Mel Brooks (INTERVIEW)
Mel Brooks
The “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise” Interview
with Kam Williams
Headline: Delightful Banter with Boundless Brooks
Mel Brooks, director, producer, writer and actor, is in an
elite group as one of the few entertainers to earn all four major entertainment
prizes – the Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar. His career began in television
writing for Your Show of Shows and
together with Buck Henry creating the long-running TV series Get Smart.
He then teamed up with Carl Reiner
to write and perform the Grammy-winning 2000
Year Old Man comedy albums and books. Mel won his first Oscar in 1964 for
writing and narrating the animated short The
Critic, and his second for the
screenplay of his first feature film, The
Producers, in 1968.
Many hit comedies followed,
including The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent
Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, To Be or Not to Be, Spaceballs, Life Stinks, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and Dracula: Dead and Loving It. His film
company, Brooksfilms Limited, also produced such critically-acclaimed pictures
as The Elephant Man, The Fly, Frances, My Favorite Year, and 84 Charring Cross Road.
For three successive seasons,
1997-1999, Mel Brooks won Emmy Awards for his role as “Uncle Phil” on the hit
sitcom Mad About You. Brooks received
three 2001 Tony Awards and two Grammy Awards for The Producers: the New Mel Brooks Musical, which ran on Broadway
from 2001 to 2006.
The
Producers still holds the record for the most Tony Awards ever won by a
Broadway musical. He followed that success with The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, which ran on
Broadway from 2007 to 2009, and both musicals continue to be performed and
enjoyed by audiences all over the world.
In 2009 Mel received The Kennedy
Center Honors, recognizing a lifetime of extraordinary contributions to
American culture. His most recent projects include the Emmy-nominated HBO
comedy special Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett
Together Again, a follow-up HBO special Mel
Brooks Strikes Back! and a career retrospective DVD box set titled The Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible
Collection Of Unhinged Comedy.
Here, he talks about Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, an American
Masters profile chronicling his illustrious career. The PBS special is set to
premiere nationwide
on Monday, May 20, 2013 at 9 pm (ET/PT). [Check local listings] And in June,
Mel will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Film
Institute (AFI) at a gala tribute airing on TNT.
Kam
Williams: Hello, Mr. Brooks. I’m honored to have
this opportunity to speak with you.
Mel Brooks:
Thank you, Kam. Hey, what the hell is Kam short for?
KW:
It’s short for Kamau, an African name.
MB:
I’m so sorry to hear that. I thought it might be short for my last name,
Kaminsky. I was hoping you just took my last name and shortened it to become
part of the family.
KW:
[Chuckles] No, I took the name back in the Seventies during my brief career as
a jazz musician. You started out as a jazz musician, too, right?
MB:
I did, I did. We were both jazz musicians, so it’s like we already know each
other. In the early Forties, before I went off to World War II, I was in a
little five-piece group that played at those Borscht Belt resorts in the Catskill Mountains. One night, the comic at the Butler Lodge got sick,
and his boss, Pincus Cohen, begged me to perform in his place. I told him,
“That name is redundant. Pincus and Cohen, you don’t need ‘em both. We know
you’re a Jew.” [Laughs] He said, “I’ve watched you doing rehearsals. I can tell
you’re a funny guy.“ I knew all those dopey jokes, so I went up on stage, and
that’s how I got into comedy. I was only about 15 at the time.
KW:
I’ve been to the Catskills a couple times. Do you remember the Nevele?
MB:
The Nevele! It’s still there. That was a big place, a real hotel, not like the
bungalows that Jews rented for the whole summer. In Yiddish, those cottages were
called “kuchalein,” which translates to “cook alone,” meaning you do your own
cooking. Those places always had a little playhouse that would seat about two
hundred people. So, I’d get booked to play them for around fifty bucks, which
was a pretty good salary for one night.
KW:
Speaking of hotels, the first time I saw Blazing Saddles was soon after it was
released at a hotel where you could rent first run movies. I was so captivated by
it I had to watch it four times in a row, practically ignoring the woman I was
supposed to be sharing a romantic evening with. True story.
MB:
That’s crazy! But it does sound like a true story.
KW:
I have a million questions for you from fans, but let’s see how many we can get
through.
MB:
Sure, sure.
KW:
These two people have related questions. Editor/legist
Patricia Turnier asks: Where did you
get the inspiration to make a musical comedy about Adolf
Hitler? And Bobby
Shenker asks: How did you manage to get backing for a picture as bold as The
Producers?
MB:
Those are two good questions. I kinda
backed into the number “Springtime for Hitler.” I worked for a guy who lived in
his office. He wasn’t supposed to. But he had laundry hanging, a hotplate to
make coffee, and he slept on the couch. I can’t tell you his name because he
has grandchildren. But he was a great guy. I was like [the character] Leo
Bloom. I had a job working fifteen hours a day for him, doing anything he needed.
