Flicklives


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Guest Book Shep's fans from all over

Virginia
48 Guests Found

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Carole Bergman
........................, Virginia

Joined: November 02, 2003

Shep fan since: 1975
Discovered Shep: Read one of his books
Guest No: 1087

Comments:
I grew up in Hammond. I went to the Lake County Fair. My brother and I always check tux jackets for the bullet hole in the pocket. Found the site while searching for a copy of "Wanda Hickey ---" (I went to school with her!) for my son-in-law who is a recent convert.

Richard Fye
Alexandria, Virginia

Joined: May 21, 2001

Shep fan since: 1976
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 574

Grant Randall
Alexandria, Virginia

Joined: November 11, 2004

Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: Read one of his books
Guest No: 1341

Comments:
Good God, Thanks for this Site.Some portal for my younger years,formed by a master storyteller.Alone in rural America,I saw life a little more clearly through his words. Hard lessons more easily absorbed and much laughter.Car and Driver columns were my first exposure,then saw Shep on Virginia Graham[!] show,promoting Wanda Hickey. I bought the book,and was changed forever.Great appearance,as she didn t seem to "get" his humor!

David Hayes
Arlington, Virginia

Joined: December 22, 2000

Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 356

Hank Ickes
Arlington, Virginia

Joined: August 14, 2003

Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1040

Comments:
I think Shep might have been *one* of the reasons why I volunteered to go in the US Army Signal Corps in 1964 (rather than wait around to be drafted into something less pleasant . . .). And I even went to one of his "Limelight" shows while stationed at Ft. Monmouth. A source of cheap amusement for him, I'm sure. Anyway, nostalgia aside, I treasure the memories of listening to him on WOR (I lived on Long Island at the time), and I miss the monologues. Excelsior indeed, you fatheads! Hank Ickes

Thomas Horton
Ashburn, Virginia

Joined: September 16, 2003

Shep fan since: 1972
Discovered Shep: Read one of his books
Guest No: 1062

Comments:
Jean Shepherd is one of my very favourite authors. Many an enjoyable hour has been spent reading (and re-reading) his books. I am so happy I ran across this site. Thank you for keeping his memory alive

Todd Solberg
Blacksburg, Virginia

Joined: February 25, 2001

Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 465

cathy moore (now jacobs)
blacksburg, Virginia

Joined: October 10, 2003

Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 847

Comments:
I am now 50. My father was a great fan and I became hooked when I was maybe 12. Oh my gosh what a rush to find myself in my dark bedroom hearing stories about flick and schwartz after listening to a CD provided by a friend. The preteen and teen years are such an impressionable time; I am sure that he had a much greater impact on what I became as an adult than I can ever realize. Also, to think back on my father (now long gone) as a person and what it meant that he listened to Jean shepard as much as possible. Wow. Life is so wierd. We lived in Trenton, NJ.

Phil Fischer
Centreville, Virginia

Joined: March 24, 2006

Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1624

Comments:
The memory is as fresh as if it were just yesterday. Sneaking my little 9 volt transistor radio with the annoying earplug into bed so I could listen to shepherd when he came on at night. I was glued to every word and I used to hope that this night would have a rendition of "The bear missed the train". My prized possession is my copy of Wanda Hickey autographed by Shep with a flourish and an Excelsior! I miss you Shep. My oldest son has the bug and he can't stop discussing how american Sheps stories are. It's the truth isn't it? Pure Americana and timeless.

Mark Traphagen
Charlottesville, Virginia

Joined: March 08, 2003

Shep fan since: 1972
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 905

Comments:
Hey, you fatheads! Biggest frustration of my adolesence (well, 2nd biggest) was constantly falling asleep before the last 10 minutes of the show on WOR. Had to pray that someone in my little circle of fellow listeners at Memorial High, Cedar Grove, NJ, had heard the ending.

