Jean Shepherd 1965 09 30

0:00A Wonder World, a family entertainment is coming on the Wonder World. This is W-O-R-A-M, and W-O-R-F-M in New York.

1:00The classic discovery is that coals are transmittable through a high fidelity FM broadcast. Real high fidelity. I understand you catch more than coals. By the way, did you see that I added? What was it? Time or playboy or something? It showed this chick and it said, she was what is it now? She was looking out. She said, this is La Jureenne. It said, I bet it's not that. I bet it's not that. Why I'm track here. What's up with the athlete's work? The rest of this really truly truly truly truly. It's the com-alive hour. Here on W-O-R, dedicated to a world of the world. It's the com-alive hour. Here on W-O-R, dedicated to all of you who are in the Pepsi generation.

2:00That's all of us, of course. At the end of the year, at the end of the year, at the end of the year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, rotten, decadent society. Oh, idiotic, silly, decadent, nothing people. Oh, Johnny Carson fans, this is too good for you. What's about to come your way? You won't appreciate the deep, basic sensitivity that's involved. Forget about that. Oh, wow, I was scary. For those of you who are thinking in terms of early Christmas shopping. Or straws in the wind of things about to happen. An advertisement for the newest fun game. And one that is sure to be found on our many Christmas trees. This coming you will tie.

3:04From a Washington DC newspaper. An advertisement. For those who think they think. Nuclear war. The game to end all games. And the world too. For two to six players. It's mad, it's fun, it's educational. Nuclear war. Nuclear war game gift box. Plastic coated game cards. Population cards. Overkill cards. Spinner board with radioactive indicator. And chief of staff playing roles. Money refunded if you don't think that the nuclear war game is the living end.

4:06Yes, your money returned with a smile. If you don't find this game thoroughly delightful. Alert college stores inquiries invited. Handle the hottest game this fall on the campus. Isn't that sound like fun, gang? Let's play nuclear war. We'll flip the seat in charge of overkill here. I'm going to bomb the Asian continent. I wonder how it works. I suppose you spend the radioactive card. It says move to not just pass go. You have just destroyed Bulgaria. And what it must have something like that. Nuclear war is the sounds of the great game. I think this shows a common American thing. I don't know whether it's necessarily a thing that is true outside of our society.

5:08The thing that you fear most, you make the most jokes about. That the fact that there is a game called nuclear war. I think very, very interesting. Certainly somewhat significant, I suppose. But can you imagine a group of people all sitting down dressed up. And they're there for Saturday evening. They've got the bridge mix out. And the radio is playing quietly. The FM over in the corner. Some serious WBAI Sonata is coming out in stereophonic sound. With a serious announcement. You go off-dross or the music or coffee up. And they're sitting there and they're all dressed up. And Charlie says, hey, how about let's play nuclear war. Come on. What do you say? Of course this takes place to the old, takes the place to the old charades. It takes place of monopsy, which they used to play. You know, that's true. That the games of a society always reflect in a very subtle way. The thing which is the overriding concern of that society at any given time.

6:10Monopoly was popular during the Depression. The one time when nobody had any guilt. When no one had any dough at all. And Monopoly was all about money. That's all. And so people with no money at all consider on and play with these little things. They could own Park Avenue. Remember there was a park road park avenue. You could own Park Avenue. You could own Park Avenue. You could own Atlantic Avenue. And venting or avenue. Hey, listen, I'll award you a verse figure with runs Oak Leaf Palm. If you can tell me what city that monopoly was about. No, it was about a real city. And those are real streets in that city. And the guy who invented the game lived in that city. And so he used all those various places as part of his game. Like venting or avenue. There was one called Park Avenue. There was the waterworks. You remember you could own the waterworks? I never heard of a town where you could own the waterworks.

7:10But I guess in that town. I don't know. But this was about a real city. It was down on their upperies. And there was no money at all. And that's what they thought about most of the time. And they also thought a lot about capitalists too in those days. From what I've read. A lot of stuff about the political upheavals of that time. And which just is still even actually, I suppose, being felt in many ways. There were many people who feared capitalism during that period in American history. And so they had games about capitalism. And so the monopoly was only the most successful. Do you know that there were many other games that came out at that time. That were monopoly imitators. That didn't quite make it. You know, games called money. Games called dull. All this stuff. And they sat around and played games that had to do with money. Because they feared both money and capitalism at the time. And now the idea of us coming up at this time. It's, I think, kind of interesting. And a little, maybe perhaps even a little significant.

