Rick Probstein interviews Bill Mastro

Fred · #1 09-18-2021, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by egri

I once listened to an interview with a Civil War veteran that was the same way. The veteran had been at Pickett's Charge, and it sounded like he was about to go into a story about that day, when the interviewer cut him off with a question about something completely unrelated.

Scott, I'm gonna bite - did the CW veteran ever get back to the story about Pickett's Charge? If not, bummer... When people like that get on a roll, a good interviewer would just let them keep going.

I bet Mastro could go on for hours. I'd listen but I would also not forget. Did he pay his debt to society? Maybe, but I'm going to bet he isn't "whole" with a lot of hobby community.

lumberjack · #2 09-18-2021, 07:40 PM

Lawrence Ritter said he had to keep his subjects focused. He had a woman friend who was helping, running the tape recorder or something, and he had to ban her from the interviews as she would go off subject and distract the old guys. He said he wasn't happy about it, but it was necessary.

As I understand it, he hired someone to make transcripts of the interviews and they simply went on and on.

Riter was, I guess, pretty good at editing the stories down.

Henry Thomas can, perhaps, add to that.
lumberjack

Hankphenom · #3 09-18-2021, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lumberjack

Lawrence Ritter said he had to keep his subjects focused. He had a woman friend who was helping, running the tape recorder or something, and he had to ban her from the interviews as she would go off subject and distract the old guys. He said he wasn't happy about it, but it was necessary. As I understand it, he hired someone to make transcripts of the interviews and they simply went on and on. Riter was, I guess, pretty good at editing the stories down.Henry Thomas can, perhaps, add to that.
lumberjack

I would agree with most of this. Larry's girlfriend, Barbara, who was allowed to participate in several of the interviews, was everything you didn't want in a questioner: full of herself, asking inane questions, obsequiously flirting with the subjects, etc. You can hear all that in the Goose Goslin segment of the audio set, but the Goose just rolls over her, he's got his story to tell and he's going to tell it, and it turns out great. And yes, the freedom and time Ritter gave his subjects could also work against him, and some of the interviews ramble on without producing much of interest. Sometimes the interviewees themselves just weren't very good no matter how much editing was brought to bear, and those were an easy choice to leave off the set. It was Larry's son, Stevie, then in his mid-teens, who handled the tape recorder, incidentally.

BillyCoxDodgers3B · #4 09-19-2021, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Sometimes the interviewees themselves just weren't very good no matter how much editing was brought to bear, and those were an easy choice to leave off the set.

Gibby didn't like that you omitted eight hours of Gibby!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

It was Larry's son, Stevie, then in his mid-teens, who handled the tape recorder, incidentally.

"Tell us more!"

Hankphenom · #5 09-19-2021, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

Gibby didn't like that you omitted eight hours of Gibby!
"Tell us more!"

What about?
Gibby was "too much Gibby!"

BillyCoxDodgers3B · #6 09-19-2021, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

What about?
Gibby was "too much Gibby!"

"Tell us more" was Stevie's go-to line to get the players to expand on a subject!

Hankphenom · #7 09-19-2021, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

"Tell us more" was Stevie's go-to line to get the players to expand on a subject!

That was Barbara's line, usually preceded by a sexy, "Ooooh," as in "Ooooh, let's hear more about that!" or some such. But it's usually intrusive, interrupting the player's story or train of thought, and doesn't help at all. Steve was very quiet and shy, as you can tell when the Goose turns the questioning on him briefly. His job was to operate the reel-to-reel recorder, and he seems to have handled that expertly.

egri · #8 09-18-2021, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred

Scott, I'm gonna bite - did the CW veteran ever get back to the story about Pickett's Charge? If not, bummer... When people like that get on a roll, a good interviewer would just let them keep going.

It's been several years since I listened to it, but I don't remember him going back to the story. I was disappointed too.

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