Sheplives

Last Summary Update: None

Rat Catcher at the Mill
Airdate: Thursday - January 18, 1973 (Airdate Confirmed)

WOR Show
Original Airing

audio

(NOTE ABOUT TIME REFERENCES: Since there are many different copies of shows out there from different sources, all time references are from the beginning of one single recorded copy, since various copies, depending on when the recordee started recording, had news at the beginning or shortened themes. The times would vary from copy to copy.)

First Spoken Line After Theme Ends

By God the wind is in the right direction

Show Description

The rehashing of TV shows, Adam 12 is rehash of Dragnet and Canon is a rehash of The Fat Man. Salute to Philadelphia's Rat Catcher Sam Micelli who refuses to get a haircut and is fired. Zoos should have rats on exhibit A short course on the fundimentals of tin plated cans used for food. Why there are different costs due to the thickness of the plating and the contents. Shep was a 'professional rat catcher' at the tin mill, succeeding Clarence who was a legend. Chester Gooch was the boss and assigned Shep to the duty of setting the traps, catching anwhere from 50 to 100 a day.

[ Courtesy: GROK Summary - - ]   
  Shepherd opens with a disclaimer that parts of the show may be distasteful, then riffs on the "King's Messenger Syndrome" (people blaming the bearer of bad news). He notes that the rat star of the movie *Willard* won a Patsy award and promptly bit the trophy.

He then shares odd rat-related news notes from his "spies":
- A Kuala Lumpur theater contest for the longest rat (winner: 11 inches, not counting the tail).
- Peasants in northern Burma fighting giant rats with bows and arrows (one dead rat weighed 45 pounds).
- Nigerian police arresting a goat in Lagos on suspicion of kidnapping, tied to local beliefs in shape-shifting.

The main story is a nostalgic, comic recollection of his teenage summer job (around age 16) as a mail boy at the huge Inland Steel mill. He was reassigned to the glamorous Tin Mill Sorting Office - glamorous mainly because dozens of young women (Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, etc.) worked under fluorescent lights flipping big tin sheets, looking for flaws, in tight blue uniforms. The office itself was a glass cage where the supervisor, Chester Gotch, constantly ate salami sandwiches while watching the women.

Shepherd's actual job turned out to be rat-catching. He inherited the role from the legendary "Stanley," the previous champion rat catcher who had been promoted. Armed with about 15 large rat traps and bait (first gamey hamburger-and-cheese balls, later rotten liver on his father's advice), he walked a trap line around the tracks, cutting tables, waste areas, and Coke machine. He kept score and rapidly improved - catching dozens a day and eventually topping Stanley's record (up to ~75 in one day). The success boosted his status with the female workers, especially Sophie Subiak, and led to a date.

Interspersed are period commercials (Life Savers, House of Chan restaurant, Marriage Encounter, Newsday, a Nets basketball promotion) and, at the end, a short news segment covering the Hanafi Muslim murders in Washington, Kissinger's return to Paris for Vietnam talks, Goldwater's comments on the peace negotiations, and the Pentagon Papers trial.

Overall, the piece is classic Shepherd: a rambling, exaggerated, affectionate monologue that mixes workplace folklore, adolescent longing, absurd news items, and wry observation about jobs, status, and rats.      
  

WOR ID

Time	Station ID (All times approximate)
	. . .it's a drag, which reminds me this is WOR New York. . .

Commercials (All times approximate)

Time	Sponsor	Notes
15:45	Lifesavers
16:57	House of Chan
18:14	Newsday - L.I. Newspaper
19:17	N.Y. Nets	Nets vs Chapparals

Music (All times approximate)

Time	Music Title	Notes
	No Music Used

Notes
Cheers from Holiday Halftime Xmas album

Engineers, Staff, and Guests in Booth

Time	Engineer, Staff or Guest
01:09	George

Instruments and Special Effects Played During the Show

Instruments Played

None

Related Plots / Story Lines and Other References Used

Time	Category	Date	Title	Comments
	Plots / Story Lines		Rat Catcher

Airdate History ' - Original' date is earliest known broadcast)

This Show

		Date	Title
		January 18, 1973	Rat Catcher at the Mill	Original Airing

More Ways To Hear or Buy It

Show	Replay Date
Mass Backwards	January 16, 2007
Dustbin of History	January 19, 2022

The Best Source for Quality Jean Shepherd Audio

Sorry, Not Available

"Imagine 4,000 years passing, and you're no longer a memory - Does it seem possible to you?
You better believe it's possible, not only possible but certainty." - Jean Shepherd - October 7, 1971