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- I'm putting my -
- Not yet, not yet.
3
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- Not yet, not yet.
- He's rolling, baby.
4
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- We should slate it, don't you think?
- I yeah.
5
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Rolling? Yeah.
6
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- Okay, was that the light?
- Where are you sitting? Down there? Why?
7
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- Why is he down there?
- Let him do what he wants.
8
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- Why are you so far from me?
- Okay. All right, so -
9
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get closer.
10
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- Come over here.
- No, you come here.
11
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That's it. That's more like it.
12
00:00:56,765 --> 00:00:58,346
Lovey-dovey, sort of, you know.
13
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They say as you get older,
your love grows stronger.
14
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So for some reason, it is getting
a little stronger, you know.
15
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Right, daddy?
16
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- He's bashful.
- Yeah, I know.
17
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Well, I wanted to start - I wanted to -
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you were gonna show us
how to do the sauce.
19
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Well, what should I say?
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Well, you're gonna get up
and show it to us.
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But I wanted to know who -
you know, how did you learn it?
22
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- Well, what are you asking me?
- About the sauce.
23
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- How did you learn how to make sauce?
- I'm supposed to be talking to you?
24
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You can talk to me, them,
it doesn't matter. I'll be over here.
25
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- I'll be over here.
- Should I mention your name?
26
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Doesn't matter.
27
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- Yeah, mention my name. Yeah.
- What should I say?
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Do you want me to tell you
how I learned to make sauce?
29
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Why don't you ask me the question?
Don't you hear that, then?
30
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No.
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I mean, if you were to ask me a question,
I would answer.
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I'm gonna say it now. I want to know
how you learned how to make sauce -
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who taught it to you,
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how many years you've been doing it,
and I want to see you do it.
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Well, you know,
when you first get married,
36
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you're really not much of a cook.
37
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I watched my mother make sauce.
38
00:02:02,414 --> 00:02:03,995
I watched my mother-in-law.
39
00:02:04,082 --> 00:02:07,620
I got a lot from my mother-in-law,
a lot from the family.
40
00:02:07,711 --> 00:02:10,623
She got more from my mother
than her mother though.
41
00:02:10,714 --> 00:02:13,205
See? There he goes,
putting his mother in again.
42
00:02:13,300 --> 00:02:16,446
- Let's go inside, and let's see -
- So now if you want me to show you,
43
00:02:16,470 --> 00:02:18,506
I'll come and show you
how I make the sauce.
44
00:02:18,597 --> 00:02:21,509
They were two different cooks anyway,
to begin with, you know.
45
00:02:25,354 --> 00:02:27,390
- How am I doing so far?
- Terrific.
46
00:02:27,481 --> 00:02:30,223
All right, now. To begin with -
47
00:02:49,961 --> 00:02:52,373
What were you saying
about nine children?
48
00:02:52,464 --> 00:02:54,671
- Her mother had nine children.
- Nine children?
49
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- Yeah.
- How did that affect the cooking?
50
00:02:58,345 --> 00:03:00,552
Well, some kids didn't like
certain things,
51
00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,551
and she used to satisfy them
in different ways.
52
00:03:03,642 --> 00:03:05,598
She became a better cook because of that?
53
00:03:05,686 --> 00:03:08,143
No, no, no.
Well, my mother was always a good cook,
54
00:03:08,230 --> 00:03:10,846
but the thing is is that she -
55
00:03:10,941 --> 00:03:13,023
she couldn't cook the way she wanted, see?
56
00:03:13,110 --> 00:03:15,692
Beginning with her husband,
my father-in-law.
57
00:03:15,779 --> 00:03:19,488
He used to cook for himself, so he's
given a better example right there.
58
00:03:20,367 --> 00:03:21,857
See?
59
00:03:23,578 --> 00:03:25,694
You'll notice
the towel doesn't leave my hands,
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00:03:25,789 --> 00:03:28,906
because I keep wiping all the time.
61
00:03:29,793 --> 00:03:33,285
But as far as cooking, it was a big job
to cook for seven people.
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Eight. Nine, with my father.
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00:03:35,966 --> 00:03:40,460
My father used to work nights a lot,
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and she had to satisfy him in the daytime,
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and he used to go to sleep,
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00:03:46,268 --> 00:03:49,135
and she used to cook for him
and then cook for the children.
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00:03:49,229 --> 00:03:50,685
You mean separate shifts?
68
00:03:50,772 --> 00:03:53,684
And then I go here -
this is what my mother-in-law taught me.
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00:03:53,775 --> 00:03:57,188
Take a few spoonfuls of tomato
and throw them in here,
70
00:03:57,279 --> 00:04:00,612
because your meatballs remain very soft.
71
00:04:01,616 --> 00:04:04,323
Not like some of the meatballs
you eat sometimes.
72
00:04:04,411 --> 00:04:06,367
- If you're invited somewhere...
- Yeah?
73
00:04:06,455 --> 00:04:08,696
You eat a meatball,
and it's as hard as can be.
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00:04:08,790 --> 00:04:10,951
You throw it at the wall,
the wall will crack.
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00:04:13,211 --> 00:04:15,702
I really shouldn't say that,
because I have a lot of friends,
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00:04:15,797 --> 00:04:18,288
and I'll be getting
a lot of telephone calls.
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00:04:18,383 --> 00:04:20,499
As a kid, sure, I worked in a -
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00:04:20,594 --> 00:04:23,711
- after school, I used to deliver vests.
- What?
79
00:04:23,805 --> 00:04:27,548
Vests. I used to make vests. At the time,
there was a big thing for vests.
80
00:04:28,518 --> 00:04:31,726
And I used to deliver the vests.
I used to tell my -
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my cousin, he used to be a boss.
I used to work for him.
82
00:04:34,649 --> 00:04:36,836
I used to tell him -
at the time, car fare was a nickel.
83
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I'd tell him, "give me 35, 40 cents."
"Why? Where you gonna go?"
84
00:04:39,988 --> 00:04:43,230
"You don't want to give me 35, 40 cents,
go yourself."
85
00:04:43,325 --> 00:04:46,988
But I always kept that money in my pocket,
because I used to hitchhike on horses.
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00:04:47,078 --> 00:04:50,195
On the back of the horse and wagon.
I used to go around.
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On Saturdays -
what did you do on Saturdays?
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00:04:53,877 --> 00:04:56,209
On Saturdays,
I used to go to Delancey street.
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00:04:56,296 --> 00:04:58,912
There used to be a time
that the Jewish people don't -
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00:04:59,007 --> 00:05:01,919
didn't light up their own stoves,
you know.
91
00:05:02,010 --> 00:05:04,922
- Why?
- The gas. They wouldn't light no matches.
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00:05:05,013 --> 00:05:07,629
- On Saturday?
- Saturday was a sabbath day.
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00:05:07,724 --> 00:05:11,057
I used to go there for a nickel,
used to light their gas.
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Well, my mother-in-law used to teach us
a lot of it, you know.
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00:05:15,190 --> 00:05:16,646
My mother taught me one way,
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and my mother-in-law
had a different slant to cooking.
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- She was a very good cook.
- Why did you wind up cooking that way?
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00:05:21,738 --> 00:05:24,445
Because - to please him more.
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00:05:24,533 --> 00:05:26,364
Naturally. That's the truth.
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00:05:26,451 --> 00:05:29,693
- How did you amuse yourself?
- Mostly - always eating.
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Going to different restaurants,
from one restaurant to another.
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00:05:32,457 --> 00:05:34,322
Back then it was cheap.
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00:05:34,417 --> 00:05:38,080
We'd go on Houston street
for knishes and a cup of coffee.
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For a dime. A dime.
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00:05:40,340 --> 00:05:41,955
Where? Yonah schimmel's. Yeah.
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- What was the name of the place?
- Yonah schimmel's. The original.
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I used to go there.
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00:05:46,054 --> 00:05:47,824
What did they do with the original one?
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00:05:47,848 --> 00:05:50,464
The original, uh, potato knishes.
110
00:05:50,559 --> 00:05:53,926
- Oh.
- They had the original potato knishes.
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They're still there.
There wasn't anything to do anyway.
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00:05:57,482 --> 00:06:00,224
You had no radio. You had no television.
113
00:06:01,027 --> 00:06:02,907
And every now and then,
you used to get a paper.
114
00:06:02,946 --> 00:06:04,757
A guy used to come around,
"extra, extra, extra."
115
00:06:04,781 --> 00:06:07,067
You'd buy the paper,
there was nothing in the paper.
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00:06:07,158 --> 00:06:10,150
The guy used to go, "extra."
There was nothing in the paper.
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00:06:10,829 --> 00:06:14,413
Yeah. People used to come down and buy
the paper. There was nothing in it.
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00:06:14,499 --> 00:06:18,412
Then we got a little, uh, atwater Kent.
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00:06:18,503 --> 00:06:20,960
I'll never forget it.
The first radio we had.
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00:06:21,047 --> 00:06:24,039
A little atwater Kent
that was in the shape of a church.
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00:06:24,801 --> 00:06:27,964
You know? It was in the shape of a church.
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00:06:28,054 --> 00:06:30,215
And, boy, with seven of us in the house,
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00:06:30,307 --> 00:06:32,719
we used to fight
what program we used to put on.
124
00:06:32,809 --> 00:06:34,765
I get it from my sisters.
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00:06:34,853 --> 00:06:37,219
The have a garden which they grow it in.
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00:06:37,314 --> 00:06:41,853
They give me enough of it so I can make
myself a nice jar to last me all year.
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00:06:41,943 --> 00:06:44,605
And as you see,
that's about the end of it.
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00:06:44,696 --> 00:06:48,234
- See? That's it. Leave the cover open.
- She's tryin' to put on. I don't know why.
129
00:06:48,325 --> 00:06:50,407
She should talk natural,
the way she does now.
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00:06:50,493 --> 00:06:53,701
When she puts on tellin' you
about the sauce and all...
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00:06:53,788 --> 00:06:57,372
- My husband is so jealous of me. Why?
- She's tryin' to, uh, put on.
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She should talk natural.
She'd be better off.
133
00:06:59,628 --> 00:07:01,209
I don't know what you mean, Charlie.
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00:07:01,296 --> 00:07:03,878
Talk the way you're talking to me now.
That's what I mean.
135
00:07:03,965 --> 00:07:07,332
Well, she told me she wanted
to know how I make the sauce.
136
00:07:07,427 --> 00:07:10,214
Yeah, but the thing is, you're -
talk natural.
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00:07:10,305 --> 00:07:13,047
Don't try to put on -
you're not an actress.
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00:07:13,141 --> 00:07:16,850
I'm not putting on any airs.
You looking for a fight or something?
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00:07:16,937 --> 00:07:19,679
Talk the way you talk to me
when you talk to your son.
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00:07:19,773 --> 00:07:21,638
- You looking for a fight or something?
- No.
141
00:07:21,733 --> 00:07:24,440
See, Marty, every time I sit close to him,
he moves away.
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00:07:24,527 --> 00:07:26,609
I don't know why.
143
00:07:26,696 --> 00:07:30,609
It's either - I don't know. Maybe
he's getting a little older now, you know.
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00:07:32,202 --> 00:07:33,802
- Changing the subject.
- Right?
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00:07:33,828 --> 00:07:35,568
She's changing the subject now.
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What did you want me to say?
Your mother taught me how to cook?
