WEBVTT
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Zoltan Smooke: You back.
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Fannie Nadle: You had, she had given you the money for this.
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Smooke: $1 bills in American money. She had it changed. Well, she saved
money to send me. We decided that I'll go, but then she decided that I was.
I don't think I could have been the boss of the house. The man of the
house.
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Nadle: Your father was very sick at this time.
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Smooke: He was dead already.
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Nadle: Oh, I see.
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Smooke: That's when-- my father died before she moved to this other town.
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Nadle: Oh, I see. Smooke: Yeah, so. Nadle: And you were the oldest one.
The other three were-- Smooke: Babies. Nadle: Babies.
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Smooke: Yeah. Seven. Six year old girl and a boy. No. Two boys and a girl.
That's right. Sam, Shmuel and [??] which is they call them [??]. So I left
there and she caught me there. She said, give me the money and you're not
going. I said, all right, here's the money, but let's go to Budapest. Okay.
I said in Budapest I can find a good job. It's a city like Washington,
D.C., the capital. It still is a beautiful city but I wouldn't go there if
somebody paid me. Nadle: Really? Smooke: I'd sooner go to Cleveland,
Chicago, anyplace in the United States. Anyway, we went to Budapest, and
that morning I had to go for memorial services for my father. I don't know.
I was crooked. I reached under the pillow and I took that little bag out
and put it in my pocket. Had my suitcase outside in the hall. We lived on
the-- stayed on the third floor with my aunt, her sister. And I went to
school, said college, and went straight to the depot. And I left.
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Nadle: Carrying the money in your suitcase? Smooke: That's it.
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Smooke: A little trunk it was.
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Nadle: And you didn't tell your mother you were going to do it?
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Smooke: No. But I sent her money back many times.
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Nadle: And she--
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Smooke: She's a very pious woman.
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Nadle: But that's interesting. Didn't it give you-- But you felt that it
was up to you, to you wanted to go?
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Smooke: I made up my mind. I don't want to stay there. The biggest reason
my cousin was in Youngstown. His wife was my cousin. His name was Lux, and
he said he was working in a bakery and he's making $12 a week. In Europe I
was making six Gulden, which is 12 crowns a week. Six times five against
two times six. I said, if he's a baker. Helping bakers. I'm a Schlosser, a
locksmith and ornamental ironwork. I could make $30 a week. Why should I
stay here? And I can send money home. My mother wouldn't have to do
nothing. But don't turn out that way exactly.
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Nadle: These things don't. Well, who all was over here of your family? You
said now your father's-- said it must have been an uncle who had gone to
Saint Louis.
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Smooke: That was long before I was born.
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Nadle: Did you have relatives in this country then?
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Smooke: Still is a lady living. That's, her name is Smooke. And they were
in the tannery business. My son called her because he seen her in the
telephone book in Saint Louis. And he called in and said, please don't
bother me. I'm a very sick lady. I am a Smooke and God bless you. Please.
I'm very tired. And it was late, 9:00 in the evening. Nadle: Well, that's a
shame. Smooke: Maybe she was even sleeping. So she's one of the leftovers.
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Nadle: Well, did you have any other relatives who were here?
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Smooke: Oh, yeah, but a lot of them I didn't know. I had one uncle in New
York. He had 11 children. I only found him about three years ago, one of
his sons. And he's in Florida now. He was a schoolteacher and he was
teaching in New York. And he threw-- he retired from New York as a teacher.
He got into the this machine that have, what you call it, the dispensing,
[Nadle: Computers or--] dispensing machines. Nadle: Oh I see. Smooke:
Handkerchiefs, candies. But another guy, he made another little money and
he had worked for the post office at the meantime after he became quit
school. So he has had two pensions and and a Social Security also. Now he's
about a year or maybe a year or two younger than me. I met him and I think
he got his picture here someplace.
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Nadle: Okay. Well, you got yourself then you left your mother there, went
on to Budapest.
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Smooke: Cost me $40 to come to this country. Third class.
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Nadle: Oh, that's steerage, huh?
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Smooke: No, sir. It was third class. Nadle: Oh. Smooke: I wouldn't go
steerage.
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Nadle: That's above steerage, huh? Smooke: Yeah.
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Smooke: They had first, second, third, and steerage. Nadle: Oh, I see.
Smooke: I come in third class.