8:11But at this time in history, when everybody's getting a little worried. And the Chinese are making a loud noises. And they've even made a few speeches about nuclear war is good for you. Have you read any of those speeches? You know, most people don't read those speeches all the way through. But they print on the third page of the Times. But the other was a sock dollar ger. If I can use an old end-the-end expression about a week or so before the Times went off print. And this guy, the chief of staff of, I think it was communist. It was, was communist China. I think he was a chief of staff. I'm not sure of his office. But he was making a speech that said, in effect, one of the ways we can cure our overpopulation is to have a good solid nuclear war. Now, yeah, oh, he really did. You know, why not? Why not? And this is the kind of double think that George Orwell always wrote about in his writings. That war is good for you. And that death is life. And peace is hate, and hate is love, and also, and down the line. And it seems somewhat, did anyone call in and say what talent was?

9:14It was not, by the way, the cue or the clue actually is, we'll give you a clue on that. It was not Calumet City, Illinois. All right. All right. You think you know about the cities of America. I'll award you a brass figure guy with bronze oak leaf cluster. If you can tell me what Calumet City, Illinois, is noted for. And I mean, nationally, in fact, Calumet City, Illinois, which was right across the border from Hammond, that's right. Now, why did I know that idiotic, insignificant piece of, you know what? Why is that stuck in my brain? You know, I can't remember. If you asked me about the Battle of Ayshen, Core, I can't tell you anything. And I studied it for about seven semesters. If you asked me about 1066 and all that, I couldn't give you any answer. But if you asked me what city, that the game of monolope was based on, just like that, it comes out. Talk about ahead for trivia. And for those of you who are interested, the city was Pensacola, Florida.

10:14And now, we continue speaking of trivia. Do you have a little button in there to press Fred with the money thing? There it comes. Miller Highlight in Pop and Poor Cams. Distinctive Miller Highlight in Pop and Poor Cams. Just Pop and Poor Miller Highlight, the Champagne of Bottle Beer, no opener needed. And inside every can enjoy the hearty and light goodness of Miller Highlight, brewed from a century old recipe, only in Milwaukee. Miller Highlight always gives you that perfect taste in beer every time. Always a bright clear taste, unequaled, unquestioned, unchanging. Now you can enjoy refreshing Miller Highlight in Pop and Poor Cams. Pop and Poor Miller Highlight, always sparkling, flavorful, distinctive.

11:15Now in Pop and Poor Cams. Resonate, resonate, saluti, loody, toot. Yes, and... There was another game that came out a couple of semesters ago. In fact, I did a thing on the airbottom. And a large number of people wrote me and they didn't believe that there was such a game. And the name of the game, I forget now the exact name, but it was something like Com Simp. Or Comy Dup. Yeah, it was a John Birch game. John Birch society game and the family was supposed to sit around and play, detect the Comy. And everybody had clue cards and all kinds of things called Com Simp. They had various designations called Comy Nus Dup, called Red Think. Various other things. And you were supposed to sit around and play this game. And it was the advertisements read that it was educational for the kiddies.

12:18And I suppose, you know, the little markers that you have in any game that goes around, the little markers. I suppose that the markers in this one were little statues of liberty. And little American flags, plastic, of course, little teapot domes that you moved around. You know, speaking of games, one of the games that... I wonder how many of us were brought up on the automobile racing games. I think of all the games that kids played when I was a kid. When I was working, when I was actually what you could call an over a kid. When I was working as a kid, you know, making the scene and admitted I was a kid. One of the games that we always played, Bob, did you ever play this game? You have the kind with the board that falls out and it has a track running around it. And it has grandstands on the track. Of course, there weren't real. It was just printed on the grandstands and it had infield and all that stuff. And you got this card that you spin and there were four people could play it. And they were given little red racers.