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00:07:39,376 --> 00:07:40,491
No, no, no, no.
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00:07:40,585 --> 00:07:42,667
And every time you come in the kitchen,
we fight?
149
00:07:42,754 --> 00:07:45,621
- No, no.
- Because you butt in my cooking? Huh?
150
00:07:45,715 --> 00:07:47,125
Sometimes a man -
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00:07:47,217 --> 00:07:49,754
it's been known a man is a better cook
than a woman anytime.
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00:07:49,844 --> 00:07:52,051
Who said so? I know that.
153
00:07:52,138 --> 00:07:54,504
- Who said so?
- It's been said in books.
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00:07:54,599 --> 00:07:56,635
Well, why aren't you doing
the cooking then?
155
00:07:56,726 --> 00:07:59,092
Not supposed to. It's not my line.
156
00:08:00,814 --> 00:08:02,224
My line - - what's your line?
157
00:08:02,315 --> 00:08:04,727
I always told you,
when I come home from work, that's it.
158
00:08:04,818 --> 00:08:07,630
That's right. You sit on that chair.
Soon as he gets through with dinner...
159
00:08:07,654 --> 00:08:10,396
- That's it.
- He comes in here, sits on that chair.
160
00:08:10,490 --> 00:08:12,635
You're really, really running it down,
wearing it down.
161
00:08:12,659 --> 00:08:14,459
That's all right.
That's what I bought it for.
162
00:08:14,536 --> 00:08:16,948
And there's times we sit in here,
and I says,
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00:08:17,038 --> 00:08:20,201
"Charlie, are we mad at each other?
Why don't we speak?"
164
00:08:20,291 --> 00:08:22,247
He says,
"what do you want me to tell you?"
165
00:08:22,335 --> 00:08:25,202
Gee whiz. I've been home all day.
At least talk to me.
166
00:08:25,296 --> 00:08:27,912
What can you tell a person
after you're with them for 40 years?
167
00:08:47,485 --> 00:08:50,727
And after, uh, 39 years of being married,
168
00:08:50,822 --> 00:08:52,528
we decided to take our...
169
00:08:53,783 --> 00:08:57,776
Belated honeymoon, which we never got.
170
00:08:57,871 --> 00:08:59,657
So we decided to take a trip to Italy.
171
00:08:59,748 --> 00:09:02,911
Yeah, why didn't you ever get it?
Because people spoke to you,
172
00:09:03,001 --> 00:09:07,620
and they told you about the train
goin' fast, and you were afraid to -
173
00:09:08,923 --> 00:09:11,209
you were afraid to go to Niagara Falls.
I was ready to go.
174
00:09:11,301 --> 00:09:13,087
He never took me on my honeymoon. Anyway -
175
00:09:13,178 --> 00:09:15,840
- but they scared her.
- Anyway, we took a trip to Italy.
176
00:09:16,514 --> 00:09:18,300
We toured for two weeks.
177
00:09:18,391 --> 00:09:20,632
I'll show you some of the pictures
that we took.
178
00:09:20,727 --> 00:09:22,513
This was Milan.
179
00:09:22,604 --> 00:09:23,889
That's Milan? Yeah.
180
00:09:23,980 --> 00:09:26,596
First dinner we had.
First night we went out.
181
00:09:26,691 --> 00:09:28,056
This was venice.
182
00:09:29,027 --> 00:09:30,767
The food was delicious.
183
00:09:30,862 --> 00:09:33,729
This was, um - uh -
184
00:09:35,450 --> 00:09:38,362
this was in palermo. This is my aunt here.
185
00:09:38,453 --> 00:09:40,865
She's 80 years old. Here I am, standing.
186
00:09:40,955 --> 00:09:43,196
This is her niece,
her granddaughter, right,
187
00:09:43,291 --> 00:09:45,327
and we had a few friends with us.
188
00:09:45,418 --> 00:09:47,079
This is also in palermo.
189
00:09:47,670 --> 00:09:49,831
- What is that?
- This is cows.
190
00:09:49,923 --> 00:09:52,209
They were in the street,
right in front of the house.
191
00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:54,837
We took a picture of them.
We thought it was very nice.
192
00:09:54,928 --> 00:09:57,135
And this was in, um, palermo.
193
00:09:57,222 --> 00:10:00,589
They called it piazza della vvergogna.
The piazza of shame.
194
00:10:02,685 --> 00:10:04,205
Why was it called piazza della vvergogna?
195
00:10:04,229 --> 00:10:06,686
Well, because there were
all these naked statues,
196
00:10:06,773 --> 00:10:09,640
and I thought they were just great.
197
00:10:09,734 --> 00:10:11,565
Oh. You thought they were great.
198
00:10:11,653 --> 00:10:14,440
And, uh, the statues were beautiful,
and really -
199
00:10:15,323 --> 00:10:17,234
this was at the, uh, leaning, uh -
200
00:10:17,325 --> 00:10:20,317
- where is that?
- Leaning Peter of pasa - pisa.
201
00:10:20,912 --> 00:10:23,779
- Don't tell me. Gonna guess.
- This was -
202
00:10:23,873 --> 00:10:26,034
- leaning tower of pisa. Pisa.
“What is that?
203
00:10:26,126 --> 00:10:28,242
This was a monk.
204
00:10:28,336 --> 00:10:32,420
Naturally, it was dead a long time,
so we took a picture of it.
205
00:10:32,507 --> 00:10:35,069
- Anything we saw, we took a picture.
- What did you think of that?
206
00:10:35,093 --> 00:10:38,301
I mean, you had the whole -
what is that? A body in a -
207
00:10:38,388 --> 00:10:42,301
it was an impression,
the way his teeth were.
208
00:10:42,392 --> 00:10:44,303
And this was the gondolier.
209
00:10:44,936 --> 00:10:46,642
Isn't that beautiful? In venice.
210
00:10:47,438 --> 00:10:50,100
The land is so beautiful,
if you could go see it.
211
00:10:50,191 --> 00:10:52,273
But there's no work over there.
The people -
212
00:10:53,027 --> 00:10:55,860
they have no work over there.
There are no industries.
213
00:10:55,947 --> 00:10:57,903
That's why they came to America.
There was -
214
00:10:57,991 --> 00:11:00,073
they had better here than there.
215
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:02,651
You speak to these little children,
eight, nine years old.
216
00:11:02,745 --> 00:11:05,157
Their first words out of their mouth is,
217
00:11:05,248 --> 00:11:08,035
"as soon as I become 18,
I'm coming to America.”
218
00:11:08,126 --> 00:11:09,606
- That's right.
- There's your answer.
219
00:11:09,669 --> 00:11:11,751
- Yeah, in the little towns now -
- Little towns.
220
00:11:11,838 --> 00:11:14,420
- In the big towns, it's like over here.
- One little boy -
221
00:11:14,507 --> 00:11:16,998
we had a little waiter there
that kept chasing me.
222
00:11:17,093 --> 00:11:19,584
- He was 16 years old -
- That was in Naples.
223
00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:23,547
In Naples. He kept chasing me. He says,
"please, take me to America with you.
224
00:11:23,641 --> 00:11:26,098
I'll work, I'll do anything.
But take me to America."
225
00:11:26,186 --> 00:11:28,768
He says to me, "get away from him,
because he really means it."
226
00:11:28,855 --> 00:11:31,517
I felt so sorry for him.
I really would have put him on the boat -
227
00:11:31,608 --> 00:11:33,849
on the plane with me, but -
228
00:11:33,943 --> 00:11:36,255
I felt so sorry for him,
because there's nothing over there.
229
00:11:36,279 --> 00:11:38,632
Put him on a plane with you,
then you're responsible for him.
230
00:11:38,656 --> 00:11:40,456
I would have taken him.
What's the difference?
231
00:11:40,533 --> 00:11:42,114
- Ah!
- Maybe he did mean -
232
00:11:42,202 --> 00:11:44,659
maybe he was Sincere
about the whole thing. I don't know.
233
00:11:44,746 --> 00:11:48,079
But the way it sounded, they would have
taken anybody to come here.
234
00:11:48,166 --> 00:11:49,952
I think they would have came with anybody.
235
00:11:50,043 --> 00:11:52,034
- Italy in itself -
- There's your answer.
236
00:11:53,588 --> 00:11:56,204
I lived across the street for 20 years.
237
00:11:57,091 --> 00:11:59,673
And naturally,
when they fixed up these buildings,
238
00:11:59,761 --> 00:12:02,252
we wanted to better ourselves -
239
00:12:02,347 --> 00:12:06,681
new furniture, and also my wife said,
"let's move across the street."
240
00:12:06,768 --> 00:12:08,759
I was against it.
241
00:12:08,853 --> 00:12:11,139
But then, you know how it is.
242
00:12:11,231 --> 00:12:12,937
You always give in.
243
00:12:14,025 --> 00:12:16,607
When the first -
the Italian people came here,
244
00:12:16,694 --> 00:12:19,811
as I said before, first it was all Irish.
245
00:12:19,906 --> 00:12:21,362
Then the Italian people came in.
246
00:12:21,449 --> 00:12:22,927
Then the Italian people came in.
247
00:12:22,951 --> 00:12:25,179
And there was a lot
of Jewish businesses around here.
248
00:12:25,203 --> 00:12:28,445
There was a little five-and-ten-cent
store, there was a shoe store.
249
00:12:28,539 --> 00:12:31,451
- All Jewish businesses around here.
- Mostly Jewish trade.
250
00:12:31,542 --> 00:12:34,033
A dry-goods store.
251
00:12:34,128 --> 00:12:36,835
Stands with -
like orchard street would be today.
252
00:12:36,923 --> 00:12:39,255
- Yeah.
- There was pushcarts.
253
00:12:39,342 --> 00:12:41,403
- As crowded as orchard street?
- Oh, yeah.
254
00:12:41,427 --> 00:12:43,614
It wasn't as crowded
as orchard street, but -
255
00:12:43,638 --> 00:12:45,574
- it was crowded.
- Yeah, but naturally,
256
00:12:45,598 --> 00:12:47,554
the neighborhood people
would come down to shop.
257
00:12:47,642 --> 00:12:50,600
I'll never forget,
the pushcarts in the morning
258
00:12:50,687 --> 00:12:53,929
were on this side
because there was no sun.
259
00:12:54,023 --> 00:12:56,059
In the afternoon,
when the sun came on this side,
260
00:12:56,150 --> 00:12:58,232
the pushcarts shifted over
to the other side.
261
00:12:58,319 --> 00:13:00,776
There was no sun.
But there was a great business over here.
262
00:13:00,863 --> 00:13:02,883
- You couldn't get a store over here then.
- Oh, it was beautiful.
263
00:13:02,907 --> 00:13:04,635
Stores were -
there wasn't a store empty.
264
00:13:04,659 --> 00:13:06,178
Every store on the block was taken.
265
00:13:06,202 --> 00:13:08,082
Every store, every basement was taken.
266
00:13:08,121 --> 00:13:09,702
Of course, you had lemon dealers.
267
00:13:09,789 --> 00:13:12,280
At the time,
we used to get lemons from Europe.
268
00:13:12,375 --> 00:13:14,957
Imported lemons.
And you don't get 'em today anymore.
269
00:13:15,044 --> 00:13:17,660
And they used to have lemon, oranges.
All kinds of fruit.