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Nadle: Okay third class.
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Smooke: Yeah. $40. And I had 100 so left me 60.
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Nadle: Now, you came on a ship? Smooke: Yeah. Nadle: What? What port did
you leave from?
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Smooke: I left from Antwerp. I came to Germany and to Antwerp.
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Nadle: Then you came here to--
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Smooke: I came to New York. In New York my niece, a cousin of mine by the
name of Rose Smooke, was supposed to meet me. She never appeared. And since
then. And that's already 60 some years. Never heard who, where, what. She
disappeared. Other cousins and relations never knew what happened to her.
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Nadle: So what did you do?
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Smooke: Well, the HIAS. Nadle: Now, what's that? Smooke: The Jewish
Emigration Society.
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Nadle: Oh, that's H I A S. Smooke: HIAS.
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Smooke: They picked me up, took me to their place. Give me a place to
change my clothes and bathe and gave me a supper that night. And I stayed
there for three days. And every day they took us to some kind of a show. I
don't remember where or what.
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Nadle: Oh, you mean like a--
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Smooke: Movie or-- at that time, 5 or 10 cents was a movie. And finally we
got word from Youngstown that I should come there.
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Nadle: This was your cousin in Youngstown?
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Smooke: Youngstown? I had a cousin in Cleveland, but I didn't know him
either. I knew him in Europe but didn't know him there. Here I found out I
got three cousins in Youngstown. The Greenwald, the Lox and Goldmans and
Rosenbergs. Four.
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Nadle: Oh. Lots of people. How about the rest of your family? Did they
ever-- Did your mother ever come here?
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Smooke: I send her money and her and my sister to come out. And by the
time she got the visas and everything done, she refused to come because her
daughter was engaged to the Klausenberger Shaukat's son. And he just came
back from Israel as an ordained rabbi. But he never practiced. He became a
salesman for the American slicing machine company Toledo Scales. Nadle: Oh.
Smooke: He's a businessman. He didn't want to be a rabbi, but he was
educated. He had degrees. She married him. And during the war-- Nadle: She
married him there. Smooke: Yeah. And they stayed. And I took that money for
the tickets, which I got back. Sam Clayton. He had a little foreign
exchange bank. He'd done the dollar for me. He gave me back most of the
money except the taxes. Whatever. He kept back 10%. I took the whole money,
send it back for my mother. And I said, you can give it to my sister for
dowry or you can keep it or do whatever you want. I was married then
already.
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Nadle: Well, this seemed like he arranged to have people come over. Is
that it?
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Smooke: Well, it's a big story. Nobody could have come over at that time
except my sister and an Italian family. Nadle: Oh. Smooke: You know why?
Nadle: Why? Smooke: Because I knew a guy [??] from Crafton. He was a
senator. No, Congressman. And I knew him personally. And I and Sam Glick
and this Italian man took a train to McKeesport and went straight to
Washington. And we had. Let's talk to Mr. [??]. I knew him just like I know
my wife. Better than I knew my wife. My wife was just a youngster then. I
know for years he died even as a congressman. [??] had a big name in this
section. And he was the--
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Nadle: Congressman from Pittsburgh.
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Smooke: Yeah. Crafton.
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Nadle: Well, now-- Smooke: Up in Homestead.
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Smooke: And he called Bucharest, Romania, right from his office. And the
man he talked to was Mr. Palmer. He said to Palmer, This is Guy, remember?
Yeah. I want you to look up the visit for Mrs. Smooke and her daughter,
Esther Smooke and Helen Smooke. And an Italian. I can't remember his name.
They've come from Sicily. I want to visit for them immediately. He said
I'll do it. I heard it over the phone. Now that's back in 1923 or 24.
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Nadle: But why couldn't they just come regularly? Why did you have to have
a congressman.
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Smooke: There was a 10% visit that time was restricted. Nadle: Oh, the
quotas.
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Smooke: The quotas were restricted there. You couldn't come over here.
Nadle: Oh, I see. Smooke: I came without any visit. I came without
anything.
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Nadle: You just sort of came. And here you were.
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Smooke: They asked me, Where are you going? I said, I'm going to America
to work. I showed him my book and it was stamped that I just quit a job out
of town.
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Nadle: Your book was-- a workbook, you mean?
