ORS. Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is both a Hobby and a service in which participants called "hams" use various types of Radio communications In Broadcasting and Radio communications a call sign (also known as a callsign or call letters, or abbreviated as a call, or otherwise When operating as an amateur, he was known to use his middle name, Parker. He was listed in the Amateur Radio Callbook and for a number of years his address was on 57^th Street in New York City. His last residence in NYC was on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village where he lived for many years.

Shepherd spent his final years in relative seclusion on Sanibel Island, Florida, with his wife Leigh Brown. Sanibel Island is an Island located on the Gulf coast of Florida, just offshore of Fort Myers. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the She was also his producer at WOR, and played many roles in his varied career. As Shep attained a rotund figure in his later years, Leigh would refer to him as "ma pamplemousse," or, "my grapefruit. " He died on Sanibel Island in 1999 of "natural causes. In Medicine, death by natural causes is a loosely-defined term used by Coroners describing Death when the cause of death was a naturally occurring disease " In 2005, Shep was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. History The National Radio Hall of Fame and Museum, located in the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago Illinois, is a Museum dedicated

Watch

• Jean Shepherd in Clinton, New Jersey, in 1977 (The YouTube poster has the wrong date.)

Listen to

• Jean Shepherd rebroadcasts on Max Schmid's Mass Backwards
• Jean Shepherd Archive (Streaming/downloadable Jean Shepherd radio shows and live appearances)
• The Brass Figlagee Nightly podcast of Jean Shepherd shows.

Bibliography

• I, Libertine (1956)
• In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash (1966)
• Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories (1971)
• Ferrari in the Bedroom (1972)
• The Phantom of the Open Hearth (1978)
• A Fistful of Fig Newtons (1981)
• A Christmas Story (2003, posthumously)

Filmography

• America, Inc. I Libertine was a literary Hoax that began as a practical joke by late-night radio Raconteur Jean Shepherd. In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash ( 1966, ISBN 0-385-02174-7 is the title of a book by Jean Shepherd. NET Playhouse (1970) (TV)
• Jean Shepherd's America (1971) (TV)
• The Phantom of the Open Hearth (1976) (TV)
• The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (1982) (TV)
• The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (1983) (TV)
• A Christmas Story (1983)
• The Great American Road-Racing Festival (1985) (TV)
• Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss (1988) (TV)
• My Summer Story (aka It Runs in the Family) (1994)

See also

• WOR (AM)

References

External links

• Jean Shepherd at the Internet Movie Database
• Jean Shepherd Festival in Hammond, Indiana
• The Night People vs Creeping Meatballism Mad 32 (March-April 1957) article by Jean Shepherd, illustrated by Wally Wood
• Jean's ham call on QRZ.COM