Jack Shaindlin was born in born in Karasubazar, Crimea (part of the Russian Empire at the time) on April 14, 1909, and died on September 22, 1978 in New York City. He began his musical career as a pianist in silent movie halls, after relocating along with his mother and brother to America on a music scholarship to a Chicago school after his father was allegedly shot and killed at his local coal production plant he opperated. His recordings of Nickelodeon piano music are historical and significant.