270
00:13:17,755 --> 00:13:20,497
They used to have -
there was one, two, three,
271
00:13:20,591 --> 00:13:23,958
four different places
with all that stuff around here, imported.
272
00:13:24,595 --> 00:13:26,335
And I don't know what happened.
273
00:13:26,431 --> 00:13:28,467
They-they faded away.
274
00:13:29,309 --> 00:13:31,721
They got sort of a depression like,
you know?
275
00:13:31,811 --> 00:13:33,347
And people started to move out.
276
00:13:33,438 --> 00:13:36,083
They started to move.
You know, businesses started to close.
277
00:13:36,107 --> 00:13:37,835
But as far as the neighborhood here
278
00:13:37,859 --> 00:13:40,170
and Delancey street and orchard street,
it was all together -
279
00:13:40,194 --> 00:13:42,901
Jewish and Italians,
they all worked together.
280
00:13:42,989 --> 00:13:46,948
And as far as actually stealing,
kids all used to steal.
281
00:13:47,035 --> 00:13:49,475
- Kids - you know, petty.
- Petty stuff, you know.
282
00:13:49,537 --> 00:13:52,028
Just for fun sometimes,
they'd take something on the pushcart,
283
00:13:52,123 --> 00:13:54,268
make the guy chase 'em,
and the rest of the kids used to go
284
00:13:54,292 --> 00:13:56,783
and pick stuff from the cart.
285
00:13:56,878 --> 00:13:59,244
What do you mean?
“Went from hand to hand.
286
00:13:59,339 --> 00:14:02,579
While he was chasin' one guy,
the others would take a few pieces and go.
287
00:14:02,633 --> 00:14:04,794
And that's it.
The poor man is chasing him.
288
00:14:04,886 --> 00:14:07,923
- Kid stuff. That's all it was.
- Kid stuff. You know.
289
00:14:08,014 --> 00:14:11,506
But, uh, kid stuff or no kid stuff,
290
00:14:11,601 --> 00:14:15,093
sometimes it was that, uh,
you needed that stuff.
291
00:14:15,188 --> 00:14:16,849
You know, it isn't like today.
292
00:14:16,939 --> 00:14:19,859
It's like, uh, your mother and father
couldn't afford to get you anything.
293
00:14:19,901 --> 00:14:21,562
You used to -
294
00:14:21,652 --> 00:14:25,144
a kid used to grab something
and, uh, use it.
295
00:14:25,239 --> 00:14:27,821
You know, fruit, fresh, whatever it was.
296
00:14:27,909 --> 00:14:30,025
Or a piece of crockery
or something like that.
297
00:14:30,119 --> 00:14:32,280
I remember
my brother Charlie getting older.
298
00:14:32,372 --> 00:14:34,408
He got a job. He was 14 years old.
299
00:14:34,499 --> 00:14:36,865
And, as I says, we had to go out to work,
300
00:14:36,959 --> 00:14:41,623
and he got a job working for j.P. Morgan,
I think it was, as a messenger boy.
301
00:14:41,714 --> 00:14:43,317
Fourteen dollars a week,
something like that.
302
00:14:43,341 --> 00:14:45,878
And of course, we started to -
you know, little by little,
303
00:14:45,968 --> 00:14:48,710
one brother started to work,
and the other brother started to work,
304
00:14:48,805 --> 00:14:50,949
and the sisters,
and we started to accumulate some money.
305
00:14:50,973 --> 00:14:52,964
And I remember one Christmas,
306
00:14:53,059 --> 00:14:56,096
my brother finally told my mother
that they wanted to put up a tree.
307
00:14:56,187 --> 00:14:57,472
And we were thrilled.
308
00:14:57,563 --> 00:15:01,181
So they bought the tree,
and they put the - whatever it was.
309
00:15:01,275 --> 00:15:03,395
Candles. I think
they used to use candles at the time.
310
00:15:03,486 --> 00:15:05,067
We didn't have no electricity.
311
00:15:05,154 --> 00:15:07,566
And, uh, we put up a tree.
312
00:15:07,657 --> 00:15:11,491
But there was no such thing before that.
I mean, we never had a tree.
313
00:15:11,577 --> 00:15:13,909
We only had, uh -
314
00:15:14,872 --> 00:15:17,158
christmastime -
like, for instance, one night,
315
00:15:17,250 --> 00:15:19,161
they wanted to play a joke on the kids.
316
00:15:19,252 --> 00:15:21,743
The kids hung up their stockings.
They were kids.
317
00:15:21,838 --> 00:15:23,294
They hung up their stockings.
318
00:15:23,381 --> 00:15:26,293
We had a real fireplace,
but it was never used.
319
00:15:26,384 --> 00:15:29,672
So they hung up their socks
on the fireplace,
320
00:15:29,762 --> 00:15:32,799
you know, thinking they'd find something
from Santa claus the next day.
321
00:15:32,890 --> 00:15:35,472
And just to play a joke on them -
we were a little older -
322
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,267
we stuffed them up with lemons
and pieces of wood
323
00:15:38,354 --> 00:15:41,812
and, uh -
and, uh, lots of things we found.
324
00:15:41,899 --> 00:15:44,641
Then after, we felt bad,
because it was really terrible.
325
00:15:44,735 --> 00:15:47,192
When the kids woke up
and they looked at those socks,
326
00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:49,771
honest, they cried, honest.
327
00:15:49,866 --> 00:15:51,677
It was really terrible.
We shouldn't have done that.
328
00:15:51,701 --> 00:15:54,784
Now when I think of it, I say,
"that was terrible, what we did to them."
329
00:15:54,871 --> 00:15:57,487
But as I says, as we went along,
you know, it was different.
330
00:15:58,541 --> 00:16:02,250
I never remember
a Christmas tree in my mother's house.
331
00:16:02,336 --> 00:16:03,897
- I don't remember it.
- You never had one.
332
00:16:03,921 --> 00:16:05,899
I never remember a Christmas tree
in my mother's house.
333
00:16:05,923 --> 00:16:07,693
- We had a Christmas tree.
- Why?
334
00:16:07,717 --> 00:16:10,459
Well, as I said,
they didn't go for it, the old folks.
335
00:16:10,553 --> 00:16:12,009
They didn't go for it.
336
00:16:12,096 --> 00:16:16,635
What they believed in was that
at 12:00 at night they went to church,
337
00:16:16,726 --> 00:16:18,512
they celebrated mass,
338
00:16:18,603 --> 00:16:20,810
and after that, they came home.
339
00:16:20,897 --> 00:16:24,856
We had some sausage
and things like that at the church,
340
00:16:24,942 --> 00:16:28,275
and then next day,
we had a big dinner with the family.
341
00:16:31,657 --> 00:16:35,195
Our fathers and mothers,
they were from a different world.
342
00:16:35,286 --> 00:16:37,026
They were different. The brought us up.
343
00:16:37,121 --> 00:16:40,534
As long as we ate and we were healthy,
that's all that counted.
344
00:16:40,625 --> 00:16:44,117
They couldn't afford to send us to school.
They didn't have that kind of money.
345
00:16:44,212 --> 00:16:46,043
They had all they could do to survive.
346
00:16:46,130 --> 00:16:49,588
And, uh, thank god that, uh,
347
00:16:49,675 --> 00:16:53,293
my mother and father,
they reached to see us all get married
348
00:16:53,387 --> 00:16:57,847
and all settle up nice, families,
and that's it.
349
00:16:57,934 --> 00:17:00,641
- My mother used to wash clothes by hand...
- Cold water.
350
00:17:00,728 --> 00:17:04,562
With the, uh - with the, uh, washboard.
351
00:17:04,649 --> 00:17:07,686
Scrubbed them.
And then we had no stoves, no gas stove.
352
00:17:07,777 --> 00:17:10,314
We had a coal stove
which she used to heat up,
353
00:17:10,404 --> 00:17:14,317
put this big pot on top of it
with the clorox, whatever you had,
354
00:17:14,408 --> 00:17:17,241
put it in there and boil your clothes
and let them come white.
355
00:17:17,328 --> 00:17:19,990
You could just imagine nine children,
with all these diapers
356
00:17:20,081 --> 00:17:22,663
and clothes and things like that,
our poor mothers worked.
357
00:17:26,128 --> 00:17:29,291
The bathroom was in the hallways.
You know.
358
00:17:29,382 --> 00:17:33,091
In those tenements, that's the way it was.
We were lucky to have it in the hallway.
359
00:17:33,177 --> 00:17:36,010
Some tenements had them in the backyards,
360
00:17:36,097 --> 00:17:39,510
and you had to get the key
and go down to the backyard.
361
00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,057
- You can imagine.
- Were they backhouses?
362
00:17:42,144 --> 00:17:43,600
Backhouses.
363
00:17:43,688 --> 00:17:45,624
- Describe those tenements in the back.
- No, no, no.
364
00:17:45,648 --> 00:17:47,934
They were regular backhouses built up.
365
00:17:48,025 --> 00:17:50,016
There were bathrooms there. You know.
366
00:17:50,111 --> 00:17:53,048
What was the Italian word for it?
Remember the Italian word that -
367
00:17:53,072 --> 00:17:54,687
bacaus.
368
00:17:55,575 --> 00:17:59,534
As far as anybody that talks bad
about this neighborhood, forget it.
369
00:18:00,079 --> 00:18:02,057
Were the Chinese here
when you first came here?
370
00:18:02,081 --> 00:18:06,199
Chinatown was confined
on the other side of canal street.
371
00:18:06,294 --> 00:18:08,125
That was Chinatown. Strictly Chinatown.
372
00:18:08,212 --> 00:18:10,043
- In fact, Marty, Chinatown -
- Now -
373
00:18:10,131 --> 00:18:13,339
excuse me. Chinatown,
people were afraid to walk through it.
374
00:18:13,426 --> 00:18:16,543
You used to hear so many stories about it,
but it wasn't true!
375
00:18:16,637 --> 00:18:18,343
- It wasn't true.
- No, no, that was true.
376
00:18:18,431 --> 00:18:21,264
They had a tong war there.
Yeah, I remember as a kid.
377
00:18:21,350 --> 00:18:23,306
It was true? You had-you had -
378
00:18:23,394 --> 00:18:26,477
you had detectives, two on each corner.
379
00:18:26,564 --> 00:18:28,179
In other words, it was dangerous.
380
00:18:28,274 --> 00:18:30,356
Not to - not to - not to us.
381
00:18:30,443 --> 00:18:32,559
- Amongst themselves.
- Oh, amongst themselves.
382
00:18:32,653 --> 00:18:36,191
Well, naturally.
You always get these people that feud.
383
00:18:36,282 --> 00:18:37,863
You got 'em in features too.
384
00:18:38,743 --> 00:18:41,155
The same thing the Irish did
when they -
385
00:18:41,245 --> 00:18:42,405
right.
386
00:18:42,496 --> 00:18:45,329
- Everybody resented us. You see?
- They resented us.
387
00:18:45,416 --> 00:18:47,122
What do you mean, the irishmen?
388
00:18:47,209 --> 00:18:50,451
Well, when the Italian people came here,
they resented it too,
389
00:18:50,546 --> 00:18:53,066
because they didn't want to be thrown out
of their own neighborhood.
390
00:18:53,090 --> 00:18:56,582
You know how many bars you had
over here when my father came here?
391
00:18:56,677 --> 00:19:00,920
How many bars out here?
You had about six, seven bars over here.
392
00:19:01,015 --> 00:19:04,052
All Irish bars.