For instance, I put cards in barbershop and other store windows advertising
Tito Guizar, a Mexican balladeer, who periodically played Town Hall. That’s
where I got this story. He would raise more money than he needed to put on
Off-Off Broadway plays, and he’d keep some of it to live on. Let’s say the play
cost $2,500 to produce. He’d raise $3,000 and, if it did okay, he’d skim the
difference off the top for living expenses. I once asked him, “Why don’t you
put on a $100,000 play and raise a $1,000,000? You know every little old lady
in New York.
You could get the money?” He used to screw wealthy widows on the cracked
leather couch in his office. True story. He was just like Zero Mostel’s
character. You know what he said to me? “You’re going to go places. I don’t
think that big.” But that was the seed of an idea for a play. And then I backed
into Hitler after I asked myself, “What if somebody did do that, raised a
million for a $100,000 play?” It would have to be a flop, because if it were a
hit, they could never pay all those backers off. There came the idea that you
can make more money with a flop than with a hit. Then I had to figure out what
would be a surefire flop, and I brainstormed for days and days until I came
with Hitler. I thought, nobody’s going to stand up and cheer for Hitler,
especially not in New York
with so many Jews. When I realized a scene of just him with his generals
wouldn’t be festive enough, I decided it had to be a musical. And that’s when I
wrote the song “Springtime for Hitler.”
KW:
Bobby also says: You married on of the most brilliant actresses of the 20th
Century, Anne Bancroft. Is there a biopic in the works? Or at least a
behind-the-scenes documentary about her outstanding performances in The Miracle
Worker and The Graduate?
MB:
So far, no. To be honest, Bobby, it’s certainly still too painful for me to be
involved with it at all.
KW:
Ray Hirschman says: Hey Mel, how
did you land such a beautiful wife? Was it your charm or your humor?
MB:
I don’t know. I once asked her that. She said, “I never encountered anybody
with so much energy. It’s daunting just to be with you.” When we were first
married, she was a star and I was nobody.” I had been writing for Sid Caesar’s
“Your Show of Shows” which became “Caesar’s Hour.” Lawrence Welk was on at the
same time and, strangely enough, he got the ratings, and we went off the air in
1959. So, I was basically out of work for a couple of years when I met Anne on
February 5, 1961. She was on The Perry Como Show, and I was collaborating on a
Broadway musical called All American with Charles Strouse, the great composer
who wrote the music for Bye Bye Birdie, Annie and All in the Family. I wrote the book, and he wrote the score. I
thought it was a pretty good show but it never really made it. Anyway, he was
playing piano for Anne at The Actors’ Studio where she was presenting a song as
Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady, and he invited me to accompany him to a
dress rehearsal. She came out onstage in a beautiful, white dress. She was
gorgeous! My tongue was hanging out. When she finished, I shouted out, “Hey
Anne Bancroft! I’m Mel Brooks. I think I love you.” Everybody stopped and
looked, and I ran over to her and we talked. She said, “I have your new record.
You’re a genius!” referring to the 2,000 Year-Old Man comedy album Carl Reiner
and I had just released. Afterwards, she said she had to go somewhere, and I
made believe I had to go there, too. For the next week, I would find out from
friends what restaurants, clubs and theaters she’d be frequenting, and I’d show
up, and ask, “What is this, Kismet?” until she finally said, “Okay, you can
stop the B.S. Let’s hang out together.” It was all good. We were literally in
love and together from that day until she passed away on June 6th in
2005. We had a nice, long run.
KW:
Film student Jamaal Green says: Hi Mel! I am
a huge fan of your work from Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein to Space Balls.
But I would like to know, if you have any plans to do some new 2,000 Year-Old
Man skits?
MB:
Thank you for that question, Jamaal. However, I’ve become the 2,000 Year-Old
Man now, and I have a 2,000 Year-Old Man brain. When I originally wrote it, I
was in my thirties. I was young, and hip, and smart, and could think fast. I’m
no longer there. Things have slowed-up incredibly. Synaptic connections are
taking me to strange places in my brain. I think I probably could eke out one
more. Carl, who recently turned 91 is hot to trot, but I’m not sure.
KW:
Attorney Bernadette Beekman asks: What
was the hardest film to shoot because of laughing breaking out on the set?
MB:
Blazing Saddles was pretty damn funny. The crew was constantly cracking-up and
ruining takes. So, finally, I sent my assistant to Woolworths to buy a thousand
white handkerchiefs. I gave one to everybody on the set. I told them, “If you
feel like laughing at something, you stick one of these in your mouth, bite on
it, and laugh through it.” Anytime I wasn’t sure whether a scene was working or
not, I’d look over my shoulder, and if I saw a lot of white handkerchiefs, I’d
know it was funny. That became my litmus test. The crew’s laughing could’ve
ruined the picture, Bernadette, but we saved it with the white handkerchiefs.
