Gelb was born to two Jewish immigrants from what was then Czechoslovakia and now Ukraine, in the back of his parents dress shop in East Harlem.
[1] He attempted to join the military during World War II but was rejected due to having poor vision.
[1][2] Gelb attended City College of New York but dropped out during his junior year in 1944.
He supported the creation of the New York Shakespeare Festival by editorializing Joseph Papp's productions.
[7] Gelb received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the City College of New York in 1997.