13:20Red one and a green one, yellow one and a blue one. Yeah, four or five racers. And you'd spin the thing and you'd move one space, two spaces. Or then you'd say, half flat tire returned the pit, mis one turn. You remember? Or ran out of gas, mis two turns. And the whole object was to reach the finish line. And the name of the game was something like Indianapolis 500. Or they called it racer, something like that. And I wonder how many guys are racing up the turn pike right at this minute now. Driving their mercury with their ears folded back and their eyes, mirror slits as they peer into the darkness ahead and they're still playing that same game, Indy 500. Move forward, two spaces. Go back one move, mis one turn. Hey, hey, come on, watch me here. That means music. Oh, man, I can't breathe that. You could have to hold it up so I can read it. Don't wave it at me. Oh, I wonder how many of us are actually affected by the games we play.

14:22And forever from the time we're seven, we are playing that game in one way or another. I wonder how many kids who at the age of seven played monolithy and are still trying to buy Atlantic Avenue in the water. And are still getting the card that says you have just your aunt just died in here at $50. I'm speaking of elderly ants that are about to die. This is WOR, AM and FM in New York and Bob hit the gizmo in there, please. Never pick up a stranger. Don't put your car in danger. Now's the time. The right time to change. Pick up Preston and a freeze. Even if you're a car president, pick up a stranger. Pick up Preston and a freeze. Preston and a freeze coolant is a product of union carbide. Very good, very good. Even if your car has antifreeze now left over from last year, play it safe, man.

15:26Get a fresh fill now of Preston antifreeze with its exclusive magnetic film. World's most tested, most trusted brand. Don't take chances with a substitute. Remember, never pick up a stranger. Is that it? We got it there. Oh, yeah. Well, there's another game called Dream Date Game. Dream Date Game. I've seen that game where little chicks play this game. I guess it's girls that play it. I don't imagine boys playing a game called Dream Date. But little skinny girls with big thick glasses or big fat girls with skinny glasses play a game called Dream Date, in which they precariously have all these fantastic dates. You know, the spin the pointer says you have just been appointed prom queen. Kenny has asked you to be his date that night. Move forward to spaces. And then there's this one where they spin it says you are pregnant. Miss one turn. Go back three spaces. You know, it's thinking of that for those of you who don't have the occasion to, you know, I have long said for better or for worse.

16:32I have long had the theory that the stuff which is given the people on a mass produced. Home basis, you know, the home type shows, the shows which are always dedicated to the family. On these shows is where you will find the totally lascivious. The truly lascivious, seriously. I have, I'll always have been since you've read any of the home magazines, the home so beautiful spotless Simon clean as the driven snow. Let me tell you there's more clinical stuff about good old S E X than you will ever find in six years of reading playboy. And it's always written under the guys of the doctor answers the questions. Or it's written under the psychologist answers the parents questions. Like for example, it's a typical, typical question says my daughter Barbie is pregnant by my husband. Now, oh yeah, all that kind of thing. Now doctor, what do you, what will this do to my, oh that's the kind of stuff you're constantly reading.

17:37So no one ever says anything about this. Well the other day I had occasion to look at a soap opera on the afternoon. No, I was just, I was very interested to see what's going on on afternoon television. And it is a thousand times worse than you would ever suspect incredible stuff. They've got a rock and roll surfer soap opera now. Do you know that that opens up with all these people. You see the old bottom swinging and the opening looks like it's made of a whole bunch of film clips leftover from old, old, old, Valentine beer commercials. You know those beer commercials of the beach party where the guys are always running around kicking the football and reaching down into the pan of ice to pick up the beer can. And you see all these chicks running. Well, it opens up like that. And then of course they quickly fade into the little, the little study, the study that all soap operas take place in. There's a standard soap opera set, which is usually lined with books. And this is the father's den study, just that amorphous room that denotes money.

18:44It's the kind of room that very few people ever have in their house, but you know it's the room where you look over in the background. You see some rare piece of Egyptian art sort of fading off into the background. A lot of books all over the wall leather covered. And there's usually a globe somewhere in the distance there. And this is where father has heart to heart talks with daughter or mother has heart to heart talks with son, which is what most soap operas consist of endlessly. Heart to heart talks. And this one was father having a heart to heart talk with his daughter. Now we know that everybody in the soap opera has a fantastic trouble. It's always a problem with that everybody in the soap. And this girl was outstandingly beautiful. She was a beautiful girl. And I can remember the days when girls daughters, if they were having trouble in the soap opera, it was usually because they were. They were they had some kind of a physical problem or something like that or their mother had died and they weren't orphaned and they came from the wrong side of the tracks and things like that.

