Marschall: Or when he got shot full of holes, he'd go back to the station house and they'd dock his pay for ruining his uniform. He wouldn't get paid for three weeks until he paid for the hat. So, you did read all the Sunday funnies?
Hart: I liked Skippy, and Napoleon, the dog strip. And Smokey Stover. Who couldn't like Smokey Stover? I don't think that I liked the gags in it so much; I didn't think that they were really that funny. But just the way everything was done and all those labels . . .
Marschall: OK. we're back in your childhood, so let me ask you about your background. You've always lived in this part of the country, right?
Hart: Yes.
Marschall: Born when and where?
Hart: Born in Endicott, New York, in 1931.
Marschall: This was like a factory town, a big shoe center, I believe?
Hart: The town was put together by the Endicott Johnson Shoe Company. One day -- Once Upon A Time -- George F. Johnson came over here and he founded this shoe company. He built most of the homes in the town; he provided most of the jobs . . . it was rather, I don't know if it was true socialism or socialistic kind of thing or not, but they had their own sort of medical plan, and built all of the homes, and although my father didn't work -- yes, he did too, he worked for Endicott Johnson at one time, and we lived in one of the homes: EJ Houses, we called them. And so did Jack; he lived in one.
Marschall: Did your father move to this area? Or did your grandparents . . .
Hart: Yeah, he did move here from Pennsylvania. My Mom came from Wilkes-Barre or somewhere down there. My grandmother worked at Endicott Johnson. She worked at their cafeteria.
Marschall: What's your family's background?
Hart: I think it's Irish and German -- Pennsylvania Dutch.
Marschall: As far as you know, was anyone going back a writer or artist? Is that anywhere in your lineage?
Hart: No.
Marschall: So, you're the white sheep of the family? You said that your father worked for Johnson for a while . . .
Hart: I think he worked at that cafeteria, too, and during the Depression, he was laid off, or got fired -- he probably did something wrong [laughs]. I don't remember those days, I didn't even know what he did, I didn't even know if he was laid off. He was out looking for work, and I thought he was going to work every day! I wasn't paying attention. We weren't that well-off, but my family never let me know that, that's the kind of people they were. I know that he worked as a volunteer fireman for a while and then he finally got a job with the fire department. He wound up becoming captain of the fire department, which was his last rank before he died.
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