IN THE BEGINNING WITH LARRY JOSEPHSON {KURT
VONNEGUT, JR.} (RADIO)
Summary
One in this series of radio talk shows hosted by Larry Josephson. This program features an interview with author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The program opens and closes with Josephson urging the anti-Vietnam War movement to find more creative methods than parades or protests to stop the war. After playing several selections of cover versions of Woody Guthrie songs, the host recalls a drive in the country from the previous weekend which caused him to happen upon the Greenhaven Correctional Facility in upstate Stormville, New York. Decrying the foreboding, depressing nature of the architecture, Josephson wonders how bad it must be inside the facility. He answers phone calls from listeners who are familiar with the ominous correctional facility and plays Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." Josephson then plays a recording of an interview with Vonnegut which he conducted the previous week. They discuss the following topics: the possibility that President Richard Nixon will use nuclear weapons in Vietnam; Vonnegut's assertion that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was the "gutting of the moral fiber of America"; massive nuclear destruction; the film version of Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade"; why Vonnegut is asked so often to speak on college campuses; the writer's opinion of New York City; Vonnegut's description of J.D. Salinger as "the most important writer of our time"; what he believes to be the worst of his own writing; his oft-attacked defense of French author/Nazi sympathizer CŽline as an important literary figure; a comparison of the Nazi Holocaust and U.S. bombings in Europe and Asia; Vonnegut's excitement about the concept of the shopping mall and how it will improve life; the reasons his play "Happy Birthday, Wanda June" failed; the fellow artists that the author admires; and Vonnegut's constant thoughts of suicide. Josephson then reads a New York Times editorial by Anthony Lewis called "Slaughterhouse-Six" which comments critically on the U.S. escalation of the Vietnam War. The host plays the recording "Suicide Is Painless" in the background while he is reading. After accepting a call from a listener who complains that Times' anti-war articles are "lame," Josephson concludes the show by once again encouraging creativity from the peace movememt.
Details
- NETWORK: WBAI-FM (New York, NY) / Pacifica / Public Radio (AAPB)
- DATE: April 17, 1972
- RUNNING TIME: 1:57:03
- COLOR/B&W: N/A
- CATALOG ID: R:11611
- GENRE: Radio - Talk/Interviews; Radio - Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: Anti-Semitism; Atomic bomb; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); World War II
- SERIES RUN: WBAI (New York, NY) - Radio, 1972
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Gioacchino Antonio Rossini … Composer, Theme Music by, "William Tell Overture" composed by
- Larry Josephson … Host, Interviewer
- Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. (See also: Vonnegut, Kurt) … Guest
- CŽline (Louis-Ferdinand Destouches)
- Guthrie, Woody (Woodrow Wilson Guthrie)
- Anthony Lewis
- Johnny Mandell
- Richard M. Nixon
- Salinger, J.D. (Jerome David Salinger)