It also turned out to be a great way to test to see if something was funny.
KW:
Harriet Pakula-Teweles says: Thank you, and Ann, for that incredible
performance of “Sweet Georgian Brown” in Polish to open your re-do of “To Be or
Not to Be.” On the NBC Today show, you said “Annie is funnier than I am,” and I
remember that side-splitting, incredible thing with her eyes. How did she speak
to and influence your projects?
MB:
Harriet, she was incredible right from the first time I met her. I was writing
The Producers. She immediately became my sounding board. I didn’t trust anybody
else. I’d write something and show it to her. Then she’d mark it up with “This
is brilliant!” or “Never let this go!” and once in awhile she’d say “This
stinks!” [Chuckles] She was really responsible for getting the best out of me,
like the trainer of a racehorse.
KW:
Hollywood Hills realtor Jimmy Bayan says: Mel, you once said you and Anne were glued
together from the day you met until the day she died. She
obviously really "got you." Can you tell me, what made your marriage
sizzle for so many years?
MB:
I can’t, Jimmy. What is it, magic? Magnetism? Meant to be? Who the hell knows!
We were very lucky. Fate may have had a hand in it.
KW:
Roger Klein says: You are a great filmmaker. You are to movies what the Rolling
Stones are to Rock & Roll.
MB:
I was never recognized as a movie director, Roger. Never! They always talk
about my being a great writer and comic, and an important producer, But I’ve
never been saluted as a filmmaker, except by a few colleagues like Alfred
Hitchcock. He once said to me, “Nobody appreciates your directing skills. High
Anxiety is brilliant! The back lighting!” He thought of me as a wonderful
director, but no one else did.
KW:
Did it bother you?
MB:
I never really got that upset about it because I was doing what I wanted to do.
If you can do what you want to do in this life, the rest is gravy. Instead of
going to work, you’re going to joy every day.
KW:
And he was just as snubbed.
MB:
[Laughs] Yeah, he was nominated for an Academy Award a number of times, but he
never won one. And he might have been the best director who ever lived.
KW:
Roger would like you to name some comedies that really make you laugh.
MB:
Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, Preston Sturges’ The Palm Beach Story, Charlie Chaplin’s City
Lights, and Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last. Those are really my favorites. I
thought The Hangover was really funny. But the sequel just exploited the first.
KW:
I gotta tell you, Mel, Get Smart is still my all-time favorite TV show. Was
there ever a funnier sitcom?
MB:
I don’t know. Buck Henry was very, very talented, and together we came up with
some incredible ideas. He invented the Cone of Silence. And I think I invented
the cell phone, because I dreamed up having Maxwell Smart talking on a shoe
telephone.
KW:
Harriet says: You set a very high standard for revamping old films, with To Be
or Not to Be, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers. Do you have your sights on
another old classic that you care to discuss?
MB:
There’s a good-looking old lady who lives in Cincinnati that I have my eye on, but I’m not
sure as far as show business. [Chuckles] Maybe musicalizing The Twelve Chairs,
one of my overlooked films, for Broadway.
Or Blazing Saddles. They both cry out for music, and they
both have good stories.
KW:
Why do you think Blazing Saddles remains as fresh as ever?
MB:
What makes it last so long is that there’s a black sheriff that everyone in
that world of 1874 wants to see dead right away. But he endures and gains the
respect of the townsfolk, especially the Waco
Kid [played by Gene Wilder]. That’s the engine that drives it, and that’s why
it’s still around. It’s around because there’s a tremendous amount of focused
emotion in that movie.
KW:
When I interviewed Quentin Tarantino about Django Unchained he attributed the
demise of the Western to blazing Saddles. He said that you had parodied the
genre so effectively that no one could take them seriously anymore.
MB:
[Laughs] I don’t know. Maybe he’s right. But I wouldn’t take credit for that.
KW:
What’d you think of his movies?
MB:
I love Quentin for what he does. He doesn’t give a [bleep]. Freedom… fantasy
moviemaking. In Inglourious Bastards, he’s got Hitler and Goering and Goebbels
all in a theater in France
and he kills them all. With Django, I would have been a little upset if Abraham
Lincoln was run over by a Buick on 43rd
Street. But coming from Tarantino, I accepted it.
He’s a genius who should be respected for his work.
KW:
Harriet also says: The Critic is
one my favorite works of art by you. How about getting it back out there so
people who didn’t see it in 1963 can get a look at it on its 50th anniversary?
MB:
Ooh, well thank you Harriet for being aware of it, for enjoying it, for getting
it, and for understanding it. And, as a matter of fact, The Critic is in The
Incredible Mel Brooks box set.
