Editing Fred Allen (section)

==Early life==
John Florence Sullivan was born in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], to [[Irish Catholic]] parents. Allen barely knew his mother, Cecilia ({{nee}} Herlihy) Sullivan, who died of [[pneumonia]] when he was not quite three years old. Along with his father, James Henry Sullivan, and his infant brother Robert, Allen was taken in by one of his mother's sisters, "my aunt Lizzie", around whom he focused the first chapter of his second memoir, ''Much Ado About Me''. His father was so shattered by his mother's death that according to Allen, he drank more heavily. His aunt suffered as well; her husband, Michael, was partially paralyzed by lead poisoning shortly after they married, which left him mostly unable to work; Allen remembered that as causing contention among Lizzie's sisters. Eventually, Allen's father remarried and offered his sons the choice between coming with him and his new wife or staying with Aunt Lizzie. Allen's younger brother chose to go with their father, but Allen decided to stay with his aunt. "I never regretted it," he wrote.<ref>Allen, Fred, Much Ado About Me, Little, Brown & Co., 1956, pg. 21</ref>

===Religion===
Allen was a Catholic and regularly attended Mass at St. Malachy's Church in Manhattan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncregister.com/blog/fred-allen-radio-comic-genius-and-catholic|title=Fred Allen — Radio Comic Genius and Catholic|date=23 October 2021|accessdate=26 October 2024|author=Turley, K.V.|work=National Catholic Register}}</ref>