19:44Well, this the new problem friends. Are you aware that the new problem in the soap opera world is a problem that I think is kind of funny and kind of interesting and we can kind of relate with it. This girl was very unhappy because she serious. Her problem was that she's a serious person. And of course she's living in the world of surfers and the behinds that swing and you know guys that drink beer and yell and holler and listen to beetle records. And she was having a heart to heart talk with her father and she was very worried because she's serious and she's you know dad I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do because I want to do something important with my life. I'm a serious person and the father the father sitting there and he is telling her he says no, no Barbie. You are only 17 once and go out and swing Barbie. This is the time to swing and make the scene big. Why don't you do like your sister Sheila Sheila by the way was held up as the epitome of the people who knew how to live great because she was pregnant by Rick who not married of course she was pregnant by Rick who worked in the garage as a sports car mechanic and spent all of his evenings down at the beach surfing and yelling and alluring.

21:00And everybody in the soap opera there was a time of course when if an unmarried girl was was with child as we say in Victorian terminology. This was the sign for a lot of weeping and whaling you know I'm really worried about that but not in the soap opera in fact they applauded it. And now that she was with child by Rick everyone knew that this would be the best thing for Rick. That now she could talk Rick in the quitting the garage and going to college no one ever mentioned though how the devil Rick was going to afford college at that point but he could now go to college and become serious too you see he could go on to a fantastic career and the one thing Rick has always needed would be a solid girl who could have children by him out of wedlock. And so as the as this little episode ended father is telling Barbie the younger sister the one who didn't you know make the scene that way he was saying why don't you look at Sheila Sheila knows how to live bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb

22:06today's episode of whoopi land is brought to you by blue cheer with a new magic ochre colored ingredient bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb tomorrow against the storm continues with the following quotation of Charles Charles please no not now we we should wait until we get married what do you mean get married are you an old fashioned flevity dog bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb yes tomorrow more problems of life and times now now if you think I'm making this up I suggest tomorrow afternoon what now I would like to submit this that if anybody ever came out with a play with that fantastic kind of inversion of morality he would be black Richard Richard lots with would just be completely flabbergasted by that and Walter Kerr would just raise his eyebrows but this is going out every day as family and attainment. That's the point I make it. Who cares I don't care what their morality is one with the other but I've always felt that the Doris day movies are far more purient far more purient than anything that is being shown in the little eight millimeter underground type movies which are constantly being banned seriously.

23:26And the most recent one of course was this birth in Elizabeth Taylor Opus that played amid the rockets over here was one of those fascinating inversions of morality I've ever seen in my life but nevertheless as family and attainment on the other hand have you noticed that when people talk about playboy for example they all want to ban playboy just because a picture of a girl looking out of the shower you know. This is a picture while we're on the subject of miserable pictures let's see we've got here oh yeah we've got oh yes here's a note I'm instructed to tell you that Patsy McCann it's the third generation of McCann's it's going to make that debut here on WOR and and she's going to start when is she going to start she's got a show starting at the let's see October 2nd 2 15 to 4 Patsy McCann. Well I'm not going to advocate I'm not going to tell you to great show or anything I haven't heard it yet so I don't know I will tell you one thing Al McCann her father is one of the great unconscious humorous of all time.

24:34And I think Patsy has shares the same obscurantism as the rest of the family but nevertheless this will be October 2nd 2 15 to 4. This is the only radio station I ever heard ever heard in my life believe me that has dynastic control where I'm now our fourth generation of of gambling in the morning we are starting on our third generation of McCann's. Oh boy no it's true I'm serious and and. Oh well it's not quite nepotism no no no no that's not nepotism at all. Nepotism would be if all of leaders relatives were on the air that's nepotism no no that's a different thing no no this is this is just dynastic control. Well you know there are we have at least seven other gambling that are working out in the in the bullpen. We're fit for gambling now we figure till about 2270 right now unless someone for seeing things happens they start you know who knows but nevertheless I was attempted tonight to tell my old let's do one more commercial here we've got another one we've got happiness my old Chinese restaurant.