And there was only one guy -
393
00:19:04,143 --> 00:19:07,385
there was only one guy that remained here
till they took the building out.
394
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:08,765
Don't say - - no.
395
00:19:08,856 --> 00:19:11,689
Till they tore the buildings down.
And, uh -
396
00:19:11,776 --> 00:19:13,812
it's not like it was years ago,
397
00:19:13,903 --> 00:19:16,519
that the people used to leave
their doors open, and -
398
00:19:16,614 --> 00:19:19,526
it was like all one big house,
the whole apartment.
399
00:19:19,617 --> 00:19:21,824
You're going from - "hello."
The doors were open,
400
00:19:21,911 --> 00:19:24,243
and you would go into one house
and to another.
401
00:19:24,330 --> 00:19:26,946
And me, if I didn't like
what my mother used to cook,
402
00:19:27,041 --> 00:19:30,283
I used to go downstairs and eat.
403
00:19:30,378 --> 00:19:32,356
I used to go upstairs:
"What are you cookin', mom?"
404
00:19:32,380 --> 00:19:34,120
I didn't like it - downstairs.
405
00:19:34,215 --> 00:19:37,673
We used to be like all one family.
It was altogether different.
406
00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:39,375
It's really the -
407
00:19:41,097 --> 00:19:43,679
- yeah? You were saying?
- I want to stir the sauce.
408
00:19:43,766 --> 00:19:45,882
- You wanna what?
- Stir the sauce.
409
00:19:48,229 --> 00:19:51,437
What do you think he was saying when
you were talking before about the Irish?
410
00:19:51,524 --> 00:19:54,357
- What was that?
- When he says there's a lot of bars?
411
00:19:54,443 --> 00:19:55,853
There were a lot of bars?
412
00:19:55,945 --> 00:19:58,186
Well, naturally,
every corner had mostly bars.
413
00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,192
And you had a lot of stores and things.
You know.
414
00:20:01,283 --> 00:20:04,525
But, uh, from what I gather -
415
00:20:04,620 --> 00:20:07,182
but you were saying something,
though, about him, what he said.
416
00:20:07,206 --> 00:20:09,037
- I didn't want him to say that.
- Why not?
417
00:20:09,125 --> 00:20:11,867
- Because.
- You didn't want him to say what?
418
00:20:11,961 --> 00:20:14,418
About Irish people. I mean, after all,
419
00:20:14,505 --> 00:20:17,793
we really did come in here and live here,
you know what I mean?
420
00:20:18,384 --> 00:20:21,251
And then, of course,
it's just like everything else, you know.
421
00:20:22,221 --> 00:20:24,337
They were here first. Naturally.
422
00:20:24,432 --> 00:20:26,423
It's just like kids
when they find something,
423
00:20:26,517 --> 00:20:28,929
and they find it, and they have it,
424
00:20:29,019 --> 00:20:31,164
and then somebody comes along
and wants it, and they say,
425
00:20:31,188 --> 00:20:33,188
- "no, I found it first," right?
- Mm-hmm.
426
00:20:33,232 --> 00:20:35,223
So that's why I guess they resent it,
you know.
427
00:20:35,317 --> 00:20:38,980
But then, as he says,
it sort of started to get -
428
00:20:39,071 --> 00:20:42,984
you know, everybody got together,
and then they made one happy family.
429
00:20:43,075 --> 00:20:44,565
That's all.
430
00:20:44,660 --> 00:20:48,369
You know, it wasn't too bad after a while.
They sort of got used to the idea.
431
00:20:48,456 --> 00:20:50,697
But in the beginning,
it was a little tough.
432
00:20:52,626 --> 00:20:54,787
But it's just like everything else.
433
00:20:56,505 --> 00:20:59,997
Now my meatballs are in. I shall put
my cover on and forget about it.
434
00:21:01,761 --> 00:21:03,046
Okay.
435
00:21:03,137 --> 00:21:04,673
That's it.
436
00:21:05,431 --> 00:21:07,262
Your father, what he was doing,
437
00:21:07,349 --> 00:21:09,389
where he came from, what the town was,
and all that.
438
00:21:09,435 --> 00:21:12,518
My father came from polizzi in sicily.
439
00:21:13,397 --> 00:21:15,979
It's a little town in sicily. And he -
440
00:21:17,234 --> 00:21:20,567
when he was a little boy,
about six or seven years old,
441
00:21:20,654 --> 00:21:24,112
his mother had died
and his father remarried.
442
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:26,407
And somehow or another,
I don't know what happened,
443
00:21:26,494 --> 00:21:30,407
but he didn't want to stay there,
and some man took him in.
444
00:21:30,498 --> 00:21:34,082
He had a farm.
He had goats and things like that.
445
00:21:34,168 --> 00:21:37,581
He would work for this man.
As he grew up, he would work for this man.
446
00:21:37,671 --> 00:21:39,753
At 19 years old,
he was coming to this country.
447
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:41,151
This man didn't want him
to come over here.
448
00:21:41,175 --> 00:21:43,111
This man wanted him to marry
one of his daughters.
449
00:21:43,135 --> 00:21:45,046
This man had three daughters, no sons.
450
00:21:45,137 --> 00:21:47,057
And he says he would give him
anything he wanted.
451
00:21:47,097 --> 00:21:49,053
But my father says,
"no, I'm off to America."
452
00:21:49,141 --> 00:21:51,598
He came over here
when he was about 19 years old.
453
00:21:51,685 --> 00:21:53,830
- And, uh -
- About what year was that around?
454
00:21:53,854 --> 00:21:56,846
Well, I would say 1901,
something like that.
455
00:21:56,941 --> 00:21:59,273
He started to work as a laborer.
456
00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:02,102
When he was 21 years old,
he decided he wanted to get married,
457
00:22:02,196 --> 00:22:05,438
and he went to my mother,
and he married her.
458
00:22:05,533 --> 00:22:09,446
And he got married right here
in the old St. Patrick's church.
459
00:22:09,537 --> 00:22:11,152
- The old cathedral.
- Uh-huh.
460
00:22:12,164 --> 00:22:16,157
During world war I,
he went to work on ships.
461
00:22:16,252 --> 00:22:19,210
- Yeah.
- And when they had him down the hull -
462
00:22:19,296 --> 00:22:21,378
they were workin' on the ships way down -
463
00:22:21,465 --> 00:22:24,027
half of the times they wouldn't even
let him come up because they figured
464
00:22:24,051 --> 00:22:25,771
if these people come up,
they would go away,
465
00:22:25,845 --> 00:22:27,948
because they wouldn't want to work
under those conditions.
466
00:22:27,972 --> 00:22:29,407
They kept them there for a week or so.
467
00:22:29,431 --> 00:22:32,343
They used to give them food
and everything else, but they -
468
00:22:32,434 --> 00:22:35,517
after a week or so, they used to
make them come up and go out.
469
00:22:35,604 --> 00:22:38,266
And he finally went to work
for the New York steam.
470
00:22:38,357 --> 00:22:41,064
And as he worked for New York steam,
without an education,
471
00:22:41,151 --> 00:22:43,107
he had a hundred people workin' for him.
472
00:22:43,195 --> 00:22:44,422
What was New York steam?
473
00:22:44,446 --> 00:22:47,108
New York steam consists of con Edison
today. They took it over.
474
00:22:47,199 --> 00:22:48,985
- I see.
- Con Edison.
475
00:22:49,076 --> 00:22:51,158
Did he go into business or anything?
476
00:22:51,245 --> 00:22:55,659
I'd say about eight, nine or ten
businesses, all in fruit and vegetables,
477
00:22:55,749 --> 00:22:57,831
and every one of them he put up,
he lost money on.
478
00:22:57,918 --> 00:23:00,375
He always - didn't make out.
479
00:23:00,462 --> 00:23:02,669
But he kept trying. Kept trying.
480
00:23:03,424 --> 00:23:06,211
One day he comes up, he says,
"I bought the grocery store downstairs."
481
00:23:06,302 --> 00:23:08,167
We were all furious.
482
00:23:08,262 --> 00:23:11,254
We didn't want him to get into business.
But he got into business.
483
00:23:11,348 --> 00:23:13,384
And the New York steam people
came over to him.
484
00:23:13,475 --> 00:23:15,078
They wanted him back again.
He wouldn't go back.
485
00:23:15,102 --> 00:23:16,982
He says, "I got my own business,
and that's it."
486
00:23:17,062 --> 00:23:19,249
My father was the type of man,
he wanted to be in business.
487
00:23:19,273 --> 00:23:21,264
He always told me,
"anytime you're in business,
488
00:23:21,358 --> 00:23:23,394
you can owe all the money in the world,
489
00:23:23,485 --> 00:23:26,352
but you always got money in your pocket
when you're in business."
490
00:23:26,447 --> 00:23:29,939
'Cause you can always support a family.
You got money.
491
00:23:30,034 --> 00:23:32,366
The bills,
you paid 'em as they came along.
492
00:23:32,453 --> 00:23:35,195
Finally, after so many years,
he lost that too.
493
00:23:35,289 --> 00:23:38,622
And he lost it just at the time
when the second world war started.
494
00:23:39,418 --> 00:23:41,283
As far as my mother goes,
495
00:23:41,378 --> 00:23:44,586
well, she was a strong woman.
496
00:23:44,673 --> 00:23:47,039
My father would never get into arguments
with anybody.
497
00:23:47,134 --> 00:23:48,840
She would face them.
498
00:23:48,928 --> 00:23:50,338
My father would always -
499
00:23:50,429 --> 00:23:52,115
she would push my father
always on the side.
500
00:23:52,139 --> 00:23:54,505
She was a very strong woman.
501
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,262
Even with us, with the children.
502
00:23:57,895 --> 00:24:00,728
And if she had to say something,
she told you, and that was it.
503
00:24:00,814 --> 00:24:03,351
And you couldn't answer her.
She was tough.
504
00:24:03,442 --> 00:24:05,402
When did she come over?
On what kind of -
505
00:24:05,444 --> 00:24:08,857
what kind of boat trip? I mean, you know.
Could you tell us a little about that?
506
00:24:08,948 --> 00:24:10,063
When she came over.
507
00:24:10,157 --> 00:24:12,694
When she came over,
she says she almost died on that trip.
508
00:24:12,785 --> 00:24:15,993
The boats were small.
They were very small.
509
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,698
It took her a month and a half -
over a month to get over here by boat.
510
00:24:19,792 --> 00:24:23,626
Like her mother, the same thing.
They came over here, the boats were -
511
00:24:23,712 --> 00:24:26,749
the waves - they thought they'd never
make it when they came over here.
512
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,082
Her mother then came over here years ago,
but I don't remember her.
513
00:24:30,177 --> 00:24:32,839
She died, you know, and all that.
514
00:24:32,930 --> 00:24:37,344
But my mother was a - she was a real whip.
515
00:24:50,948 --> 00:24:53,405
'Cause I remember as a little boy,
516
00:24:53,492 --> 00:24:57,110
we used to have, in 241,
we had two boarders.
517
00:24:57,204 --> 00:24:59,286
- We had, you know, with the room -
- Two what?
518
00:24:59,373 --> 00:25:01,910
Two boarders. Boarders.
I mean, people that lived with us.
519
00:25:02,001 --> 00:25:04,583
- Yeah, I know.
- In the kitchen.
