MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SEMINAR SERIES, THE: A CONVERSATION WITH STUDS TERKEL {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. This seminar, held in New York and moderated by Museum radio department manager Ken Mueller, features a discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Studs Terkel, who has been involved in radio for over sixty years -- as an actor, disc jockey, sports commentator, and host -- and in television for fifty. For the past forty years, he has hosted his own daily, nationally-syndicated Peabody Award-winning interview program that features people from the worlds of politics, academia, and the arts, as well as the "common man." First, a highlight reel of clips spanning Terkel's radio and television career is shown, including scenes from "Stud's Place," an early television program, and "Working," the Broadway musical adaptation of Terkel's book about people's feelings toward their jobs. Mueller and Terkel then discuss the following topics, among others: Terkel's origins in show business as a radio actor and wildly eclectic disc jockey; the improvisatory nature of such early Chicago television programs as "Stud's Place," Burr Tillstrom's innovative children's television show "Kukla, Fran and Ollie," and Dave Garroway's talk show; the difference between interviews and "conversations"; his memorable interviews with subjects Bertrand Russell, Mahalia Jackson, and an Appalachian woman named Peggy Terry; the book "Working" and its transformation into a musical; Terkel's association with documentarian Ken Burns; and Terkel's love of baseball. Terkel then takes questions from the seminar audience, discussing the following topics, among others: the disappearance of memory in America; differences between New York and Chicago; the qualities that make a good guest; Terkel's disapproval of the famous waitress scene in the film "Five Easy Pieces"; Terkel's views on capitalism; Catholic activist Dorothy Day's struggle to make a world where people can "live decently"; the importance of unions and the recent UPS strike; the evils of part-time "temp" work; the importance of participating in causes; the contrast between Terkel's copious preparation for conversations and Larry King's intentional lack of preparation to preserve a sense of surprise; Terkel's project to archive his nine thousand hours of taped work; accusations that Terkel only talks with people sharing his political viewpoint; the importance of listening and allowing digression in his conversations; the impact on Terkel of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the WPA; Terkel's encouragement of aspiring oral historians; the process by which Terkel locates his interview subjects; Terkel's views on the contemporary media and his championing of the alternative press; and Terkel's collaboration with the Chicago Historical Society in creating programs to present his work.
Details
- NETWORK: Paley
- DATE: September 11, 1997 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:25
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:50242
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ken Mueller … Moderator
- Studs Terkel … Guest
- Ken Burns
- Dorothy Day
- Dave Garroway
- Mahalia Jackson
- Larry King
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Bertrand Russell
- Peggy Terry
- Burr Tillstrom