WE ALL KNOW JEAN SHEPHERD FROM THE MOVIE "A CHRISTMAS STORY", OF COURSE, BUT DO WE KNOW FOR DECADES HE HOSTED A TALK RADIO SHOW ON WOR IN NEW YORK CITY?
I was just listening to one of those shows from October 31st, 1972 entitled "TRICK OR TREAT" and, around the half hour mark, he reads a few Halloween poems. Jean's engineer has a spooky, windy sound effect going in the background as he launches into his poems and they're really great. I wasn't previously familiar with either one of them before I just listened to this recording of Jean Shepherd's 1972 Halloween show. You can give it a listen on youtuberz right here and the poems start around the 28 minute mark. This first one is a poem called "HALLOWEEN" by Marnie Pomeroy:
Who raps at my window?
Who in a white sheet
Runs across the midnight lawn
Without the sound of feet?
What moon grows in the East
So huge and dusky red?
Who howls from the chill within the hill
Where the farmer's hound lies dead?
The dry leaves twist and rattle
Alive in an evil spell.
Down by the pond the man who drowned
Tolls a wavering bell.
The wind has hardly wakened,
Yet flapping through the air
Fly shapes with wings and bony things
And forms with jagged hair.
Who blows at my candle?
Whose fiery grin and eyes
Behind me pass in the looking glass
And make my gooseflesh rise?
Who moved in that shadow?
Who rustles unseen?
With the dark so deep I dare not sleep
All night on Halloween.
And the next poem was "HALLOWE'EN INDIGNATION MEETING" by Margaret Fishback:
A sulky witch and a surly cat
And a scowly owl and a skeleton sat
With a grouchy ghost and a waspish bat,
And angrily snarled and chewed the fat.
It seems they were all upset and riled
That they couldn't frighten the Modern Child,
Who was much too knowing and much too wild
And considered Hallowe'en spooks too mild.
Said the witch, "They call this the human race,
Yet the kiddies inhabit Outer Space;
They bob for comets, and eat ice cream
From flying saucers, to get up steam!"
"I'm a shade of my former self," said the skeleton.
"I shiver and shake like so much gelatine,
Indeed I'm a pitiful sight to see--
I'm scareder of kids than they are of me!"
Those are good. Glad to know there is some Halloween content with Jean Shepherd out there.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've long been a fan of Jean Shepherd's old radio shows but I've been especially into them lately. I believe there are some available on archive.org . . . if it ever comes back up again. It's been down for the last week or so.
ReplyDeleteWe knew he had some good horror chops with Black Christmas and c'mon that Santa scene in A Christmas Story is horror movie shit if you ask me!
ReplyDeleteUh oh. I think you're confusing director Bob Clark (who also directed BLACK CHRISTMAS) with author and narrator of A CHRISTMAS STORY Jean Shepherd. But you're absolutely right about the Santa scene -- pure horror!!!
DeleteNope no confusing at all. Same guy. He narrates it and everything. And how do we know for a fact that Jean Shepherd isn't the killer in Black Christmas? I mean we never really see who it was. Now, did Mel Blanc do his voice or is it really Mel Torme?
ReplyDeleteYou silly billy. Jean Shepherd had nothing to do with BLACK CHRISTMAS. However, we DO NOT know for sure he was NOT the killer. I mean, just because he refers to himself as "Billy" -- I mean, the killer isn't wrapped too tight so it MIGHT be Jean Shepherd. Yeah, isn't it great how we never EVER get to see the killer's face! That's why BLACK CHRISTMAS is the best movie ever made!!! And I've never made that claim for ANY other movie before!
DeleteWait a minute, I thought Winterbeast (I've said it's name so many times this spooky season it just HAS to mean something!) was the best movie ever made! Or is it Blood Diner? I'm so confused!
ReplyDeleteYes. And yes. If you would like a full list of all the movies I've named "the best movie ever made", please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to "I'M CORNFUSED", P.O. Box 9847, Hollyhock, VA.
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