Biography
Allan Stewart Konigsberg, a.k.a. Woody Allen, was born in the Bronx on December 1, 1935. He is the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Cherry.At the age of three he got hooked on movies when his mother took him to see Snow White. From that day the movie theaters became his second home. In Woodyґs childhood years his favorite movie was Billy Wilderґs Double Indemnity.
Close up of Allen's statue in Oviedo
At his first year of school he was put in an accelerated class because of his high IQ. But he hated school from day one and became rebellious. His didnґt do his homework, was rude to the teachers and sometimes disruptive in class. Surprisingly he was very good in sports (basketball, stickball, football, baseball) in his early years and was always among the first picked in teams in the neighbourhood. He also liked boxing and even trained for several months until his parents asked him to stop.However, sports and movies were not his only interests. He became obsessed with magic and music; later characterising elements in his movies. Around the age of 15 he auditioned for the TV show, The Magic Clown. He did a magic trick called the Passe-Passe Bottles. But because this trick featured a liquor bottle he didnґt appear on the show for it was mainly for children.
At the age of fifteen he started playing the clarinet and he plays it daily, ever since. In the spring of 1952 Allan S. Konigsberg changed his name to Woody Allen. He was sixteen and starting to write jokes which he sent to several of the major New York newspapers hoping them to be used by some of the gossip columnists.Being shy he didnґt want his classmates to see his name if the jokes would appear in the papers. Soon his gags became frequently used by Earl Wilson of the New York Post appearing anonymously under the column "Earls Pearls". But on Novemer 25th, 1952 he first got credited in the end of Wilsonґs column. From that point on the wheels started rolling for Woody as a comedy writer. In 1953 Woody enrolled in motion picture production at the New York University.
He didґt have the enthusiasm to attend classes frequently enough and got a D at the end of his first semester. The humorless teachers didnґt appreciate his funny papers. After the semester he was thrown out of NYU as a failed student. In 1959, Woody began seeing a psychiatrist, feeling melancholic for no identifiable reason. Ever since he sees an analyst once a week or so, with occational breaks, not much for treatment but to talk to an objective person unlinked to his personal life. Because of his long experience, analysts and jokes on them are common features of his works.
Relationship
His first steady girlfriend and later wife was Harlene Rosen. They first met on a one-time jazztrio rehersal, for which he played the soprano sax. Harlene played the piano and Woodyґs friend, Elliot Mills, played the drums. In 1955 Woody was one of the half dozen who got hired by NBC as part of their writerґs development program. Subsequently Woody went without Harelene to Hollywood to join a writers group for The Colgate Comedy Hour1. The leader of the group, Danny, was the older brother of playwright Neil Simon. Later, Woody has said that everything he learned about comedy writing, he learned from Danny Simon.
Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn at the Beverly Hills premiere of Sony Pictures Classics' Sweet and Lowdown
Woody and Harlene were married on March 15, 1956 in Hollywood. They went back to New York where Harlene studied Philosopy and Woody supplied comedians with monologues and jokes at a rate of $100 per minuteґs worth of material. In the summers of 1956-1958, Woody gained an invaluable experience in writing and directing at the Tamiment2. The Tamiment theater produced weekly new musicals and sketches, which Woody both wrote and directed. None of these sketces exist on paper today, exept for Opening Night which was recently discovered at the Tamiment. In November 1958, Woody began co-writing with Larry Gelbart for the The Chevy Show on NBC. The show, starring the famous Sid Caesar, stayed on TV for ten years. For several years, Woody was resonably content writing for TV, making $1,700 a week. But after seeing Mort Sahl performing onstage, and little by little losing interest in writing TV, he decided to launch a carrer of his own as a stand-up comedian.
In 1958, Woody met his future managers Charles H. Joffe and Jack Rollins3. Ever since, theyґve negotiated millions of dollars worth of contracts on his behalf with others but no formal contract exists among themselves, only a handshake. They convinced him to do his own material onstage. Woody was a stand-up comedian from 1960 to 1968, becoming more popular as such with every year that passed. In 1960 he only made $75 per week, but in 1964 he was an establihed comic in demand across the country, making $5000 a week. Woody released three albums in the period; Woody Allen, Woody Allen Volume 2 and The Third Woody Allen Album. In 1964, Woody entered the film industry when he was hired to do the screenplay Whatґs New Pussycat.Because his life became from that point on so focused on filmmaking, the rest of the summarized biography will be intertwined in the filmography. Also, in time, weґll try to cover his marital life in a different section. In the meantime we hope you can enjoy the rest of the site.