98: Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

 Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky) was born on June 28, 1926 in New York City.

His Father died when Brooks was 2 years old.

At 14 Brooks worked as an Entertainer at a Borscht Belt Hotel in Upstate New York.

He changed his name to Mel Brooks (taken Brooks from his Mother’s Maiden Name: Brookman) after being confused with Trumpeter Max Kaminsky.

He graduated High School in January 1944.

Brooks took the Army General Classification Test, a Stanford–Binet-type IQ test where he got high scores and was sent to the Army Specialized Training Program at the Virginia Military Institute to be taught Electrical Engineering, Horse Riding, and Saber Fighting.

12 weeks later, when he was 18, Brooks was Drafted into the Army.

Brooks was sent to France in November 1944, and later to Belgium, serving with the 78th Infantry Division as a Forward Artillery Observer.

In December 1944 Brooks was transferred to the 1104th Engineer Combat Battalion as a Combat Engineer, participating in the Battle of the Bulge.

After the Battle of the Bulge Brooks was stationed in Saarbrucken and Baumholder (Germany) where the Battalion was responsible for clearing booby-trapped buildings and defusing land mines as the Allies advanced.

In April 1945, Brooks' Unit conducted its last Reconnaissance Missions in the Harz Mountains, Germany.

After V-E Day, Brooks joined the Special Services as a Comic touring Army Bases.

In June 1946, Brooks was Honorably Discharged from the Army as a Corporal.

He returned to the Borsht Belt as an Entertainer until he became a Comic and a Writer for Sid Caesar's Variety Show “Your Show of Shows” from 1950 to 1954.

This started his 8 Decade (and counting) Career in Film (including: “The Producers - 1968”, “Blazing Saddles”, “Young Frankenstein”, “History of the World: Part 1”, “To Be or Not To Be”, “Spaceballs”, The Producers – 2005”, “Robin Hood: Men In Tights”, etc.) and in TV (including: “Get Smart”, “History of the World: Part 2”, etc.)

He was married to Florence Baum from 1953 until their Divorce in 1962) and then to Anne Bancroft from 1964 until her Death in 2005. He has 4 Children.

He is 98 years old today – June 28^th.