Studs Terkel, 1912 - 2008.

Author-radio host-actor-activist and Chicago symbol Louis "Studs" Terkel died today at his Chicago home at age 96. At his bedside was a copy of his latest book, P.S. Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening, scheduled for a November release....

It is hard to imagine a fuller life. A television institution for years, a radio staple for decades, a literary lion since 1967, when he wrote his first best-selling book at the age of 55, Louis Terkel was born in New York City on May 16, 1912. "I came up the year the Titanic went down," he would often say.

Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune.

Updated through 11/6.

Updates, 11/1: "In his oral histories, which he called guerrilla journalism, Mr Terkel relied on his enthusiastic but gentle interviewing style to elicit, in rich detail, the experiences and thoughts of his fellow citizens," writes William Grimes in the New York Times. "Over the decades, he developed a continuous narrative of great historic moments sounded by an American chorus in the native vernacular."

A big salute from Time Out Chicago.

"[A]s a suburban Chicagoan growing up in what was still a very working class metropolitan area, I could very well have learned and retained the narrower horizons that many of my relatives and neighbors had," writes Marilyn Ferdinand. "Studs gave me the kind of civic, social, and cultural education I probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere else, and he may be responsible for my highly eclectic and ecumenical tastes. I got that education over nearly four decades listening to The Studs Terkel Show, a talk radio show broadcast live at 10 a.m. (and rebroadcast at 10 p.m.) for an hour or thereabouts (Studs never watched the clock, nor was he made to by station owners Bernie and Rita Jacobs) on WFMT-FM, Chicago's Classical/Fine Arts station."

Updates, 11/3: [W]ithout Mr Terkel's radio program, which was broadcast daily between 1952 and 1997, and without his books of oral history - including one that won him the Pulitzer Prize - it is difficult to imagine that National Public Radio would have evolved in the way it did, or that Ken Burns could have made oral history into a cinematic tradition," writes Edward Rothstein in the NYT. "Just dip into some of the imposing volumes of oral history, in which Mr Terkel took on the social world of the 20th century - Hard Times, The Good War or Working - and you are amazed at the range of people who spoke with him about the Depression, the Second World War or the world of the workplace: the bookmaker and the stockbroker, the carpenter and the washroom attendant, the mayor and the supermarket cashier. Mr Terkel anticipated the academic movement of recent decades to tell history from below - not from the perspective of the makers of history but from the perspective of those who have been shaped by it."

AJ Schnack passes along thoughts from documentary filmmaker Steven Bognar: "Before NPR or This American Life, Studs Terkel innovated the long-form, in-depth interview with non-famous people.... He was among the first of us, and the best of us."

Online viewing tip. "Studs was a friend of Facets for over 30 years," writes Phil Morehart. "An avid lover of cinema, he often presented and discussed his favorite films at Facets Cinematheque, including classics Body and Soul, The Blue Angel and The Grapes of Wrath (watch Studs and critic Michael Wilmington discuss The Grapes of Wrath at Facets here).

And another online viewing tip, this one from Karina Longworth at the SpoutBlog: Studs Terkel talks about his participation in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool.

At Movie Morlocks, suzidoll recalls working at Facets and watching Terkel and Wilmington introduce the films in their series. Then:

Studs's appreciation and love of the performing arts comes through in The Spectator. Terkel himself is "the spectator" of the title - a person who appreciates watching movies and plays and thinking about what they have to offer. He was utterly remarkable in the depth of his personal knowledge on almost any given subject; he not only talked with an actor or writer about their careers, but he often asked them about something nonrelated. The person being interviewed would offer his opinion or insight on this unrelated subject, which was both informative about the topic and revealing of the celebrity himself. At other times, the conversational tone in the interview made it easy for the interviewee to open up and tell a little-known story about himself or recall a painful memory. Terkel's interviews were exactly how you imagine conversations should be among people of great intellect or talent.

Updates, 11/6: For the NYT, David Gonzalez takes a look at Terkel's legacy in the Bronx.

Esquire runs Cal Fussman's talk with Terkel.

Posted by dwhudson at October 31, 2008 3:06 PM