KW:
Harriet says: Remember the rock Dr.
Haldanish put his hand on and said, “I’m a psychiatrist?” Well, I put my hand
on that same rock and said, “I’m a life-long fan of yours!”
MB:
That’s very funny! Harriet, I love you! I really appreciate it.
KW:
Kate Newell asks: Have you ever
considered working with Monty Python alumni? I think that would trigger a
comedic cosmic shift!
MB:
We should’ve gotten together because Blazing Saddles and Life of Brian were on
the same bill at the Baker St. Theater in London
for three years straight. And they actually sent me a check. I couldn’t believe
it.
KW:
Larry Greenberg asks: How does playing yourself on "Curb Your
Enthusiasm" compare to some of the amazing characters you’ve played like
Moses and President Skroob?
MB:
I have no judgment and no perspective. When I’m playing myself, I dissolve into
the character as a person, so I can’t really criticize my performance. I don’t
know whether I’m good or bad. But when I’m playing Tikon, the Russian servant
in The Twelve Chairs, I would say, yes, that’s a fine performance. And when I
was Goddard Bolt in Life Stinks, I think I was pretty good. It was close to me,
but not me, in the performance. I also think I was wonderful singing “The
Inquisition” in History of the World.
KW:
In preparing for this interview, I went back and watched a lot of your
appearances on Johnny Carson. They were phenomenal!
MB:
He was a great catalyst. He’d get the best out of you. And he was a great
audience, too. Carson
was the best.
KW:
Patricia says: I have a passion for tap dancing that I did for almost 15 years.
You have been influenced by Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. How can tap regain the
status in movies that it once enjoyed?
MB:
That’s a very good question, Patricia. When people ask me, what’s your
favorite movie, I’d like to say Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion to make myself
sound like such an intellectual. But my favorite movie is actually Swing Time
with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and then maybe Singin’ in the Rain. My
very favorites are American musical comedies of the Thirties, and tap dancing
was my favorite dance form. To see Astaire tap like a maniac with such grace
and charm was very magical. It was very balletic. How can you forget the
Nicholas Brothers? They’re very hard to beat. Or Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and
Shirley Temple’s duet up and down the steps. So, I agree with you Patricia. Tap
is a glorious aspect of show business, and I’ll see what I can do about
bringing it back.
KW:
Patricia also asks: What prepared you the most for your career in showbiz?
MB:
I think the Show of Shows, because I didn’t spread my wings and do my movies
until I had nine years of seeing the best comedy of its day with Sid Caesar,
Carl Reiner, Imogene Coca, Howie Morris and Nanette Fabray under my belt, and,
and of working with writers like Neil Simon, Woody Allen and Larry Gelbart.
That set the stage for my going out on my own.
KW:
Wow, what a group! I’d have to say Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple was my second
favorite TV show of all time.
MB:
Neil was one of my best friends.
KW:
What is the best advice you can give to young people who would like to follow
in your footsteps as a filmmaker?
MB:
I have no advice for anybody. Something impels you, and you have to keep going.
Something mysterious drives you, and you’ll have to take a thousand no’s before
you get your first yes, and they let you do your stuff.
KW:
Bobby says: One of my favorite comedies is Young Frankenstein. The casting was
sheer inspiration. What could you tell us about your collaboration with Gene
Wilder? With such a brilliant cast, was it a collaborative effort, or primarily
carved out by you and Wilder?
MB:
It actually came from Gene Wilder’s head. One day when we broke for lunch out
in the desert during the shooting of Blazing Saddles, I saw him scribbling on a
legal pad and on the top it says “Young Frankenstein.” And I said, “What the
hell is that? What’re you doing?” And he explained to me his idea and asked me
if I’d collaborate with him on it. I said, “Sure.” As far as the casting, there
was a guy named Mike Medavoy who had in his stable of actors Gene Wilder, Peter
Boyle and Marty Feldman. The only ones he didn’t have were Madeline Kahn and
Teri Garr.
KW:
Wesley Derbyshire asks: For better or worse, how do you see comedy changing on
the screen over the past half-century?
MB:
That’s a good question, Wesley. I wish could answer it. Comedy is too vast a
subject. I don’t know what it is. It’s reaching a place in us that is
unrestrained. That place where we can no longer be a proper part of society, and
just have to laugh. If you have the ability to reach it in yourself, you’ll
reach it in others. But how it’s changed, I don’t know. All the sitcoms have
gotten very sexual, but not necessarily funnier.
KW:
I agree wholeheartedly, Mel. Thanks for being so generous with your time, and for
sharing so many anecdotes, insights and remembrances.
MB:
It was my pleasure, Kam. Nice talking to you.
To order a copy of
The Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible Collection of Unhinged Comedy on DVD,
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