Editing Mel Brooks (section)

== Early life and education ==
Brooks was born Melvin James Kaminsky<ref name="independent.co.uk/a6759956">{{cite news |last1=Pringle |first1=Gill |title=Mel Brooks the comic genius says 'retirement is not an option' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/mel-brooks-the-comic-genius-and-risktaking-director-on-how-retirement-is-not-an-option-and-faking-happiness-woody-allen-a6759956.html |access-date=September 29, 2022 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=December 4, 2015}}</ref> on a [[tenement]] kitchen table on June 28, 1926, in [[Brownsville, Brooklyn]],<ref name="nydailynews/brooks-book-20190331"/> to Kate (''[[née]]'' Brookman) and Max Kaminsky,<ref name="Susskind-JewishSon-19702">{{cite episode|url=http://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/67373/|title=How to be a Jewish Son{{snd}}or{{snd}}My Son the Success!|year=1970|series=[[David Susskind Show]]|season=12|number=7|access-date=January 26, 2014}}</ref> and grew up in [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn|Williamsburg]]. His father's family were [[German Jews]] [[History of the Jews in Gdańsk|from Danzig]] (Gdańsk, Poland); his mother was a [[Ukrainian Jews|Ukrainian Jewish]] immigrant from [[Kyiv]], in the [[Pale of Settlement]] of the [[Russian Empire]] (present-day Ukraine).<ref name="1975/brooks-playboy"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/The-cinematic-Zionism-of-Mel-Brooks|title=The cinematic Zionism of Mel Brooks|date=August 12, 2012|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishjournal.com/mobile_20111212/154457/shmoozing-with-mel-brooks-the-88-year-old-man/|title=Shmoozing with Mel Brooks, the 88-year-old man|last=Berrin|first=Danielle|date=January 29, 2015|website=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]]|access-date=June 26, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/on-this-day-mel-brooks-is-born-1.24406|title=On this day: Mel Brooks is born|last=Weitzmann|first=Deborah|date=June 28, 2011|website=The Jewish Chronicle|access-date=June 26, 2019|archive-date=August 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819150351/https://www.thejc.com/on-this-day-mel-brooks-is-born-1.24406|url-status=dead}}</ref> He had three older brothers: Irving, Lenny, and Bernie.<ref name="Geffen2">{{cite AV media|title=Mel Brooks Live at the Geffen|date=January 31, 2015|people=Brooks, Mel|publisher=Brooksfilms; distributed by [[Home Box Office]]|location=Los Angeles|medium=Television production}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Samuel Wynn|title=Mel Brooks Stand Up{{snd}}Mel Brooks Live at the Geffen Stand Up Show|date=October 11, 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67kWAve2NM8|access-date=December 6, 2018}}</ref> His father died of [[tuberculosis]] of the kidney<ref name="1975/brooks-playboy"/> at 34 when Brooks was two years old.<ref>{{cite book | last=Brooks | first=M. | title=All about Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business | publisher=Random House Publishing Group | year=2021 | isbn=978-0-593-15911-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5MRLEAAAQBAJ | access-date=March 1, 2022 | page=5}}</ref> He has said of his father's death, "There's an outrage there. I may be angry at God, or at the world, for that. And I'm sure a lot of my comedy is based on anger and hostility. Growing up in Williamsburg, I learned to clothe it in comedy to spare myself problems—like a punch in the face."<ref name="Geffen2" /><ref name=":1" />

