[pause 00:00:00]

Speaker: I have a daughter who, a week ago, was her birthday. She visits me and she's a very charming person so I said, "[unintelligible 00:00:20], how old are you today?" She said "Mother, what age were you when I was born?" I said, "I forget." She said to me "I'm 70." I did "You're 70. I have a daughter 70 years old." With that, she put her hands up [unintelligible 00:00:37] "And I have another 103?"

Speaker: Hello, I'm Lynn Adler. In 1995, I wrote a book I called Centenarians, The Bonus Years to showcase our eldest citizens as vibrant remarkable, and engaging members of society and to help shatter the stereotype so many of us have of aging. In this program, I have the opportunity to let you meet some fascinating people. All of them 100 or older. Whose wisdom and insight allow us to look through a window into our past and perhaps our future. They are truly an inspiration for all of us, so enjoy as centenarians-

Speaker: I tell it like it is.

Speaker: I tell it like it is.

Speaker: I tell it like it is.

Speaker: I tell it like it is.

Speaker: Now what else?

Speaker: Tell it like it is.

Speaker: As anybody don't like it, they don't have to listen to me. That's all.

[music]

Speaker: What I can remember, I was a little girl. What can I tell you? I was a little girl. What can a little girl, when she grows up, remember the childhood?

Speaker: My father and mother moved to what is now Oklahoma but was Indian territory then. We moved in a covered wagon and it took weeks to make the trip. We slept in the wagon or on the ground, however. When we got to the Indian territory, of course, it was so different to what Arkansas was because it was wild and unsettled. I never saw any wild Indians or anything. They'd all moved on.

Speaker: My earliest memory would be of president McKinley being shot. The neighbors all getting together excited but it really didn't mean that much to me. I don't even remember how old I was then.

Speaker: Oh, you had no electricity, you had no water, you had no telephone when I was a little girl. Of course, as I grew up, we had all of that but there was nothing there. No one had it.

Speaker: The most amazing thing that I remember. Was the St. Louis World's Fair. That first peanut butter that I ever saw and it was the first manufactured. There was some kind of a pickle with the Heinz label on it. I don't remember what kind it was but they gave you a sample every time anybody went by. I remember that part. I'd never seen fairy floss candy before.

Speaker: My Grandad, he put me on the stage in a bar where he had his leisure hours. I'd speak a little speech and sing a little song and they'd throw nickels and pennies at me.

Speaker: I can take you back to when I was only about seven years old, and having to take to piano lessons a week because my mother was a professional singer and I had to accompany her. I was behind screens playing the piano when my mother was singing.

Speaker: I was on that program Queen For A Day and I won that. I was entertained in Hollywood for about three days. I received a lot of clothes, suits, and silk clothes which I'd never had and a whole box of them.

Speaker: When the first World War came, they promises are men with [unintelligible 00:05:06] bars and we lived down there [unintelligible 00:05:09] but that didn't happen. That's what they told us. I remember them men going away. All of them for-- All the poor little girls he didn't have any boyfriends.

Speaker: I was a flyer. Never got shot at. Never worked up to the front but I did a lot of flying. A lot of it is so-called ferrying which involves taking on a new plane from a depot behind the front, way behind the front, and flying it up to a depot just behind the front. Then riding back in a Cadillac. At the government's expense, then they paid us milage for riding in the Cadillac which I always thought was quite unreasonable but I have never refused to take money when it was offered to me for it perfectly legitimate, so I took it.

Speaker: In the general practice of architects and perhaps the most famous buildings that we were involved with was, as designers, was the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Jefferson Memorial.

[music]

Speaker: The most amazing things that happened to me, happened to everybody in this century is the evolution from the primitive way we lived when I was a child to what has happened in this 100 years that I've lived here almost.

Speaker: The thing I recall is being most interesting and most exciting was the first telephone to be installed in our house in Toronto. The idea of picking up the phone to say "Hi, Joe. How are--" That was amazing.

Speaker: I can remember in my early days when to make a telephone call from Boston to New York was a great event. People talked about it to their neighbors "I talked to New York today on the telephone. That was remarkable."

Speaker: It hung on the wall and you had to ring Central and tell them the number you wanted.

Speaker: You did this for that and that's set up of some kind of thing and then you pick it up and say "Hello." It was very primitive.

