THIS AMERICAN LIFE: FROM A DISTANCE (RADIO)
Summary
One in this weekly series that looks at a different,
specific aspect of life in the United States in each
episode. Episodes contain several segments, or "acts,"
each of which relates to the established theme. This
installment, "From a Distance," explores several of the
different possible situations that can arise when
someone gets close to a public figure whom he or she
greatly admires. In the first segment, "In Search of
the Miraculous," Chicago-based artist Erika Yeomans
discusses her obsession with an obscure artist named
Bas Jan Ader. After falling in love with his work,
which she says she saw as overwhelmingly romantic and
subversive, she searched for every single piece of
information she could find about him. When she
eventually discovered that the artist's widow was alive
in Los Angeles, Yeomans took off on a cross-country
drive to ask about what she perceived as Ader's sense of
romance. On arrival, she was surprised to learn that
there was an enormous disparity between her idealized
vision of Bas Jan Ader and the real man. In the second
segment of the program, writer Quincy Troupe traces the
chronology of his unusual relationship with jazz legend
Miles Davis. He first saw Davis perform when Troupe
was a youth in East St. Louis, he explains, and then ran
into Davis several times during his early writing career
in New York. (Davis was consistently rude to him,
Troupe says). A few years later, Troupe was hired to
co-author the icon's autobiography, and the two became
best friends. In the third segment of the program, host
Ira Glass reads a humorous letter from a profoundly
confused person to the "Snuggles Fabric-Softener Bear."
Believing that the bear is not only sentient but "going
through a hard time," the writer wants to help the bear.
Glass then reads a thoughtful follow-up letter in
response to the missive from this "Snuggles Stalker,"
advising the writer not to tamper with the purity of
their relationship by writing the Snuggles Bear again.
In the last act of the program, correspondent Claudia
Perez interviews some of the thousands of young women
who have shown up in downtown Chicago to audition for
the part of slain Tejana pop star Selena in an upcoming
film biography. Many of them appear obsessed with the
singer; one girl refuses to accept the fact that Selena
is dead, referring to her as "missing" or "sleeping."
(Network affiliation varies: local broadcast, November
1995-June 1996; on NPR, June 1996-June 1997; on PRI,
July 1997- .)
Details
- NETWORK: WBEZ-FM (Chicago, IL) / NPR National Public Radio
- DATE: April 19, 1996 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:59:07
- COLOR/B&W: N/A
- CATALOG ID: R:16109
- GENRE: Radio - Public affairs/Documentaries; Radio - Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Celebrities; Hero worship
- SERIES RUN: WBEZ (Chicago, IL) - Radio series, 1995-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ira Glass … Host
- Bas Jan Ader
- Miles Davis
- Claudia Perez
- Selena (Selena Quintanilla Perez)
- Quincy Troupe
- Erika Yeomans