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Smooke: Yeah, just like a pass from one job to another. Yeah. Nadle: And
they let you board the ship. Smooke: And we had a little union at that
time. A democratic union in Europe. And they admitted me.
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Nadle: And they let you in this country? Smooke: Huh? Nadle: They let you
in this country.
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Smooke: Without any trouble.
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Nadle: Oh, that's interesting. Smooke: No trouble. Nadle: I guess you were
a little earlier, huh?
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Smooke: In 1911. That was early. And then even then, you had to have
visas. You had to have papers. Nadle: Yeah. Smooke: You had to show that
you were through with the government. That is for induction for the armies
of their.
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Nadle: Because you were about that age.
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Smooke: No, I was only 17 then.
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Nadle: Oh, you're just a little younger.
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Smooke: I see. Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking for work. I worked in Dresden for 1
or 2 days. I worked in Berlin 1 or 2 days.
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Nadle: Oh, was this on your way here? Smooke: Yeah.
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Smooke: We call that zoning. Zoning. It's the same thing in Hungarian, the
same word zoning from one place to another. In order to prove that I tried
to get a job and they hired me. They didn't need me or didn't want me, but
I had a stamp in each place I had in Vienna. In Vienna I bought all my
tickets, though. Yeah.
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Nadle: But you had to have a stamp to show that you had been looking for
work.
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Smooke: Yes, And I tried out in 1 or 2 places. Yeah, sure. Nadle: Did you
have to show money? Smooke: No, that's the past the European countries?
Once I got into the to the boat with my tickets, all I had to show my
tickets to the boat. And they let you on. Nadle: Oh, I see. Smooke: But the
nicest people I met is the Belgian people. German people were nice to that
time. Everybody was nice. Yeah, very nice.
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Nadle: Did you like the Belgians, particularly?
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Smooke: Terrific. I went to Belgium. 1 or 2 people in Cleveland when I
worked for the May company years ago.
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Nadle: Okay. Now, your mother didn't come then?
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Smooke: No.
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Nadle: Did you ever go back to visit?
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Smooke: Me, I wouldn't go if you paid me.
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Nadle: You never saw your mother again then? Smooke: No. Nadle: Your
sister? Smooke: No. Nadle: Your brothers?
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Smooke: One of them died before the Second World War. The other was put in
prison. And he got the virus and all kinds of diseases from the
underground. Him and his wife. They never had children. But my sister had
one daughter, and she's still living in Bucharest. She's a professor of
college. Then I got from older brother.
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Smooke: I got two children in Israel. A brother and a sister, and he just
got his bar mitzvah. One of his. He has a daughter, married with two
children, and I think she has also two children.
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Nadle: But you never saw any other.
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Smooke: Never.
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Nadle: Oh, that's sort of. Do you feel bad about it?
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Smooke: No. I like this country better than anything in the world.
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Nadle: It's worth it.
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Smooke: I like this country better than Israel for me. I'm for Israel,
naturally. Can't help it being for Israel. It's [??]
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Nadle: You have to translate that for the tape. And for me, both.
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Smooke: The Tree of Life originates in Israel. Tree of Life.
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Nadle: But you don't want to live there.
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Smooke: I wouldn't say I wouldn't like to. I enjoy living here.
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Nadle: Have you ever been to Israel?
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Smooke: I might go there. We're talking about it. But there's so many nice
places to see in this country.
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Nadle: So it keeps you busy.
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Smooke: I'm an American first.
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Nadle: I guess you are.
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Smooke: Trouble is that I was born a Jew, and I'm proud of that, too.
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Nadle: Very good. What kind of a Jew are you? Are you an Orthodox or a--
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Smooke: I'm in between. [Nadle: Oh, explain that] I don't discriminate
against any of them, but I belong to Orthodox Jews. But if I go to a
reformed or a temple or I participate with them. Okay.
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Nadle: We're going to want to get back to that. I think, though, first,
we've got you as far as Youngstown. Yes.
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Smooke: Then I got to Cleveland from Youngstown.
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Nadle: Was this with another relative or?
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Smooke: Cousins. You see, when I got to Youngstown, before I got off the
boat, I had $60. Yes. There was a Hungarian fellow that I made friends with
an elderly man in his 35, 40s. I was a kid and he went broke playing cards.
I loaned him $20. Without that, he couldn't come in. He had to show $20.
