Flicklives

Last Summary Update: 10-13-2026

Chicago Rialto
Airdate: Friday - February 4, 1972 (Airdate Confirmed)

WOR Show
Original Airing

(Redated from: 4/72)

audio

(NOTE ABOUT TIME REFERENCES: Since there are many different copies of shows out there from different sources, all time references are from the beginning of one single recorded copy, since various copies, depending on when the recordee started recording, had news at the beginning or shortened themes. The times would vary from copy to copy.)

First Spoken Line After Theme Ends

Big, big, it's Friday night

Show Description

[ Courtesy: GROK Summary - - ]   
  Shepherd's rambling, anecdotal style covers several topics before focusing on the Rialto:

- A salute to an Associated Press story from South Benfleet, England, about a man who locked his wife in an antique chastity belt for her 26th birthday; their 3-year-old son threw away the key, and firefighters eventually freed her with wire cutters.

- A Florida story about a goat eating subpoenas intended for service.

- Trivia and advertising commentary, including a New York magazine ad for a thoughtful schoolteacher (Irving Cluberman at Warren G. Harding School) and satirical riffs on future ads for professors teaching "communication" or even "love."

- Commercials/reads for Provident Savings Bank (5% dividends), a Walden-themed album, and novelty wind-up flying birds (including a dove style).

- Mention of his PBS series "Jean Shepherd's America" being repeated later that spring/summer, with a new series ("Unsung American Heroes") in preparation. He also noted interest in closed-circuit motel TV distribution.

- "The Chicago Rialto story": Outside Chicago (temperature ~5 deg F), Miss Nude America Valerie Kraft (crowned at a nudist resort in Roseland, Indiana) performed fully nude at the Rialto Burlesque Theater on State Street as a challenge to anti-nudity ordinances. A vice detective was present, but the theater was closed by Fire Protection Bureau Chief Francis Murphy for inadequate firefighting equipment rather than for the nudity itself. Kraft expressed hope of "opening up Chicago to new dancing"; photographers and $3-paying customers had watched.

- Shepherd then tells a personal teenage story (around age 15-16) of hitchhiking to Chicago's South Side with friends Flick and Boles Rutkowki. After browsing surplus radio shops, they entered the Rialto (despite a "21+" sign), stood in the dark theater watching a burlesque dancer with feathered propellers/tassels she could spin independently. Police raided the place; the three boys were briefly detained but released because they were clearly underage, then hitchhiked home without ever discussing it again.

News Articles Read by Shep During Show

Shep would often read articles he recently read or were sent in by fans

Time	Image	Description
08:47		Man locks wife up in antique chastity belt
10:08		Goat eats subpoenas

Comments

• 5 minutes of Lester Smith and the news at beginning.

WOR ID

Time	Station ID (All times approximate)
18:53	This is WOR New York. . .

Commercials (All times approximate)

Time	Sponsor	Notes
19:03	Provident Savings Bank
20:42	King Karol Music
21:55	Ornithopter (Flying Bird)

Music (All times approximate)

Time	Music Title	Notes
13:30; 16:25; 17:53	Beethoven's 5th Symphony