TERKEL: THE TALK IS ON TARGET

One expects Studs Terkel to be a terrific interviewer. What one doesn’t expect--but is charmed to find--is that Terkel gives as good as he gets.

“So, what can I tell you?,” the 74-year-old writer said brightly by phone from Chicago, where his Peabody Award-winning talk show originates daily. On Sunday, the Itchey Foot Ristorante begins weekly staged readings of his “The Good War,” a collection of memories of World War II.

His first anthology, “Division Street: America,” pays homage to Chicago. “Hard Times” focuses on the Depression. “Working” is a collage of American attitudes on the job. “Talking to Myself” is his story. “American Dreams: Lost and Found” offers just that.

“ ‘The Good War’ is an ironic title,” Terkel explained. “ ‘Good’ in contrast to what followed in Vietnam. Also ‘good’ in that we had a really ‘bad’ enemy--Hitler. I interviewed soldiers who’d served in Europe, women who went to work for the first time, Japanese-Americans who were put in (internment) camps, an English woman who recalled the Blitzkrieg , another recalling the Battle of Stalingrad.”

What shapes the interviews?

“I like jazz,” he said quickly, “I used to be a jazz deejay. So I think of what I do as a jazz improv. And I find subjects everywhere. I read about them, I bump into them on the street; there’s no one way it happens. I hear about someone in Birmingham, Ala., and he tells me about how vicious the Pacific Theater was . . . or a navigator who flew planes over Nagasaki.”

What if he travels across the country and finds a boring person?

Terkel chuckled. “I won’t deny that I’ve had some clinkers. But really, the problem usually is having too many good interviews, and I have to choose one. Everyone has something interesting about them. In each community, there’s one person--Florence--and she’s able to articulate what everyone feels, what they don’t say.”

His own celebrity, Terkel believes, rarely puts people off.

“Fortunately, they often don’t know me,” he quipped, “so they’re not intimidated.” If they are? “I goof off, play around. I loosen them up. I need their help. The thing I’m able to do, I guess, is break down walls. If they think you’re listening, they’ll talk. It’s more of a conversation than an interview. And it’s never question and answer: ‘ Then what did you do?’ ”

Even after years of talk, Terkel claims there are always surprises.

“The rule of thumb is that there is no rule of thumb. I’ve found such ambivalences and contradictions. People will say something, then turn around and it’s something else completely. Masses can be a sorry lot--giving way to witch hunts and hysteria--but individuals can think. It just requires time . Lincoln and (Stephen) Douglas used to debate for seven hours. Nowadays media reduces someone’s philosophy of life to 15 seconds.

“Think about Reagan. Why was he able to get away with what he did for so long? Because he offered (no explanation) and people accepted that. That’s why I want debates, arguments, town meetings, discussions--anything as long as the juices are flowing, as long as it gets things out in the open.”

Even if it’s a negative force?

“Sure. Most of the time, people’s sense of decency will come forth. I had a Ku Klux Klan member in one book and there was a sense of redemption. But even someone horrendous, I’ll give them all the leeway in the world (to hang themselves). Especially if it’s someone representing the banality of the world. I hate banality.”

And the condition it creates.

“We’re the richest country in the world,” he sighed, “and we’ve got the poorest memory.” He cites an encounter with a college student, during which he asked the young man on whose side Russia fought in World War II. “He said, ‘Well, Russia’s our enemy, right? They must have been allied with Germany.’ People just don’t remember things anymore; they don’t know. “