Monologist Jean Shepherd on Ayn Rand:

[PCIntern]

As I have posted here before, I listen to old radio shows (when I awaken in the middle of the night)with an mp3 player from WOR of Shep from 1957 to 1977, and I have about 1100 of them. One of the newly 'discovered' shows began with a rant against Ayn Rand: I'll paraphrase some: he started by being outraged that when he had disparaged her in one of his previous shows (I don't have that - it may be lost forever), he got lots of letters and phone calls saying that he hadn't read her and blah blah blah. He asserted that he HAD read her stuff before it was fashionable and he found her prose sadly lacking and called her works "tracts". And he went on and on...

The point is: shep was actually pretty conservative by nature:, and for him to take off after the extremist Rand was heady stuff for the day. WOR was always a RW station and Shep was never fond of "Protesters" and liberals until he went to DC for the Civil Rights march. His reporting of the event was remarkable and there began a gradual shift towards the middle. BTW, his show of Nov 25th, 1963 following the funeral of President Kennedy was REMARKABLE. He ended the commentary by remarking that after the ceremony, the camera showed a couple of grave diggers coming down to finish the job, and that how each of us, no matter how important or how anonymous, ends the same way, with a couple of men coming in to shovel the last few mounds of dirt onto the grave. Stunning. I would suggest that people try to find download links which I don't have here at present, but are Google-able, and hear some of his work. You'll be addicted in no time.

On edit: sorry about the disjoint prose here, but I'm so fucking upset by the 'discussion' on the SPYCAM issue that I can't think straight...

[Journeyman]

1. For those unfamiliar with him, Shepherd was the author of "A Christmas Story". . .

and throughout his life wrote often and hilariously about the antics of Ralphie, his friends, and his "old man."

Perhaps the funniest story I ever read about a high school prom -- "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories" -- was penned by Shepherd and appeared, as many of his short stories did, in the pages of Playboy magazine. Well worth the search, Shepherd's short stories have been gathered in a number of books.

[PCIntern]

2. You REALLY have to get the radio shows...

I'm telling you, it's a life-changing event to be able to listen to 3,4,5 in a row while you're driving or resting and it's just an experience which is unparalleled in monologue. Also, the entire catalog of CBS Mystery Theatre is available...THOUSANDS OF HOURS of amazing writing and dramamtic acting...Radio was the BEST! The Theater of the Mind.