A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Time now for StoryCorps. For decades, on hot days in Peabody, Massachusetts, you could hear the siren call of Allan Ganz's ice cream truck playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Allan served ice cream for generations. He actually holds the world record for longest career as an ice cream distributor. He came to StoryCorps with his wife, Rosalyn, to talk about how he got started on his father's ice cream truck more than 70 years ago.
ALLAN GANZ: I started riding with him when I was 10 years old, and those days, ice cream was a nickel and a dime, and the ice cream trucks were just pickup trucks, and they had chests built on the back kept cold by dry ice. My father became known as the Jolly Man, and I was Jolly Jr.
ROSALYN GANZ: (Laughter).
A GANZ: I got my license three days after I was 16. My father, he says, here, go on out, son. And I went out for business.
R GANZ: I remember hearing the truck come, getting all excited.
A GANZ: You used to come over to the ice cream truck with friends. They'd all buy ice cream. I would kibitz for a few minutes, and then I'd have to move on. I had to be out selling ice cream because you have to make hay while the sun shines. But it was in the cards for us to end up together.
R GANZ: Well, you were really, really cute with hair.
A GANZ: Well, thank you. You were 19 when we got married, remember.
R GANZ: Right? Yeah.
A GANZ: And I was 23. And I wanted to get my own truck.
R GANZ: Remember I said, you know what, why don't you give me a lesson? Maybe I can help out here. And I did for a lot of years.
A GANZ: You made me what I am today, you know, broke.
(LAUGHTER)
A GANZ: After 71 years of selling ice cream, they know I'm coming. Like Pavlov's theory - you ring the bell, they expect me. One day, I was out selling ice cream and somebody come running up, stopped me, with a couple of little kids. And he was pointing to all the pictures on the ice cream truck. And he says, I used to get these screwballs off the Jolly Man. I says, see that picture over there? He looked up and he saw a picture of my father in the truck. So it's history. And here I am.
R GANZ: Ice cream is the great American pastime. It's certainly made a big difference in our life.
A GANZ: Yeah, you're right. And I don't want to sound big-headed, but ice cream has given me a name like a Ted Williams or a Babe Ruth or a Larry Bird.
R GANZ: (Laughter).
A GANZ: I have the same recognition here in Peabody. I can't go anywhere without being recognized. I'm known (laughter). I don't know what else to tell you. It's been a great ride. And the scoop is I love the business.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN DUJONCQUOY SONG, "DANCING 'TILL DAWN")
MARTÍNEZ: That was Allan Ganz, now in his 80s and retired from the ice cream business, with his wife, Rosalyn Ganz, in Peabody, Massachusetts. This conversation is archived at the Library of Congress.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONATHAN DUJONCQUOY SONG, "DANCING 'TILL DAWN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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