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Telling Tales

You may have never heard John Keatts' name before, but chances are you've heard his voice. Here's how this master storyteller brings his city to life.

By Laurie Herr

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

You may have never heard John Keatts' name before, but chances are you've heard his voice. John does voiceovers for many commercials, from ads for baby diapers and spaghetti sauce to banks and home improvement stores.

When he isn't doing commercials, he's busy giving tours of New York City aboard Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, a job he's held for 20 years.

"I wanted to learn about the city because it was so unusual to me," John recalls of his early days in New York. It was the 1960s, and he was fresh out of the Navy and living in Queens. "None of my neighbors spoke English-just Greek," he says. "I'd never lived anywhere like it." Years later, while dabbling in show business (he's had gigs singing on Broadway, among other things) he heard about the tour guide job and knew it was for him.

Now, twice a day from the upper deck of the boat, John reels off tale after tale in his friendly baritone voice. Each story is told from memory, and each one has all the "can-you-beat-that!" enthusiasm as if he's telling it for the first time. The tour lasts three hours-but John doesn't talk that long. "I've learned to shut up," he says. "New York is the show."

He's also learned not to stick to the script. "I know that the Empire State Building is here, but how the hell did it get here?" he says. "I'm more interested in the people that built the things we see."

That's why, if you take one of John's tours, you'll hear about Cornelius—a dirt-poor, 16-year-old boy in the early 1800s. Tired of doing chores on the family's island farm, he talked his parents into scraping up enough money to buy a boat. The enterprising kid used it to shuttle people back and forth from Manhattan, and the Staten Island Ferry Service—along with what would become the Vanderbilt shipping and railroad dynasty—was born.

Ironically, John himself has become part of the story. As New York shut down on September 11, the Circle Line boats assisted in a massive maritime evacuation. All day, John—whose son had been scheduled for a meeting later that day in Tower 2—and the rest of the crew helped people board, 600 at a time, ferrying them safely to the Jersey shore. After each trip, they went back for more.

"It was so quiet," John recalls. "Very few words were spoken. Very few people looked back."

For his efforts, John was one of 700 people who received a medal from the U.S. Transportation Department. "I thought it was very nice," John says. "But I wondered, what about the guy who rowed a boat back and forth all by himself to help others? What about the people in the towers? Did they get medals?"

John has gathered so many stories that he recently published them in a book: Tales of New York: Some Will Surprise You. After 20 years of storytelling, you might think John is ready to retire. But he's "not checking out yet," he says.

"People who are older are more engaged in the world than they used to be," he points out. "We want to have a voice." And John's voice is still going strong.

Do you know someone inspiring? Tell us at eldr.com/inspire.

 

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