00:01I was working down on 11th Street and East Broadway, so I go out, I'm on my lunch hour one
00:11day, walking along, and I meet this guy, Joel Jaffe, and Joel Jaffe was a camper in the camp, summer
00:23camp, where I used to be a waiter, and he tells me that he's going to Koopa Union.
00:30He's studying architecture and engineering, I forgot which it was, and he tells me they have an art school, and
00:39that it's free, what you have to do is pass the test.
00:43Well, I run right over. I get there, and they tell me that they have all their students, but they
00:56have 20 openings, and they're giving a test late in the summer.
01:02So I give them my name, my address, and everything, and they're going to send me like a kit, you
01:10know, with labels and different things to fill out.
01:15So I'm waiting for the kit, and the kit don't come.
01:20So I walk over on my lunch hour one day, because the test was the next day.
01:27So I go into the office there, and they look me up, and they say, well, we never got your
01:32high school transcript.
01:35Well, I couldn't believe that. I quickly ran to the subway, and ran right down to the high school.
01:43And this is just amazing to me to this day.
01:47I get to the high school. The door is open. I go in. I go upstairs.
01:52The place is empty, because it's the summer.
01:57And the woman tells me that she's only there one day in the summer, and that's the day.
02:09So the letter is there.
02:11She opens it up. She says, she looks at it. She goes to her file.
02:15She comes back. She says to me, you will never get into that school. You don't have the marks.
02:24So, I beg her for the transcript.
02:28So she says, I'm not supposed to give it to you.
02:31I have to send it there.
02:33I said, if you send it there, I miss the test. It's tomorrow.
02:42She doesn't know what to do.
02:45There's nobody there for her to ask. She's just the only one there.
02:49And I'm begging for the transcript.
02:52So she, for some reason, I don't know why she thought that this made it okay,
02:56but she put it in four envelopes and sealed them all.
03:01But that was her answer.
03:03So she put it in the four envelopes and sealed them all and gave it to me
03:08with her final words that you will never go in because you don't have the marks.
03:14So I go to school.
03:15I hand in my transcript.
03:18They hand me the packets.
03:22I show up the next day for the test.
03:25I'm there, like, the whole afternoon.
03:27And then you had to be there naked.
03:28There was two days in their auditorium, the Great Hall.
03:32People were sitting like, you know, you left four seats between you and the next person.
03:37And there was a sculpture part.
03:39They gave me clay.
03:40There was drawing.
03:42There was psychological things.
03:45There was academic.
03:49And then there was a personal interview where you had to show your work, your portfolio.
03:56And I went there.
03:57I didn't tell anybody that I was going.
03:59I didn't tell my boss because I thought if they don't take me...
04:04So, then when I got the letter...
04:10I remember I went over to my boss and I said to him,
04:13Dick, I just want to tell you that I won't be able to work anymore over time.
04:18And he said, what?
04:20What do you mean?
04:21You know, because I was putting in a lot of hours.
04:24I said, I'm going to school.
04:37I said, I'm going to school.
04:38I said, I'm going to school.
04:44I said, I'm going to school.
04:45I said, I'm going to school.
04:45I said, I'm going to school.
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