:07:00
Yes. It was while I was
attending school near Boston.
:07:05
I was a pretty cocky kid those days.
Pretty cocky kid.
:07:09
A regular Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Always carrying a flag in a parade.
:07:12
- I hope you haven't outgrown the habit.
- Not a chance.
:07:16
That's one thing I always admired
about you Irish-Americans.
:07:22
You carry your love of country like a flag,
right out in the open. A great quality.
:07:28
I inherited that.
I got that from my father.
:07:31
He ran away to the Civil War at 13. Proudest
kid in the whole state of Massachusetts.
:07:37
So you've spent your life telling the
other 47 states what a great country it is.
:07:43
I never thought of it that way before,
but that's about the size of it.
:07:48
And I lost no time either.
:07:50
It started with a very funny incident
about 60 years ago.
:07:54
It was in Providence, Rhode Island,
on the 4th of July.
:07:57
There weren't so many stars then,
in the flag or on the stage...
:08:00
... but folks knew more were coming.
:08:03
They were optimistic,
happy and expectant.
:08:07
The beginning of the Horatio Alger age.
:08:27
My father played in a variety theater,
breaking in a single.
:08:30
No one was more expectant than he was,
unless it was Mother.
:08:34
She was busy on a smaller production.