Home » Chicago » Studs Terkel (Page 14)

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  [Studs Terkel in two industrial films]

  Chicago, NHPRC, Studs Terkel

  Two industrial films from the 1940s and ’50s that feature Studs Terkel. In “Beginning to Date” (1953) Terkel plays a high school diving instructor and offers advice to students on proper dating etiquette. The second film on this tape, “No Vacancies” (1946), is about the crisis that plagued many returning WWII soldiers who could not afford housing. Terkel is the narrator in this piece.

• [Bill Newman tribute]

  Studs Terkel

  The memory of newspaper Chicago reporter/columunist Bill Newman is honored by the recollections of several of his friends, colleagues, and family members including: Rick Kogan; Harlan Dregor; an unidentified author, and Catholic priest; Blair Cayman, architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune; and David Lee, Bill Newman’s nephew.

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  [Stock Market Observer interviews Studs Terkel]

  NHPRC, Studs Terkel

  A 1998 one-on-one interview between Chuck Taylor, host of the Stock Market Observer, and Studs Terkel. The two discuss a variety of subjects, including Terkel’s career progression, from his experiences in early radio and television up to his work as a writer.

• [CNN interview with Studs Terkel raw]

  Studs Terkel

  Raw footage of Studs Terkel being interviewed by Bernard Shaw in Chicago. This interview covers all of Terkel ‘s famous habits – his red shirt and shoes, the fact that he can’t drive, his wife’s death, his rejection of computers, his ineptness with a tape recorder, etc. About his early law eduation: “I was a romantic, you know. I dreamed of Charles Darrow and I woke up to Julius Hoffman.” Terkel talks about his love of the CTA bus, which enables him to read and talk to people. He describes his process of collecting material for his books. ” I call myself a gold prospector… [after I interview someone] there’s transcripts, maybe 100 pages. That’s ore. There’s some gold in it. The prospector sifts. I may find eight pages. That is the gold.” After living for 90 years, Terkel is still vital – “I want my epitaph to be” ‘Curiosity did not kill this cat!’ About his new book “Will The Circle Be Unbroken?,” Terkel describes the potentially morbid subject (death) as the ultimate intellectual question. “You can’t discuss life unless you discuss the fact that it’s finite.” “I have a faith, but it’s a here and a now. I do envy those who have a faith, because if they believe that it gives them solace.” About his love of Chicago: “Chicago turned me on the first day I came here. I had asthma all my life in New York, but when that wind blew down from the stock yards, my asthma was cured!” He also links the feminist movement and the gay rights movement to the civil rights movement, then describes his reasons for voting for Ralph Nader over Al Gore: he hopes for the formation of a “second party” (considering the Republicans and Democrats to be essentially the same party). He describes racism as a problem caused by those in power to pit the underclasses against each other. He also praises his famous journalist friends. “Mike Royko was like no journalist ever… First of all, he had a style – every word, every phrase had to be right…” He ends the interview by talking about his experiences being persecuted during the McCarthy era. “To this day people think I was heroic, but it wasn’t that – I was scared stiff – but my ego was at stake!”

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  [Studs Terkel interview for Charlie Rose, part 2]

  Chicago, NHPRC, Studs Terkel

  This is part two of a forty five minute interview with Studs Terkel. Terkel speaks of many other social and political issues of the time including: The Gulf War, military spending, George H.W. Bush, and a WWIII scenario. He also talks about his thoughts on Christianity, the Bible, and the negative aspects of television.

• Sunday Morning Listening to America

  Chicago, Studs Terkel

  This is a short interview with Studs Terkel packed with classic storytelling and spirit.

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  [Rocking the Boat raw: Bughouse Square #2]

  Chicago, NHPRC, Outside Agitators, Studs Terkel

  This is a continuation of footage from Bughouse Square in August of 1998. Studs Terkel speaks to the crowd about Bughouse Square, specifically its history and what it represents to the people of the city of Chicago.

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  [Studs does Bob, also re: radio]

  NHPRC, Studs Terkel, Tom Weinberg

  Studs Terkel does a promo for Image Union with its mascot, Bob, for the 10th anniversary show. He then moves in to a discussion of radio in Chicago and how it’s changed since he entered the field. Some of this footage was used in “Studs On A Soapbox.”