520
00:25:04,670 --> 00:25:07,332
Where you see the kitchen,
it used to be a bedroom.
521
00:25:07,423 --> 00:25:09,109
- But they used to pay?
- Oh, yeah.
522
00:25:09,133 --> 00:25:11,861
My mother used to cook for them, wash
their clothes and they used to pay her.
523
00:25:11,885 --> 00:25:14,718
- How many people were all in the rooms?
- There was two boarders.
524
00:25:14,805 --> 00:25:17,512
Me, my father - I was born.
525
00:25:17,599 --> 00:25:21,262
There was Rosie, mo, me, Mikey.
526
00:25:21,353 --> 00:25:25,346
Mikey, Joey and Fanny.
We were seven. And two was nine.
527
00:25:25,441 --> 00:25:26,647
How many rooms?
528
00:25:26,734 --> 00:25:29,897
Oh, there's, with the kitchen,
four rooms there were.
529
00:25:29,987 --> 00:25:32,228
That's all. Four small rooms.
530
00:25:32,322 --> 00:25:35,314
There was no such thing
as, uh, elaborate rooms.
531
00:25:35,409 --> 00:25:38,867
You know what there was?
You had no furniture then. You had beds.
532
00:25:39,538 --> 00:25:41,391
In the daytime, you'd pick 'em up,
and you had the room.
533
00:25:41,415 --> 00:25:44,157
In the nighttime, you fold 'em down,
and then you go to sleep.
534
00:25:44,251 --> 00:25:46,788
What do you think it was?
535
00:25:47,671 --> 00:25:49,787
That's all we had. Table and chairs.
536
00:25:49,882 --> 00:25:51,998
And my mother - I remember my mother
537
00:25:52,092 --> 00:25:54,029
scrubbing them floors, wooden floors,
on her knees.
538
00:25:54,053 --> 00:25:55,634
- No carpet.
- No carpets.
539
00:25:55,721 --> 00:26:00,260
Wooden floors with a brush, an iron brush
in the hallway and in the house.
540
00:26:00,350 --> 00:26:03,888
Used to make those floors sparkle.
Wooden floors.
541
00:26:03,979 --> 00:26:06,686
Today they got it so soft.
They got a washing machine.
542
00:26:06,774 --> 00:26:08,389
They got this, they got that.
543
00:26:08,484 --> 00:26:11,021
So jealous.
544
00:26:11,111 --> 00:26:14,649
And there was, uh -
and they never - they never cried,
545
00:26:14,740 --> 00:26:16,526
you know, or say they were tired.
546
00:26:16,617 --> 00:26:18,573
There was no such thing as being tired.
547
00:26:18,660 --> 00:26:20,901
And besides that, she used to sew pants.
548
00:26:20,996 --> 00:26:23,032
My father was always a scaffold maker.
549
00:26:23,123 --> 00:26:24,738
A scaffold.
550
00:26:24,833 --> 00:26:27,791
The board that's outside of the buildings.
That they stand on.
551
00:26:27,878 --> 00:26:32,042
When they put scaffolds for men to go
around to put up bricks and things.
552
00:26:32,132 --> 00:26:34,714
- He was always a scaffold maker.
- Scaffold man.
553
00:26:34,802 --> 00:26:36,793
So, of course,
it was hard to get work here.
554
00:26:36,887 --> 00:26:39,344
So wherever they could get work,
they would go out to.
555
00:26:39,431 --> 00:26:42,798
And I remember him going
to Springfield, New Jersey.
556
00:26:42,893 --> 00:26:44,996
- And that was like going from here to -
- Monday morning -
557
00:26:45,020 --> 00:26:46,726
he would leave on a Monday morning -
558
00:26:46,814 --> 00:26:49,454
Springfield, New Jersey -
he would go there to go to work.
559
00:26:49,525 --> 00:26:52,483
Yeah. He would go away Monday morning
and come back Friday night
560
00:26:52,569 --> 00:26:54,605
for $45 a week.
561
00:26:54,696 --> 00:26:57,278
- Now, supporting nine children -
- That was big money.
562
00:26:57,366 --> 00:27:01,029
Now, so one night -
my father had handlebars.
563
00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:03,452
So one night on a Friday night,
564
00:27:03,539 --> 00:27:06,246
there was a knock at the door, so -
565
00:27:06,333 --> 00:27:07,789
we were children.
566
00:27:07,876 --> 00:27:09,787
We opened the door,
and all of a sudden,
567
00:27:09,878 --> 00:27:12,335
we ran back
and were pulling onto my mother.
568
00:27:12,422 --> 00:27:15,459
"What's the matter?" She says.
I says, "there's a man at the door.”
569
00:27:15,551 --> 00:27:18,714
It was my father.
He shaved off his handlebars.
570
00:27:18,804 --> 00:27:21,466
And we were - we didn't recognize him,
and we were crying.
571
00:27:21,557 --> 00:27:23,388
My father pulled the same thing.
572
00:27:23,475 --> 00:27:26,137
He used to get a big charge out of it.
He loved to do that.
573
00:27:26,228 --> 00:27:28,344
He used to get a big charge
out of things like that.
574
00:27:30,732 --> 00:27:33,519
Years ago,
they didn't have such things as a cellar.
575
00:27:33,610 --> 00:27:35,851
We used to take the - buy these grapes
576
00:27:35,946 --> 00:27:38,312
and squeeze the juice up in the room there
577
00:27:38,407 --> 00:27:40,238
and put the-the barrels
578
00:27:40,325 --> 00:27:42,691
in one of the bedrooms,
in a part of the bedroom
579
00:27:42,786 --> 00:27:44,401
and make the wine ferment.
580
00:27:44,496 --> 00:27:47,329
- You mean they used to make wine where?
- In the house.
581
00:27:47,416 --> 00:27:50,374
In the rooms with the boarders and all,
we used to make the wine.
582
00:27:50,460 --> 00:27:53,202
- Put two, three barrels, make it ferment.
- You can just imagine.
583
00:27:53,297 --> 00:27:56,539
And we used to get some wine out of it.
Very good.
584
00:27:56,633 --> 00:27:59,124
And at times - at times we used to -
585
00:27:59,761 --> 00:28:01,001
uh -
586
00:28:02,222 --> 00:28:04,634
the smell of that wine
used to get us at nighttime.
587
00:28:04,725 --> 00:28:07,182
You know how wine is.
When it smells, it starts to ferment.
588
00:28:07,269 --> 00:28:08,975
A lot of people used to do that.
589
00:28:09,062 --> 00:28:11,249
They used to make their own wine.
It was cheaper to them.
590
00:28:11,273 --> 00:28:13,229
They couldn't go and buy wine or -
591
00:28:13,317 --> 00:28:15,879
at that time, they didn't have gallons
of wine like they got today
592
00:28:15,903 --> 00:28:17,689
from California and things like that.
593
00:28:17,779 --> 00:28:20,942
So they used to make their own wine.
And it was pretty good wine too.
594
00:28:21,033 --> 00:28:23,399
The only thing was that
595
00:28:23,493 --> 00:28:26,951
they didn't have the facilities
for cleaning it up the way they should've.
596
00:28:27,497 --> 00:28:29,658
- Go ahead.
- My father made it too.
597
00:28:29,750 --> 00:28:32,833
But we were a little ritzier than you.
We put ours down the cellar.
598
00:28:35,088 --> 00:28:38,626
What about when your father
made the wine for my father?
599
00:28:38,717 --> 00:28:40,332
I'm not gonna say how many barrels.
600
00:28:40,427 --> 00:28:44,261
But he made the wine for my father,
and your father got paid...
601
00:28:44,348 --> 00:28:45,554
This is getting dirty now.
602
00:28:45,641 --> 00:28:47,256
And then he says to him,
603
00:28:47,351 --> 00:28:49,967
"all right, pick one of your own barrels
for yourself."
604
00:28:50,062 --> 00:28:54,271
The whole thing was vinegar.
Every barrel. Everything was vinegar.
605
00:28:54,358 --> 00:28:56,628
Are you insinuating
my father didn't know how to make wine?
606
00:28:56,652 --> 00:28:59,380
It wasn't that your father didn't know.
It was something with the grape.
607
00:28:59,404 --> 00:29:01,895
- It was kind of wet.
- That's different. But don't insinuate.
608
00:29:01,990 --> 00:29:03,968
Marty, what did you do with your tooth?
You broke it?
609
00:29:03,992 --> 00:29:07,655
- What tooth? This?
- You're not supposed to talk.
610
00:29:07,746 --> 00:29:09,466
- What?
- He's putting that in too.
611
00:29:09,539 --> 00:29:13,373
What'd you do to your tooth?
It's shorter. It's short. How come?
612
00:29:13,460 --> 00:29:15,792
- I don't know.
- The other side. That, right there.
613
00:29:15,879 --> 00:29:17,232
- This one?
- Yeah.
614
00:29:17,256 --> 00:29:18,962
- I don't know. I don't know.
- It's short.
615
00:29:19,049 --> 00:29:20,505
You'd better get it fixed up.
616
00:29:20,592 --> 00:29:22,237
Isn't that something?
He brings in the tooth.
617
00:29:22,261 --> 00:29:25,048
- It looks like hell.
- What do you mean? That's it, the tooth.
618
00:29:25,138 --> 00:29:27,971
It's not long enough.
It's much shorter than the others.
619
00:29:28,058 --> 00:29:30,203
- Get it fixed.
- I think the beard did that.
620
00:29:30,227 --> 00:29:32,138
Yeah. It brings it out.
621
00:29:32,229 --> 00:29:35,221
But with the vinegar in itself,
they got money,
622
00:29:35,315 --> 00:29:39,524
because good vinegar
was much more profitable than wine.
623
00:29:39,611 --> 00:29:41,147
- Mm-hmm.
- Good vinegar.
624
00:29:41,238 --> 00:29:43,900
So you can just imagine
what it looked like, you know -
625
00:29:43,991 --> 00:29:48,075
in the kitchen,
all these boxes of grapes piled up.
626
00:29:48,161 --> 00:29:52,279
Then, of course, he used to pick it out,
take it, bring it downstairs,
627
00:29:52,374 --> 00:29:55,741
and he used to put it in this barrel
that was sawed in half,
628
00:29:55,836 --> 00:29:59,124
put on a pair of black boots,
and start mashing it,
629
00:29:59,214 --> 00:30:01,205
you know, walking around in the grape.
630
00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:04,508
And then, of course,
when it was mashed very, very good,
631
00:30:04,594 --> 00:30:08,928
he would take it out and put it in this -
in Italian we say a stringiatura -
632
00:30:09,016 --> 00:30:11,223
to strain it real tight.
633
00:30:11,310 --> 00:30:12,925
Okay, you're wrong.
634
00:30:13,729 --> 00:30:17,187
If he did it with his feet,
they didn't have to use the machine.
635
00:30:17,274 --> 00:30:19,377
- The only time -
- How are you gonna get the juice out?
636
00:30:19,401 --> 00:30:20,732
The only time they used -
637
00:30:20,819 --> 00:30:24,437
the only time they used their feet
is when they didn't have the machine.
638
00:30:25,574 --> 00:30:27,530
- We got mixed up.
- No. I'm telling you.
639
00:30:27,617 --> 00:30:29,858
- Now we got mixed up.
- No, that's the way it is.
640
00:30:29,953 --> 00:30:33,320
The only time they used their feet, when
they didn't have the machine to grind it.
