Shepherd Film Portrays Midwest

Jean Shepherd is fiftyish. He has a middle-age bulge and styled hair. But oddly enough he does not speak with the Midwestern twang that characterizes his stories, films, and radio shows.

Appearing for the screening of his latest film. "The Phantom of the Open Hearth" at television station WGBH in Boston, Shepherd discussed "Phantom." which he wrote, co-directed, and narrated.

"Phantom," told in flashback, depicts life in what Shepherd calls an archetypal Midwestern town during the 1940's. "It is the story of a family, each character impinging on each other, intertwining to create a story line," Shepherd said.

Shepherd termed "Phantom" an "anti-nostalgia" film that tries to show "if you think it's bad now, it was worse then."