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Antique Auto Show
August 13-14 1966 - New Hope, Pa |
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These were taken at the New Hope PA antique auto show.
He was the emcee and announcer.
This was a 2 day event (Sat. and Sun)
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Photos courtesy of Mike
Schultz - Used with permission |
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Shep fan Gary Evans of Lavallette, NJ met Shep at the auto show and
tells his story of a one to one encounter with the man himself.
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On a beautiful day for a car ride, I
found myself in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It was the first or second
weekend in August, 1966. There was a fair going on, its purpose
being mostly to separate the tourists from their money. Wandering
over to the nearby high school athletic field, I found that there
was an antique car show in progress, and the cars were slowly going
around the running track. While listening to the announcer
commenting on the cars, it struck me that the announcer sounded very
familiar. I wondered who it was, and tried hard to place the voice.
Suddenly I realized... it was Jean Shepherd! Shep! Like so many
others at that time, I was a big fan and a devoted listener, and I
could hardly believe the good luck to find myself in the presence of
the man himself.
He announced each car and gave some interesting fact about
each one. It was great. I imagined myself going up to greet him
after the show, but I thought that he would be mobbed, and I
wouldn't get near him. But when the show was over, everyone left,
presumably for the next event at the fair. They didn't seem to know
him as anyone other than the car announcer. Shep was left alone
behind the mike, gathering his notes and getting ready to go.
As he left and began walking across the field toward the
parked cars, I hurried up to see him and tell him I was one of the
Thirteen (from time to time he claimed to have about thirteen
listeners.) "Excelsior, Fathead!" I shouted, hoping to identify
myself as a true believer. To my amazement he called back the
standard Shepherd answer, "Seltzer!" I started to walk with him and
asked him what had induced him to leave Greenwich Village and come
all the way down here to New Hope to announce a local car show. He
replied that if I was a regular listener, then I knew that he was a
car nut. (I did know that, and even had read his occasional
contributions to Sports Cars Illustrated, the former name of Car and
Driver magazine.) I told him that I knew that, but why did he agree
to do the announcements instead of just coming down to see the show.
He said he could have just come down, but then he would have to
listen to someone else do the announcing poorly. He explained,
imitating a fictional inept announcer: "And now ladies and
gentlemen, here is another...car. Yes, it is a car. This one is...
I’m pretty sure it is... green! And this green car has... (one, two,
three...) I think... yes, four wheels!" Shep continued the "schtick"
until we reached his car, a fastback Mustang in which a leggy blonde
sat waiting for him.
After he left I had to pinch myself. Was I awake, or did I
merely dream that Jean Shepherd and I were walking across a field in
New Hope, and he was doing a routine - just for me? |
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