Born in Brooklyn: Late comedian Joey Adams would be 106
Renowned Comedian and Columnist Was Born Jan. 6, 1911
The late Brooklyn-born actor, author and comedian Joey Adams, who was born Joseph Abramowitz, would celebrate his 106th birthday today. The borough favorite grew up in Brownsville, a predominantly Jewish section of the borough at the time of his birth in 1911, and he attended P.S. 171, Patrick Henry Junior High School and DeWitt Clinton High School. He studied at City College of New York but never graduated, as he left school to perform in vaudeville and chose to pursue a career as an entertainer.
It was during this time that he began appearing as a stand-up comic at the Roxy and Paramount theaters, and in the summer he worked the “borscht belt” entertaining guests at the Jewish resorts in the Catskill Mountains. Initially, he performed as Joey Abrams, before changing his name to Joey Adams in 1930. Around this time, he helped organize amateur shows, serving as master of ceremonies at the Loew’s Pitkin Theatre in Brooklyn.
In 1941 he began to gain recognition, thanks in part to the writers who mentioned him in their columns. Ironically, Adams would go on to become a renowned columnist in his own right, penning “Strictly for Laughs,” a humor column that appeared in the New York Post from the mid-1970s until 1998. His wife Cindy Adams, whom he married in 1952, still writes a popular column for the Post.