Speaker: There was a car coming down over the hill. A car, we never had seen a car so everybody rushed out to the main street to see this car come down the hill. That was exciting.

Speaker: The first automobile I ever saw was a white steamer. I was just a kid but I was thrilled to pieces to see that. They scared the horses. [chuckles]

Speaker: My uncle happened to be a dealer in Toronto of one of the earliest automobiles. It's called the Hupp, H-U-P-P and he had the agency. My first ride was with him in a Huppmobile.

Speaker: We paid a nickel to go see the movie. There was no music, nothing with it but there was a pianist. That if there was a horse racing, the music would dash along like a horse racing, or if it was a love scene, it would be soft and sweet. They tried to duplicate the atmosphere that was supposed to be there.

Speaker: There was shooting, the cowboy picture it was. It's 5 cents to go to that show I couldn't look at it. I closed my eyes, I couldn't look it.

Speaker: Perils of Pauline, did you ever hear of that? They tied around the track and had me biting my nails. I'm seven years old and I'd be biting my nails. A sign would come up "To be continued next week." I was "How can I wait a whole week? They could've killed her. She's on the track."

Speaker: The x-ray was developed in my early years. Of course, we couldn't get along without it. We've gone a long way in the different x-ray modalities like MRI and CAT scans.

Speaker: Television? We didn't have no televisions. In those years, all the years, we had no television. We had a gramophone? You know what the gramophone is? We had a gramophone.

Minnie: I think the most amazing thing is see the man on the moon because that was so far ahead of everything. Who could have ever imagined that?

[music]

Edith: I don't-- I'm not interested in politics.

Louise: I never did vote.

Speaker: I never voted for anyone.

Philip: I'm very interested in politics. We can't get along without a government, of course, and if you have a government, you're going to have politicians but most of them are a disaster to the country.

Speaker: Well, politics is awful. Politics in America has always been a very competitive thing and politics today exceeds the area of competitiveness and it destroys an awful lot in our lives.

Dr. Joseph: They fight not for justice and not for the right, but for them to be right. Now the Republicans are giving trouble on some bills trying to hold them up. It's not because they believe it's wrong, they just want to do the opposite. I've been a Democrat all my life.

Dr. Ira: Well, if you want to know why I'm [unintelligible 00:11:59] Democratic or Republican? I'd say that's none of your business.

Mabel: Politics? I never answer them, never answer them. I don't want to get mad at everybody or them to get mad at me.

Edith: I feel that those who are elected have a to do anything that's wrong, that it's up to them. If they don't do it, don't direct them.

Speaker: I love politics because I happen to be a confirmed Republican, but I will vote for a Democrat that-- I think the best president we have had was Truman, and here I am a Republican.

[music]

Edith: Well, I think I enjoyed Teddy Roosevelt.

Interviewer: Why?

Edith: Oh, he was so full of spirit and doing things. He did more than-- not all of it good, than any other president I remember.

Theodore: Franklin Delano Roosevelt I think was the best president. You have to remember one thing about Franklin that is he was a wartime president. Wartime president have a tendency to be bigger and better and greater than peacetime presence. He was a wartime president and did very well at it.

Speaker: My favorite president was Mr. Truman. I thought he was very sincere when he scolded you or he called you a name, they deserved it. Whoever he was calling names to. I thought he was a good, honest president.

Basil: President Wilson, he was a good man.

Minnie: President Roosevelt and I think he did more for the working people than anybody has ever done.

Philip: President Coolidge was my favorite president because fundamentally he took a nap every afternoon and let the country run itself.

[music]

Helen: I'd like to say something but you wouldn't want me to say it.

Interviewer: Sure, I would.

Helen: No, not what I want to say and I think he's just living on his nerve. On his nerve, he's not doing all this stuff. He's got everybody else telling him what to do including his wife. She's really the president, not him.

Mabel: Well, I rather not tell you. I feel sorry for him. I really feel sorry for him. He's getting picked at, terrible. You have to forgive people; I would forgive him. I hope his wife did.

Dr. Joseph: I think he's a good man and I supported him in prior years and I'll continue to support him. I feel like so many people his private life is his private life. It was stupid for him to do anything like that, but it's done and he has to pay for it. He's going to pay for it. That's the way I feel but I don't think he should be impeached or given any harsh sentences.

