 As a student at Connersville High School, Wise wrote humor and sports columns for the school's newspaper and was a member of the yearbook staff and poetry club.Wise initially sought a career in journalism and following graduation from high school attended Franklin College, a small liberal arts college south of Indianapolis, Indiana, on a scholarship.In 1933, due to the family's poor financial situation during the Great Depression, Wise was unable to return to college for his second year and moved to Hollywood to begin a lifelong career in the film industry.