Terkel passed away recently, and it prompted us to unearth one of his more unusual segments from the archives. ‘Talkin’ With Terkel’ has Terkel sitting around jawing with a passel of regular folks–sitting, smoking, drinking. It’s a good example of Terkel’s hyper interview techniques. From 1971, the first season of Great American Dream Machine.
Terkel sits around the table with a bartender, a proofreader, a housewife, a meat packer, and a retiree about freedom of speech and the American Dream.
Quote from Terkel himself on the segment, from the New York Times:
“In the brief segment involving myself, the scene will again be something of a small restaurant and tavern in Chicago. With a difference. An actual one. In place of my gifted colleagues at “Studs’ Place,” my companions this time will be “ordinary” people. Gifted and bewildered, each in his own way. Their dreams revealed, in tavern argument, will encompass fear and rage as well as, I hope, trust and worth. And, please God, a touch of awareness for all of us.
One thing is certain: they will not be types, “hard hat” or “militant black” or “hippie.” They will be persons. In a revelatory attempt, we may stumble and fall, but we’ll sure as hell try.”
Watch segment (15 minutes):
About Great American Dream Machine (1970-2)
GREAT AMERICAN DREAM MACHINE was a new kind of experiment in public television – a tongue-in-cheek look at American life. It was a magazine program chock full of celebrity profiles and performances, features on unusual local occurrences, conversations with scientists, philosophers and public intellectuals, all set in a context with a heavy dose of broad satire, skits, and sketch comedy.
In its first season, WNET produced 15 programs, each 90 minutes long. Because of the wildly eclectic format of the program, it is impossible to categorize the contents from week to week.
By its second season, the series had become Emmy-award winning. The program continued to present “a melange of humor, drama, investigative reports, and artful animation,” but it was shortened to 60 minutes weekly.
In all, 35 programs were produced in this series. With a mind-boggling array of guests and topics, the focus of this program was nothing less than the crazy quilt of American experience itself – with all its irony, strangeness and charm. As a snapshot of the turbulent cultural and political moment of the early seventies, the irreverence of GREAT AMERICAN DREAM MACHINE provided both release and reassurance to an uncertain America.
Fran Saykaly Says:
In addition to “Soul”, “The Great American Dream Machine” was a gem which I ALSO watched religiously. This was The Golden Age of Public TV. I’ll have to check whether WNET has posted any of these episodes. Thanks again.