A Lifetime of Listening

February 2, 2017 7:14 PM

Studs Terkel (1912-2008) was an American broadcaster and historian best remembered for his long-running radio show in Chicago and his oral histories of common Americans. Hundreds of his interviews are now online, thanks to WFMT's Studs Terkel Radio Archive (pages include faulty auto-generated transcripts) and the Internet Archive.

Highlights include:
Lorraine Hansberry, 1959
Roger Buffalohead, 1971
Simone de Beauvoir, 1960
Ralph Ellison, 1970
James Baldwin, 1962
Toni Morrison, 1980
Shel Silverstein, 1961
Nora Ephron, 1975
Lily Tomlin, 1988
Buster Keaton, 1960

but there are many, many, many other treasures in there too.

The musical Working is based on Studs's book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.
Working, performed by the St. John's University Chappell Players Theatre Group
Working, performed by AFHS (high school, apparently?)
Working, performed by Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts
Working, performed by Lindblom Academy
Stephen Schwartz and Lin-Manuel Miranda on their participation in Working

Anna Deveare Smith portrays Studs Terkel as part of Four American Characters

NPR showcases Working: Then and Now, radio stories from the interviews Studs did for his book

Humanities (National Endowment for the Humanities magazine) remembers Studs Terkel

Conversations with History: Studs Terkel, University of California TV (video 1 in a 200-video playlist of Studs Terkel videos)

Previously on MeFi: Studs Terkel obit thread, 2008; a Transom radio documentary about working with Studs; Studs visits Democracy Now (the original link is gone, but here are Democracy Now pieces featuring Studs); Studs talks to people about the Great Depression (all .rm audio); oral histories and more oral history

posted by kristi (16 comments total)

Woah, cool, thanks! I was living in Chicago when he died, and I saw a memorial performance where actors performed monologues from Working, but I didn't know there was a musical(!) based on it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 7:17 PM on February 2, 2017

Studs is one of my heroes. Nice post.
posted by jonmc at 7:23 PM on February 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

Truly a Chicago treasure. I own all of his books and was fortunate to attend one of his author signings about a year before he died--although he was very hard of hearing and his voice was going, he still had spunk and was a delight.
I'll definitely be digging into these this weekend. Nice post!
posted by bookmammal at 7:35 PM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

And he would've ripped Trump a new one.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:41 PM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Terkel, Ebert, deep dish pizza, the Museum of Science & Industry, and a bunch of other things are why I believe Chicago is probably America's best city.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:41 PM on February 2, 2017 [5 favorites]

He may be best known for his live interviews, but his books (of his interviews) are pure gold. There is no one else on the planet (and I'm sure I'm wrong; I'm not an expert) who has devoted his life to recording the life of the average working human--in America, in this case, because Studs was an American.
posted by kozad at 7:54 PM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was so sorry we lost Studs a few days before Obama was elected.

I am so glad he isn't around for this. It would've killed him.

God, though, I miss him.
posted by tully_monster at 8:36 PM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Thank you so much for creating and sharing this here. It's a deep well of decency and generosity, which I will draw from often, I think. Just that Baldwin piece is enough to restore some measure of my heart's endurance right now.
posted by Caxton1476 at 8:51 PM on February 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Excellent post!!!!
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 9:41 PM on February 2, 2017

... and just now I discovered one of his last books, Hope Dies Last, which seems especially worth reading right now; brief interview at PBS; A.V. Club review; Google Books preview.
posted by kristi at 11:00 PM on February 2, 2017

Grew up in Chicago. I didn't know he was so iconic outside the city. I wish he were around to comment on Trump.
posted by professor plum with a rope at 12:48 AM on February 3, 2017

This is an amazing post!
posted by professor plum with a rope at 12:49 AM on February 3, 2017

One time his house was broken into and he was robbed, and the thief demanded all his money, which he handed over. As the thief was headed out the window, Studs said, "Wait a minute, now I'm broke, give me a twenty!" The thief peeled off a 20, handed it to him, and hastened off through the window to other dastardly deeds.

"a bunch of other things"
The architecture, the CSO, the Cubs ...
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:13 AM on February 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Yay for this post. I've had it in my Metafiltrr Draft Post bookmark folder for years waiting for the promised new version of the archives to come online but this is much better than I would have done.

Meeting Studs Terkel, even for just a few seconds at a reading once, is one of my favorite Chicago memories after living here 20 years.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 6:47 AM on February 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

Man, when I was a dummy college freshman at Loyola Chicago, he came to speak there. My writing teacher did what she could to promote the event, but my thoughts were "I've never heard of this guy. Just a reporter from a long time ago? Plus his name is Studs? Yeah, I've got better things to do" . Aaarerrgh!

These are certainly somewhere in the links above, but the interviews on a train to the March on Washington are a really good listen. Here
posted by Fig at 11:12 AM on February 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

WCityMike: Mike Royko talks with Studs Terkel, 1966; Mike Royko talks with Studs Terkel, 1967, should they be of interest.
posted by kristi at 3:04 PM on February 3, 2017 [1 favorite]