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Gene Simmons

👤 Person
1743 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

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.

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.

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 thought if I went around, I'd get lost. I didn't know that came around to this. I know it sounds stupid.

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 thought if I went around, I'd get lost. I didn't know that came around to this. I know it sounds stupid.

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 on the other side, eventually, I saw some guys walking playing marbles on the grass, which would be, I don't know if you have a marble or something. And they're throwing it like this. It's not what we did in Israel. You stood up on two legs, and you went like that, and you get really good, because you can aim it on the ground if you do the marbles like 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 on the other side, eventually, I saw some guys walking playing marbles on the grass, which would be, I don't know if you have a marble or something. And they're throwing it like this. It's not what we did in Israel. You stood up on two legs, and you went like that, and you get really good, because you can aim it on the ground if you do the marbles like 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

You know, the ground would make the marble another thing. And what are you, stupid? Can't you speak English? I don't know. God, it's an idiot. i play i play they go yeah here they gave me a marble or two i won all their marbles they didn't laugh for long Yeah. I still have all the marbles I want, about 80 of them. Really? In an old Dutch master's cigar box.

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 know, the ground would make the marble another thing. And what are you, stupid? Can't you speak English? I don't know. God, it's an idiot. i play i play they go yeah here they gave me a marble or two i won all their marbles they didn't laugh for long Yeah. I still have all the marbles I want, about 80 of them. Really? In an old Dutch master's cigar box.