25:53So I'm not friends happiness which is between 93rd and 94th on the Broadway and it's a new and different kind of Chinese restaurant and they serve all the best food from Cessuant Shanghai Peking and Canton and the prices are embarrassing as a matter of fact and I find that myself one of the most one of the most pleasant Chinese restaurants I know of in town and they have well as a matter of fact they have all the standard Chinese food but they also have food from various places. So I think it's a lot of the provinces of China for example Cessuant which is highly spiced this stuff does not the yeah oh wow it burns man and I happen to like hot food and I think you'll find happiness between 93rd and 94th a good restaurant. It's in the middle of a swinging neighborhood prices are great and they have a bar okay and that we also have with us tonight Rover Motor Car I'd like to recommend to those of you who don't know anything about this car pick up a copy of the current issue November 1965 road test you will find on the cover a picture of the Rover Grill it's just a Rover Grill and inside I will read to you what they say they say in the first issue of road test our headline for the Rover 2000 test does the world find this car cost only $4,000

27:18may have sounded a bit superlative but it was based on a point by point analysis of the cars who per-engineering and construction features plus those boasted by other automobiles in the same price category both foreign and domestic and a look at the cost of the other cars which could compare and technical achievements. The result net result was a conviction that there is no car in the world which competes directly with the 2000 in all its features the one which comes the closest to it in benefits is almost a thousand dollars higher in price and most of the Rover's attributes are wholly unique being unavailable at any cost on any machine and if you don't know anything about the superb Rover 2000 I would suggest you find out as soon as possible if you want to buy it. If you are thinking of buying a car the new 1966 Rovers are in and you can see it here in Manhattan at Delanctin Limited which is at 518 West 51st Street so around West 51st in the middle of foreign car road that's the length in limited by the way they are one of the oldest motor cars in the world they make this the fantastic Rover Land Rover great car and I'm waiting delivery for mine.

28:33Let me tell you sometime in a future show which I'm not going to do tonight about the time that I almost was able to get my hands on a Rover turbine car you know they have been doing most of the turbine research in the world and I almost was able to get one came with an a with an enats ear of owning a fantastic Rover turbine which is a you know I tonight I thought I'd like to do the story. I'm going to say that for the limelight now I'm going to save the the the liver story for the limelight and it's a perfect story for the limelight and it's a story that I once told or I told a story about five years ago in the air and I still get letters from people about it about why shepherd has a hang up on fried liver why I like liver and how I was coming up.

29:33I was converted up to up to a certain point I hated liver in all forms and how all of a sudden I became a fantastic liver fan and I will I will do that story this week on the limelight show you know speaking of speaking of stories you hear these stories I've told many stories about when I was a kid and people have a tendency to think that most stories are made up well I'd like to submit here I have a couple of clips from various news pages. I think I think I think I think by and large the average. Flotsam the average bit of Jetsam in this great human Sargasso sea has a built in eraser a built in tape recorder eraser so that as you go most people can't remember last Wednesday much less remember when they were 10 and for that reason a great mythological world is created about how when you were 10 years old and most people base what their childhood was on stories and things that they have read about other childhoods they assume that they used to stand around and throw snowballs at guys wearing high silcaps this is one of the great cliches.

30:59Or they drew pictures of the teacher on the blackboard and got into trouble or there was a kid with red hair and freckles who was the the hawk fin of your class and he was always playing jokes on people you know that mischievous kid myth I never knew a mischievous kid but they constantly pop up in fiction I'll never forget one of the great critiques I've read somebody wrote a nice critique of of Mark Twain and about how Mark Twain had invented. A total childhood that had nothing in relationship no relationship at all to the real world that was inhabited by kids at that time that's the the hawk fin or the Tom Sawyer syndrome which in which you create a kind of a way to create a kind of seven dwarf kid right out of Disneyland and for that reason it's totally unreal but listen to this story here so here's a note here it says Champagne Illinois I don't know whether you know anything about Champagne Illinois but Champagne all of the all of the Midwest has certain spooky qualities to it that is not often spoken of by people out here in the east who by and large generally think that the that the country ends right near the eastern shore of the Hudson and it picks up again about 45 feet west of the runway number three at the Los Angeles airport