Mark Traphagen
Charlottesville (originally NJ), Virginia

Joined: March 06, 2000

Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 47

William L. Archibald Jr.
Chesapeake, Virginia

Joined: July 24, 2001

Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 650

Fred Fritts
Chesapeake, Virginia

Joined: January 02, 2002

Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 764

Warren Cooke
Chesapeake, Virginia

Joined: January 27, 2009

Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2829

Comments:
Many a night I remember listening to Shep....the Theme just blew me away to hear it again......he was the ultimate story teller, and I enjoyed the reruns just as good as the originals. Oh, to hear those steel mill stories again, and the drive up to the old transmitter tower at high speed through the marsh. Is Jim Clavin the son of a Clavin who was on Wash, DC TV late night on the very early days of TV. When my station went off the air at night in Balamer, I could pick up Channel 7 WTOP[?] and watch and listen to a real jem of a show "Gene was the Clavenest" Warren Cooke

James Sparks Hutcheson
Edinburg, Virginia

Joined: December 12, 2000

Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 338

Dan Parker
Fairfax, Virginia

Joined: September 13, 2000

Shep fan since: 1975
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 227

Sam Koons
Fairfax, Virginia

Joined: August 30, 2003

Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 809

Comments:
Ocassionally I came upon Shep's radio program late at night, and found something about his voice that kept me close to the speaker. Later when he did some commercials for ice cream (I think it was) the manner in which he described a product that everyone knows so well, and yet, as he described it, I--the listener--experienced ice cream all over again. When I saw A Christmas Story for the first time on TV I could tell from that wonderful voice it was the guy who kept me from going to bed so many years before. Then, when I heard that he had written some books, I went out and bought and read them with delight. Oh, there's one other memory which stays in my mind: I was driving home late one night and happened to heard his distinctive voice and style on WOR, and recall him talking about feeling eyes on the back of his head while waiting for a traffic signal to turn, only to see, in the rearview mirror, a concrete Mexican holding on to a donkey on a rope which sat on the front lawn behind him. He went on to embellish the scene, only to conclude that he imagined someone driving late one night in Mexico, and stopping at a traffic light, then feeling the eyes boring into the back of his head, and then looking at the rearview mirror. There the driver would see a north American in a Hawaiian shirt and Burmuda shorts, standing alongside his Volkswagen. I was laughing so hard I almost ran off the road. Oh, how I miss the man, his perspective, his observations...and his voice!

Bob Smidlap
Fairfax, Virginia

Joined: March 11, 2003

Shep fan since: 1958
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 908

Comments:
I remember in the late 50's early 60's listening to Shep until I fell asleep. I was in suburban Phila and had no trouble getting WOR at nite (was also a Long John Nebel fan). My big brother turned me on to Shep. Love the WWII stories. Listened to him the nite of the Bay of Pigs invasion and for some reason it made the event more real to me than all the early news stories. He was winging it and had no idea the disaster that lurked, but he was able to make it so dramatic and riveting. Never cared for the NJ PBS series but I'll aways remember those night with the radio down so my folks woundn't hear that I was up so late.

George Bandy
Falls Church, Virginia

Joined: August 24, 2006

Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1716

Comments:
I'm at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference now because of Shep. I loved his stories and he inspired me with the wonder of words. I love telling how I listened to him fade in and out on the radio when I was a kid in Newport News.

