Woody Allen

== 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 immigrants to the U.S. from Austria and [[Panevėžys]], Lithuania. 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|Letty]], were raised in the [[Midwood]] neighborhood of [[Brooklyn]]. He is [[Jews|Jewish]].<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> Both their parents were 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 authoritarian, ill-tempered 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}} He later joked that he was often sent to interfaith [[summer camp]]s when he was young. While attending Hebrew school for eight years, he 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 his strong arm ensured he 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>

Allen wrote jokes (or "gags") for agent David O. Alber to make money, and Alber sold them to newspaper columnists. 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}}