641
00:30:33,415 --> 00:30:35,497
I'm not talking about
the grinding machine.
642
00:30:35,584 --> 00:30:37,666
I'm talking about the machine
that squeezes it.
643
00:30:37,753 --> 00:30:40,415
That's the grinding machine.
That's the stringiatura.
644
00:30:40,505 --> 00:30:43,747
Now they have it.
Don't tell me, because I made wine too.
645
00:30:44,885 --> 00:30:48,127
- And in Europe -
- Well, anyway, my father had good wine.
646
00:30:57,898 --> 00:31:00,264
Well, my father was in Italy.
647
00:31:00,359 --> 00:31:04,022
He was in the - in the -
no, my father was in the -
648
00:31:04,112 --> 00:31:06,444
start with his mother and the whole thing.
Start on that.
649
00:31:06,531 --> 00:31:08,692
- I can't say all that.
- Well, say he was, uh -
650
00:31:08,784 --> 00:31:11,651
well, he was from - his mother -
he-he didn't -
651
00:31:11,745 --> 00:31:13,952
he didn't know who his mother was.
652
00:31:14,039 --> 00:31:18,123
He had been on his own,
so he went in to live with some family.
653
00:31:18,210 --> 00:31:20,622
- Yeah.
- And these people took him in.
654
00:31:20,712 --> 00:31:22,873
Of course, then he went away to be a -
655
00:31:22,964 --> 00:31:26,047
when he became of age,
he went away to be a soldier.
656
00:31:26,134 --> 00:31:28,295
- In the cavalry? Yeah.
- Mm-hmm.
657
00:31:28,387 --> 00:31:30,173
And he stayed there.
658
00:31:31,264 --> 00:31:34,006
- And of course -
- What town was this in? Where?
659
00:31:34,101 --> 00:31:36,717
- Uh, baucina.
- In sicily.
660
00:31:36,812 --> 00:31:38,427
- In sicily. Baucina.
- In sicily too.
661
00:31:38,522 --> 00:31:41,229
See,
he was a different nationality from us.
662
00:31:41,316 --> 00:31:44,228
- The town was one right after the other.
- Don't mean nothin'.
663
00:31:44,319 --> 00:31:48,187
This day, they were coming through
the town, through my mother's town.
664
00:31:48,281 --> 00:31:50,317
Of course,
everybody comes out on the balconies
665
00:31:50,409 --> 00:31:52,775
to look at the soldiers going by.
666
00:31:52,869 --> 00:31:55,576
They're in uniform. They're beautiful.
667
00:31:55,664 --> 00:31:58,201
He wore a, uh, blue uniform
668
00:31:58,291 --> 00:32:02,455
with a hat with a big, white plume on it,
and he was on horseback.
669
00:32:03,255 --> 00:32:06,463
And of course,
my mother was on the balcony,
670
00:32:06,550 --> 00:32:08,882
and, uh, when he passed through...
671
00:32:09,886 --> 00:32:13,720
He looked at her and she looked at him,
and it was sort of love at first sight.
672
00:32:14,724 --> 00:32:18,182
So he brought out an instance
that he said the balcony was so low
673
00:32:18,270 --> 00:32:20,306
that if she just put her hand down,
674
00:32:20,397 --> 00:32:22,834
- she could touch him.
- That's the truth. We saw it.
675
00:32:22,858 --> 00:32:25,691
Now, when I went to Italy,
I asked my aunt
676
00:32:25,777 --> 00:32:28,769
to take me over to my mother's house,
where she lived.
677
00:32:28,864 --> 00:32:31,731
They brought me over to the house,
and that was true.
678
00:32:32,451 --> 00:32:33,691
I took a picture of it,
679
00:32:33,785 --> 00:32:37,152
and the balcony was really that low
that you could have touched him, see?
680
00:32:37,247 --> 00:32:39,100
- We lost all the film.
- Well, anyway -
681
00:32:39,124 --> 00:32:40,785
- you lost all the film?
- Sure,
682
00:32:40,876 --> 00:32:43,196
on account of somebody touched
the camera, and that was it.
683
00:32:43,253 --> 00:32:44,993
Big-hearted herb.
684
00:32:45,088 --> 00:32:47,295
He's gotta make everybody
fiddle around with the camera.
685
00:32:47,382 --> 00:32:50,465
You know. Touch this and touch that,
and I lost my mother's picture.
686
00:32:50,552 --> 00:32:52,213
But I'm gonna take another one of it.
687
00:32:52,304 --> 00:32:54,795
Well, anyway, then, of course,
they fell in love.
688
00:32:55,348 --> 00:32:58,761
So they courted for about 22 days,
and then they got married.
689
00:32:59,811 --> 00:33:02,348
So my sister was about six months old,
690
00:33:02,439 --> 00:33:04,521
and he kept calling her
to come to America.
691
00:33:04,608 --> 00:33:07,975
But my mother didn't want to come.
She was afraid of the boat.
692
00:33:08,069 --> 00:33:11,561
And every time he would call,
"come to America.
693
00:33:11,656 --> 00:33:14,193
It's nice over here.
It'll be different living."
694
00:33:14,284 --> 00:33:17,526
Well, anyway, to make a long story short,
695
00:33:17,621 --> 00:33:20,613
he got so mad,
he says to her in the next letter,
696
00:33:20,707 --> 00:33:23,619
"if you don't come to America,
I'm gonna leave you."
697
00:33:24,419 --> 00:33:26,910
So she got on the next boat and came over.
698
00:33:27,005 --> 00:33:29,859
- Yeah, but you said that -
- She didn't want to get on the boat.
699
00:33:29,883 --> 00:33:32,966
Every time she got on the boat,
she turned back.
700
00:33:33,053 --> 00:33:34,733
They tricked her into getting on the boat.
701
00:33:34,763 --> 00:33:37,116
Her brother tricked her
that he was going to America with her.
702
00:33:37,140 --> 00:33:39,722
He says to her,
"I'm going to America, too, with you."
703
00:33:39,809 --> 00:33:43,643
So he put her on the boat,
and as she turned around for a second,
704
00:33:43,730 --> 00:33:46,209
- he just faded out of sight.
- Got off the boat, and that's it.
705
00:33:46,233 --> 00:33:47,973
- Who's that? Her brother?
- My uncle.
706
00:33:48,068 --> 00:33:50,229
She became frantic.
Naturally, it was too late.
707
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,312
The boat had started out. But it took her
about 30 days to come to America.
708
00:33:53,406 --> 00:33:55,021
- Very bad trip.
- Very bad trip.
709
00:33:55,116 --> 00:33:57,528
But, of course,
they looked like peasants, you know.
710
00:33:57,619 --> 00:34:00,702
My little sister with her little kerchief
on and her - they really looked -
711
00:34:00,789 --> 00:34:03,280
well, anyway, they came to America,
712
00:34:03,375 --> 00:34:06,367
and they went and lived, I think,
on third street.
713
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,161
Then they lived across the street.
714
00:34:09,256 --> 00:34:12,623
- Mm-hmm.
- Then eventually, my aunt came.
715
00:34:12,717 --> 00:34:14,708
So naturally, there's no place to live.
716
00:34:14,803 --> 00:34:17,340
- "So you come and board with us."
- Mm-hmm.
717
00:34:17,430 --> 00:34:20,263
So they took my aunt in, my uncle
and her son.
718
00:34:21,142 --> 00:34:25,761
So that's three plus nine children.
You figure it.
719
00:34:25,855 --> 00:34:29,097
- Three plus nine children?
- Right. Plus my mother and father.
720
00:34:29,192 --> 00:34:33,060
Eleven. And three... is 14.
721
00:34:33,154 --> 00:34:36,271
So my aunt occupied the bedroom,
722
00:34:36,366 --> 00:34:38,152
the kitchen was in the middle,
723
00:34:38,243 --> 00:34:41,076
and my mother, father and the children
were in the living room.
724
00:34:41,162 --> 00:34:42,932
Three rooms.
Worse than us. Three rooms.
725
00:34:42,956 --> 00:34:46,574
And don't forget, they used to have
their babies at home too.
726
00:34:46,668 --> 00:34:49,751
- There was no such thing as -
- They used to call the midwife,
727
00:34:49,838 --> 00:34:51,794
and the midwife would come in.
728
00:34:51,881 --> 00:34:54,918
- So you were born here?
- The twins were born at home.
729
00:34:55,010 --> 00:34:57,968
- The twins are who?
- Me and my brother Charles.
730
00:34:58,054 --> 00:35:00,796
And of course there was such a big row
that time over the twins.
731
00:35:00,890 --> 00:35:03,050
Somebody wanted the girl,
the other one wanted the boy.
732
00:35:03,101 --> 00:35:05,246
- What do you mean?
- They wanted to take 'em.
733
00:35:05,270 --> 00:35:08,888
Because they got excited. Two kids.
How are you gonna feed all these kids?
734
00:35:08,982 --> 00:35:11,294
So one woman says,
"don't get excited. I'll take the girl."
735
00:35:11,318 --> 00:35:12,920
What do you think this is?
736
00:35:12,944 --> 00:35:15,526
What do you think this is,
a bargain basement?
737
00:35:16,197 --> 00:35:18,188
"I'll take the boy"? What is this?
738
00:35:20,493 --> 00:35:22,404
You had it wrong.
739
00:35:22,495 --> 00:35:25,362
- Charlie, I was right.
- What were you right about?
740
00:35:25,457 --> 00:35:27,914
My father used to smash the grapes
with his feet.
741
00:35:28,001 --> 00:35:30,438
- But not with the -
- And then put it in the thing.
742
00:35:30,462 --> 00:35:32,874
No, they can't. You mash it once -
oh, my god.
743
00:35:32,964 --> 00:35:35,080
Your father didn't have the machine
my father had.
744
00:35:35,175 --> 00:35:38,042
Your father had machines, all right.
745
00:35:38,136 --> 00:35:41,128
- Oh, you're joking.
- You don't know him, Marty.
746
00:35:41,222 --> 00:35:43,713
What kind of work did he do, exactly,
besides scaffolding?
747
00:35:43,808 --> 00:35:46,408
Where did he work, what things happened
to him, was it dangerous -
748
00:35:46,478 --> 00:35:48,389
my father? There was a lot of things.
749
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:50,516
Another time he came home,
he hurt his arm,
750
00:35:50,607 --> 00:35:52,347
and he was out of work so long.
751
00:35:52,442 --> 00:35:55,434
And when the master of the house
wasn't working, it was hard on us.
752
00:35:55,528 --> 00:35:59,112
My mother used to sew pants
to keep the family going.
753
00:35:59,199 --> 00:36:03,112
My mother was a very fine hand sewer.
754
00:36:03,203 --> 00:36:04,784
You can't remember,
755
00:36:04,871 --> 00:36:07,362
but the older people will remember
when I mention his name.
756
00:36:07,457 --> 00:36:10,574
My mother made pants for daddy Browning...
757
00:36:11,586 --> 00:36:13,326
A millionaire.
758
00:36:13,421 --> 00:36:16,128
- He married, uh -
- He married a young girl.
759
00:36:16,216 --> 00:36:18,252
Her name was peaches.
760
00:36:18,343 --> 00:36:21,050
Right. This is - I'm serious.
