A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media

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Behind the Scenes at Town Hall in New York November-December, 1998

From Thanksgiving to Christmas this year A Prairie Home Companion comes to you live from Manhattan. Photographer Chris Meyer captured behind-the-scenes action as cast and crew prepared for a recent live performance.

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The New Yorker magazine said of the Town Hall: "Both to the ear and the eye Town Hall remains unrivaled among New York's auditoriums. Artists singing or playing at Town Hall start with an advantage - heard at their best and in close, easy contact with an audience predisposed to enjoyment by the pleasant ambience."

Photos: Chris Meyer for Quesada/Burke

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A national holiday in Lake Wobegon is always gaudy and joyful. But what is going on between Clint Bunsen and Miss Liberty?
Everyone is here—Pastor Ingqvist, the Sons of Knute, Sister Arvonne of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and her ocarina band, the Norwegian bachelor farmers, Dorothy and the Chatterbox Café, Wally in the Sidetrack Tap—as crowds converge on the little town to celebrate American independence, even as the chairman of the event broods on the great question of the day: Shall we struggle on valiantly here or shall we burst the bonds and find beautiful life in the golden west?

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Scripts and bits from A Prairie Home Companion celebrate the secret society of men and women who possess excellent spelling and punctuation skills. (You know who you are.) Selections include "The Six-Minute Hamlet," a tribute to Emily Dickinson, a Guy Noir adventure that exposes an MFA scam, a riveting "Professional Organization of English Majors" drama, and guests Billy Collins, Robert Bly, Roy Blount Jr., and Calvin Trillin.

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