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"Education is a mysterious process that other people get.” confessed Jean Shepherd. The capacity crowd chuckled and an evening with America's best-known marathon talker began in the gym last Tuesday night. It was evident that the audience included a considerable number of loyal Shepherd fans: The WOR star was greeted by what he called a "spontaneous roar of total love."
Jean Shepherd is hard to define. Even though he is funny, he cannot be called a comedian; even though he is satirical, he cannot be called a satirist; and even though he comments on American society, he cannot be called a social commentator. He is a man who is capable of looking at life with a humorous eye. and uses his brilliant gift of oration to communicate his observations to his-audience.
He began his talk by extending his sympathy to FDV students for having to attend "Fairleigh Ridiculous" while being so close to a "real university" like Princeton. To Mr. Shepherd, Fairleigh was an "in-residence correspondence school." He offered one consolation though - his own alma mater, by his account, made Fairleigh seem like Oxford.
Ostensibly, the topic was Education. In fact, he took the audience on the circuitous, charmingly human route of his own education. They traveled back with Shepherd through the wilds of Hackensack to his first date - There were he and the girl. And there was his little brother. We then joined his mother at the kitchen sink. There she stood, watching her neighbor's coffee grinds backing up into her sink. What to do in such a dilemma? Why, retaliate by dumping potato peelings down the drain, most certainly! Imagine the hilarity, says Shepherd, of having the plumbing system in the neighborhood back up! Then we are speeding down a superhighway, chased by the call of nature and not a gas station in sight.
It made no difference what he discussed, whatever the topic, he always had a riotous story with the famous Shepherd sound effects and faces to support it.
He spoke for an hour and a halt and ended his evening with the audience by joining David Lisker's Jug , Band for an encore, accompanying them on his kazoo and Jew's Harp.
Backstage, after the curtain was drawn, the marathon continued as a question and answer period. Asked whether his radio monologues were impromptu. Shepherd retorted that the mark of any good entertainer, himself included, was spending several hours in preparation for each session, and sounding completely spontaneous.
Why has he stayed so long at WOR? inquired someone. Said Shepherd, "WOR is the greatest station in the world." "It takes real guts.” he continued, "to put a program like mine on the same station as John Gambling and Martha Deane."
Jean Shepherd is a man of a thousand different stories. His latest hook. T. S. MACK-THE SAGA OF A WELCH POET, is ready to go to press as a sequel to IN GOD WE TRUST, EVERYBODY ELSE PAYS CASH, and promises to be as unpredictable and amusing as the original.
One can only hope that the enthusiasm and love he generated among the audience will serve to bring him back to Fairleigh for another return engagement. There is call for some optimism - Shepherd commented that Fairleigh is his second favorite place to visit in the whole country. Seton Hall takes first place. Whatever Seton has that Fairleigh doesn't, it definitely is not a more receptive audience.
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