Early Life
Goodis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the oldest child of William Goodis and Mollie Halpern Goodis. Born in 1882, William Goodis was a Russian-Jewish émigré, who had arrived in America with his mother in 1890. Goodis’ mother, Mollie Halpern had been born in Pennsylvania also into a family of Russian-Jewish émigrés. In Philadelphia, Goodis’ father co-owned a newspaper dealership and later went into the textile business as the William Goodis Company. A brother, Jerome born in 1920, died of meningitis at age three. In 1922, another brother, Herbert Goodis was born into the family. In high school Goodis was engaged in student affairs, editing the school newspaper, serving as student council president, and participating in athletics as a member of both the track and swimming teams. He also had the distinction of being chosen valedictorian for the graduating class of 1935, delivering a speech titled: “Youth Looks at Peace.” Goodis graduated from Temple University in 1938 with a degree in journalism. As a college student, he continued and expanded on the interests he had pursued as a high school student, contributing to the student newspaper as both writer and cartoonist. It was during this period he purportedly attempted his hand at novel writing, a book titled Ignited. The novel was never published, and no copy of it has been discovered. Goodis later claimed: "The title was prophetic. Eventually I threw it into the furnace."
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