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Studs On A Soapbox Date: 01/01/00 | Running Time: 27 min. Add Studs On A Soapbox to playlist Nominate this video My Clip Video Editor Bookmark/episode description Save

A study of colorful Chicago author, radio personality, and raconteur Studs Terkel. The program contains footage of Terkel from the 1950s through 2000, when he was 89 years old. Terkel expounds on various topics such as work, art, media, himself, his political views, his family, and his colleagues. 2:20 John Callaway discusses how Terkel's fervent passion for social justice hasn't diminished with his age: "[Terkel] is still engaged; still enraged." 4:30 Studs Terkel on a soapbox in Chicago's Bughouse Square. He laments the way his beloved independent radio station, Chicago's WFMT, his radio home for over 40 years, changed when it was sold to a large corporation: "[When WFMT was privately owned] my program...was totally unedited, and then [WFMT] was taken over...and it became something else. Once you lose your independence...your very nature changes." 5:28 Terkel discussing his preference for radio versus television: "Radio is the most intimate of all mediums." He goes on to describe how radio allowed President Franklin Roosevelt to connect with "ordinary working people" despite his lofty, blue blooded manner of speaking. "When you're on radio you're not talking to millions, you're talking to one person." 7:38 A clip from the 1975 program "It's a Living": Terkel in the storeroom at WFMT showing his large collection of recordings and talking about his admiration for the people who made them, including Big Bill Broonzy and Mahalia Jackson. "I admire artists, simple as that. I admire gifted people who are devoted to their art or their crafts...and I don't admire slovenliness, simple as that." 9:43 Terkel revealing what drives him to record other people stories, and write his books: "That's the drive: to find out what it's like to be in the other guy's shoes." 11:58 Terkel expanding on his reasons for writing: "(quoting Bertolt Brecht) 'When the [Spanish] Armada sank...King Philip, of Spain, King Phillip wept... were there no other tears?'" "I'm interested in the history of those who shed those other tears... So in a sense, that is the drive that impels me." 14:30 Clips from the '70s and the year 2000 are intercut to demonstrate how Studs has stuck to his story for decades. "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." 17:51 Terkel reluctantly commenting on his late wife Ida, to whom he was married for 60 years. He says losing Ida has left "a void that will be there at all times." He goes on to say that when he dies, he wants his ashes mixed with Ida's, and then wants somebody to scatter the mixed ashes over Chicago's Bughouse Square. 18:35 Terkel briefly discusses his friendship with writer and newspaper columnist Mike Royko. We then see a 1990 clip of Terkel and Royko talking in Chicago's Lawry's Tavern (on Diversey). 20:53 Terkel is discussing his 1940's -1950's TV show, "Studs' Place." We see clips from the show. 23:10 Studs Terkel: " Regrets? I don't know...[I have] too many regrets...letters I never answered...people I did not come through for...too many." Main Credits: produced by Tom Weinberg Additional Credits: edited by Joel Cohen; videographers (2000), Skip Blumberg, Mirko Popadic, and Tom Siegel; videographers (1970s), Joel Gold, Judy Hoffman, Anda Korsts, and Tom Weinberg no related documents List of comments You need to be registered user to post comments. Please login or register. Click here to login Your Clips This feature is available only in Clipstream version.