Stan Lee Talks To Under The Radar About the Army and Trousers

Our friend Diana pointed us to a Q&A that she did with Stan Lee for the Under The Radar blog at Military.com, which is a website for active duty and veteran U.S. service members.

It's a quick Q&A, but I liked it for two reasons:

1. It's always nice to be reminded that Stan Lee was in the Army. For some reason I find that funny. Not because I don't think that Stan served honorably, but I just can't picture Stan as anything other than what I've seen him as now: an inexhaustible octogenarian cheerleader for comic books, someone with more energy and ideas that I'll ever have in my life, and a dedicated user of Twitter. So when I think about Stan in the Army I can't picture young Stanley Leiber, I see him as he is today. He'd be keeping his fellow privates up all night in the barracks with his stories, and every time the sargent gave him an order he'd say, "You know, that reminds me of the time I created Spider-Man…" and then he'd launch into a long tale about Steve Ditko and eventually, unable to stop Stan's storytelling, his sargent would just give up and order whichever hapless private happened to be standing closest to Stan to peel potatoes. That could be a great sit-com.

2. Stan mentions that one of his early jobs was as an office boy at a "trouser manufacturer". That got me thinking: what is the age cut off for the casual use of the word "trouser"? Is it 50? 60? Even older than that? I don't think I've ever heard my parents use that word, but I am almost certain I've heard my grandparents use it and they are Stan's age. Also, Stan was a delivery boy, a theater usher, and an office boy (job titles were kind of like superhero names back then) all before the age of 17. I feel inadequate as well as shame for my entire generation. Considering how active 88 year old Stan Lee is now, I bet 16 year old Stan did all those jobs simultaneously each day. I need to go lay down; just writing this article has wiped me out.