1. The Birth of the Smothers Brothers (and the Smothers Sister)

2 His West Point yearbook described him: Howitzer yearbook, West Point, Class of 1929, p. 228.

3 “But he did send Ruth”: Sherry Smothers. Interview with author, November 9, 2008.

4 “I remember it raining”: Tom Smothers. Interview with author, October 5, 2008.

4 “Mama’s right arm”: Dick Smothers. Interview with author, June 5, 2001.

5 “All of a sudden”: Tom Smothers. Interview with author, October 5, 2008.

5 “I landed on my head”: Dick Smothers. Interview with author, June 5, 2001.

5 “He adopted us”: Dick Smothers. Interview with author, October 6, 2008.

6 “She went back to drinking”: Sherry Smothers. Interview with author, November 11, 2008.

6 “Tommy was quite a filter”: Dick Smothers. Interview with author, October 6, 2008.

6 “You’d get swats”: Tom Smothers. Interview with author, October 5, 2008.

7 “Our grandparents had a chicken coop”: Sherry Smothers. Interview with author, November 9, 2008.

8 “Tom was always in mischief”: Sherry Smothers. Interview with author, December 6, 2008.

8 “My perception, Dick recalls,“is that he took care of me”: Dick Smothers. Interview with author, October 6, 2008.

8 “He would drag me”: Sherry Smothers. Interview with author, November 9, 2008.

8 “Dickie was brutal at times”: Sherry Smothers. Interview with author, December 6, 2008.

8 “We’d sell it in front of our uncle’s coffee shop”: Dick Smothers. Interview with author, October 6, 2008.

8 “They got in a world of trouble”: Sherry Smothers. Interview with author, December 6, 2008.

9 “I always thought”: Ken Fritz. Interview with author, October 3, 2008.

9 “salt and pepper all the time”: Tom Smothers. Interview with author, October 5, 2008.