Last Filmed Interview about My Life and Old Magazine Store by Brad Meyer & Sofia Kerpan

Filed under: Bewilderment,Filmed Interviews,Friendship & Compassion,Gritty Katzman Chicago Stories,Katzman Biography,Life & Death,My Own Personal Hell,Retail Purgatory,Robert Katzman's Bio — Bob at 4:04 pm on Thursday, January 4, 2018

Final filmed interview of my strange life and my last Magazine Memories just before it closed in April 2016, so I could care for my wife Joyce, who was in hospice. To me, what they created is an incredibly touching end of career perspective by other people. Only nine minutes long, made by Brad Meyer & Sophia Kerpan.

They filmed for several hours, chose whatever they felt was worth keeping to submit for a Columbia College project, and I consider them to be brilliant people. If this is the last comment on my 55 year career, I am content. I see the sometimes disturbing results of my failed surgeries, but I don’t care. Funny, but Joy never cared either. We did make some beautiful children. As much as I was able, I did what I felt was worth doing, accepting the rough hand life sometimes dealt me. Seeing it now at 67 makes me realize the inherent tragedy of what was lost. I watch it through tears. And people, the eerie but perfectly chosen music kills me.

Comments (6)

6 Comments »

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Comment by Don Larson

January 4, 2018 @ 5:18 pm

Bob,

Thank you.

I just watched the entire video presentation. Because I know you since 1958 and the many times we have been together or communicated in various ways, i appreciate what you said through this medium.

You are a very principled man! Your commitment to the value of a single human being, whether they are the observer or the subjects embodied in your life’s work.

I am posting the link to this page on the Internet with a suggestion that those reader take a few minutes to watch your story.

Warmest regards,

Don

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Comment by Katrinka Threet

January 4, 2018 @ 10:06 pm

I can understand how you felt trapped by the publications. All of my life I’ve felt trapped by my family, when someone gets sick or needs assistance who , was always there, yes me. No one else was there, my siblings said just leave but how do you abandon those who can’t care for theirselves. I don’t know what you did with them but I’d sure like some of those mad magazines but don’t think I could afford those antiques. I pray you are now writing full time between your obligations to cuddle the dogs.

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Comment by Brian

January 4, 2018 @ 10:32 pm

Miss you!

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Comment by Brad Dechter

January 5, 2018 @ 8:26 am

Bob,
I watched again. Thought it was sad.
What happened to your collection/inventory of magazines?
Did you think of giving them all to either the Library of Congress or the Smithsonian?
Hopefully, you are now hell-bent on living your life for you and not being in a prison. Yes, I have read all you write so I know you are, but persevere!

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Comment by Tiara Crouse

January 15, 2018 @ 7:04 pm

This short documentary really gives us, the viewer, the sense of love and loss that comes with building a collection of this scope. I felt like swooping in and fixing something, but this will live on. It’s been 8 years, I believe since the film, so I’m looking at what else you’ve posted during this time that helps to complete the story.

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Comment by Jim Williams

February 2, 2018 @ 8:54 am

Iâ€™ve read some of your stories and enjoyed them. Watching this video made you real to me and made me care about you. And dropping an f bomb makes me think maybe you and I arenâ€™t so different.

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