32:26and all that rest of the stuff that they fly over there that the all at unilating country down there is inhabited only by weep fields cornfields and members of the cool clocks clan but there's a lot going on out there and here's a little note for Champagne Illinois it says a show and tell session at a Champagne grade school was in life and when Terry Clark Jr showed up with a human skull and nothing to say about it he said a few words about it he said a friend Mike White had given it to him Mike David the Terry's any should have this big skull police questioning Mike White were told that another friend Mike Severins had given it to him this Mike's mother Mrs. B Severins told police that Mike's grandfather had given the boy the skull explaining that it had been the property of an aunt now dead just what the aunt was doing with the skull Mrs. Severins had given it a little bit of a big skull Mrs. Severins said is a mystery a hospital pathologist examining the skull looked at it said it was very old it was returned to the Severins family and the mystery still remains no one knows where the aunt got the skull

33:38well now now that kid 15 years from now is going to tell people about how the time he took the skull the school and he got it from this guy Mike and this guy Mike when the police put the wami on him said that he got it from a friend of his called Mike who got it from their aunt who was now dead and no one knew where the skull came from and people are going to laugh about this but nevertheless there it is now here here's one in Levittown it says like something off the pages of jewels verne the balloon landed in a field yesterday near Lathe at elementary school it was big and red and three people wrote in the basket and about 300 people were attracted to the scene to stare at the unusual site the balloon travelers someone in the crowd said were from Philadelphia after it landed the three persons made a phone call and three more balloon was arrived in a car they changed places and the balloon soared up over the Delaware River of of Burlington and disappeared well now there's going to be a kid tell a story about the time the balloon landed in the school yard well that reminded me of the time that I'm sitting in school we were all in second grade now I'm sitting there and it's right after recess in the afternoon

34:51and now our school let out about 3 30 something like that and it would get dark of course at this time of the year they don't have daylight savings time I think daylight savings time is already off in the Midwest but about this time of the year it gets dark it's nice to get really dark out there about all 3 30 quarter to 4 4 35 o'clock it starts getting dark and dark and it's pitch black usually by about 5 30 at night and so just before school would let out you could see these gloomy shadows hanging over everything and and already I remember this distinctly because we were we were hard at work on pumpkins and stuff and miss miss shields already had the first cut out paper turkey hanging on the on the wall there to remind us it was Thanksgiving time coming and all that stuff and it's all fall time and the kids are all sitting in class and the sort of humming along like that and outside it was kind of gray and dark and cold and the wind is blowing in off the lake and and we were just sitting there in the afternoon after recess kind of rest of everybody sort of sort of still still out there in the yard

35:57but now we're sitting there in miss shields is reading raggedy and and raggedy and the when all of a sudden from off in the distance could be the sound a hum coming just a sound of an airplane now we were on the direct path the town that I lived in we were on the direct path to the municipal airport in Chicago and all the airplanes that came from the east came directly over this school all the time so there were always airplanes roaring over and they would they would start their let down about there and so the airplane was an extremely usual site we saw airplanes all the time big tri play tri motors and all the DC3s and all that coming in there and so nobody really made much of a thing about an airplane except that the airplane was never seen close up you just saw them flying over all the time and one of the big things we would do on a Sunday afternoon my old man's idea of a really big Sunday afternoon was to pile everybody in the car and drive to the municipal airport to watch airplanes land

36:59and yeah we'd stand there and and it'd be cold and then you see one coming circling in and he'd come laying on and he'd come in and the old man would crowd up to the fence and all the rest of the people would cry and we would watch the people get off of the airplanes and they would come down those aluminum steps they'd be wearing sunglasses looking hard bitten as though they were sophisticated cool blase world travelers and they all were all were pretending they were movie stars and stuff and we would watch all these people getting off the plane nobody ever thought in the crowd of actually flying in one it was something that important people did flying in these big airplanes just like I'm sure large numbers of people in today's world don't think in terms of flying to Europe just going out to the airport and laying your money down and taking off for Europe just like that it's something that important official people do and you hear commercials on the air about it all the time and it's it's relating to a totally different part of the population than you're in

