Editing Jerry Herman (section)

==Early life==
Herman was born in [[Manhattan]] and raised in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], the only child of musically inclined, middle-class Jewish parents.<ref name=glbtq>{{cite web|title=Herman, Jerry |url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/herman_j.html |work=[[glbtq.com]] |access-date=September 6, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208112400/http://www.glbtq.com/arts/herman_j.html |archive-date= December 8, 2006 }}</ref><ref name = NYT>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/theater/jerry-herman-dead.html|title = Jerry Herman, Composer of 'Hello, Dolly!' and Other Hits, Dies at 88|work = [[The New York Times]]|date = December 27, 2019|access-date = December 27, 2019|last = McFadden|first = Robert D.|author-link = Robert D. McFadden}}</ref> He learned to play piano at an early age, and he frequently attended [[Broadway musicals]].

Herman's father Harry was a gym teacher and in the summer worked in the [[Catskill Mountains]] hotels. His mother Ruth (née Sachs) also worked in the hotels as a singer,<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jerry-herman-composer-of-hello-dolly-and-other-broadway-hits-dies-at-88/2019/12/27/4c7f993a-28ba-11ea-9c21-2c2a4d2c2166_story.html|title=Jerry Herman, composer of 'Hello, Dolly!' and other Broadway hits, dies at 88|last=Schudel|first=Matt|date=December 27, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227205003/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jerry-herman-composer-of-hello-dolly-and-other-broadway-hits-dies-at-88/2019/12/27/4c7f993a-28ba-11ea-9c21-2c2a4d2c2166_story.html|archive-date=December 27, 2019|access-date=December 29, 2019}}</ref> pianist, and children's teacher, and eventually became an English teacher. Herman told ''People Magazine'' in 1986 that his mother, who died in 1954, long before his success on Broadway, "was glamorous like Mame and witty like Dolly."<ref name=":2" />

After marrying, his parents lived in Jersey City and continued to work in the summers in various camps until they became head counselors and finally ran Stissing Lake Camp in the small town of [[Pine Plains (town), New York|Pine Plains]], New York, in the [[Taconic Mountains]]. Herman spent all of his summers there, from age 6 to 23. It was at camp that he first became involved in theatrical productions, as director of ''[[Oklahoma!]]'', ''[[Finian's Rainbow]]'' and ''[[A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (musical)|A Tree Grows in Brooklyn]]''.<ref name="Citron_2004">{{cite book
  | last =Citron
  | first =Stephen
  | title = Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune
  | publisher = Yale University Press
  | year = 2004
  | lccn=2003027632
  | location=[[New Haven]]
  | pages =10–14, 23
  | isbn = 0-300-10082-5
  |access-date=December 5, 2013
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fFz5QgJsjL4C&q=gerald+freedman+1927&pg=PA221
}}</ref> Herman graduated from Jersey City's [[Henry Snyder High School]].<ref>Ewen, David. [https://books.google.com/books?id=p_s7AQAAIAAJ&q=%22Jerry+Herman%22+%22henry+snyder%22 ''Popular American Composers from Revolutionary Times to the Present: A Biographical and Critical Guide, Volume 1''], p. 51. Retrieved June 6, 2012. "Following his graduation from Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City, he enrolled at the Parsons School of Design in New York intending to become an interior decorator."</ref>

At age 17, Herman was introduced to [[Frank Loesser]] who, after hearing material he had written, urged him to continue composing. He left the [[Parsons School of Design]] to attend the [[University of Miami]],<ref>[http://www.kennedy-center.org/Artist/A4388?_ga=2.255161345.86175915.1530036471-966829958.1530036471 "Jerry Herman"] kennedy-center.org. Retrieved June 26, 2018</ref> which has one of the nation's most [[avant garde]] theater departments.{{cn|date=January 2024}} While an undergraduate student at the University of Miami, Herman produced, wrote and directed a college musical called ''Sketchbook''. It was scheduled to run for three performances, but the show was so popular it ran for an additional 17 performances.<ref>[https://www.broadwayworld.com/miami/article/University-of-Miamis-Department-of-Theatre-Arts-to-Honor-Jerry-Herman-at-75th-Anniversary-Concert-33-20140214 "University of Miami's Department of Theatre Arts to Honor Jerry Herman at 75th Anniversary Concert, 3/3"] broadwayworld.com, February 14, 2014</ref>
Herman belonged to the [[Zeta Beta Tau]] fraternity.<ref>Citron, Stephen, p. 27</ref>

Herman graduated from the University of Miami in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama and received a [[Doctor of Fine Arts]] degree in 1980.<ref name="UNews">{{cite news |title=Beloved Broadway composer Jerry Herman remembered |url=https://news.miami.edu/stories/2019/12/beloved-broadway-composer-jerry-herman-remembered.html |access-date=April 19, 2021 |publisher=U News |date=December 27, 2019}}</ref>{{clarify|reason=Was this an honorary or an earned doctoral degree?|date=January 2024}}