Ruth: Don't ask me. Anyone who will put his wife in the position that he did, I don't think much of it.

Atta: I did not vote for him, I'll put it that way.

Louise: I'm sorry to hear about him but I still think he's a man and was tempted probably.

Edith: I'm not [unintelligible 00:16:12] of president all my time is sad. The president-

Interviewer: You almost said Nixon. You almost said Nixon.

Edith: Oh, no. No, you're making something out of nothing.

Interviewer: It's [unintelligible 00:16:27].

Edith: No, no.

Roxy: I don't think Bill Clinton is-- Oh, I was trying to say intelligent now, but I don't think he's broad-minded enough. He doesn't know how to assimilate with people.

Ruth: [laughs] I don't know. He's a charming guy, you can't help but like him, but I don't know he's so innocent. I'm afraid the poor girl is getting the gaffe and he isn't as much.

Theodore: He's trying hard, he isn't the greatest president we've ever had I'll say that, but he tries.

Lenore: I think he's a very good president, but he's made a lot of little mistakes and I'm afraid he's going to pay for it. No, I feel sorry for him and his wife, I do. I hope he gets out of it.

Basil: He's a good man. Republican people don't like it to do something [unintelligible 00:17:42] he's a good man. He's a good man.

Minnie: Well, it's a little iffy. [laughs] You know what? He deserved a lot of praise; a prayer and I think he wants to do what's good for the country but I'm truly sorry for him. I think he needs prayer.

Merle: Well, I think that any poor kid from a poor state that has done what he's done should be noticed.

Helen: He's not stupid, don't misunderstand me, but I think if he had done-- All he's done in his life he had a nerve to want to be president not that everybody don't have something in the skeleton, in their closet, a lot of people walking around do but you don't flaunt it. You know what I mean? Give an I don't care spirit, if you don't like it don't talk to me or don't think about me. I think he's-- My mind I think he should be impeached.

Dorothy: Well, I was surprised at president Clinton's ability to discuss things because I didn't really think he had it in him.

Philip: Well, he's the only president I ever had dinner with. He is a very personable individual. His nickname is Slick Willie and I think he deserves it 100%. Apparently, he has a problem with the female sex and I think it would be a great idea if somebody could figure some way to give presidents some hormone that would slow them down when they are thinking about other things on the business of the government. [music]

Speaker: [unintelligible 00:20:06] ones that I remember, I used to have a store with a restaurant, [unintelligible 00:20:19] but there's door to it. I got to know the iceman who used to deliver ice, no refrigerator, just ice. We had coffee together; we used to joke and just laugh and we got along beautifully. One day the smile was gone, the greetings were cold and I says, "I tell you, what happened. Don't you feel well? Are you're sick?" "No," he says, "I know something about you." "So what?" He said, "I know that you were Jewish." [unintelligible 00:20:56] and he's such a nice guy too.

Speaker: If somebody says they do something and they do the opposite, that really makes me mad. I think it's well worth it.

Speaker: Treat me condescendingly. I think that women are just as smart as men, with any equal opportunity. If you treated me like I was a sweet little something or a silly little something that would make me mad.

Speaker: I don't get that angry. If I do. I go into my room and close my door and just walk a little bit and think, "What it's all about? What to use of all of this," but you'll never see me angry.

Speaker: I don't get mad. Sometimes disappointed, but never. I'm under control.

Speaker: I never got myself excited. If anybody want to argue, I'd walk away because I can't stand arguments.

Speaker: I don't get very mad. I don't know how to get mad. I've got a temper and I've got one that sticks with me. If anything, ever happens to me with someone I know they might as well take off someplace.

[music]

Speaker: My father-in-law caught me on a stool in the bathroom. You want to laugh? Go ahead.

Speaker: What does that mean?

Speaker: It just means I was sitting on the stool and he'll open the door and come on in. It doesn't really have a meaning.

Speaker: What are you doing on a stool?

Speaker: On the bathroom seat.

Speaker: You mean a toilet?

Speaker: I mean a toilet, whatever you want to call it.

