It seems fitting that Steve Martin’s first job was at Disneyland.

I mean, Disneyland might be the perfect crossroads for a career in entertainment.

You can see fantasy/comedy/movies/and stage acting all rolled up into one.

(Of course, bicycles could be left about without locks back then – but that’s fodder for a different kind of post.)

My first job was as a dishwasher…

It showed me behind the curtain of the foodservice business.

I would go home late every night smelling to high heaven, the scraps of every plate recently peeled from my shirt.

But it, above all, impressed on me the idea that I didn’t want to be a dishwasher forever. ✋

I pedaled my bicycle the two miles to Disneyland, parked it in the bike rack—locks were unnecessary—and looked up to see a locomotive from yesteryear, its whistle blowing loudly and its smokestack filling the air with white steam, chugging into the turn-of-the-century depot just above a giant image of Mickey Mouse rendered in vibrantly colored flowers. I went to the exit, told a hand-stamper that I was applying for a job, and was directed toward a souvenir stand a few steps inside the main gate. I spoke with a cigar-chomping vendor named Joe and told him my résumé: no experience at anything. This must have impressed Joe, because I was issued a candy-striped shirt, a garter for my sleeve, a vest with a watch pocket, a straw boater hat, and a stack of guidebooks to be sold for twenty-five cents each, from which I was to receive the enormous sum of two cents per book. The two dollars in cash I earned that day made me feel like a millionaire.

-Steve Martin, Born Standing Up (Amazon)