38:03I wonder how many people listening right now feel that way and yet yet there are there are hundreds of people thousands right really within within about a forty block radius of WOR who think no more of getting into an airplane on a Wednesday night to fly to Paris then the average person would think of getting in his car and driving the Trenton and that's of course all part of this changing flying world but in those days everyone would look watch the planes come in and those who rode in the planes would tell about it for weeks afterwards month sun end. As a matter of fact I remember one of the big things that happened in our family was Aunt Theresa once took in the airplane to California and she got all the folders and in those days they used to give folders and in the airplane you get in the airplane and they had all folders like here are facts about your trip and send the cards home. Oh yeah they had all those bags so you've you know you can and you could send that home for souvenir and everything just posted on it and and all that stuff was very important say at my

39:07at least whenever she would come over when she was ready for a big Sunday afternoon at the house would bring her clipping her scrapbook with all of her cutouts and all her little cards and stuff that she got on the American Airlines flight to California and she would tell us how the airplane landed what they said what kind of food they serve and that what color the airplane was inside and about the nice man who sat across the aisle from her who was an important insurance insurance broker from Omaha and always rode airplanes she was amazing he said he rode airplanes as much as one or two times a year he was always riding them and about how the stewardess came back and took care of the little kid in my at least had all these long stories and we were always fascinated so nobody ever put her down she was the only one that ever written in a real plane. And so on this afternoon we're sitting in in the in the school and this airplane is going over we hear the sun is airplane coming and but this is a little different sound it's getting louder louder.

40:09It's getting louder and louder and louder until the entire room is filled with the sound of this fantastic tremendous overwhelming airplane roar and miss shields ran over to the I remember her running from behind her desk and she ran over to the window and you know we had these big big Venetian blind type things she throws the Venetian blinds up and just as she threw the Venetian blinds up we saw this airplane coming directly at our second grade school right at our window and it was a single single winged airplane it was a it was a monoplane and this guy comes skimming right over the yard he just went and he pulled up the last instant and we heard this tremendous boom boom you just heard that sound. You just heard that sound go boom boom on the roof of the building he hit the top of the building with his landing gear we had one of these big long flat portable type schools ever seen those those long flat roof single single story wooden frame schools it's all painted white and his his wheels hit the top of the building it just went.

41:28Wow and everybody in the class is a fantastic uproar you can hear the whole school yelling and hollering and everybody roared and poured out of the school I remember getting up and running down the down the aisle all the kids are running out miss shields is trying to keep order and she's running up miss Norton miss Robin that all the teachers are pouring out and the instant we got out we saw this plane make a big swoop over the we had a swamp and a kind of a woods to the side of the building he made a big swoop over the woods his wing down he made a big turn and he came down right on the ball field he just came all right and there he was he taxied right across second base that that back end that big yellow tail swirled around and he's picking up a tremendous amount of dust and dirt and everything else and then the plane is just taxing see it's stopped well I can't tell you the the excitement there every kid in the school is out there were a thousand kids were all out around this airplane and the door open and outstep this guy with a leather jacket and goggles leather jacket and goggles he had on these high pants he had on these these high putties he stepped out and he looked around and he said who's in charge

42:54well miss Norton the school principal who had who had the silver stainless steel hair and he she had the only cast iron girdle I think ever in the history of girdle wearing miss Norton says I am he said well would you please tell me where I can get some gasoline and miss Norton took charge and all the kids to do with their mouth hanging open and sure enough the school janitor drives off in his little truck and he comes back with a large number of cans of gas with this flyer and they're pouring the gas in the top of the airplane none of us had ever seen guys pour gas in an airplane and they're pouring gas the top of the kids is standing here holy smokes and it's getting darker and darker and the the wind is blowing and you can see the clouds hanging over there it's getting getting a little bit more energy and the air towards the time when school should be out and finally the flyer says all right now all of you back off there and stand over there by the road there we're going to try to take off now stand back which way is the wind and he measured the wind and all of us are watching this here is here is Ted Scott himself you know this is this is all the great

43:56flyers in history he's stand right there on the on the war and she hiding playground and he's measuring the wind and he gets a new little airplane and sure enough he tackles tax out across the off field makes a big spin off he goes and the crowd Lord he made one great big circle over the school he dipped his wings and off he went in the direction of Chicago they have not yet forgotten that in Hessville Indiana the time the little Curtis Robert landed on the school yard at Warren G. Harding and for a long time afterwards we preserved the tracks where his his play and ran over second base and over the infield and back of home plate there and the kids come out and look at those tracks and Warren G. Harding school had as one brief moment of the time let more school match that