Nadle: Show money, yeah. So I gave it to him. And when we got out the boat,
they put me in one booth and he got into another section. I lost out. So
when it came in Youngstown, I told my cousins that I had the ad-- no, I
didn't have the ad, I just had his name. I didn't know from nothing. I
didn't know Cleveland from Pittsburgh or Youngstown from Ohio.
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Nadle: Did you speak English at this time? Smooke: Nothing, no. Nadle:
Well, how did you get from New York to Cleveland?
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Smooke: Speaking Yiddish. Hungarian. You always find somebody to speak
your language. The Yiddish especially.
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Nadle: And did the HIAS help you?
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Smooke: HIAS helped me till I got to the train. They wanted to pay my fare
to the train. I said I had money. I had $20 left yet. So when I loaned him
20. I was out $20. I said good bye. So one, two, three weeks later on a
Sunday, I picked up a Hungarian paper from Cleveland. This guy had it
advertised. He's looking for me. He wants to pay me back for $20. That's
how I got the. Nadle: Isn't that nice. Smooke: That's how I got to
Cleveland. Nadle: That's a nice story. Smooke: And I found my cousins
there. Yeah. By the name of Albert Frank.
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Nadle: Okay. Now, did you work in Youngstown.
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Smooke: 3 or 4 days? Yes.
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Nadle: Then you got to Cleveland. Did you work there?
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Smooke: Yeah, in Cleveland. I stayed about from 1911. 11 Yeah, before the
holidays. I stayed there. 12, 13, 14, 15, 1916. Yeah.
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Nadle: Okay, then where'd you go.
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Smooke: I worked there. I worked in the factory making fenders for the
[??] what you call Ford by hand. Making fenders.
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Nadle: Is that the way it was done then?
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Smooke: Yeah. And you had a machine you had to run in through to put the
wire in to hold it from that bending. Yeah, well.
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Nadle: That was a little. You really were a much better metal worker than
that, weren't you?
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Smooke: Oh, yeah, but you had to take what you can get. Yeah. Then later
on, they laid us off there. Just on Thanksgiving Day. They laid off I don't
know how many hundreds. And I was the youngest one there, I guess. So they
gave you either a $5 bill or a turkey. I took the $5. And from there I got
a job in the May company. Doing what? Well, first I was a busboy. Then I
became a stockroom boy. Then they called me assistant manager for the
restaurant department. I was under three different managers. I worked at
quite a few years.
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Nadle: This is in Cleveland.
Smooke: The big boss was S M Gross. He just died about 3 or 4 years ago.
He is the originator of all this May company and the Kaufmann's and all
these stores that they buy. Nadle: I see. Smooke: He's a great man. His
father was a [??] peddler and he used to grab him under the arm and take
him to his main table. Nadle: How nice. Smooke: But he only ate very, very
orthodox. Nadle: I see. Smooke: But he's proud of his father. But he went
through college from the rags. In fact, we in Homestead have a rabbi. His
father's a washing, selling rags, clean rags, you know, buys rags and
cleans them. Mr. Deutsch And his son is Rabbi Herschel Deutsch.
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Nadle: Yeah, there are a lot of people who had that kind of a beginning, I
think.
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Smooke: And he raised all nice children, all religious.
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Nadle: Now, what happened to you in the First World War? You were about
the right age for it, weren't you?
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Smooke: I was in just about the right age. But I was an alien then. I
didn't have my papers. I had to be another year in Pennsylvania and see if
I stayed in Cleveland I'd have had my papers and I transferred to
Pittsburgh.
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Nadle: Oh. Why did you come to Pittsburgh?
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Smooke: Well, I got married in Pittsburgh.
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Nadle: Oh, that does have something to do with it.
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Smooke: Is your wife-- Smooke: Homestead's right there.
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Nadle: Oh, is your wife from Homestead?
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Smooke: My wife at that time from Homestead.
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Nadle: And you came--
Smooke: First wife. I married a second. Nadle: Oh, I see. And so you moved
there-- Smooke: When I was married. I came here. In December I was married.
Nadle: And how did you meet her? Smooke: In Cleveland. At a wedding at her
cousin's. And it worked out one of the religious Jews. Her mother wore a
[??], and she was noble.
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Nadle: And then the [??] for the tape, that's the headdress, the wig.
