Jean Shepherd and Leigh Brown visited the NJN studio, signed a very simple agreement and we went to lunch. Jean loved to do business between bites. After we all tossed out a title for the show. I suggested that the show be called "Shepherd's Pie" after the traditional dish of leftovers that has served as dinner for many over the years. Jean added, “We’ve got some crust!” And Leigh gave her blessing, “I like it!” And so the show was launched. And in time it would fulfill its namesake and become a half hour of “odds and ends” that the great story woved together into a very good “dish”.
.Jean was never one for scripting - we produced segments on the fly. Somehow subjects appeared before us. Shepherd had the uncanny ability to see the very common and turn it into the uncommon - and usually top off with an universal truth. However, he was very difficult for me to "direct" (if any one really could really do that?). He rarely let me in on just what he was going to do - until he did it. A few days before shooting day Jean would call me with an idea for a piece. “Let’s do a junkyard.” My production assistant and I would “research” the junkyard's which may seem like a difficult task - but that’s what producers do. And we had an edge being a state entity. A couple of calls to the Department of Environmental Protection and we would have a company, a name and a number to call. Most times the places we tried were very agreeable when we told them what we were after. On shoot day we would take Jean and Leigh to the location and they would just walk around and look for a few moments they would magically conjured up a story. Next we recorded Jean’s narration in our van. Jean would do a track much like his radio show - but with the visuals in mind that their tour suggested. Then we just shot everything he talked about and more and I hoped we had enough footage to cover his stream of consciousness. Back at the studio we would edit down his comments into a shorter piece. Jean was used to filling hours of radio airtime and he certainly gave us enough - in one take. Once we had a narration set it was very easy to cut the film to it. Traditionally one shoots a piece then records a narration that reflects on the visuals. We did exactly the opposite. His talk was like jazz musicians played, improvised with a riff, a break, a change in tempo - and always ending with a memorable closing line - each segment was usually a "piece of cake" to splice together - or should I say pie.
The first 13 shows were all shot in NJ but after we were awarded a $50,000 in funding grant from the Eastern Educational Network (EEN) we traveled and shot at least one segment or two in each of their east coast member states. In Boston, home of the famed WGBH which produced Jean Shepherd’s America, we did a segment sitting on the splintery home team bench in Fenway Park. And another on the value of a "higher" education with Jean standing before the bigger than life statue of benefactor John Harvard, in the university’s Harvard Yard.
The most memorable adventure of our weeks on the road was at Mount Katahdin State Park, in Maine. Jean was in search of moose. At the entrance gate we were met by a state park guard wearing a campaign hat and looking very much like a Canadian Mounty - but in green. Jean asked him where there was a "good" place to see moose doing their moose stuff". He laughed and informed us that at this time of year, hunting season, the big animals were very careful and not very visible. “They retreat to the very deep forest and most likely you will drive through the park all day and not see one of our magnificent animals”. Jean said thanks and said, "Don't worry guys, we will get something out of this!" The ranger laughed and opened the gate.
We entered this highly protected refuge and hadn't driven more than a quarter of a mile of a unpaved road surrounded by tall pines when Alan, our audio person slammed on the brakes - a female moose, at least ten feet tall, stood on in the middle of the road and was glaring at us! The rest of the film crew scrambled to get the camera and other equipment out of the cases and ready. And then I realized why Mamma Moose was glaring. She was guarding her "calf" which was obediently waiting beside the roadway in the cover of the thick brush. I started to worry that she might just charge our crew if they got out of the van - but Jean quietly opened his door whispering, "Come on gang we have got to get this...this is great". Our cinematographer didn't seem to care about the danger of a female moose in a protection mode and he jumped out and started filming. After a few minutes of Jean and the moose mom staring each other down she decided we weren't a threat and made a call to the little one who then skittered across the roadway. They disappeared into the woods. Our moose encounter had ended without damage to crew or the precious film. Shep was cackling, "See I told ya we find a moose...have faith in Shepherd boys."
We continued our journey into the wild and Shepherd concocted a piece suggested by off what the guard had perdicted - we filmed Jean watching in the wrong direction as several male moose (found more) were testing the waters in a pristine pond a short ride from where we started. The scene was beautiful with autumn colors being reflected against a cloudless blue sky, as Jean continued to "miss" them and assure the viewer that "they'll be along here any moment while a half dozen were seen in the frame behind him. Shepherd's uncanny luck once again produced a segment that even the park guard marveled at when we told him about our success as we left the park. "Incredible - you guys most be very lucky, this never happens...and I been doing the job for 20 years!"
The “Moose Safari” was just one of the lucky accidents that we were to encounter during the two weeks on the road with Jean as we produced segments for the second season of Shepherd' Pie for EEN. And it was a magic ride for us all.
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