Editing James Cagney (section)

==Early life==
James Francis "Jimmy" Cagney Jr. was born in 1899 on the [[Lower East Side]] of [[Manhattan]] in New York City. His biographers disagree as to the actual location: either on the corner of [[Avenue D (Manhattan)|Avenue D]] and [[8th Street / St. Mark's Place (Manhattan)|8th Street]],<ref name="auteur14">McGilligan, page 14</ref> or in a top-floor apartment at 391 East 8th Street, the address that is on his birth certificate.<ref name="Mccabe 5">McCabe, page 5</ref> His father, James Francis Cagney Sr. (1875–1918), was of Irish descent. At the time of his son's birth, he was a bartender<ref name="Warren4">Warren, page 4</ref> and [[amateur boxer]], although on Cagney's birth certificate, he is listed as a [[telegraphist]].<ref name="Mccabe 5"/> His mother was Carolyn Elizabeth ([[née]] Nelson; 1877–1945); her father was a Norwegian ship's captain,<ref name="worldandi"/> and her mother was Irish.<ref>{{cite book |last=McCabe |first=John |title=Cagney |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mccabe-cagney.html |via=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=November 1, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409104008/http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mccabe-cagney.html |archive-date=April 9, 2009}}</ref>

Cagney was the second of seven children, two of whom died within months of their births. He was sickly as an infant—so much so that his mother feared he would die before he could be [[Infant baptism|baptized]]. He later attributed his sickly health to the poverty his family endured.<ref name="Warren4"/><ref>Cagney, page 2</ref> The family moved twice while he was still young, first to East [[79th Street (Manhattan)|79th Street]], and then to East [[96th Street (Manhattan)|96th Street]].<ref>Cagney, page 3</ref> He was [[confirmation|confirmed]] at [[St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church (Manhattan, NYC)|St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church]] in Manhattan; his funeral service would eventually be held in the same church.<ref name="de Sales"/>

The red-haired, blue-eyed Cagney graduated from [[Stuyvesant High School]] in New York City in 1918, and attended [[Columbia College, Columbia University|Columbia College]],<ref name="Flint">{{Cite news |last=Flint |first=Peter B. |date=1986-03-31 |title=James Cagney Is Dead at 86; Master of Pugnacious Grace |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/31/obituaries/james-cagney-is-dead-at-86-master-of-pugnacious-grace.html |access-date=2023-08-28 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707162514/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/31/obituaries/james-cagney-is-dead-at-86-master-of-pugnacious-grace.html |url-status=live }}</ref> where he intended to major in Art.<ref name="auteur16">McGilligan, page 16</ref> He also took German and joined the [[Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps|Student Army Training Corps]],<ref>Cagney, page 23</ref> but he dropped out after one semester, returning home upon the death of his father during the [[1918 flu pandemic]].<ref name= "auteur16"/>

Cagney held a variety of jobs early in his life: junior [[architect]], [[copy boy]] for the ''[[The Sun (New York)|New York Sun]]'', book custodian at the [[New York Public Library]], [[bellhop]], [[technical drawing|draughtsman]], and night [[doorman (profession)|doorkeeper]].<ref name="auteur15">McGilligan, page 15</ref> He gave all his earnings to his family. While Cagney was working for the New York Public Library, he met [[Playhouse Theatre (Seattle)|Florence James]], who helped him into an acting career.<ref name= "pg45">James, pg. 45</ref> Cagney believed in hard work, later stating, "It was good for me. I feel sorry for the kid who has too cushy a time of it. Suddenly he has to come face-to-face with the realities of life without any mama or papa to do his thinking for him."<ref name= "auteur15"/>

He started [[tap dance]] as a boy (a skill that eventually contributed to his Academy Award) and was nicknamed "Cellar-Door Cagney" after his habit of dancing on slanted cellar doors.<ref name="auteur15"/> He was a good [[Street fighting|street fighter]], defending his older brother Harry, a medical student, when necessary.<ref name= "Warren4"/><ref>Cagney, page 8</ref> He engaged in amateur boxing, and was a runner-up for the New York state lightweight title. His coaches encouraged him to turn professional, but his mother would not allow it.<ref>Warren, pages 23–24</ref> He also played semi-professional baseball for a local team,<ref name="auteur15"/> and entertained dreams of playing in the [[Major League Baseball|Major Leagues]].<ref name="Warren22">Warren, page 22</ref>

His introduction to films was unusual. When visiting an aunt who lived in [[Brooklyn]], opposite [[Vitagraph Studios]], Cagney would climb over the fence to watch the filming of [[John Bunny]] movies.<ref name="auteur15"/> He became involved in [[Community theatre|amateur dramatics]], starting as a scenery boy for a Chinese [[pantomime]] at [[Lenox Hill Neighborhood House]] (one of the first [[Settlement movement|settlement houses]] in the nation) where his brother Harry performed and Florence James directed.<ref name="pg45"/> He was initially content working behind the scenes and had no interest in performing. One night, however, Harry became ill, and although Cagney was not an [[understudy]], his [[Eidetic memory|photographic memory]] of rehearsals enabled him to stand in for his brother without making a single mistake.<ref>Warrens, pg. 45</ref>