Editing Claudette Colbert (section)

==Early life==
Émilie "Lily" Claudette Chauchoin was born in 1903 in [[Saint-Mandé]], France,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114201458/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/11865 ''COLBERT, Claudette''], British Film Institute. BFI.org.uk.</ref> to Jeanne ({{née|Loew}}, with British [[Channel Islands]] heritage) and Georges Chauchoin.<ref name="Pace1996" /><ref name="Quirk 5">Quirk, "Claudette Colbert", p. 5.</ref>

Although christened "Émilie", she was called "Lily" after [[Jersey]]-born actress [[Lillie Langtry]].<ref name="Lily"/> Her mother had intended to name her daughter Lily, but the pastor mistakenly chose Émilie, so she was always called Lily in the family.<ref name="Lily"/> Colbert's brother, Charles Chauchoin, was also born in the [[Bailiwick of Jersey]]. Jeanne held various occupations, while Georges owned 
and managed a [[chain store]] of  pastry and [[bonbon]] shops (more than eleven), and was also a major stockholder of an ink factory in which he suffered business setbacks.<ref name="Adrian">Film Actresses Vol.15 CLAUDETTE COLBERT: Part 1, by Iacob Adrian (November 6, 2014), Publisher: Publishing Platform, {{ISBN|1502930811}}</ref> Colbert's grandmother Marie Loew had been to the U.S., and Georges' brother-in-law Charles Loew was living in New York City. Marie was willing to help Georges financially, but also encouraged him to try his luck in the U.S.<ref name="Lily">{{cite book|title=Claudette Colbert: She Walked in Beauty|year=2008|first=Bernard F.|last=Dick | publisher=University Press of Mississippi|chapter=Chapter 1. Lily of Saint-Mandé}}</ref>

[[File:Claudette-Colbert-1920.jpg|thumb|left|upright|During her high school days, 1920]]

To pursue more employment opportunities, Colbert and her family, including Marie and her aunt Emily Loew, immigrated to Manhattan in 1906.<ref name="Quirk 5" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohranger.com/ellis-island/destined-fame|work=American Park Network |title=Ellis Island National Monument: Destined For Fame|access-date=February 25, 2013}}</ref>

They lived in a fifth-floor walk-up at [[53rd Street (Manhattan)|53rd Street]]. Colbert stated that she was always climbing those stairs until the age of 18.<ref name="A Perfect Star"/> Her parents formally changed her legal name to Lily Claudette Chauchoin.<ref name="tcmdb"/> Georges worked as a minor official in the foreign department at [[Citibank|First National City Bank]],<ref name="Adrian"/> and the family was naturalized in 1912. Before Colbert entered public school, she quickly learnt [[Channel Island English]] from Marie,<ref name="Hollywood Legend">{{cite news|title=Hollywood Legend Claudette Colbert Dies|work=Los Angeles Times|date=July 31, 1996|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-31-mn-29782-story.html}}</ref> and grew up bilingual, speaking both English and French.<ref name=Britannica/><ref name="Shipman114">Shipman, ''The Great Movie Stars'', pp. 114–115.</ref> Already as a small child, she had read Shakespeare's plays and acquired an international sensibility.<ref name="Adrian"/> She had hoped to become a painter ever since she first gripped a pencil. Her brother was drafted 1917 as [[private first class]]. After the First World War, he studied at the School of Military Aeronautics at [[Cornell University]]. Colbert's mother was an opera music fan, and her aunt was a dressmaker.<ref name="Lily"/>

Colbert studied at [[Washington Irving High School (New York City)|Washington Irving High School]], which was known for its strong arts program. Her speech teacher, Alice Rostetter, encouraged her to audition for a play Rostetter had written. In 1921, Colbert made her stage debut at the [[Provincetown Playhouse]] in revivals of Rostetter's ''The Widow's Veil'' and ''Aria da Capo'' by Edna St. Vincent Millay, at the age of 17.<ref name="tcmdb"/> Her interests, though, still leaned towards painting, fashion design, and commercial art.<ref name="A Perfect Star"/>

Intending to become a fashion designer, she attended the [[Art Students League of New York]], where she paid for her art education by working in a dress shop. After attending a party with writer <!-- Did not marry Newton Chapin until 1928. --> [[Anne Morrison Chapin|Anne Morrison]], Colbert was offered a bit part in Morrison's play,<ref name="All Movie Guide"/> and appeared on the Broadway stage in a small role in ''The Wild Westcotts'' (1923). She had used the name Claudette, instead of Lily, since high school; for her stage name, she added her paternal grandmother's maiden name, Colbert.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Beaver County Times]]|date=July 31, 1996|title=Claudette Colbert, actress|agency=The Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19960731&id=nK1UAAAAIBAJ&pg=2202,6774069}}</ref> Her father died in 1925;<ref name="tcmdb"/> her grandmother died in New York in the mid-1930s at the age of 88.<ref name="Chapter 4">{{cite book |last=Dick |first=Bernard F. |title=Claudette Colbert: She Walked in Beauty |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |chapter=Chapter 4 |year=2008}}</ref>