Brooks was a small, sickly boy who often was bullied and teased by his classmates because of his size.<ref name="brookslyn/Adelina1980/Brooks">{{cite news |last1=Bauer |first1=Jerry |title=Interview: Mel Brooks |url=http://www.brookslyn.com/print/Adelina1980/Adelina1980.php/kidney |access-date=September 28, 2022 |work=[[Adelina Magazine]] |date=February 1980 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722103811/http://www.brookslyn.com/print/Adelina1980/Adelina1980.php/kidney |archive-date=July 22, 2013 |location=Rome |via=Brookslyn}}</ref> At age nine, he saw ''[[Anything Goes]]'' with [[William Gaxton]], [[Ethel Merman]] and [[Victor Moore]] at the [[Alvin Theater]].<ref name="cnn/mel-brooks-qa">{{cite news |last1=Zemler |first1=Emily |title=Mel Brooks: A comedic torch to light the way |url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/20/showbiz/mel-brooks-qa |access-date=September 29, 2022 |agency=[[CNN]] |date=May 20, 2013}}</ref> After the show, he told his uncle that he was not going to work in the [[Garment District, Manhattan|garment district]] like everyone else but instead wanted to go into show business.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqsh-wiyNBU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/oqsh-wiyNBU| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Is Jerrod Carmichael the Funniest In His Family?|date=September 25, 2015|website=The Late Late Show with James Corden|publisher=[[CBS]]|access-date=May 12, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

When Brooks was 14 he gained employment as a [[Swimming pool|pool-side]] [[tummler]] (entertainer) at the Butler Lodge,<ref name="Butler Lodge">
*{{cite web |author1=Tichnor Brothers Postcard Collection |title=Butler Lodge, Hurleyville, N. Y. |url=https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:3r076872h |website=[[Digital Commonwealth]] |publisher=[[Boston Public Library]] |access-date=September 29, 2022 }}
*{{cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Pincus |title=The Butler Lodge, Luzon Station, Hurleyville, N.Y. |url=https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/files/neu:m04035822 |website=The Catskills Institute |publisher=[[Northeastern University]] |access-date=September 29, 2022}}
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</ref> a second-rate [[Borscht Belt]] hotel, where he met 18-year-old [[Sid Caesar]].<ref name="nydailynews/brooks-book-20190331"/> Brooks kept his guests amused with his crazy antics. In a ''[[Playboy]]'' interview, he explained that one day he stood at the edge of a diving board wearing a [[bowler hat|derby]] and a large alpaca overcoat with two suitcases full of rocks, and then announced: "Business is terrible! I can't go on!" before jumping, fully clothed into the pool.<ref name="nydailynews/brooks-book-20190331">{{cite news |last1=Cutler |first1=Jacqueline |title=Mel Brooks leaves audiences laughing — but not always the people he works with |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-mel-brooks-book-20190331-asdb4q2lmrca5fssa6fkt3ya7i-story.html |access-date=September 29, 2022 |work=[[New York Daily News]] |date=March 31, 2019}}</ref><ref name="1975/brooks-playboy"/> He was taught by [[Buddy Rich]] (who had also grown up in Williamsburg) how to play the drums, and started to earn money as a musician when he was 14.<ref name="Wakeman, John 19882">{{cite book|last=Wakeman|first=John|title=World Film Directors, 1945–1985|volume=2|publisher=The H.W. Wilson Company|year=1988|pages=162–7|isbn=978-0-824-20763-2}}</ref> During his time as a drummer, he was given his first opportunity as a comedian at the age of 16, filling in for an ill MC. During his teens, he changed his name to Melvin Brooks,<ref name="theguardian/2021/dec/04/mel-brooks">{{cite news |last1=Freeman |first1=Hadley |title=Mel Brooks on losing the loves of his life: 'People know how good Carl Reiner was, but not how great' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/04/mel-brooks-on-losing-the-loves-of-his-life-people-know-how-good-carl-reiner-was-but-not-how-great |access-date=September 27, 2022 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=December 4, 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite episode | credits=Brooks, Mel; Kimmel, Jimmy | date=May 3, 2013 | series=[[Jimmy Kimmel Live]]| number= 375 | season= 10| location=Los Angeles | publisher= Jackhole Productions; distributed by ABC and Chum Television}}</ref> influenced by his mother's maiden name Brookman, after being confused with trumpeter [[Max Kaminsky (musician)|Max Kaminsky]].<ref name="Wakeman, John 19882"/> Brooks graduated from [[Eastern District High School]] in Williamsburg in January 1944<ref name="americanfilm/2013/6/cover">{{cite news |title=25 fun and fascinating facts about Mel Brooks |url=http://americanfilm.afi.com/issue/2013/6/cover-story |access-date=September 28, 2022 |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |date=June 2013}}</ref> and intended to follow his older brother and enroll in [[Brooklyn College]] to study psychology.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/brooklynstateofm00mich|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/brooklynstateofm00mich/page/114 114]|title=Brooklyn: A State of Mind|last1=Robbins|first1=Michael W.|last2=Palitz|first2=Wendy|date=2001|publisher=[[Workman Publishing Company]]|access-date=February 17, 2013|isbn=978-0761116356}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ha9QCwAAQBAJ&q=mel+brooks+%22brooklyn+college%22&pg=PA101 |title = The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific|isbn = 978-0385540285|last1 = Bianculli|first1 = David|year=2016| publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing }}</ref>

