Editing Rod Serling (section)

==Early life==
Serling was born on December 25, 1924, in [[Syracuse, New York]], to a [[Jews|Jewish]] family.<ref name="Sander1992" /> He was the second of two sons born to Esther (née Cooper, 1893–1958), a homemaker, and Samuel Lawrence Serling (1892–1945).<ref name= CAO>{{cite web | website= galegroup.com |publisher = Contemporary Authors Online, Gale | date= 2010| title=Document H1000089528 | url = http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC}}</ref> Serling's father had worked as a secretary and amateur inventor before his children were born but took on his father-in-law's profession as a grocer to earn a steady income.<ref name=Sander1992/>{{rp|15}} Sam Serling later became a butcher after the [[Great Depression]] forced the store to close. Rod had an older brother, novelist and aviation writer [[Robert J. Serling]].<ref name= Sander1992/>{{rp|23}}<ref name= Scribner>"Serling, Rodman Edward ('Rod')". ''The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives Thematic Series: The 1960s''. Ed. William L. O'Neill and Kenneth T. Jackson, eds. 2 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2010. Document K3436600553.</ref>

Serling spent most of his youth {{cvt|70|mi}} south of Syracuse in [[Binghamton, New York]], after his family moved there in 1926.<ref name=CAO/> His parents encouraged his talents as a performer. Sam Serling built a small stage in the basement, where Rod often put on plays (with or without neighborhood children).<ref name=Sander1992/>{{rp|17–18}} His older brother, writer Robert, recalled that, at the age of six or seven, Rod entertained himself for hours by acting out dialogue from [[pulp magazine]]s or movies he had seen. Rod would often ask questions without waiting for their answers. On an hour trip from Binghamton to Syracuse, the rest of the family remained silent to see if Rod would notice their lack of participation. He did not, and he talked nonstop through the entire car ride.<ref name=CAO/>

In elementary school, Serling was seen as the class clown and dismissed by many of his teachers as a lost cause.<ref name= Sander1992/>{{rp|19–20}} His seventh-grade English teacher, Helen Foley, encouraged him to enter the school's public speaking extracurriculars.<ref name=Sander1992/>{{rp|19}} He joined the debate team and was a speaker at his high school graduation. He began writing for the school newspaper, in which, according to the journalist Gordon Sander, he "established a reputation as a social activist".<ref name=Sander1992/>{{rp|19}}
[[File:Rod-Serling-HS-yearbook.jpg|thumb|Serling as a senior in high school, 1943]]

Serling was interested in sports, and excelled at [[tennis]] and [[table tennis]]. When he attempted to join the varsity [[American football|football]] team, he was told he was too small at {{convert|5|ft|4|in|cm|0|abbr=on}} tall.<ref name= Sander1992/>{{rp|18–22}}

Serling was interested in radio and writing at an early age. He was an avid radio listener, especially interested in thrillers, fantasy, and horror shows. [[Arch Oboler]] and [[Norman Corwin]] were two of his favorite writers.<ref name=Grams/> He also "did some staff work at a Binghamton radio station ... tried to write ... but never had anything published."<ref name=Grams/> He was accepted into college during his senior year of high school. However, the United States was involved in [[World War II]] at the time, and Serling decided to enlist rather than start college immediately after he graduated from [[Binghamton High School|Binghamton Central High School]] in 1943.<ref name=Scribner/><ref name= Rosenbaum/>

As editor of his [[high school newspaper]], Serling encouraged his fellow students to support the war effort. He wanted to leave school before graduation to join the fight, but his [[civics]] teacher talked him into waiting for graduation. "War is a temporary thing," Gus Youngstrom told him. "It ends. Education doesn't. Without your degree, where will you be after the war?"<ref name= Sander1992/>{{rp|36}}