Editing Sam Jaffe (section)

==Early life==
Jaffe was born to Ukrainian Jewish parents Heida (Ada) and Barnett Jaffe<ref name="NYTOBIT" /> at 97 [[Orchard Street]] (current location of the [[Lower East Side Tenement Museum]])<ref>{{cite web| date=February 5, 2021| title=Top 10 Secrets of the Tenement Museum| url=https://untappedcities.com/2021/02/05/secrets-tenement-museum-nyc/| access-date=2021-02-07| website=Untapped New York| language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| date=2016-08-30| title=Gettin' Schooled: A History Lesson| url=https://www.tenement.org/blog/gettin-schooled-a-history-lesson/|access-date=2021-02-07| website=Tenement Museum| language=en-US}}</ref> in New York City, [[New York (state)|New York]]. His mother was a [[Yiddish]] actress in [[Odesa, Ukraine]], prior to moving to the United States; his father was a jeweller. He was the youngest of four children; his siblings were Abraham, Sophie, and Annie. As a child, he appeared in Yiddish theatre productions with his mother, who after moving to the United States became a prominent actress and [[vaudeville]] star. He graduated from [[Townsend Harris High School]] and studied engineering at [[City College of New York]], graduating in 1912. He later attended [[Columbia University]] for graduate studies. He also worked for several years as a teacher, and then dean, of mathematics at the Bronx Cultural Institute, a college preparatory school, before returning to acting in 1915.<ref name="NYTOBIT"/>