Editing Al Jaffee (section)

==Early life==
Al Jaffee was born March 13, 1921, in [[Savannah, Georgia]], to Mildred and Morris Jaffee, the eldest of four sons. His parents were [[Jews|Jewish]] immigrants from [[Zarasai]], [[Lithuania]]. His mother was described as devoutly religious, to the point she had the [[crucifix]]es removed from the hospital room before giving birth.<ref name=NYTimes10.1.10>{{cite web|author=Cowan, Alison Leigh|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/books/02jaffee.html?pagewanted=all|title=New Sketch of a Madcap's Mad Life|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=October 1, 2010|access-date=April 15, 2023|archive-date=April 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411063653/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/books/02jaffee.html?pagewanted=all}}</ref>

In 1927, Mildred took her four sons, with Morris's consent, back to Zarasai. After a year, Morris took the family back to the United States. After another year, Mildred took the children back to Lithuania,{{sfn|Weisman|2010|pp=23–102}} where they lived in a [[shtetl]]. With reading material scarce in his new home, Morris mailed comic-strip clippings from the United States. Jaffee became known for his ability to trace figures like [[Little Orphan Annie]] in the sand, for the amusement of his friends as well as the local bullies.<ref name=NYTimes10.1.10/> After four more years, Morris again took the eldest three sons back to the United States,{{sfn|Weisman|2010|pp=23–102}} where they lived in [[Far Rockaway, Queens]].<ref name=6.15.20>{{Cite web|last=Gustines |first=George Gene |author-link=George Gustines |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/business/media/al-jaffee-mad-magazine.html|title=At 99, Al Jaffee Says Goodbye to Mad Magazine As a send-off for the cartoonist, the satirical publication has prepared an all-Jaffee issue that includes his final Fold-In|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=June 15, 2020|accessdate=March 21, 2022|archivedate=June 15, 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615165004/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/business/media/al-jaffee-mad-magazine.html|quote=In 1933, Mr. Jaffee's father brought Al and two of his brothers back to America for good. The family lived in Far Rockaway, N.Y.}}</ref> David, Jaffee's youngest brother, returned to U.S. in 1940, months before much of Zarasai's Jewish population was murdered in [[The Holocaust in Lithuania|the Holocaust]], including, apparently, Mildred herself.{{sfn|Weisman|2010|p=140–141}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.draugas.org/news/al-jaffee-reverse-immigrant/ |first=Mary-Lou |last=Weisman |work=Draugas News |date=March–April 2021 |title=Al Jaffee – Reverse Immigrant }}</ref>

Jaffee studied at the [[High School of Music & Art]] in New York City in the late 1930s, along with his brother Harry and future ''Mad'' personnel [[Will Elder]], [[Harvey Kurtzman]], [[John Severin]], and [[Al Feldstein]].<ref name="Mark Evanier 2002">Mark Evanier, ''Mad Art'', Watson-Guptill Publications, 2002, {{ISBN|0-8230-3080-6}}.</ref><ref name="neil">{{cite news |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/arts/design/30genz.html |title=A Veteran Mad Man Remains in the Fold |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 17, 2023 |date=March 30, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://play.acast.com/s/employeeofthemonth/d5e2c1ad-f586-45e3-b26a-87b7af4c8b4f|title=Mad Magazine's Al Jaffee|website=acast|language=en|access-date=November 14, 2019}}</ref>

While Morris's perseverance probably saved his sons' lives, he later showed increasingly erratic behavior himself, thereby missing his son's high school graduation, and inexplicably discarding all his belongings and art projects once he left for the Army.<ref name=NYTimes10.1.10/>

These experiences of perpetual absurdity and repeated [[Social alienation|alienation]] were later credited by his friends and wife as having sharpened his satirical edge, making him recognize that authority figures in his life could be oppressive and absurd (something he called "anti-[[adultism]]"), and quick to find nuances others miss, especially in the semantics of the English language.<ref name=NYTimes10.1.10/>