761
00:36:21,137 --> 00:36:24,345
And my mother was such a fine sewer
that he used to go here
762
00:36:24,432 --> 00:36:28,175
to arnheim on ninth street
to have his clothes made,
763
00:36:28,269 --> 00:36:32,012
and they used to give the pants to my
mother because her sewing was beautiful.
764
00:36:32,107 --> 00:36:33,918
- With nine children?
- Yeah.
765
00:36:33,942 --> 00:36:36,729
And my mother used to take the clothes -
listen to me -
766
00:36:36,820 --> 00:36:39,357
take the pants,
767
00:36:39,447 --> 00:36:41,859
sew them,
and she used to teach us how to sew.
768
00:36:41,950 --> 00:36:45,033
We had to sit by her
and do the seams up too,
769
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,112
and the children - who was running around,
770
00:36:48,206 --> 00:36:49,946
who was wet, who was hungry,
771
00:36:50,041 --> 00:36:52,453
who we had to give a bottle to,
that's how we were raised.
772
00:36:55,171 --> 00:36:59,665
My mother used to finish the pants,
fold them all up nicely, make a bundle
773
00:36:59,759 --> 00:37:01,624
and carry them back to ninth street.
774
00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:03,739
They would give her another batch,
and she'd come back.
775
00:37:03,763 --> 00:37:06,200
- You had to bring them and deliver them.
- Homework.
776
00:37:06,224 --> 00:37:09,557
Homework. Nobody would come
to the house and pick 'em up.
777
00:37:09,644 --> 00:37:13,102
- My mother did the same thing.
- And actually, we had a - she taught us.
778
00:37:13,189 --> 00:37:16,272
She taught us how to sew,
she taught us how to knit,
779
00:37:16,359 --> 00:37:19,351
how to crochet, how to embroider,
everything.
780
00:37:19,446 --> 00:37:22,028
We did everything.
We watched her, and we learned.
781
00:37:23,116 --> 00:37:25,903
But it was tough.
And she had to help out too.
782
00:37:27,287 --> 00:37:29,824
So my mother - my sister lived with -
783
00:37:30,790 --> 00:37:33,076
my mother, rather, lived with her mother.
784
00:37:33,168 --> 00:37:34,749
Mm-hmm.
785
00:37:34,836 --> 00:37:37,314
Wait a minute. In the hallway. Be careful.
Who's in the hallway?
786
00:37:37,338 --> 00:37:39,650
- What's happening?
- Somebody's going up and down.
787
00:37:39,674 --> 00:37:41,289
Just be careful.
788
00:37:41,384 --> 00:37:42,965
No, you never know.
789
00:37:43,052 --> 00:37:46,169
So my mother -
my mother used to live with her mother,
790
00:37:46,264 --> 00:37:47,845
you know, after -
791
00:37:47,932 --> 00:37:50,765
or wherever it was.
She lived in somebody's house anyway.
792
00:37:50,852 --> 00:37:52,342
So she says that this -
793
00:37:52,437 --> 00:37:54,473
talking about things
that used to happen in Italy.
794
00:37:54,564 --> 00:37:57,306
There were strange things.
They used to tell us these stories.
795
00:37:57,400 --> 00:37:59,186
If you want to believe it, you believe it.
796
00:37:59,277 --> 00:38:02,485
But, you know, the way it was,
I'm sure my mother wouldn't lie to us.
797
00:38:02,572 --> 00:38:06,690
She said that this night,
she was sleeping, and the baby woke up.
798
00:38:06,785 --> 00:38:09,322
And of course,
the women used to nurse the children.
799
00:38:09,412 --> 00:38:11,368
There was no such thing with the bottle.
800
00:38:11,456 --> 00:38:14,823
So she got up
and started to nurse this child.
801
00:38:14,918 --> 00:38:17,660
As she nursed this child,
she's sitting up in the bed.
802
00:38:18,713 --> 00:38:20,704
Now, at the foot of the bed...
803
00:38:22,383 --> 00:38:26,296
She saw this man appear to her.
804
00:38:26,387 --> 00:38:28,002
He was all in silver.
805
00:38:29,057 --> 00:38:32,345
And he says to her in Italian -
I'll say it in english -
806
00:38:32,435 --> 00:38:35,097
"if you hit me with something,
I'll make you rich."
807
00:38:35,772 --> 00:38:37,228
So she got scared.
808
00:38:37,315 --> 00:38:40,978
So she took the little baby
and pressed it closer to her chest.
809
00:38:41,069 --> 00:38:42,605
So the man repeated it:
810
00:38:42,695 --> 00:38:47,439
"If you hit me with something,
I will make you rich."
811
00:38:48,952 --> 00:38:53,412
So with that, she got scared,
and he disappeared.
812
00:38:53,498 --> 00:38:56,331
Now, they claimed
that after they sold the house,
813
00:38:56,417 --> 00:38:59,625
these people started to dig -
they were fixing the house -
814
00:39:00,380 --> 00:39:04,339
and they dug and dug and dug,
and you'd be surprised,
815
00:39:04,425 --> 00:39:08,293
they found all these silver coins
under the ground.
816
00:39:08,388 --> 00:39:12,472
Now, I'm sure my mother wasn't lying.
These were stories that she said -
817
00:39:12,559 --> 00:39:14,470
and this happened when she was alone.
818
00:39:14,561 --> 00:39:16,622
- She was alone then.
- And where was the father?
819
00:39:16,646 --> 00:39:19,513
My father was in America at the time.
So then I guess -
820
00:39:19,607 --> 00:39:21,460
well, you see, let me put it this way.
821
00:39:21,484 --> 00:39:24,226
Years ago,
they all were great storytellers.
822
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,403
Because, as I said before,
you had no television, no radio, nothing.
823
00:39:27,490 --> 00:39:29,401
You used to get, actually, people,
824
00:39:29,492 --> 00:39:32,529
they used to come to the house
and tell stories to kids and everybody,
825
00:39:32,620 --> 00:39:35,532
and say stories for hours and hours,
826
00:39:35,623 --> 00:39:39,992
real stories that you don't know
whether you had to believe them or not.
827
00:39:40,086 --> 00:39:42,293
But they say stories that, uh -
828
00:39:45,425 --> 00:39:48,838
either to keep us quiet or what it was,
some fantastic stories.
829
00:39:48,928 --> 00:39:50,698
- Fantastic stories.
- Some fantastic stories.
830
00:39:50,722 --> 00:39:53,304
Did she tell her husband that story?
And what did she -
831
00:39:53,391 --> 00:39:55,723
oh, no. That she told -
no. Wait a minute. That's right.
832
00:39:55,810 --> 00:39:57,425
Then she told - when she -
833
00:39:57,520 --> 00:39:59,852
in the morning,
she told the people she was living with -
834
00:39:59,939 --> 00:40:02,271
I don't know if it was her mother -
so the man says to her,
835
00:40:02,358 --> 00:40:04,019
"you stupid thing, you.
836
00:40:04,110 --> 00:40:07,068
You could've hit him with a baby's diaper,
anything you had in your hand.
837
00:40:07,155 --> 00:40:09,271
You would've became rich."
838
00:40:09,365 --> 00:40:12,277
Then who knows. You know. Who knows.
839
00:40:12,994 --> 00:40:16,828
So one time, we had -
as we got older, we got more -
840
00:40:16,915 --> 00:40:18,576
not civilized. You know.
841
00:40:18,666 --> 00:40:21,546
The children got older, got boyfriends,
you brought them up to the house.
842
00:40:21,586 --> 00:40:23,326
You wanted the apartment to look nice.
843
00:40:23,421 --> 00:40:24,957
So we painted the apartment,
844
00:40:25,048 --> 00:40:28,165
and he had this great, big picture of him
hanging on the wall,
845
00:40:28,259 --> 00:40:31,092
in uniform, which was beautiful,
846
00:40:31,179 --> 00:40:33,886
and it was about, oh, this big.
847
00:40:33,973 --> 00:40:35,759
A big picture.
848
00:40:35,850 --> 00:40:38,091
So when we painted, we figured, you know,
849
00:40:38,186 --> 00:40:41,226
the boyfriends come up, you don't want
those things hanging up there anymore.
850
00:40:41,272 --> 00:40:43,638
You know, you want to better yourself.
851
00:40:43,733 --> 00:40:46,019
So we didn't put the picture up.
852
00:40:46,903 --> 00:40:49,690
Well, anyway, he didn't notice it.
853
00:40:49,781 --> 00:40:52,989
I guess for some reason - I imagine
he figured the house was just painted.
854
00:40:53,076 --> 00:40:55,067
They didn't get a chance to put it up yet.
855
00:40:55,161 --> 00:40:57,903
Well, one day, a neighbor of ours came up,
856
00:40:57,997 --> 00:40:59,487
and she says -
857
00:41:00,208 --> 00:41:03,951
well, my father's name was Martin,
but a lot of people called him Philip.
858
00:41:04,045 --> 00:41:07,128
I don't know why. Don't ask me why.
859
00:41:07,215 --> 00:41:09,797
But they called him filippo.
860
00:41:09,884 --> 00:41:11,795
- Mr. filippo.
- I don't understand.
861
00:41:11,886 --> 00:41:14,468
I don't know why either. Don't ask me why.
862
00:41:14,555 --> 00:41:18,047
I have a brother, his name is Salvatore.
They call him Charlie.
863
00:41:18,142 --> 00:41:20,383
Same thing with me. My name: Luciano.
864
00:41:20,478 --> 00:41:22,969
His name is Luciano.
They call him Charlie. Why?
865
00:41:23,064 --> 00:41:24,804
- Anyway -
- My name was Catherine.
866
00:41:24,899 --> 00:41:27,265
They called me "Katy." I don't know why.
867
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:29,480
Anyway, what happened?
So this woman came in?
868
00:41:29,529 --> 00:41:32,316
Anyway, so this woman came in,
and she started to -
869
00:41:32,407 --> 00:41:35,194
she started to tease him, and she says,
870
00:41:35,284 --> 00:41:39,493
"Mr. filippo, I don't see your picture
hanging up anymore."
871
00:41:39,580 --> 00:41:42,117
Well, that's all he had to hear.
872
00:41:43,001 --> 00:41:46,084
He figured now for sure -
"I don't see my picture up anymore."
873
00:41:46,170 --> 00:41:49,082
Well, he turned to my mother.
There was an awful row that night.
874
00:41:49,173 --> 00:41:51,209
That woman was very embarrassed. She says,
875
00:41:51,300 --> 00:41:54,542
"if I knew you were gonna take it up like
that, I would have never mentioned it.
876
00:41:54,637 --> 00:41:58,346
He says to my mother, "I want that picture
tonight, because I'm gonna break it."
877
00:41:59,183 --> 00:42:02,892
So she says - well, you know,
they started to make excuses.
878
00:42:02,979 --> 00:42:06,187
But he was fit to be tied. He was furious.
879
00:42:06,274 --> 00:42:08,356
And that woman felt very, very bad.
880
00:42:08,443 --> 00:42:11,606
Till this day, may he rest in peace,
881
00:42:11,696 --> 00:42:13,357
we never gave him that picture.
882
00:42:13,448 --> 00:42:14,448
My brother has it.
883
00:42:14,532 --> 00:42:16,051
- And another thing -
- That's a beautiful picture.
884
00:42:16,075 --> 00:42:17,386
- You didn't give it to him?
- No.
885
00:42:17,410 --> 00:42:19,130
How do you think we made
the other pictures?
