Editing Rodney Dangerfield (section)

===Early career===
At the age of 15, he began to write for stand-up comedians while performing at the [[Nevele Grand Hotel|Nevele]], a former resort in [[Ellenville, New York]].<ref name= silent>{{cite news |title= That Laughter You Hear Is the Silent Majority |first= Albert |last= Goldman |work= The New York Times |date= June 14, 1970 |page= 111 |url= https://www.proquest.com/docview/118849740/}}</ref> Then, at the age of 19 he legally changed his name to Jack Roy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movieactors.com/actors/rodneydangerfield.htm |title=Rodney Dangerfield|publisher=Movieactors.com |access-date=July 24, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= A "Born Loser" Who Gets Laughs |work= The Baltimore Sun |date= July 13, 1969 |page= TW6 |url= https://www.proquest.com/docview/539155980/ }}</ref> He struggled financially for nine years, at one point performing as a singing waiter until he was fired, before taking a job selling aluminum siding in the mid-1950s to support his wife and family.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/magazine/letter-of-recommendation-rodney-dangerfield.html|title=Letter of Recommendation: Rodney Dangerfield|last=Halberstadt |first=Alex|date=January 26, 2018|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2014/05/dave-holmes-no-respect-rappin-rodney-1984-chart.html|title=Respect to 'Rappin' Rodney' and 99 Other Hits From 1984|last=Holmes |first=Dave|date=May 29, 2014|publisher=Vulture|access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref> He later quipped he was so little known that when he gave up show business, "I was the only one who knew I quit."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NbaAF5Zwax0C&q=at+the+time+I+quit%2C+I+was+the+only+one+who&pg=PT55 |title=It's not easy bein' me: a lifetime of no respect but plenty of sex and drugs |date=2005 |access-date=April 20, 2019|isbn=9780061957642|last=Dangerfield |first=Rodney |publisher=Zondervan }}</ref>

In the early 1960s, he started reviving his career as an entertainer. Still working as a salesman by day, he returned to the stage, performing at hotels in the [[Borscht Belt|Catskill Mountains]], but still finding minimal success. He fell into debt, about $20,000 by his own estimate and couldn't get booked. He later joked, "I played one club; it was so far out, my act was reviewed in ''[[Field & Stream]]''."<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=96052&page=1 "Rodney Dangerfield Remarries ... And This Time He's Sober"]. ABC News. August 24, 2000.</ref>

Dangerfield came to realize that what he lacked was an "image", a well-defined on-stage persona that audiences could relate to, one that would distinguish him from other comics. After being shunned by some premier comedy venues, he returned home where he began developing a character for whom nothing goes right.

Roy took the name Rodney Dangerfield from an episode by [[Jack Benny]] on his radio program in a 1941 broadcast.<ref>{{Citation |title=Jack Benny - JB 1941-12-21 The Christmas tree | date=2 January 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV0VhpPo0y8 |access-date=2023-03-24 |language=en}}</ref> The name was referenced as an actor whom Jack had invited to his upcoming Christmas Party, but [[Mary Livingstone]] had never heard of him. The name surfaces again in the December 15, 1946, episode as a "movie star" on Jack's Christmas Card list.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTysLG6zCDQ | title=Jack Benny - JB 1946-12-15 Exchanging Shoelaces | website=[[YouTube]] | date=7 January 2018 }}</ref> The name was also used by [[Ricky Nelson]] in a 1962 television episode of ''[[The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet]]'', as a phony name for a blind date.<ref>{{Citation |title=Ricky Nelson is Rodney Dangerfield | date=24 May 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkLBO2AbjQ |access-date=2024-02-14 |language=en}}</ref>