Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing

Gene Simmons

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
See mentions of this person in podcasts
1890 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

Never tasted anything so sweet or anything. And I wanted to show my mother. And she was like, we were just amazed at this thing. And the fact that this, and it also had a Bugs Bunny book. colored with these going down the road and all that. I never heard of Bugs Bunny and a sweater that was all torn. My mother put it on me and it was all too big, but it was colorful and all that.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

And my mother would read me the same Bugs Bunny book every night, but she had to make up the words in Hungarian because she couldn't speak Hebrew and the words were in English. So she'd make it up and I'd just look at the pictures and I'd go to sleep with that.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

And my mother would read me the same Bugs Bunny book every night, but she had to make up the words in Hungarian because she couldn't speak Hebrew and the words were in English. So she'd make it up and I'd just look at the pictures and I'd go to sleep with that.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

And as a matter of fact, Mel Blanc, a Jew who did all the voices for all the warrants, who did all the voices, Daffy Duck and Mel Blanc, all that, Elmer Fudd told him the story. And he said, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to do these voices for the children whose lives had changed. And

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

And as a matter of fact, Mel Blanc, a Jew who did all the voices for all the warrants, who did all the voices, Daffy Duck and Mel Blanc, all that, Elmer Fudd told him the story. And he said, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to do these voices for the children whose lives had changed. And

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

Which is why, as soon as I got some money, I made sure that I took a bunch of money and sent it to kids in need. Originally through the Christian Child Fund, and then became the Child Fund, and to this day support 1,400 kids in Africa who, if they don't go to school... won't get close, and won't get fed. That means you'll starve, because there's nothing there. Zambia.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

Which is why, as soon as I got some money, I made sure that I took a bunch of money and sent it to kids in need. Originally through the Christian Child Fund, and then became the Child Fund, and to this day support 1,400 kids in Africa who, if they don't go to school... won't get close, and won't get fed. That means you'll starve, because there's nothing there. Zambia.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

You come to school, you get fed and stuff, so it teaches you at school. So I got lost, and what was the question?

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

You come to school, you get fed and stuff, so it teaches you at school. So I got lost, and what was the question?

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

I was in the kitchen with my Aunt Magda, who herself survived the camps and had some problems. And she married my Uncle Larry, who was my mother's brother. And we go into the kitchen, because there was always another room. There were bedrooms. It was like a palace. You can't believe it. And there's this big white box or something and a metal thing. And my Aunt Magda opened it.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

I was in the kitchen with my Aunt Magda, who herself survived the camps and had some problems. And she married my Uncle Larry, who was my mother's brother. And we go into the kitchen, because there was always another room. There were bedrooms. It was like a palace. You can't believe it. And there's this big white box or something and a metal thing. And my Aunt Magda opened it.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

And I was a little kid. I never saw anything like it. And it's just food. There's wrappers and food and cheese and things. And on the side, I'll never forget it. My Aunt Magda, I was attracted to the red because it was a jar of red. I later remembered it was Schmuckers. With a name like that, it's got to be good. It was Schmuckers Jelly. Out of Ohio.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

And I was a little kid. I never saw anything like it. And it's just food. There's wrappers and food and cheese and things. And on the side, I'll never forget it. My Aunt Magda, I was attracted to the red because it was a jar of red. I later remembered it was Schmuckers. With a name like that, it's got to be good. It was Schmuckers Jelly. Out of Ohio.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

And my mother said to me in Hungarian, you know, have some. And my Aunt Magda opened the can. I'd never seen that before. You don't understand. In Israel, they'd give you a slab of whatever, butter, never jelly. And that would be it for the week. You'd have to make it. There was no refrigeration or anything. So...

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

And my mother said to me in Hungarian, you know, have some. And my Aunt Magda opened the can. I'd never seen that before. You don't understand. In Israel, they'd give you a slab of whatever, butter, never jelly. And that would be it for the week. You'd have to make it. There was no refrigeration or anything. So...

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

My Aunt Magda gave me a spoon, and in broken Hebrew, she must have said, taste it, because she was fascinated that I wasn't quite sure what it was. I'm only halting because if you weren't here, I'd start bawling. And I thought she said, eat it, because she gave me a spoon. So I started like a Christmas goose.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

My Aunt Magda gave me a spoon, and in broken Hebrew, she must have said, taste it, because she was fascinated that I wasn't quite sure what it was. I'm only halting because if you weren't here, I'd start bawling. And I thought she said, eat it, because she gave me a spoon. So I started like a Christmas goose.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

I just started my mouth full of jam with the jam falling off, just eating it because I never tasted anything like that the entire jar. And both my mother and my Aunt Magda were laughing so much, they were in tears. And I didn't know what was going on. I just said, this is the best thing I ever had. And then I was afraid of crossing. I still have the marbles.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

I just started my mouth full of jam with the jam falling off, just eating it because I never tasted anything like that the entire jar. And both my mother and my Aunt Magda were laughing so much, they were in tears. And I didn't know what was going on. I just said, this is the best thing I ever had. And then I was afraid of crossing. I still have the marbles.

The School of Greatness
Gene Simmons Opens Up: Coming To America With Nothing, The Mindset That Built An Empire & The Man Behind The Makeup

I was afraid of crossing the street because cars were going by. I didn't understand it. So I walked around the block, and I saw other houses next to each other. I said, this is like, where are all these houses? Everybody's rich. Yeah, everybody's rich. And I went to the other side of the street, and then I had to come back and went a little further, then eventually went around.