Sheplives

Last Summary Update: None

Being A Peeping Tom
Airdate: Thursday - July 2, 1964

WOR Show
Original Airing

audio

First Spoken Line After Theme Ends

Our suggestion of the week is to have a love ffair with the sun. . .

Show Description

[ Courtesy: Mitch Stone - None ]   
  The opening theme of this show is missing. It starts off with Shep reading a newspaper story, in his trademark bad Asian accent, about waiters in a restaurant somewhere in China beating a customer to death in a dispute over a check. The point is unclear.

He moves on to a newspaper story about teenage boys in Westfield NJ playing tennis in the dark with infrared glasses and a florescent tennis ball. This leads Shep onto the theme of the show: nocturnal games, particularly of the male teenage variety.

Shep taunts his listeners to state what they are dedicated to -- with the clear implication that it's probably a lot less than they imagine.

He reads a snippet of article about the celebrated Chicago bunko artist, Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil, offering a Brass Figlagee to anyone who knows how he earned his nickname. He also makes reference to other Chicago folk-hero criminals, presumably by way of setting up the premise that Midwesterners are not as pure of heart as some may suppose. He uses that setup to launch into his story about nocturnal teenage games, laced with some Shepherdesque observations about the darker side of humanity.

Shep says he is about to make a confession, that at the "yeasty age" of 12 years old, one summer night he and about 15 of his Hammond pals (Swartz, Flick, Bruner, and a several other names appearing only rarely in his stories), spontaneously become a roving band of peeping toms, moving from house to house until, after four or five nights they "taste the heady fruit of the clandestine" by hitting the "double jackpot." He felt he had become a "true rotten person," but of course did not stop -- until a police alert warning of band of peeping toms ran in the Hammond Times, and police cars appeared down the street one night about a week later.

Shep observes that he "never met anyone who didn't have an affinity for sin of all kinds," and that human beings have the capacity for making it into an intellectual experiment, rather than admitting they do it for kicks. "Mankind is great at hiding things," he concludes.

Comments

• Shep seems to be distracted by some activity in the studio near the end of the show and wanders off-point, leading to not quite the big finish he might have intended. This show contains a great description of hot, humid summer nights in the Midwest. Shep reads article about Joseph Weil written on the eve of his 86th birthday - Weil was born 1875 which makes the article from 1961(?)

Brass Figlagee Award

"I will award the Brass Figlagee. . ."

• He reads a snippet of article about the celebrated Chicago bunko artist, Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil, offering a Brass Figlagee to anyone who knows how he earned his nickname.

Commercials (Up to date) (All times approximate)

Time	Sponsor	Notes
•	No Commercials or Commercials Cut

Music (Up to date) (All times approximate)

Time	Music Title	Notes
• 00:17	Dance Suite
• 28:23	Boodle Am Shake

Engineers, Staff, and Guests in Booth

Time	Engineer, Staff or Guest
•	None Mentioned

Instruments and Special Effects Played During the Show

Instruments Played

None

Rating

None Yet

Related Plots / Story Lines and Other References Used

Time	Category	Date	Title	Comments
• [ 13:21 ]	People		Albery, Esther Jane
• [ 13:29 ]	People		Ackers, Eileen
• [ 13:41 ]	General Topics		Spicy Detective Magazine
• [ 14:46 ]	People		Bruner, Ralf
• [ 14:48 ]	People		Flick
• [ 14:57 ]	People		Schwartz, Paul
• [ 16:38 ]	People		Stryker, Lawrence

Photos:

Record: 173 / ID: 19640702W0173

Airdate History ' - Original' date is earliest known broadcast)

	Date	Title
	July 2, 1964 Recno: 173	Being A Peeping Tom	Original Airing

More Ways To Hear or Buy It

Show	Replay Date
Mass Backwards	January 08, 2002

The Best Source for Quality Jean Shepherd Audio

Found in the following set(s)

Set Name	Show #	Media
1961/63 Set	67b	Cassette

Sorry, Not Available

General Info

Database Record Status

Database ID #:	19640702W0173	Sponsors up to date:	Yes
Record Created:		Sources up to date:	Yes
Last Update:	None	Station ID up to date:	Yes
Show Redated From: See Dating Notes		Engineers up to date:	Yes
Music up to date:	Yes	Instruments up to date:	Yes
Description up to date:	Yes

Known Recordees

None Known

Notes

Dating Notes

Notes

Source: Max Schmid

1963 or 1964 per Max's MB intro Goldindex and Gary Hines date it 1964

General Notes

No Notes Found

Technical Notes

No Notes Found

Research Notes

No Notes Found

Max / Schmidco

Max's super secret page of shows never played and not on internet - maybe. . .

Max / Schmidco Notes
No Notes Found

Replays

Mass Backwards

Replay Date

January 08, 2002

WBAI Golden Age of Radio

NONE

Yesterday USA

NONE

Dustbin of History!

NONE

Max / Schmidco Notes
No Notes Found

Other

References:

Synd#:
Synd#:

Schmidco Sets - 1 found

Set Name	Show #	Media	File Name	Source
1961/63 Set	67b	Cassette	0 Running Time: 0

Shows Known via Recordings or Lists
(1950 to 1974 Sources 100% Complete - 1975-1977 in process)

5 Known copies from various Sources and Lists (Up to date)

	Recordee			¹ Shortened Theme: 55 seconds ² Audibly Dated: By recordee or other ³ Modified Theme: Theme added by Gary Hines ⁴ Syndicated Intro: Intro broadcast as part of Synd Shows
	This copy used for summary time references		Inventory File Name coding explained

Source Name

Information

Schmidco

Running Time: 41:13

Timing Reference
Inventory Name: 1964 07 02_W0173_022-600_1961-63_Set-67b Being a Peeping Tom.mp3
Source filename: Peeping Tom
Source set: 1961/63 Set
Source ref number: 67b
Station: WOR

Comments: Dated 7-2-1964 in Schmidco Cat

Images

David Goldin

NEED A COPY OF THIS RECORDING Source description: The Jean Shepherd Show. July 2, 1964. WOR, New York. Participating sponsors. "Have a love affair with the sun." Yellow Kid Weil, fifteen young peeping Toms...and a new summer activity. Jean Shepherd. 42:34. Audio condition: Excellent. Incomplete.
Source ref number: 70818
Station: WOR

Gary Hines

Running Time: 42:23

Inventory Name: 1964 07 02_W0173_097 Peeping Tom.mp3
Source filename: 64-07-02 Peeping Tom.mp3
Source description: 7-2-64 0237 Peeping Tom
Station: WOR

Images

Mass Backwards

Running Time: 42:18

Available on Internet

Inventory Name: 1964 07 02_W0173_500 Being a Peeping Tom.mp3
Station: WOR

Comments: Mass Backwards recording

Max - Everything Sets

Running Time: 42:32

Available on Internet

Inventory Name: 1964 07 02_W0173_601 Night Games.mp3
Source filename: 1963_07_02_Night_Games.mp3
Source set: Everything Set 05
Station: WOR

"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