kabos was born on march 19, 1887, in budapest as gyula kann. after completing elek solymosi's acting school, he started acting in szabadka (subotica), where he worked until 1910 with a short interruption in 1906–07 when he lived in zombor (sombor). szabadka granted him his first successes, his first successful forays into the world of theatre, and this is the town where he met his first great comedic partner, gyula gózon. following his advice, he moved to nagyvárad (oradea) and lived there from 1910 to 1913. later on, he remembered these years quite fondly. he was a well-known actor in town and had various comic adventures with his partner (which were released weekly in the town newspaper). he later moved to budapest to play in different theatres, including the "király színház", the vígszínház, "pesti kabaré", while trying, but ultimately failing to start an american-styled variety theatre in nagyvárad (1919).