Speaker: This toilet was in the barn and it had the three holer and the small and of course the step for the little shrimp stir. We used to give a goat two or three of us together and then we've play a game while we're sitting there. One of the games, you're just to try to make each other laugh and you couldn't. We would bend over and say, "Mm, mm," to try them each other and we looked up and a man was coming from the shop and he was stood right by the back door. Boy, did we ever slam that door. It's not a very delicate story.

Speaker: I went out to see my son in California, it's his 50th anniversary. He used to be commander of the Boat Club and he would have it no place but there. I had to go to the lady's room. I went in and when I walked in the wall was all mirrored. I didn't realize that. I looked in there and I said, "Oh, you have a dress on just like mine." No answer. I said, "Did you buy that here? Do they have these out in California?" No answer.

This horseshoe I have on my neck here. I said, "You even have horseshoe on a chain." I said, "That was my husband's typing and I had to put on the chain train." I kept the realization there was two women sitting there. I just looked at them and I walked out of that room and my granddaughter was waiting for me. I was laughing. She said, "What are you laughing at?"

Then I told her the story while she screamed, and then we're walking down. Everybody wants to know what we're laughing about so she said, "Nanny, you might as well tell them what you did."

Once in a while, I think of that story and I laughed to myself, how stupid could anybody be to do something like that? Golly.

Speaker: In 1911, my father was persuaded to buy an automobile and it cost $1,100. It was cash then. there's no finance and it had a motor, it was a Buick, mind you. I think it must have been first thing that they ever put on the road and called it a Buick, because the motor was a stationary two-cylinder motor opposed to each other. You had to get down onto the side of the fender to crank it.

Now that was a motor vehicle that competed with four-cylinder motor, which was amazing things of the car that my father bought. He was pretty proud of us, for his family driving around the country but believe it or not, there was no generator on it. When the battery run down, it was done and they never told us that and we got as far away from home as something like 15 miles and the battery ran out. There we sat, and we had to get horses to howl it in the town to charge the batteries so we could get home.

Speaker: We belong to the Westchester Country Club. I was getting out of the car to go in and the door boy, it's one of those fresh little Irish boys that has a smile on her face and is very charming and I lose my panties. I have to jump to the ground for my pants. I had to stand up and get them off and he wants to come over and help me pick up my panties, and he does in front of the Westchester Country Club entrance. Now that isn't embarrassing enough, I'll never know. It's a wonder it wasn't taken a picture of.

[music]

Speaker: Brothers were chasing me with a row of wagon full of stones and they throw stones at me. I ran to the window and stuck my tongue out and I said bah and with that they let the stones fly and broke the windows. Then I got punished because I because I said bah to the boys. My mother [unintelligible 00:28:32] That's all she did for us.

Speaker: I was never punished. I was never hit or slapped.

Speaker: My grandmother came to visit and I cried and she spanked me and they sent her back. [laughs] I was ashamed to admit that.

Speaker: I had a very tolerant father. He was a wonderful man. He never punished me for anything. He might have reprimanded me for something but never punished me, no.

Speaker: The lady that lived in the same house that we did had a habit of sticking her tongue out when she was displeased. I used to do the same thing and my dad didn't like the idea. He said, "Young lady, if you do that again, I'll spank you." I did, I guess I wanted to see whether he would or not and he did and I got the spanking.

Speaker: [unintelligible 00:29:44] very good and she used to tell me to do something and I'd tell her I wasn't going to do it. Then I'd get a whooping.

Speaker: My mother is very strict. [chuckles]. I probably said something back to her and she probably didn't like it and told me to go to my room.

Speaker: We just grew up knowing that we had to do what we were told to do and so there was no need for punishment.

Speaker: My sister would do things and she'd say that I did it and my mother would try to punish me. I remember the last time it happened I took the switch from her and broke it in pieces.

Speaker: I was always bigger than my mother. She was a little person, she said that one time. I guess I don't know how old I was. She was so aggravated, with me she picked up a-- they had a range in the kitchen and she picked up a stick of wood and threatened me with it. I don't know whether I took it away from her or what happened, but anyhow, it didn't do much damage.

Speaker: They raised us without punishment, but in school, I remember I did something that the teacher didn't like and she had a rubber hose about this long and about an inch and a half in diameter and I had to hold up my hand like this, and she was [unintelligible 00:31:25] like this until my hand got sore and hurt.