Edward Grant
Herndon, Virginia

Joined: December 30, 2003

Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1181

Comments:
First, it was tough to pick a year. The "Bahn Frei Overture" was one of the first pieces of music I heard repeatedly, so I'm sure I was a "fan" in that sense of the term by age 7. (I still remember one night in the 60s at the Jersey shore when Shep, for some reason, played "Bahn Frei" in the middle of the broadcast. My mother (not listening) happened to ask my father what time it was, and he naturally replied "11 o'clock." When she discovered it was only 10:40 and remonstrated with him, Dad replied: "When has he ever played that song before the end of the show?!" Thus was time measured in the Grant household.) I started listening seriously in the 7th grade -- late 1960s. The Hammond, army, and Route 22 stories were wonderful, but I noted right from the start that Shep's commentary on the contemporary scene was far and above anything else being purveyed in the media. He saw right through the Sixties (see that great chapter in "Ferrari" recounting the "hootenanny" flight to Chicago) and the pious verities that decade spawned, whose continuing influence he predicted. His ability to assess the true importance of specific events and personalities is, to me, what sets him apart and puts him in the league of Twain and Ade. Just listen to his broadcast (currently available on Mass Backwards) from November 25, 1963. His musings on the Kennedy assassination and what it would mean for the future on American politics are so prescient that it's scary. I've wondered recently if it would be possible to transcribe a number of his better shows, and edit them into a series of essays for a book. They did it with Reagan's radio addresses --surely it could be done to preserve what were, in fact, oral essays of the first rank. Some in these postings have mentioned the PBS "Playhouse" renditions of Shep classics (better in most senses than "A Christmas Story"). I contacted WGBH a year or two ago and got a letter suggesting that rebroadcast/DVDs were not possible presently due to issues with the estate (or something like that). Hopefully that will clear up and a future PBS catalog will feature these on DVD. Finally, and sorry for the length, but my Personal Encounter: In what is still the greatest evening of professional entertainment at New Providence (N.J.) High School, a classmate and I arranged for Shep to do one of his classic shows in March 1973. 90 minutes of monologue and stories (including the tire-change immortalized in "ACS" and the one about the second-grade striptease artist, which got the blue-haired ladies all atwitter), followed by 90 minutes more of Q&A. We paid him $1000, and charged $3.00 a head, easily filling 1000 seats. A net of $2000.00 for our sophomore class fund! And could he read people! After a a minute of chatter in the "green room," he started calling me "Big Ed," which unbeknownst to him was my high school nickname. Finding out I ran track, he inscribed "Ferrari" with a custom line-drawing of "Big Ed at Speed." That, and memories of two recent visits to Cleveland Street and Warren G. Harding School in Hessville, and things I will never forget

alan boyance
huddleston, Virginia

Joined: July 10, 2004

Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1276

Comments:
i'm back in berkeley heights, n.j listening to the radio under my pillow again.where has the time gone, my family still loks fowrd to "the christmas story" every year.

Richard Hilton
King George, Virginia

Joined: March 18, 2003

Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 917

Comments:
Found Shep in 1962 while living in his favorite state of NJ. I continued to listen to Shep on WOR after moving to Maryland right up until the time when the station replaced their very old (1920's) transmitter. Their new one just didn't reach out like the old one had. I just now re-discovered Shep on WBCQ while aimlessly tuning a shortwave, and I then found this site via search. I continue my search for the full text (and author) of the poem about extreme ineptitude that Shep would recite, ending "or pour piss from a cowboy boot/ with full instructions printed on the heel.

Tom Loughlin
Leesburg, Virginia

Joined: December 14, 2005

Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1558

Comments:
Some of my fondest memories as a child was staying awake at mid-night listening to Jean Shepherd on WOR. At that time we lived just north of Trenton, N.J. (just across the Delaware River from Yardley, PA). As I remember, he came on right after the Barry Farber show (and the 11 o'clock news). Sometime after mid-night, the old man would would yell to my brother and I to turn the radio off and go to sleep--but all we did was turn the volume down and laughed our heads off. I suspect he knew we stayed up and listened to the show.

Michael Matei
Locust Grove, Virginia

Joined: December 24, 2004

Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1398

Comments:
I moved to New York city in 1966 from the Chicago area. I was a pilot for Pan American and when not flying I always tined in to WOR 710 on the dial and listened to Shep with Baited Breath. I loved the stories b, being from the some basic area in Chicagoland area I could really relate to the stories. THEN!!!one evening at 10pm I tuned in and shep was GONE!! GONE!! He was replaced by some BOOB called Bernard something or other doing a call in show. CURSES!! NUTS!! I sure miss his voice & wit. God Bless Him. I know that he is entertaining many souls "UP There" I hope he keeps the light on for me. Thanks Shep.

