Editing Moss Hart (section)

==Early years==
Hart was born in [[New York City]], the son of Lillian (Solomon) and Barnett Hart, a cigar maker.<ref>1910 United States Federal Census</ref><ref>1920 United States Federal Census</ref> He had a younger brother, Bernard.<ref>1930 United States Federal Census</ref> He grew up in relative poverty with his English-born [[Jewish]] immigrant parents in [[the Bronx]] and in [[Sea Gate, Brooklyn]].<ref>[http://www.enotes.com/you-cant/author-biography Moss Hart profile: the early years]</ref>

In his youth, he had a formative relationship with his Aunt Kate, who piqued his interest in the theater, often taking him to see performances. Hart even went so far as to create an "alternate ending" to her life in his book ''[[Act One (book)|Act One]]''. He learned that the theater made possible "the art of being somebody else … not a scrawny boy with bad teeth, a funny name … and a mother who was a distant drudge."<ref name=bach>{{cite book|last1=Bach|first1=Steven|author-link1=Steven Bach|title=Dazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart|publisher=Random House Inc|pages=1, 13, 268|year=2001|isbn=0-679-44154-9|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bach-01dazzler.html|access-date=May 28, 2008}}</ref>

Hart's first glimpse of Broadway came in 1918 when he was 14 years old. He later recounted exiting the subway at [[Times Square]] and standing agog at the urban tableau before him: "A swirling mob of shouting happy people... confetti and paper streamers... soldiers and sailors climbed happily onto the tops of taxis, grabbing girls up to dance with them. My first thought was 'Of course, that's just the way I thought it would be.'" Unbeknownst to Hart, his arrival had coincided with the signing of the [[Armistice_of_11_November_1918|armistice that ended World War One]].<ref>Stanley, Bob, Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop Music, Pegasus Books, 2022, pgs 69-70</ref>