Max Kaminsky

Did you know that without Max Kaminsky, there would not be Mel Brooks?

Also, without Max Kaminsky, there would not be a "Mel Brooks".

Don't be confused! The first Max Kaminsky is Mel's father. The second Mel Kaminsky, the one pictured to the left, was a jazz trumpeter and bandleader who was pretty popular in the 1920s and 30s.

As Brooks tell the story, when he was in his teens, he was an up-and-coming drummer and was booked for a gig. Unfortunately, the people thought they were getting the famous Max Kaminsky, not the not-so-yet-famous Mel Kaminsky. To avoid the confusion, young Mel decided to change his name and settled on "Brooks", coming from his his mother's maiden name, Brookman.

To bring the story full circle, Mel's youngest son is writer Max Brooks...

Who, under different circumstances, could have been "Max Kaminsky"!