Carol Sirkin Welcher
Manassas, Virginia

Joined: October 21, 2000

Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 268

Randa Steblez
Mclean, Virginia

Joined: January 30, 2004

Shep fan since: 1957
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1218

Comments:
In May of 1958 I met Jean at the Lamb's Club in New York City at a special gathering of cartoonists and humorists. One of the artists was a family friend and introduced me around to Shep, Shel Silverstien, and Jules Feiffer. The made a big pro duction over me and called me "gorgeous". I loved it! What a spectacular moment for a cute 15 year old who idolized these guys! I talked to Jean later in l983 and he still remembered.

Paul E Schmid
Middleburg, Virginia

Joined: June 14, 2000

Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 113

carolyn horton
midlothian, Virginia

Joined: January 05, 2009

Shep fan since: 2003
Discovered Shep: Saw One of His Movies
Guest No: 2825

Comments:
I have seen "The Christmas Story" many times, and loved it--but never noted the identity of the author until a chance remark by a fellow guest at a barbeque whilst visiting my daughter in Sunnyvale, California. I've since read "In God We Trust" as well as "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories" and plan on reading whatever else of his I can find. I grew up in the 40's and 50's, and all stories hit home!

Mike Brigham
NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia

Joined: July 19, 2009

Shep fan since: 1962
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 2871

Comments:
I used to sneak my 9 transistor radio under my pillow on Saturday night to listen to Shep whsn I was 10 years old. I loved his show and had to laugh into the pillow to keep from being discovered by my Mom. I was up "much to late for a 10 year old" ( What my Mom said ).

Art Altenbach
Portsmouth, Virginia

Joined: December 05, 2006

Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1848

Comments:
This site is great! I just turned 49 and I've been feeling kinda nostalgic lately, so I've been looking for some recordings of Mr. Shepard. I remember listening to him on with my mom at our home in New Jersey when I was younger. Thanks for setting up this site!

Steve Steve
Reston, Virginia

Joined: November 15, 2001

Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 732

Rod Koozmin
Reston, Virginia

Joined: October 01, 2003

Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 844

Comments:
There was no one like him. He effected some profound mental growth in me then. I miss him.

Rod Koozmin
Reston, Virginia

Joined: April 01, 2006

Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1632

Comments:
I heard Shep on the Radio a few days back on my Eton SW receiver. I could well imagine Shep making an ad for the E! . But I heard him on domestic station I think in Maine and thought to mention it on my SW listservs and got back a few emails from former Shep fans listeners. Ah it brought back old memories....... I listen in Washington sometimes to the Greaseman and wonder if he was influenced by Shep. I have in the past listened to Don and Mike locally and doupt they ever did. I'm reading about Borgman's book and would like to get a copy. After I meet my wife we got to talking about about our high school days and it turned out that she listened to Shep! Which was quite a suprise. It turns out her whole family did. And I remember Shep talking about guys writing in about "chicks" as he got away with calling the fairer sex not liking his show. I can still hear the music and his sigh at the end of a show.- Rod Koozmin, Reston VA

Rod Koozmin
Reston, Virginia

Joined: May 01, 2006

Shep fan since: 1967
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1664

Comments:
It's been a while since I was listening to old broadcasts and I found the book by Bergman and have been sorta sad. I was trying to figure out why since to me Shep is such a pleasant memory and came to the conclusion that it was bringing me back to my childhood with Sheps childhood then his adolesence and mine and then the sadness of Shep's disfunctional ness in his life and then the sadness of his death after his wife's death. Well that's enough. I wonder if any others have felt this sadness in rediscovering Shep?

