First and foremost, Happy Father's Day to all of you fathers out there, and to the fathers of everyone reading this!
It occurred to me a short time ago that I've neglected to post any of the tapes I have of Jack Eigen. This is a real oversight, because I know there are multiple people who visit this site who are particularly interested in radio recordings, and because I have a LOT of Jack Eigen.
The main reason it didn't occur to me is that I actually sold the reels on which these recordings were housed, several years ago. But before I did so, I made copies of all of them. And there were a lot of them.
Jack Eigen was an enormously popular late night radio talk show host on Chicago station WMAQ (not WCFL, as I originally wrote) for 20 years, 1951 to 1971. I'm actually not sure I understand why - I find him abrasive and, as indicated, supremely irritating. This is not based - as it would undoubtedly be today - on a political point of view or deliberate crassness. No, I just find his personality aggressively unappealing. When I first got these tapes, more than 20 years ago, I remember asking my mom about him, and she said that they would listen to him "all the time", and adding that his annoying qualities were one reason that people listened. It was a feature, not a bug.
You can read a few bits about Jack Eigen here and here.
Regardless, these tapes are fascinating in that they present a world of show business, talk show style and radio presentation which all ceased to exist a long time ago.
This is a LONG tape, containing excerpts from several of Eigen's broadcasts - I have not re-listened to this whole tape, this time around, or even 1/10th of it. I'm guessing that buried within are references that will tell you when it is from. Like most of the tapes I can share from the Eigen collection, this is well over three hours long. I've labeled this one "volume one", simply because it's the first one I prepared for posting here - I have no idea what order they truly belong in.
I'm going to guess that there are those of you who want to hear more of this, and if so, by all means, ask - let me know. I have upwards of 25 of these tapes, or if you prefer, somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 hours plus of Jack Eigen. Some of them are interspersed with latter day episodes of the Arthur Godfrey show (of the same vintage) and also episodes of "Theatre Five", which was an afternoon half-hour radio drama in the mid '60's, but most of them are pure Eigen - and yes, that means I have 75 plus hours of this stuff....
Download: Jack Eigen - The Jack Eigen Show, Volume One
Play:
He was, undeniably, irritating & arrogant but I liked listening to it all the same. His comments about Martha Raye were odd; plenty of guys I knew went to Vietnam. Not one of them would have been all that stoked to see Martha Raye on a USO tour. I wouldn't mind hearing more.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this. Would any of your tapes happen to contain recordings of Jack Eigen's show from the Copacabana? I believe it was broadcast 1947-1950. Thank you again!
ReplyDeleteIn 1980, on the Steve Allen Comedy Room(it's online), Mort Sahl was on with Sid Caesar,and Shecky Greene and Sahl talks about Jack Eigen . I see why now.
ReplyDeleteCorrection :The Steve Allen Comedy Room show with Sahl was 1984 #1
DeleteAs correctly indicated in the tag, but NOT in the main text, Jack Eigen was actually on WMAQ radio. He never worked at WCFL, the home of his competitor, Bob Elson, who hosted a late night interview show from the Pump Room at the Ambassador East hotel, during (much of) the same time period.
ReplyDelete- Dave Alpert
dra@pipeline.com
I listened to his broadcasts in early 1960s, in Iowa...went to his tv show in mid 60s...loved his rye comments.
ReplyDelete