Speaker: We had a what they call a cat nine tails made out of leather strips and you'd get stuck with that.

Speaker: Oh, my father had a strap with three little straps on it nailed down banged on the behind and that's it. No big punishment.

Speaker: They punished us for nothing really. We never knew why we got punished, we never knew. They'd come up and we'd say anything wrong, we'd get up and get sucked. Now the kids run the family, so people don't do that. The kids stand in the store and holla, "I want that kind of cornflake it's on television. I want that kind. I don't want--" they lay on the floor and kick, "I want that kind of cornflake." I wouldn't dare do that.

[music]

Speaker: They're wild. They're given too much leeway, they're given too many presents, and they become wild. They know more than their parents. It's a different world. There's no discipline that we had in my time. We were kids and when we were told to shut up, we'd shut up, but today the kids talk first.

Speaker: They know too much. They're told too much. They see too much. Television is the worst thing that they ever had and let a child look at TV because that's where they get all this business from guns and wanting to kill people. That's what's doing it.

Speaker: I would hate to have to be raising a family now. I’m sorry for the young people, they have so many things to overcome. We never, of course, never heard of anything like dope and whiskey or things like that never entered our mind.

Speaker: The 7th grader had Geography books to study Geography. Today the children in education don't know what Geography is, they don't know how this country was here and that country was here.

Speaker: We've all respected our teachers. Very respectful. I never heard of things that are going out today, how disrespectful the children are and I blame the parents. They don't teach our children respect.

Speaker: Not enough supervision. Nobody home, lots carried youngsters. What can the poor youngsters do?

Speaker: It isn't like a family in most places. For the reason, the mother has to go out and work and the children don't get the-- the mother can't be strict with them. [unintelligible 00:34:30] the father and mother work and they give the children money to go and get their lunch somewhere, but it's on account of the times, I think.

Speaker: I think if more mothers would stay home and take care of their children and keep them off of the street, not give them guns to play with. I guess I’m real old-fashioned but there's too much these days on the street that should not be, and now with the internet, that's worse than ever because they can look at that and learn from that also. Even computers I think are wrong for children because they're not using their thoughts of their own.

Speaker: I’m not in any position to give children advice today. Life is different from when I was around.

[music]

Speaker: Yucky.

Speaker: I do not approve of it.

Speaker: I don't approve it. That's the only thing I can tell you. I don't think it's right.

Speaker: I think that they give up to each other. The women, the men give up to each other too quickly. Now whether one makes more dances than the other quickly, I don't know. Not having gone through it, I wouldn't know that.

Speaker: I never really could conceive that was any sense in it, any need for it. They were the rules where you fell in love and you got married and then you lived together, that was a rule that everybody should have gone by, and they didn't do that. Then there was something wrong in their thinking.

Speaker: I don't believe in such a yucky things. It's not fair. It's not nice. It's not polite.

Speaker: [laughs] It's been here for a long time and I expect it'll stay.

Speaker: When I was young, I never heard of such things, now it's the style. What have I got to do about it? I can't change people's minds.

Speaker: If they're in their 70s or 80s I don't see any harm in that. [laughs]

[music]

Speaker: We ate the fat with a lead. [laughs] [unintelligible 00:37:15] fat was there we ate it.

Speaker: My mother saw that I had no whole milk and various things like that and beef and so on, but no special foods.

Speaker: I’d go to the garden of the morning and, of course, we butchered our own meat about 8 or 10 hogs a year and I got the garden of the morning and I’d dig up potatoes and I’d cut a head of cabbage and maybe onions or something. I'd just throw that all in a big iron pot and sat down in next to the flame of this floor with a little legs on. Did you ever see that kind of [unintelligible 00:38:01]? They're big. They're about that big.

I’d cook that all together. That all went in one pot together with a [unintelligible 00:38:12] bone or some kind of seasoning.

Speaker: My best meal for breakfast for years and years was eating bread and coffee. A slice of bread with cream and coffee and sugar on it, and that was my main breakfast.

Speaker: We had cooks, I had help. There was always fried chicken and good steaks. Then I could fry meat and make gravy and that was another thing that we had lots of.

Speaker: Meat, potatoes, some vegetable or carrots or peas or something of that sort, and then a dessert. We always had dessert. We became accustomed to that, so I must have my dessert here.

