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How do you account for that? Is there any way you can account for so many people...?

Well, in those days playing in the streets wasn't as dangerous as it is today. Automobiles were just beginning. And you could play punch the ball out in the middle of the street and not have to run to the sidewalk too often. Traffic was not one-one hundredth what it is today. New York was quite a livable place. We used to roller skate all over the town hitching onto ice wagons. It was also great to reach in and steal little pieces of ice. We were pretty wild kids. As I say, we were on the edge of a tough neighborhood, and we were tough little kids.

Did you ever read during that period you were going to school? Did your uncle encourage you at that point?

Well, he was only five years older than I was, but when I was a little boy, he was in a different world. I didn't come under his influence until later. I'll come to that. But just as a child graduating from P.S. 10, I was salutatorian of the class, second in the class. I was a pretty smart kid. I didn't work too hard. I never have. But then we moved...

In your spare time, I mean, you were out on the streets playing. You weren't sitting home reading a book, in other words.