"...FROM ITS GOLDEN, ICE-COOL DEPTHS COME THE ECHOS OF LOST BATTLES, THE
SOUND OF ANCIENT VICTORIES, THE NOISE OF A MILLION BALL GAMES"
Beer is on the job 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And Americans are not quite sure if they want to know why.
Jean Shepherd has always known about Americans and their love affair with beer. And
he welcomes the golden brew on JEAN SHEPHERD'S AMERICA.
Shepherd treats beer with a respect approaching reverence, calling it a phenomenon more universal than sex. At any given moment, thousands of Americans everywhere are imbibing the nectar-of-the-hops.
Running down the "beer mystique" takes Jean Shepherd to many places. One of them is Mary Vnuk's Tavern, on Packard ,lIvenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The late-night shift from the factory across the street, piles in there at 7:00 every morning for some serious drinking. And Jean Shepherd comes away from this visit with his share of foamy realism.
But beer is not just some innocent beverage that makes us happy. Jean Shepherd shows us the whole story - beer art, beer bottle ballet and beer shampoos.
Beer becomes a first-class citizen of JEAN SHEPHERD'S AMERICA only after Shepherd rips off the pop-top and lets go with one of his fabled beer stories. And Jean finally }inds the answer to that vital question, "Which comes first, paternal love, or that first long pull on a can of Canadian Ace after a long day's work ? "
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Fan Comments
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| [ Courtesy: Pete Delaney - 09-18-2016 ]
"From it's golden, ice-cold depths comes the echoes of lost battles, the sound of ancient victories, the noise of a million ball games! It's beer, the mother of us all!"
Jean Shepherd treats beer with a respect approaching reverence and projects that admiration with one of the truly unique half-hours in the history of television.
From the opening shot of thousands of gallons of the brew churning like waves of a storm ravaged sea, to a parade of thousands of cans and bottles of Schlitz speeding through the brewery we are treated to a show as refreshing as a glass of an ice-cold frosty.
A very jovial Jean stands amid the Schlitz vats and regales us with a story of his old man's 5PM ritual: home from work, through the back door into the kitchen, clothes stripped by the time he reaches the sink, into the fridge for a cold Blatz and all the cares of the world disappearing as he downs it.
We are also treated to a visit to Vnuk's Tavern on Packard Avenue in Milwaukee joining some night shift regulars from U1e factory across the street for some early morning suds and talk. In addition, we see beer used as a shampoo at a salon, a beer can collection and a nice little old lady in leder hosen plastered at an Octoberfest.
Pop culture is given it's due with a montage of beer commercials that includes such classics slogans as "When you're having more than one" and "Mabel, Black Label." The show concluded with a beautiful display of "beer art" - the colorful kinetic advertising
signs and clocks that hang in bars and taverns. |
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| Additional Comments: |
| Music played on the show:
"Bahnfart"
Jazz Piano Version Of A Mozart (?) Work
2001 Soundtrack
Flea Band (with Shep on kazoo) |
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