Speaker: My doctor, he always used to say to me, "Helen, have yourself two drinks a day. Drink a lot of water." I said, "I can't drink water, I don't like water." "Then put some scotch in it," and I said, "No, I don't want to drink alone. If I had somebody here maybe I would have a [unintelligible 00:39:21]." That's the truth. A lot of people are like that.

[music]

Speaker: Select your ancestors well. There is no secret. I lived like everybody else, I ate three meals a day, I took a drink, I took a cocktail before meals, but I didn't smoke. That was one thing I never smoked, but I ate everything, I had no diets. We lived a good life with little stress.

Speaker: I always taken care of myself. I don't like sweets. I can limit myself to sweets. I like a cocktail. I like a glass of champagne. I like to go to nice places, only nice places.

Speaker: I smoked at one time, but that's 40, 50 years ago. If you were caught taking a scotch and soda, I certainly enjoyed that one.

Speaker: No, I never did a drink and I never did smoke. If that helped, maybe. I don't know.

Speaker: I never got a habit of smoking. I thought it was stupid or silly, waste of time.

Speaker: I never smoked or drinking. That's why I say that I'm in this good condition. I have no arthritis. I don't have the emphysema. I'm just thanking the Lord for my condition.

Speaker: My big advice is going into each, my mama raised me up from city. I was baptized when I was about 10 years old.

Speaker: I have no secret. I've just lived from day-to-day doing what I want to do.

Speaker: I can't tell you because I don't know to walk a lot of walking and have three meals a day at specified times.

Speaker: I've always been healthy and it was a joke in our family, how I eat more than my brothers did and I've never put on weight. I've never been to doctors. I only went to a doctor one time and I had both much children and they were big healthy babies; nine and a half pound and they were healthy. I just had good health. God just blessed me with good health.

Speaker: The pessimist I've known have all died young. I think a positive atmosphere is a very vital force in the longevity and generally good health.

Speaker: People will say to me today, "Louise, don't overdo it. Please don't overdo it." I know better than that, so I don't do it. Well, a lot of the other people have allowed themselves to think of age and keep on thinking about age, but I never think of age. I just go on living and enjoying life.

Speaker: What kind of advice can I give you? Eat and sleep and with a good manner and that's it, I can tell you. You have to figure it out yourself what's the best for you.

[music]

Speaker: I would advise people to don't think of age, but keep active and keep liking people. I like people. Don't expect people to be perfect because none of us are.

Speaker: Just like everybody and try to do the right thing by people.

Speaker: When you live nicely, and if your anger part, try not to argue because anybody swears at me, I could kick them. I would if they swore at me. I will not take swearing. [laughs]

Speaker: Be good at whatever [unintelligible 00:43:44]. When you got a piece of bread, I used to give somebody real piece of bread. Drink a little wine, not too much. [laughs] Eat the fish. Best thing of fish, eat the fish you'll be good a little one at the top. That's all

Speaker: Just to live and be happy and try to make other people happy.

Speaker: Happy marriage, you work at it. It isn't a one-sided thing. It is a two-sided thing and if both don't work at it, you're done.

Speaker: I think the world's crazy, anyhow. I think God is starting somewhere to try and teach us people, not me but others, what they have and shouldn't want to be so greedy. It's like the Fox that wanted the golden grapes. He didn't get them so people they're too avaricious.

Speaker: Morals have deteriorated in my time. That is the basis for all of these divorces and all these broken families. Without the family life, the old-fashioned family life, I think we are in desperate circumstances for the future.

[music]

Speaker: I think laughter is important because it's good for the health. It's all just-- it helps to be the relax one and it’s just good to laugh. I don't laugh enough maybe, but I certainly believe in this.

Speaker: I was always humorous. I always did-- made a joke out of everything and that's how I got along and grew to be old. I always had a funny answer for everything.

Speaker: Wow. I laugh at that I think are funny. I can't tell you whether I'm going think it's funny until you're trying them out.

Speaker: There was a couple in bed, an elderly couple and she said, "I can't sleep I'm hungry." The husband said, "Well, what would you like? I'll go and get it." She said, "I picture a nice dish of ice cream with chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry with whipped cream around it and a cherry on top." She said, "Be sure and write it down. You never forget, remember anything."

