 Donenfeld spent his early life in and out of school, and later in and out of gangs, refusing to settle down or find an occupation like his brothers, who had set up a printing enterprise.Harry became a clothing salesman working in the city, and saw himself as a class above the ordinary working man, and wanted a better life, but preferably without the hard work.After he avoided the draft in 1917, he married Gussie Weinstein in 1918, and thanks to a loan from her parents he was able to open a clothing store in Newark, New Jersey.