Luv

Milt Manville: Look, El, now I've never told you this before; but I couldn't start school until I was 8 years old because I didn't have a pair of shoes to wear. Now, lucky for me, the kid downstairs got hit by an ice-cream truck and I got his shoes. But even then they were too tight for my feet. I couldn't walk. I was put into a special class for disabled children.

Harry Berlin: Do you think that was bad? Whenever it snowed, my grandparents locked me out of the house. Skinny kid with a torn jacket, a paper bag for a hat, knocking and yelling, "Let me in, please let me in..."

Milt Manville: Paradise! What did they used to feed you for breakfast?

Harry Berlin: Glass, filled with two thirds water and one third milk.

Milt Manville: Coffee grounds. That's what I got.

Harry Berlin: With sugar.

Milt Manville: Not on your life. I ate it straight, like oatmeal.

Harry Berlin: Your old man ever beat you?

Milt Manville: He did.

Harry Berlin: With what?

Milt Manville: A strap.

Harry Berlin: [pointing to himself] A chain.

Ellen Manville: [she chuckles] You were both lucky and you didn't know it.

Harry Berlin: Lucky? Did anybody ever call you a "bastard"?

Ellen Manville: A relative or a stranger?

Harry Berlin: Relative.

Milt Manville: I never even had a birthday party.

Harry Berlin: I never even knew when my birthday was till I got a notice from my Draft Board.

Milt Manville: What kind of presents did they used to give you for Christmas?

Ellen Manville: [she scoffs] Presents?

Harry Berlin: When I was 5 years old my grandparents bought a dozen donuts every Christmas till I was 17. I got a donut.