 Born in New York, Duvid Jerome Fortunov spent the 1920s until just after the Wall Street Crash in 1929 on New York City's Lower East Side "lying, cheating and stealing my way through life".During this time, he saves a young Steve Rogers from a group of bullies.He worked as an escapist on Coney Island, but not having much luck at that, took up wing-walking and barnstorming.