Editing Margaret Sullavan (section)

==Early life==
Sullavan was born May 16, 1909, in [[Norfolk, Virginia]], the daughter of a wealthy [[stockbroker]], Cornelius Sullavan, and his wife, Garland Councill Sullavan.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rinella |first=Michael D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbylDwAAQBAJ |title=Margaret Sullavan: The Life and Career of a Reluctant Star |date=July 25, 2019 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-3605-4 |language=en}}</ref> She had a younger brother, Cornelius, and a half-sister, Louise "Weedie" Gregory.<ref>1920 United States FederalCensus</ref> The first years of her childhood were spent isolated from other children. She suffered from a painful muscular weakness in the legs that prevented her from walking, so that she was unable to socialize with other children until the age of six. After her recovery she emerged as an adventurous and tomboyish child who preferred playing with children from a poorer neighborhood, much to the disapproval of her class-conscious parents.<ref>Quirk, pp. 5–7</ref> Her first dance performances were at Sunday school at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church.<ref name=":0" />

She attended boarding school at Chatham Episcopal Institute (now [[Chatham Hall]]), in [[Chatham, Virginia]], where she was president of the student body and delivered the salutatory oration in 1927. Sullavan moved to Boston and lived with her half-sister, Weedie, while she studied dance at the Boston [[Denishawn]] studio and (against her parents' wishes) drama at the Copley Theatre. When her parents cut her allowance to a minimum, Sullavan defiantly paid her way by working as a clerk in the Harvard Cooperative Bookstore (The Coop), located in [[Harvard Square]], [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]].<ref>Quirk, p. 14.</ref>