My Dad hated his job. He sold overcoats, but he wanted to make movies. He had a failed career working with the Ritz Brothers - they were like the Marx Brothers, only a tier below. I always had a picture in my mind of him in a straw hat.

Sabol’s recollection contrasts the practical reality of his father’s work with the father’s frustrated artistic ambition. Selling overcoats stands for a life of necessity and routine, while “wanted to make movies” signals a thwarted creative calling. The reference to the Ritz Brothers (a lesser-known comedy act compared to the Marx Brothers) underscores how close his father came to show business yet how far he remained from lasting success. The “straw hat” image functions like a private emblem—an inherited, cinematic snapshot—suggesting how family memory turns disappointment into a vivid, almost filmic scene that shaped Sabol’s imagination and sense of aspiration.