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Smooke: Yeah. Wigs. Yeah. Most prominent families in Homestead. The Glick
family. And their brothers and sisters still call me uncle.
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Nadle: I see.
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:08.000
Smooke: You know Jimmy Glick from the Murphy's market [Nadle: I don't.]
downtown. You know Murphy's market?
00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:09.000
Nadle: Yeah I know Murphy's Market
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Smooke: Yeah. He owns the Murphy's. The meat and the grocery. Whatever.
And Mickey. And what's the name? Willie's in Florida, son. There's only two
of them left. Mickey. The grandchildren. But the son is one son. Willie's
left, and. Mrs. Meitner. What's her name? Rose. Yeah.
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Nadle: Okay. So then you came to Pittsburgh. Smooke: Got married. Nadle:
Married and came to Pittsburgh.
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Smooke: And worked in the mills and had a store and-- oh, yeah. Worked in
United-- I worked for, before it was United States Steel, yeah. I worked
for Carnegie.
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Nadle: Oh, what did you do?
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Smooke: In the mill. High fitting, structural fitting. Whatever the job
they gave you to do. Yeah, we had 3 or 4 Jewish men. Really good mechanics
there.
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Nadle: Yeah. Well, this is back with Carnegie, you say? Smooke: Yeah.
Nadle: Oh did you know Carnegie himself?
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Smooke: I saw him once. One Hungarian fella made the statue of his bust
out of bronze by hand. Carved it out. It's still there in Homestead in the
library.
00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:31.000
Nadle: Or was it that? Was that about the time? Wasn't the Homestead
Strike.
00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:33.000
Smooke: That was 1890.
00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:35.000
Nadle: That was before. You weren't there at that time?
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.000
Smooke: Before I was born. Two years before I was born.
00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:39.000
Nadle: My history is a little off. You can tell.
00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:56.000
Smooke: The 1919 strike. I didn't work in Carnegie Steel. I already had
quit and went to work in Master. Oh, and the Master had a better job. More
money doubled the amount that I used to make there.
00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:00.000
Nadle: So you weren't at Carnegie when they had the 1919 strike?
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:08.000
Smooke: No. But I almost got clipped from the guys, you know, They thought
I was a strike breaker. Somebody come in with a bucket.
00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:11.000
Nadle: Oh. They thought you were crossing the line. Smooke: Yeah.
00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:14.000
Smooke: They had no union, but they were trying.
00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:16.000
Nadle: I was going to say. Are you a union person?
00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.000
Smooke: I'm not against union. I never was a union.
00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:19.000
Nadle: You're not a member, though?
00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:41.000
Smooke: No, we never had union. In fact, when I quit Carnegie Steel, the
last time that I worked, see I worked back and forth. I could walk and even
today, if I was 60 years old, walk right into the mill. The police were
there. The younger, he let me in to see my ex foreman or my boss. I had
passes to go to any coal mine.
00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:43.000
Nadle: How come?
00:22:43.000 --> 00:23:04.000
Smooke: Because I knew somebody that gave me a pass. And between the time
of 9:00 in the morning and 5:00 in the afternoon after going to coal mine
what they call patches during the Depression, they gave me a pass to go in.
Nobody ever had. I think I have it someplace. Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.000
Nadle: So you worked in for Carnegie first, then [??].
00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:28.000
Smooke: And from [??] I quit and went back to Carnegie in Clairton in the
Coke works. But I wasn't making Coke. I was doing repair work. Nadle: You
were maintenance? Smooke: Welding, burning, cutting pipes. Different jobs,
whatever is to be done.
00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:30.000
Nadle: And then you went to Clairton. Then where?
00:23:30.000 --> 00:24:17.000
Smooke: From Clairton? I didn't work only ten days there at the high rate
wage. I got a dollar and a quarter an hour, [Nadle: Oh boy.] which was
unheard of. Only structural men got that. And that's the only way I took
the job. They needed welders. And [??] called me. I knew the bosses all by
name. Even today, some of them said, Smokey, I got a job for you. I said,
okay, what does it pay? It's 71.5. I said, keep it. I think I'm going to
travel from Homestead. I lived in Homeville at that time already above
Homestead. I want top wages, a dollar and a quarter, free gas. You know,
they used to give, but they called it benzoin, you know, gas.
00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:18.000
Nadle: To run your car, you mean?