He came back and he handed her a bag and it was a cheese sandwich. She said, "I told you to write it down. You never forget anything. You never can remember without a paper." He said, "What's the matter?" She said, "You forgot the mustard."

Speaker: Whenever the couple had sex, they'd put $2 in a bank, when they thought they had enough, they were going to take it out and spend it for a vacation. When they thought they had enough to open it up the bank and they found $5 bill, $10 bill, and the husband said, "How come there?" She said, "Everybody is not as stingy as you are." [laughs]

Speaker: You heard of May West, didn't you? May West always had a lot of admirers. There was one man that never could get to make a date with her, so he said, "One more time, I'm going to try." He calls her up and then said, "I'm sorry." May West is in bed with Labego. He said, "There it goes again." They had Italian Labego fellows there ahead of me." I think that's a joke.

Speaker: Well, a man knocked at the door at a summer resort and he said to the lady, "You're going to have to move." She said, "Why?" He said, "Because your husband urinates in the pool." She says, "Doesn't everyone." He said, "Not from the high dive."

[laughter]

Speaker: What makes me laugh? I like to laugh. I like to be happy, happy, happy go lucky.

[music]

Speaker: People don't get to be in resorts, just because they get old to treat old people better. That's what I would say.

Speaker: I think that it wouldn't hurt the younger people today if they have parents, they should look after them.

Speaker: Well, in olden days when I was a girl, no one ever thought of not having your grandparents with you. They played a very important part in your life.

[music]

Speaker: When my doctor used to say, "I'm going to get you to 100." I didn't believe him, but I got there by hook or crook. I got there and now I got to 101. Fabulous, I can't believe it.

Speaker: You know, we have to get older, that the best part about it. Just get older. I don't feel, it wasn’t, I don't know how you feel, but I feel just about like you feel. There's a person in the world that ain't going to make me feel no older, no younger.

Speaker: The best thing, looking back and all the things that you have done and accomplished and things you have said to people and things you wish you had said to people but didn't and so forth. When you get this, my age, there's a great deal of looking back and you spend a lot of time doing it too.

Speaker: I wanted to show people that they can enjoy life at any age.

Speaker: I'm proud of myself that I'm living all these years. I'm feeling fine [unintelligible 00:50:29]

Speaker: I made up my mind many years ago that I'm going to do what I can, I'm going to enjoy life and that's what I do now. I want to enjoy and I mean to enjoy life. I want to squeeze every bit that I possibly can out of every day.

Speaker: No, I think I've said enough for one day. [chuckles]

[music]

Speaker: I still got it all up here.

Speaker: This January, I reached 102. I don't want to repeat it.

Speaker: Age has its privileges.

[music]

Speaker: It's so long ago. It's a long time to look back.

Speaker: Think how long ago that happened.

Speaker: I've seen so much; I've seen so much.

[music]

Speaker: Somebody came in and sat too, [unintelligible 00:51:52] me six lawyers come on and said, "He didn't do it. He's innocent." I'm not telling the truth and I saw them do it. That's what I think of lawyers.

Speaker: If there's something I want to say I say it. That's all I can say.

Speaker: I'll say damn it once in a while, but I won't say damn it like a lot of people do.

[music]

Speaker: You asked me everything, I think. Anything as it comes to your mind, you asked me. I don't know what else you want to know.

Speaker: My molars are more restricted [unintelligible 00:52:32]

Speaker: Well, you want the truth in it.

[music]

Speaker: I would never change my mind in any way if a person writes.

Speaker: I don't do anything that I don't want to do.

[music]

Speaker: I don't just like to sit there and do nothing.

Speaker: I think I miss cooking on the front burner.

Speaker: The telephone rang at four o'clock in the morning. The wife said, "You answer it, dear." He went to the phone. He come back and she said, "Who wasn't, dear?" He said, "Some goofy guy wanted to know if the coast is clear and I told him to call the weather bureau."

[music]

Speaker: There was a man carrying groceries home from the store. He had his hands full. He said to this young lady, "Would you please reach in my pocket and get the keys for the car?" She reached down here, "What's there?" He said, "That's my two [unintelligible 00:54:17]." He said, "You know what? You're just [unintelligible 00:54:18]." That's good?

[00:54:29] [END OF AUDIO]