:05:01
When he was little, I think they
considered him kind of a sissy. . .
:05:05
. . .because he just wasn't
like your typical boy.
:05:10
He read a lot. He always had a book.
:05:13
Well, my mother read all the time.
:05:15
She always was behind him, always,
and she really believed it.
:05:20
She says, "There's nothing
you can't do. "
:05:23
She always was supportive of him.
:05:26
She was really a great mother,
I think.
:05:31
-Were they strict, Gert and Jack?
-No.
:05:35
Never. He always did what he wanted.
:05:38
In 1 941, when Stanley was
1 2 years old. . .
:05:41
. . .he went to Taft High School
in the Bronx.
:05:44
At the beginning, I think, of the
second week, Stanley turned to me. . .
:05:49
. . .as the class opened and said. . .
:05:54
. . .could I let him copy the day's
homework? I said, "Sure, why not?"
:05:59
The next day he asked the same thing.
:06:03
And the next day after that, and before
I knew it he was doing it every day.
:06:09
So after about a week or ten days. . .
:06:12
. . .I finally got up enough
aggressiveness to say:
:06:16
"Stanley, why aren't you doing
your homework?" He said simply. . .
:06:20
. . .and in what I learned was his
characteristic quiet way:
:06:24
"Well, I'm not interested. "
:06:26
It wasn't as if he were stupid.
He was simply not interested. . .
:06:31
. . .and acted upon that.
:06:33
Stanley was really quite involved,
quite passionate about photography.
:06:38
Stanley, you must understand, was,
by the general lights of the time. . .
:06:43
. . .the son of a wealthy person,
as they had their own home.
:06:48
They could have a darkroom.
:06:53
His father was interested
in photography. . .
:06:56
. . .and I think he encouraged Stanley
to use it and become a photographer.