New World Notes - Jean Shepherd vs. 'Creeping Meatballism'

This week on New World Notes: radio program #359, January 20, 2015, from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. (and on Wednesday from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m.), host Kenneth Dowst excerpts some of radio great Jean Shepherd's humorous critiques--from the 1950s--of Americans' conformity, consumerism, and false sense of "progress."

K.D. reads Shepherd's famous short essay, "The Night People vs. 'Creeping Meatballism'" (1957). Then--on the same theme--we hear selections from one of Shep's late-night radio monologues (May 2, 1959).

Here he talks about credit cards ... Green Stamps ... a used atom-smasher for sale ... "progress" ... self-help advice from Senator Lyndon Johnson ... how many ice cream flavors Howard Johnson's restaurants actually have* ... and the brief but glorious crime spree of Ronald Medsker.

* (Claimed = 28. Highest number observed = 26, at the HoJo's at the New Bedford exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.)

Archival Shepherd recording courtesy of Flick Lives!.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "leaky roof") of WWUH-FM, a community service of the University of Hartford.

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Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want--and what they're trying to make us settle for.

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