00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:44.000
Smooke: Yeah. Everybody that worked there got it. But they killed it over
there. They used to go home, empty their tanks and sell it. Oh. And then
come back for some more. So they stopped it. It was the nicest thing that
ever happened. If you honest about things, you get things. So they-- I got
it. I said I got a job here for ten days. After that, I got a job with the
Westinghouse.
00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:45.000
Nadle: What were you doing there?
00:24:45.000 --> 00:25:36.000
Smooke: Welding. I was doing silver soldering, welding. They were making
those brakes, for the mine [Nadle: Oh, the air brakes] Yeah. Breakers, they
call it for the mines, electric. And had to have silver buttons on them for
contact. And I done that kind of work for about 3 or 4 months and then it
fell off. They didn't need it no more. So they transferred me to a big and
made the big dynamos. Heavy work. It was real hard to work. Weld, used to
put wells in there. Inch, inch and half wells. It's hot hard work and came
along. There was a fellow that I don't want to mention his name. A Jewish
fella eat me out of job. He was afraid I'll take his job because I was a
little better than him. But he was a foreman. Nadle: Well, I was--
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:41.000
Nadle: Just wondering about that. There aren't usually too many Jewish
people in the mills, are there? Smooke: Well. Nadle: Or were there?
00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:43.000
Smooke: There, four.
00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:47.000
Nadle: Just a few. Smooke: Yeah. Nadle: How about in Westinghouse?
00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:48.000
Smooke: A lot of Jewish people.
Nadle: Were there?
00:25:48.000 --> 00:26:14.000
Smooke: Oh, yeah. In the Westinghouse you find a lot of Jewish people.
Professional men. Clerical men. Even in management. Even today. Sure. My,
my son in law's father worked in there. Mr.-- when they owned the mall up
in Monroeville.
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.000
Nadle: Oh. The names--
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:28.000
Smooke: Well, his father worked in there, too. He just passed away about a
year ago or two. Kessler. Kesslers, a lot of Jewish people in McKeesport to
work in the mills. Nadle: Oh, they do.
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:36.000
Smooke: They're cutting pipe or working on machines, work on a lathe.
Sure
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.000
Nadle: Okay. Then after Westinghouse, what did you do? You were living
where at that time?
00:26:40.000 --> 00:27:03.000
Smooke: In Homeville and came back. I got a job back in Homestead Steel. I
worked there. I think about five, six months. They let me go because there
was not enough work. So I went out, started. That's how I got this path to
go to the mines. Nadle: Oh, what were you doing there?
00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:09.000
Smooke: Selling soap and toothpaste and toothbrushes and Roosevelt
pictures.
00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:10.000
Nadle: Oh, everything.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:16.000
Smooke: That time, Roosevelt was just about getting ready to run for the
first election.
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:18.000
Nadle: Late 1920s.
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:25.000
Smooke: 21. No, that was-- Nadle: 32 he came in. Didn't he? Smooke: 31.
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.000
Nadle: Okay, then you did that for a while. You were still living at
Homeville. Smooke: Yeah.
00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:53.000
Smooke: And I tried my best till I got into the soft drink business. That
was a hard one, too. Nadle: Now that was. Smooke: 30 bottles in a case.
With a lid on the box. All wooden cases, not paper like now. Then you had
to carry one on your shoulder. You felt like a ton.
00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:55.000
Nadle: You were delivering soft drinks? Smooke: Yeah.
00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:02.000
Smooke: To the stores. From there, I got a job delivering that from Polo
Water Company.
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:08.000
Nadle: Now that's in Homeville, still. I lived in Homeville. Okay, then
what? You had a lot of things.
00:28:08.000 --> 00:29:08.000
Smooke: I've done a lot of things. And I made a good living at it. And
finally it got so-- my oldest son, graduated high school. In Homeville
there was no high school. He either had to go to high school to Munhall or
go to Homestead. Well, that involved car fare and lunch money and whatnot.
So he said, I don't want to go Homestead and I don't want to go to Munhall.
I want to go to Schenley High. That was in 41. So I had a sister in law
living here on Juliet Street. Mrs. Feldman, if you remember her? She lived
on-- she just sold her house on Chesterfield Road just now. She's a widow.
So I said, Well, if that's the case, let's go look around Oakland, near
Ruthie's place, and we'll buy a home.
