In 1971 a Public Television program called "Jean Shepherd's America" filmed the last run of Union Pacific's City of Los Angeles with some fantastic shots and run-bys which I can remember to this day. Shepherd was a New York radio storyteller, raconteur and humorist. The second half involves Shepherd sitting in the dome car relating a WWII story about leaving a soldier behind on a troop train.
This video sits in the vaults of WGBH in Boston and as far as I know they have refused to release it. Trains Magazine has clout (or maybe someone on here) which might be used to make this public. Trains could sell the video in its publication or on-line!
Anybody here ever seen it? 1971 was a long time ago.
Are you sure it actually still exists, in WGBH's vaults or anywhere else?
It is not intended to be an impertinent question. Not too long ago, I was remembering a TV special I saw in 1970, documenting the final run of the Western Pacific's segment of the California Zephyr. It was called "Next Train: None" and produced by Oakland's local TV station, KTVU Channel 2.
I contacted KTVU about it several times, with no response.
But what I have since heard is that in those pre-digtal days, programs were recorded on relatively expensive and cumbersome-to-store magnetic video tape. So, in that era before home video recorders were commonplace, unless some editor thought the program had national historic significance (moon landing, Kennedy assasination), the tape would probably be re-used and the older program lost.
Painful thought, but that's what I understand. Thank goodness for the archiving that goes on today!
One of Jean Shepherd's biographers contacted WGBH in Boston and was told the segment was in the vaults, but not available. Too bad! There was some great action shots and humorous reflections of WWII troop trains. Shepherd gained national notoriety with the release of the iconic film "A Christmas Story"! Thoug,h that's a small part of his many accomplishments.
His Saturday morning ramblings on WOR radio in NY (Mutual Broadcasting System, too?) were spellbinding and riveting even to us teenagers who thought we'd like to be listening to the Top 40 count downs of the week on a half dozen or so other stations.....
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The second half involves Shepherd sitting in the dome car relating a WWII story about leaving a soldier behind on a troop train.
I have three of his books containing the stories he wrote for Playboy (Yes, it did have articles back then!) among other media venues, about his (thinly disguised) youth in 1930s/1940s Northern Indiana, and the stories are still pretty funny even after reading them a few times. The movie "A Christmas Story" is a mishmash of several of his stories, with plenty of tweaking and repurposing (for example the key scene in the movie with the Bumpkis' dogs stealing the Christmas Turkey was, in the original story, the dogs stealing a Easter Ham...)
For what it's worth, there's a low-fidelity audio recording of the episode on the 'Tube
Thanks for your information. I grew up listening to Shepherd on WOR and have some CD's of his work. Growing up in Hammond, Indiana, near Chicago, railroads were part of his early life. He talks about hearing the plaintive whistle of the "Dixie Flyer". Had heard all the tales featured in "A Christmas Story" long before the movie came out.
I ended up listening to that audio-only (soundtrack) of the Shepherd 'Trains' episode, and indeed it did include the story of the recruit left behind in a Arkansas backwater town after attempting to buy some beer for the kitchen crew on a sealed troop train. I dunno, his written story about this seemed a lot funnier, probably because he added a lot more details and humorous touches (the gorilla-like special forces he stumbled on in the train, the whirl and delirium of serving soliders after solider after solider, the reason he still worships apples (after the lunch rush, he was told to help himself to a cool, crisp apple), the reason why they were looking out at the countryside on a sealed troop train (the sergent in charge of the kitchen was allowed to open the side door of the converted baggage car to air out the kitchen), and a number of other humorus details. Still, pretty good story...
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