===1944–1946: World War II service===
In early 1944, in his senior year in high school, Brooks was recruited to take the [[Army General Classification Test]], a [[Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales|Stanford–Binet]]-type [[Intelligence quotient|IQ test]].<ref name="historynet/mel-brooks">{{cite web |last1=Brooks |first1=Mel |title=When Mel Brooks Learned Not to 'Shortcut' the Jam |url=https://www.historynet.com/mel-brooks-goes-to-war/ |website=[[HistoryNet]] |access-date=September 26, 2022 |date=April 28, 2022}}</ref> He made 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.<ref name="historynet/mel-brooks"/><ref name="defense.gov/2882521">{{cite web |last1=Vergun |first1=David |title=Actor, Comedian Mel Brooks Served in Army in World War II |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2882521/actor-comedian-mel-brooks-served-in-army-in-world-war-ii/ |website=[[U.S. Department of Defense]] |access-date=September 26, 2022 |date=December 29, 2021}}</ref><ref name=ww2>{{cite book|title=All About Me!|publisher=Century|year=2021|pages=58–73|last=Brooks|first=Mel|author-link=Mel Brooks|isbn=978-1-529-13507-7}}</ref> In 1944, Brooks was drafted into the Army.<ref name="defense.gov/2882521"/> Twelve weeks later, when he turned 18, he officially joined the [[United States Army]]<ref name="Wakeman, John 19882"/> at the [[Fort Dix]],<ref name="historynet/mel-brooks"/> [[New Jersey]], induction center, and was sent to the [[Field Artillery Replacement Training Center]] at [[Fort Sill, Oklahoma]] for [[basic training]] and radio operator training.<ref name="historynet/mel-brooks"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=90801438 |title=Mel Brooks Blazes Wacky Trail|date=May 24, 2008|work=Weekend Edition Saturday|publisher=NPR|access-date=May 4, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/mel-brooks-spent-wwii-mines.html|title=One of the Funniest Men Alive, Mel Brooks Spent WWII Clearing Land Mines|last=Edwards|first=Jeff|date=December 24, 2015|website=War History Online|language=en|access-date=December 10, 2018}}</ref><ref name=ww2/> Brooks was then sent back to Fort Dix for overseas assignment.<ref name="historynet/mel-brooks"/> Brooks says he boarded {{SS|Sea Owl}} at the [[Brooklyn Navy Yard]] around February 15, 1945.<ref name="historynet/mel-brooks"/> A reporter for the [[United States Department of Defense]] writes that Brooks arrived in France in November 1944, and later in Belgium, serving with the [[78th Infantry Division (United States)|78th&nbsp;Infantry Division]] as a [[Forward observers in the U.S. military|forward artillery observer]].<ref name="defense.gov/2882521"/> In December 1944, a short while later, Brooks was transferred to the 1104th&nbsp;[[Engineer Combat Battalion]] as a [[combat engineer]], participating in the [[Battle of the Bulge]].<ref name=ww2/><ref name="defense.gov/2882521"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Elhassan |first1=Khalid |title=Many Don't Know Mel Brooks was a WWII Warrior |url=https://historycollection.com/many-dont-know-mel-brooks-was-a-wwii-warrior/ |website=History Collection |access-date=September 26, 2022 |date=July 4, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Brooks, Mel, Cpl |url=https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=BattleMemoryExt&ID=170814 |website=army.togetherweserved.com |access-date=September 26, 2022}}</ref> Of his experience there, Brooks noted:

<blockquote>Along the roadside, you'd see bodies wrapped up in mattress covers and stacked in a ditch, and those would be Americans, that could be me. I sang all the time ... I never wanted to think about it ... Death is the enemy of everyone, and even though you hate Nazis, death is more of an enemy than a German soldier.<ref name="Variety/Christon/Producers">{{cite news |last1=Christon |first1=Lawrence |title='Producers' pic gains stature as time goes by |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60Producers%27+pic+gains+stature+as+time+goes+by.-a078629386 |access-date=29 September 2022 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=September 10, 2001 |via=Free Online Library}}</ref></blockquote>

Stationed in [[Saarbrücken]] and [[Baumholder]], the battalion was responsible for clearing [[booby-trapped]] buildings and defusing land mines as the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] advanced into Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/photos/real-life-tough-guys-1374864278-slideshow/afi-life-achievement-award-a-tribute-to-mel-brooks-awards-presentation-photo-1374864255359.html|title=Real Life Tough Guys |last=Enk|first=Bryan |date=July 26, 2013 |publisher=[[Yahoo]]|access-date=July 27, 2013}}</ref><ref name=USACE>{{cite web|website=US Army Corps of Engineers |title=Historical Vignette 109 – Mel Brooks Was a Combat Engineer in World War II|url=https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Sports-Entertainment/109-Mel-Brooks/ |access-date=September 26, 2022}}</ref><ref name=ww2/> Brooks was tasked with land mine location; defusing was done by a specialist.<ref name="historynet/mel-brooks"/> Brooks has stated that when he heard Germans singing over loudspeakers, he responded by singing American-Jewish singer [[Al Jolson]]'s hit "[[Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye!)]]" into a [[bullhorn]].<ref name="Brooks-2021-Me=5MRLEAAAQBA">{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Mel |title=All about Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business |date=2021 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-593-15911-8 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5MRLEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22All+About+Me%22+%22Mel+Brooks%22+%22Toot+Tootsie%22&pg=PA65 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="military.com/veteran-brooks">{{cite news |title=Famous Veterans: Mel Brooks |url=https://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/military-transition/famous-veterans-mel-brooks.html |access-date=September 26, 2022 |work=Military.com |date=November 1, 2017 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Crow |first1=David |title=Mel Brooks and His WW2 Sing-Off with German Soldiers |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/mel-brooks-ww2-sing-off-with-german-soldiers/ |website=Den of Geek |access-date=September 26, 2022 |date=January 5, 2022}}</ref> Brooks spent time in the [[military prison|stockade]] after taking an anti-Semitic heckler's helmet off and smashing him in the head with his mess kit.<ref name="cbsnews/brooks-anti-semitism">{{cite news |title=Mel Brooks On Anti-Semitism |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mel-brooks-on-anti-semitism/ |access-date=September 29, 2022 |work=[[CBS News]] |date=April 12, 2001}}</ref> His unit constructed the first [[Bailey bridge]] over the [[Roer River]],<ref name="historynet/mel-brooks"/> later building bridges over the [[Rhine river]].<ref name="defense.gov/2882521"/> In April 1945, Brooks's unit conducted its last reconnaissance missions in the [[Harz mountains]], Germany.<ref name="defense.gov/2882521"/>

With the [[End of World War II in Europe|end of the war in Europe]], Brooks joined the [[Special Services (entertainment)|Special Services]] as a comic touring Army bases and he was made acting [[Corporal (United States)|corporal]], put in charge of entertainment at [[Wiesbaden]],<ref name="1975/brooks-playboy"/><ref name=ww2/> and performed at Fort Dix.<ref name="1975/brooks-playboy">{{cite news |last1=Darrach |first1=Brad |title=Mel Brooks: The Playboy Interview |url=http://www.thestacksreader.com/mel-brooks-the-playboy-interview/ |access-date=September 27, 2022 |work=The Stacks Reader |agency=Playboy |date=February 1975 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231095812/http://www.thestacksreader.com/mel-brooks-the-playboy-interview/ |archive-date=December 31, 2021}}</ref> In June 1946, Brooks was [[honorably discharged]] from the Army as a [[corporal]].<ref name=ww2/><ref name="defense.gov/2882521"/>