Editing Woody Allen (section)

== Early life and education ==
[[File:Woody Allen HS Yearbook.jpeg|thumb|Allen as a senior at [[Midwood High School]] in [[Brooklyn]] in 1953]]
Allen was born Allan Stewart Konigsberg{{sfn|Lax|1992 |p={{page needed|date=January 2022}}}} at [[Mount Eden Hospital]] in [[The Bronx|Bronx]], New York City, on November 30, 1935,{{efn|name="birth date"|}}<ref name="MtEdenBabyWoody.NYT">[[The New York Times]]: {{cite book |isbn=0-684-83374-3
|title=The Unruly life of Woody Allen
|author=[[Marion Meade]] |publisher=Scribner
|url=https://movies2.nytimes.com/books/first/m/meade-woody.html
|quote=decided to deliver the baby in the Bronx, at Mt. Eden Hospital.
|year=2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/woody-allen| title = Jewish Virtual Library}}</ref> to Nettie (''née'' Cherry; 1906–2002), a bookkeeper at her family's delicatessen, and Martin Konigsberg (1900–2001),<ref name="MartinObit">{{cite magazine |url=https://variety.com/2001/scene/people-news/martin-konigsberg-1117791920/ |title= Martin Konigsberg |date= January 16, 2001 |access-date= October 22, 2014 |magazine= [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref> a jewelry engraver and waiter.<ref name="filmreference">{{cite web |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/33/Woody-Allen.html |title=Woody Allen Biography (1935–) |publisher= Filmreference.com |access-date=March 9, 2010}}</ref> His grandparents were [[Jews|Jewish]] immigrants to the U.S. from [[history of the Jews in Austria|Austria]] and [[Panevėžys]], [[history of the Jews in Lithuania|Lithuania]].{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}<!--<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/05/nyregion/curse-of-the-jaded-audience-woody-allen-in-art-and-life.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618023603/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/05/nyregion/curse-of-the-jaded-audience-woody-allen-in-art-and-life.html |archive-date=2009-06-18 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Curse of the Jaded Audience: Woody Allen, in Art and Life |access-date=January 16, 2008 |author1=Newman, Andy |author2=Kilgannon, Corey |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 5, 2002 |quote='I think he's slacked off the last few movies', said Norman Brown, 70, a retired draftsman from Mr. Allen's old neighborhood, Midwood, Brooklyn, who said he had seen nearly all of Mr. Allen's 33 films.}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=December 2024}}--> They spoke [[German language|German]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and [[Yiddish]].{{sfn|Baxter|1998|p=11}}{{sfn|Norwood|Pollack|2008|p={{page needed|date=January 2022}}}} He and his younger sister, film producer [[Letty Aronson]], were raised in [[Brooklyn]]'s [[Midwood]] neighborhood. Their parents were both born and raised on the [[Lower East Side]] of [[Manhattan]].{{sfn|Lax|1992 |pp=12–13}}

Allen's parents did not get along, and he had an [[Family estrangement|estranged]] relationship with his mother.<ref name="MeadeNYT">{{cite news |last1=Meade |first1=Marion |title=The Unruly Life of Woody Allen |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/first/m/meade-woody.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=November 14, 2018}}</ref> He spoke German in his early years.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} While attending Hebrew school for eight years, he also attended Public School 99, now the Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature,{{sfn|Meade|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/unrulylifeofwood00mead/page/31 31]}} and then [[Midwood High School]], from which he graduated in 1953. Unlike his comic persona, he was more interested in baseball than school and was picked first for teams.<ref name="Fresh Air">{{cite news |title=Woody Allen on Life, Films and Whatever Works |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105400872|publisher=[[National Public Radio]] |date=June 15, 2009}}</ref>{{sfn|Lax|1992 |p={{page needed|date=January 2022}}}} He impressed students with his talent for [[Card manipulation|cards]] and [[Magic (illusion)|magic tricks]].<ref name="zone">{{cite web |url=http://www.comedy-zone.net/standup/comedian/a/allen-woody.htm |title=Woody Allen: Comedian Profile|publisher=Comedy-Zone.net |access-date=January 16, 2008}}</ref>

At age 17, he legally changed his name to '''Heywood Allen'''{{sfn|Bromberg|2020|p=46}} and later began to call himself Woody.{{sfn|Nachman|2003|p=525}} According to Allen, his first published joke read: "Woody Allen says he ate at a restaurant that had O.P.S. prices—over people's salaries."<ref name="timemag">{{cite magazine |title=Woody Allen: Rabbit Running |magazine=Time |date=July 7, 1972}}</ref> He was soon earning more than both of his parents combined.<ref name="Fresh Air" /> After high school, he attended [[New York University]], studying communication and film in 1953, before dropping out after failing the course "Motion Picture Production". He briefly attended [[City College of New York]] in 1954, dropping out during his first semester.<ref>{{cite news|last=Schmitz|first=Paul|title=Lessons from famous college dropouts|url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/30/opinion/schmitz-college/index.html |work=CNN|access-date=September 2, 2013 |date=December 31, 2011}}</ref> He taught himself rather than studying in the classroom.{{sfn|Lax|1992 |p={{page needed|date=January 2022}}}} He later taught at [[The New School]] and studied with writing teacher [[Lajos Egri]].{{sfn|Lax|1992 |p=74}}