886
00:42:19,162 --> 00:42:21,390
- Because he would have broken it.
- He would've broke it to bits.
887
00:42:21,414 --> 00:42:23,200
And this is funny. After the man dies,
888
00:42:23,291 --> 00:42:25,352
they had the picture made,
and everyone got one apiece.
889
00:42:25,376 --> 00:42:27,332
No, no, no.
890
00:42:27,420 --> 00:42:29,786
- No, don't say that.
- Come on. That's the truth.
891
00:42:29,881 --> 00:42:33,123
No, Charlie, don't say that.
The big picture remained the way it was.
892
00:42:33,217 --> 00:42:36,050
My brother has it. But the small pictures,
we all wanted one each,
893
00:42:36,137 --> 00:42:37,752
because it is - you had one.
894
00:42:37,847 --> 00:42:40,554
It is a beautiful picture of him.
It really is beautiful.
895
00:42:40,641 --> 00:42:42,619
How long was it before
he became a citizen, though?
896
00:42:42,643 --> 00:42:44,705
I want to get some idea
of what these people were doing.
897
00:42:44,729 --> 00:42:46,248
I don't know.
My sister Mary knows that, see?
898
00:42:46,272 --> 00:42:48,604
Anyway, what happened
with the immigration thing?
899
00:42:48,691 --> 00:42:51,933
Well, when we went to -
you know, he wanted to be a citizen -
900
00:42:52,028 --> 00:42:53,939
he had to take my sister along with him
901
00:42:54,030 --> 00:42:56,897
because she had to be the interpreter.
902
00:42:56,991 --> 00:42:58,982
- Right.
- Couldn't speak english.
903
00:42:59,077 --> 00:43:00,613
No, he couldn't speak english.
904
00:43:00,703 --> 00:43:03,240
He said a few words, but not in sentences.
You know.
905
00:43:03,331 --> 00:43:06,368
So of course she went up to the girl there
and she says to him,
906
00:43:06,459 --> 00:43:09,041
"you want to become a citizen?"
He didn't understand her.
907
00:43:09,128 --> 00:43:12,871
She says, "you got an interpreter?"
So he called my sister: "Come in."
908
00:43:13,674 --> 00:43:16,541
So she says to my sister Mary,
she says, um,
909
00:43:17,428 --> 00:43:20,044
"your father doesn't understand
or speak english?" She says, "no."
910
00:43:20,139 --> 00:43:23,006
She says, "how long is he in America?"
911
00:43:23,101 --> 00:43:26,264
She says, uh, "oh, 30 years."
912
00:43:26,354 --> 00:43:30,188
She says, "why, that's terrible.
And he can't speak a word of english?
913
00:43:30,274 --> 00:43:32,060
I think that's terrible."
914
00:43:32,151 --> 00:43:35,939
- So he says to -
- No, he said to Mary.
915
00:43:36,030 --> 00:43:38,567
So he says to Mary, "what did she say?”
916
00:43:38,658 --> 00:43:41,570
So my sister Mary says,
"she says that it's" -
917
00:43:47,458 --> 00:43:49,915
"Oh, yeah?" He says.
918
00:43:50,002 --> 00:43:51,492
"Go" -
919
00:43:51,587 --> 00:43:53,227
he told her something in english?
920
00:43:53,256 --> 00:43:55,838
So he told her something in english,
a dirty word.
921
00:43:55,925 --> 00:43:57,461
"Go and... yourself."
922
00:43:57,552 --> 00:44:00,715
So she says, "oh, that's terrible!
Get him out of here!"
923
00:44:00,805 --> 00:44:02,386
So he never became a citizen?
924
00:44:02,473 --> 00:44:04,284
Oh, he was a citizen, yeah.
He became a citizen.
925
00:44:04,308 --> 00:44:05,764
How many times did he have to go?
926
00:44:05,852 --> 00:44:07,934
I don't know if they have to
renew it then, you know?
927
00:44:08,020 --> 00:44:09,020
God.
928
00:44:09,105 --> 00:44:13,098
But that was funny. "I'll show you if
I know how to talk english,” he told her.
929
00:44:13,192 --> 00:44:15,899
He knew the right words.
930
00:44:15,987 --> 00:44:17,523
Bad words, they always learned.
931
00:44:17,613 --> 00:44:19,820
When did he move to staten island?
932
00:44:19,907 --> 00:44:23,024
My father moved to staten island,
we were kids.
933
00:44:23,119 --> 00:44:26,657
- I think Andrew was about two years old.
- They bought lots.
934
00:44:26,747 --> 00:44:29,614
We bought the lots.
Well, you know, we didn't have anything.
935
00:44:29,709 --> 00:44:32,792
So this man came,
and he was a friend of my father's.
936
00:44:32,879 --> 00:44:35,336
He says, "I have a lot of lots
out in staten island.
937
00:44:35,423 --> 00:44:38,184
I'll give 'em to you real cheap.
You don't have to pay me all at once.
938
00:44:38,259 --> 00:44:40,090
Whenever you have the money, you pay me."
939
00:44:40,178 --> 00:44:42,669
So he gave him one lot for $200.
940
00:44:43,764 --> 00:44:45,174
That was something.
941
00:44:45,266 --> 00:44:47,803
So of course,
there was a little bungalow on it.
942
00:44:47,894 --> 00:44:50,931
But really, we couldn't afford it.
But just for the -
943
00:44:51,022 --> 00:44:53,308
like cooking his own meal?
Oh, he loved that.
944
00:44:53,399 --> 00:44:57,062
He had to have certain gravy.
Certain tomato paste.
945
00:44:57,153 --> 00:45:00,316
My mother had to make it in the summer,
preserve it.
946
00:45:00,406 --> 00:45:04,069
Because he wouldn't want to eat this.
He wanted his own.
947
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:06,276
And he would make,
and it would come out so dark
948
00:45:06,370 --> 00:45:08,361
because it was really dry, you know?
949
00:45:08,456 --> 00:45:11,994
And he loved it. And what would happen,
he would make the macaroni,
950
00:45:12,084 --> 00:45:14,200
and he'd call everybody in to eat.
951
00:45:14,295 --> 00:45:16,752
"Come and taste it. Come and taste it."
952
00:45:16,839 --> 00:45:19,171
"How are we gonna eat
if we taste yours, pop?"
953
00:45:19,258 --> 00:45:21,486
- You had to taste it.
- You had to taste it.
954
00:45:21,510 --> 00:45:23,967
He used to save 'em for us. Save 'em.
955
00:45:24,055 --> 00:45:27,013
That was the truth, boy. That was amazing.
956
00:45:27,099 --> 00:45:31,138
And now that he's gone,
they destroyed everything.
957
00:45:31,229 --> 00:45:34,096
They just made it plain grass and trees.
That's all.
958
00:45:34,190 --> 00:45:36,001
- Where?
- In staten island.
959
00:45:36,025 --> 00:45:38,378
- There's nobody to take care of it.
- Nobody to take care of it.
960
00:45:38,402 --> 00:45:42,486
- There's nobody to garden it.
- Only my sister-in-law, her sister.
961
00:45:42,573 --> 00:45:45,986
And nobody could take care of it.
She had it all cleaned up.
962
00:45:46,077 --> 00:45:48,864
And of course the money
to clean it up took -
963
00:45:48,955 --> 00:45:51,571
had some beautiful stuff there,
and it's all gone.
964
00:45:52,333 --> 00:45:55,951
Goes to show you, when they build it up -
when the father and mother build it up,
965
00:45:56,045 --> 00:45:58,878
and then nobody else
wants to take care of it.
966
00:46:00,132 --> 00:46:01,997
Eh - - okay, that's good.
967
00:46:03,219 --> 00:46:05,881
I remember one time we had a fig tree.
968
00:46:06,681 --> 00:46:08,909
I used to love fig trees,
and my mother couldn't stand them.
969
00:46:08,933 --> 00:46:09,933
Yeah?
970
00:46:10,017 --> 00:46:12,474
In the wintertime,
you had to cover them very, very well.
971
00:46:12,561 --> 00:46:14,347
Otherwise they froze.
972
00:46:14,438 --> 00:46:16,804
One winter, when he did climb up -
he was getting old -
973
00:46:16,899 --> 00:46:18,855
he fell off the ladder, and he got hurt.
974
00:46:18,943 --> 00:46:20,934
And my mother was so angry.
975
00:46:21,028 --> 00:46:23,895
She says to him,
"I hope those fig trees die.
976
00:46:23,990 --> 00:46:25,605
I hope they never bloom again."
977
00:46:25,700 --> 00:46:29,067
And then, of course, my mother became ill,
978
00:46:29,161 --> 00:46:31,868
and the next winter she passed away,
979
00:46:31,956 --> 00:46:35,119
and the trees never bloomed anymore.
980
00:46:35,209 --> 00:46:38,326
It was just like she took -
981
00:46:38,421 --> 00:46:41,538
she took them with her, and that was that.
982
00:46:47,972 --> 00:46:50,088
Now, that's enough for today, Marty.
983
00:46:50,182 --> 00:46:51,797
Okay, that's it.
984
00:46:52,059 --> 00:46:53,299
That's good.
985
00:46:53,394 --> 00:46:55,806
I hope my sisters don't get after me,
986
00:46:55,896 --> 00:46:59,809
because I have five sisters,
and they're gonna kill me.
987
00:46:59,900 --> 00:47:02,312
"Katy," they're gonna say -
988
00:47:07,283 --> 00:47:10,571
is that all for today? Now, listen,
could I put my furniture back?
989
00:47:10,661 --> 00:47:12,572
- What furniture?
- The things in here.
990
00:47:12,663 --> 00:47:15,530
Could I set up? These things
are gonna be upset tomorrow again?
991
00:47:16,250 --> 00:47:17,956
No, I mean, it can't stay this way.
992
00:47:18,044 --> 00:47:20,626
I have to vacuum the rug,
wash my dishes.
993
00:47:21,380 --> 00:47:23,917
- Right? When you leave. Not now.
- Huh?
994
00:47:24,008 --> 00:47:26,320
What are you laughing at?
Are you thinking of pop or grandpa?
995
00:47:26,344 --> 00:47:27,946
- Yeah.
- Oh, but the way he told her.
996
00:47:27,970 --> 00:47:31,133
And he stands there with his hands
behind his back, and he says, "go -"
997
00:47:31,223 --> 00:47:33,805
you know, he emphasized it.
998
00:47:33,893 --> 00:47:37,681
My sister Mary says, "I will never
take him out with me anymore.
999
00:47:37,772 --> 00:47:39,308
He embarrassed me."
1000
00:47:39,398 --> 00:47:42,231
- That was at the, uh, unemployment -
- In the office.
1001
00:47:42,318 --> 00:47:44,338
He says it was at the unemployment.
I don't remember.
1002
00:47:44,362 --> 00:47:46,282
Of course,
you always had to take an interpreter,
1003
00:47:46,364 --> 00:47:48,150
because he didn't speak english.
1004
00:47:49,492 --> 00:47:52,825
Mary says, "as far as me,
I'm not taking him anyplace anymore."
1005
00:47:55,122 --> 00:47:57,122
And that's a shame,
making me say things like that.
1006
00:47:57,166 --> 00:47:59,282
Is he still taking this?
1007
00:47:59,377 --> 00:48:01,537
I'll murder you.
You won't get out of this house alive.
1008
00:48:02,305 --> 00:49:02,482
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