1 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: One of the reasons I feel sorry for young people today, 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: aside from the fact that they're anxious and aren't allowed 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: to light candles in their dorm rooms, is it they 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: have no idea who Eve Arden is? And I get 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: it when my sister Gretchen and I found our mom's 6 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: naked Fanny Bryce doll in an old trunk and asked, 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Who's he? Our mother couldn't believe what she was hearing. 8 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: How could her own children not know who this massive 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: star was. Eve Arden was a comic actress, most often 10 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 1: the wise cracking sidekick and any number of American movies 11 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties, forties, and fifties. I knew her 12 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: mainly from her radio show, though Our Miss Brooks. It 13 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: ran from nineteen forty eight to nineteen fifty seven and 14 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: was rebroadcast on WRL, an AM station in Raleigh, North Carolina, 15 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: where I grew up. My first episode when I was thirteen. 16 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: It was instantly hooked, not just on Eve Arden, but 17 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,759 Speaker 1: on audio. I couldn't just sit in a chair and listen, 18 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: so I began timing my baths for seven point thirty, 19 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: which was when the program came on. When they started 20 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: airing other classic radio shows. After our Miss Brooks, I 21 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: took up drawing just something to do with my hands 22 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: as I listened to Fibermaghee and Molly or Suspense from 23 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: thirteen on. If I had a choice between listening to 24 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: music or listening to people talk, I'd most often go 25 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: with the latter. Even call in shows would do so 26 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: that's a Tarborough accent, I'd think as someone named Myron 27 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: or t W phoned in. It wasn't about agreeing with 28 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: any particular person or point of view. It was about 29 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: the speaker's ability to hold my attention. How did they 30 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: do it? Not just professionals like Jack Benny, but some 31 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: guy from Apex, North Carolina suggesting that we castrate Draft Dodgers. 32 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: I listened to church services for the same reason. Not 33 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: a big God fan, but you have to respect a 34 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: charismatic preacher, even if he's conflating homosexuality with pedophilia and 35 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: calling for you to burn in hell for an eternity. 36 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: I remember when I discovered MPR and when they serialized 37 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: Star Wars, a movie I had prided myself on not watching. 38 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: Listening though, who could resist it? A Prairie Home companion 39 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: Ken Nordine's word jazz, strange short plays written by the 40 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: great Joe Frank. I got so much work done while 41 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: listening to these people, went from drawing to painting to 42 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: wood carving, anything to keep my hands occupied. This was 43 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 1: long before podcasts, before you could hear whatever you wanted 44 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: and whenever it was most convenient for you. You had 45 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: to be right there in front of the radio or 46 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: else you'd miss out. And so I was in front 47 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: of my radio, essentially tethered to that spot. As for 48 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: audio books, I started listening back when they were mainly 49 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: made for the blind. The narrators weren't great back then, 50 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: but I learned to get beyond them and concentrate on 51 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: the story. Then there were scratchy recordings hard to find, 52 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: but they existed. Of say, Flannery O'Connor reading A Good 53 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: Man is hard to find. Of Frank O'Hara and Robert 54 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: Lowell reciting their poetry. I'd hear them and think, really, 55 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: that's what you sounded like. I'd expected such authority in 56 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: their voices. Now it seems that most new books are 57 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: available on audio, some spectacularly so. Tom Hanks reading Ann 58 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 1: Patches The Dutch House Donna Tart reading True Grit, George 59 00:03:55,480 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: Saunders reading George Saunders, My artistic love hit a wall. 60 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: At around the same time, portable cassette players became popular. 61 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: So now instead of painting or sculpting, I walked while 62 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: listening to books on tape. Then came iPods and podcasts, 63 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:18,039 Speaker 1: then phones, meaning you could access whatever you want, whether 64 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: in the tub or off by the side of some 65 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 1: two lane road. A play on BBC Radio four, a 66 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: podcast about mental illness, Raymond Carver reading what we talk 67 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: about when we talk about love? Call in shows for 68 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: Reptile Owners and White Nationalists, or any of the programs. 69 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: The stories and this collection first aired on Narrowing Your 70 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: Choices is I suppose what makes you you. The way 71 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: to grow, though, is to occasionally step outside of yourself. 72 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: We've gotten so used to being our own curators. I 73 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: think we've forgotten the pleasure of having something foisted upon us. 74 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: If you'd asked me if I was interested, did in 75 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: say Rose Bushes, or more accurate still rose Bushes vis 76 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: a vis God, I'd probably have said, that's okay, I'm 77 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: happy listening to these Alan Bennett diaries. That, though, would 78 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: have meant missing out on Armand's Garden, one of the 79 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: many diamonds thoughtfully selected for this collection. The same is 80 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: true of ear Hustle's Last Memory, though if you'd asked, 81 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: are you interested in stories about life in prison or 82 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: the lives people led before being incarcerated, I'd have said yes, 83 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: of course, with hopes this anthology will broaden your idea 84 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: of what interests you, or just deepen your appreciation for 85 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: all these people, many you've likely never heard of, who 86 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: are so very deserving of our attention. The collection was 87 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: curated by the executive editor of Pushkin Industries, Julia Barton, 88 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: and it's her voice he will hear next.