Matthew Arnold
Reston (originally Marlboro NJ), Virginia

Joined: March 26, 2000

Shep fan since: 1972
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 71

Dave Young
REston Va, Virginia

Joined: December 20, 2000

Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 348

Tim Pearson
Richmond, Virginia

Joined: January 14, 2003

Shep fan since: 1970
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 784

sidney kessler
richmond, Virginia

Joined: December 09, 2003

Shep fan since: 1951
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1117

Comments:
Found him in early 50's, all night radio on WOR. Might have done better in college if I slept instead of listening. Remember one story about Lou Gerhig hitting a home run that hit the back wall of the stands still rising, and Mrs. Gerhig called on phone. Wondered whether it was true. Loved the station breaks, something like, "speaking about idiots, this is WOR AM and FM."

Tom Bogucki
Richmond, Virginia

Joined: February 28, 2004

Shep fan since: 1966
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1230

Comments:
WOW! Great site for any old 'Shep' fan. Brought back all the memories of my brother & I, listening quietly in our Short Hills, NJ bedroom, to the voice of 'our leader'. Since I was willing to carry out all his 'instructions", I was one of several Millburn Jr. High students to write "Flick Lives" in various places throughout the school. The graffitti got so prolific, that H.R. Conover, M.J.H.S. principle called a 'special assembly' to 'address the problem'. We got a scream out of his comments describing Shep as a 'certain radio personality out of New York' that had asked us to 'deface school property'. Threatened with 'a week of detention' for violators, our 'Flick Lives' campaign hame to a halt. What Memories!

Art Matz
Richmond, Virginia

Joined: March 08, 2005

Shep fan since: 1964
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1445

Comments:
Shep was the first of the real radio talk show entertainers. Without him there might not be a Rush Limbaugh or any of the other radio personalities.

Don Chichester
Roanoke, Virginia

Joined: February 20, 2003

Shep fan since: 1960
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 892

Comments:
I wouldn't miss a program, if at all possible. Some I taped. Too few, I'm afraid. Then, when I moved to Pittsburgh, midst static and QRM, I still could hear Ol' Shep. (I was listening to WOR the day of the power outage, when one mike in NYC enlightened by a flashlight kept New yorkers aware of the situation. People voluntarily brought fuel for a small generator that go the signal to NJ. Great!)

Will Mundy
Salem, Virginia

Joined: September 04, 2003

Shep fan since: 1969
Discovered Shep: Read his Playboy short stories
Guest No: 1052

Comments:
Thanks for keeping worthwhile things alive.

Neal Stevens
Springfield, Virginia

Joined: January 03, 2004

Shep fan since: 1959
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1190

Comments:
I grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and listened to the marvelous and interesting intertwined stories of the great radio story teller, Jean Shepherd, on WOR-AM from New York. "Theater of the Mind." True radio with the Mr. Shepherd. Neal S.

Brian Cooper
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Joined: November 19, 2003

Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1121

Comments:
My dad listened to Shep every night. When ever we visited family, we always had to leave at 10:15...just in time to catch the "post time" theme music from his show on the car radio. Flick, Schwartz, Randy, Scut Farkas and the Bumpus hounds will always be a part of my childhood.

Dr. David W. Yacavone
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Joined: March 01, 2005

Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1443

Comments:
I saw him in person at the Lamplighter in the Village. and listened faithfully. In 1965, he appeared at my university (Seton Hall University) and brought down the house. He is a vital part of my flaming youth.

Mitch Easton
Virginia Beach VA, Virginia

Joined: May 25, 2000

Shep fan since: 1965
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 207

Paul Bosak
Waynesboro, Virginia

Joined: March 27, 2006

Shep fan since: 1971
Discovered Shep: On the Radio
Guest No: 1628

Dennis Van Derlaske
Woodbridge, Virginia

Joined: December 09, 2000

Shep fan since: 1963
Discovered Shep:
Guest No: 335

"Can you imagine 4,000 years passing, and you're not even a memory?
Think about it, friends. It's not just a possibility. It is a certainty." - Jean Shepherd - 1975