American Masters (1985–…): Season 27, Episode 3 - Mel Brooks: Make a Noise - full transcript

[Tires squealing]

[Drums beating]

Mel is a fascinating
combination of elements.

He is so above the fray,

and he's able to take all that
and shake it down

into something
so simple and so funny.

We always felt the world was,
you know, his oyster.

And so he... he felt special,
and he was special.

Mel was not interested
in a little laugh.

He literally wanted you to like

collapse and fall on the ground
and can't breathe.



My blanket, my blue blanket,
give me my blue blanket!

His narcissism is hilarious.

It's like... it's like the sun.

Piss on you.
I'm workin' for Mel Brooks!

Not in the face!

[Dancers gasp]

Thank you.

Well, there's no one like Mel.

He is one of a kind,

and the characters that
he writes,

they are one of a kind.

He was my boyfriend!

Mel is not afraid to go up
to the line, you know.

Occasionally he'll cross it.



Jesus!
What?

What?
Yes?

Y-you said "what?"
What?

Nothing.

[Tires screech]

[Cymbals clashing]

Here I am.
I'm Melvin Brooks.

♪ I've come to stop
the show ♪

♪ Just a ham
who's minus looks ♪

♪ But in your hearts
I'll grow ♪

♪ Tell you gags,
sing you songs ♪

♪ Happy little snappy tunes
that roll along ♪

♪ Out of my mind,
won't you be kind ♪

♪ And please love... ♪

♪ Melvin Brooks! ♪♪

[Horns blow fanfare]

Okay, I'm nine years old.

Uncle Joe drove a taxicab.
One day he said, "Hey, Mel,

I got two tickets to a brand new
show called 'Anything Goes'."

And he said, "Well, it's
a musical, it's on Broadway,

and we've got two seats...
The last two seats

in the last row of
the second balcony."

It's thrilling, Broadway
theater, I'm nine years old.

♪ Why, it's Gabriel,
Gabriel playin' ♪

♪ Gabriel, Gabriel,
sayin' ♪

[Gasps]

I couldn't catch my breath.

There was Ethel Merman,
no microphones,

and she was still too loud,
you know,

and it was two miles away.

One incredible number
after another.

I was literally crying
with happiness.

I was tap dancing all over my
stoop at 365 South Third Street

and singing all these songs,
top of my lungs, you know.

I said to myself, "One day I'm
gonna have a show on Broadway.

No factories for me.
No driving a cab.

No working, renting bicycles.

I'm gonna write things that are
in my soul, and in my heart,

and I'm gonna be in
show business," and I knew it.

And I was gonna enjoy my life
and have fun.

Live that kind of life.

And I did.

Being rather bizarre looking
and being very short,

I needed another tool
so that I would be accepted.

So that I used comedy.

And I didn't...

I had no idea that it would lead
to a living of any kind.

There was a guy called
Don Appell,

who was an actor and a director,

and I would do impressions,
and I would try to, you know,

make him laugh,
and I'd tell him jokes,

and he thought I had something.

And he called somebody
at the Butler Lodge and said,

"Give him a shot at it."

I was 50 in a play called
"Uncle Harry."

They made me up, they gave me
a wig, they gave me a beard,

'cause I'm supposed to be
a little older...

A mustache, a goatee.

I was very nervous, and...

comes the time,

when I said, "Won't you have
a little water?"

the glass slipped and broke,
shattered,

there was water everywhere...
On Harry, on me,

on everybody.

And I didn't know what to do,
so I walked downstage,

faced the audience, I took off
my wig and my beard,

and I said, "I'm 15,
I never did this before!

I'm not really an act..."
and they screamed with laughter.

And the director of the play,
I think, grabbed a knife

and followed me through the
mountains wanting to kill me,

but I knew then that straight
plays were not for me.

I did do gigs as a drummer
in the winter.

I think I became a drummer
because you made noise.

You know,
you made the most noise.

I wanted attention, obviously.

I could've become a flutist;
I could've played the flute.

Nobody pays attention to you.

I could've been a trumpet
player,

a little more attention, but...

I mean, who's gonna...
What the hell is that?

People are gonna stop.

He has rhythms in his head,
and all of his jokes are great,

they're great structures
of rhythm, they're...

You'll laugh at the rhythm
of the jokes sometime.

I used to work the pool.
I was a pool tumbler.

That's where you go out
and be silly and crazy.

After lunch you amuse
those people

hanging around the pool.

I had a derby,
a big black alpaca coat.

It's a hundred degrees up
there in the summer.

A suitcase, a cardboard
suitcase full of rocks.

And I'd go to the end
of the diving board,

and I'd say...

"Business is no good!
I don't want to live!"

And I'd jump in the pool.

They'd all go, "Ha, ha, ha,
oy, Melvin, Melvin!"

And nobody would help me.

You ask, I talk, some good,

some dull.

Once in a while wow, pfft, good.

MAN: Mel, let's start talking
about World War II.

BROOKS: I was 17 entering
my senior year,

and I enlisted in the Army
Specialized Training Reserve.

At 18 you become a member of
the Armed Forces.

At one point I was near
Saarbrucken and the Germans

were only a few miles away
across a creek or a river,

and that night I could
actually hear them

singing something in German.

♪ Ja, ja, ja, ja ♪

So I picked up a big bullhorn,
and I said,

"Well, I'll sing to them."

So I sang...

♪ Toot-toot-Tootsie, goodbye ♪

♪ Wait for the mail,
I'll never fail ♪

♪ You don't get a letter,
you know I'm in jail ♪

Ha ha ha!

♪ Goodbye, Tootie, goodbye ♪

♪ Don't cry, Tootsie,
goodbye! ♪

And I actually heard...
[Speaking German]

They really liked it, you know.

I think I could've ended
the war right then and there,

but General Patton
or somebody kept going.

I got home in 1946
and pretty quickly switched

from Melvin Kaminsky
to Mel Brooks.

It would be natural for him
to become a stand-up,

but he never did.

I think because I think he
wanted to be a writer mainly

and he went for that,
and luckily he did.

BROOKS: Don Appell also

had worked with people
like Sid Caesar,

and through Sid Caesar I got
this job, you know,

on "The Admiral Broadway Revue,"

which segued into...

Your Show of Shows!

It starred Sid Caesar,

Imogene Coca.

There was only a few writers.

There was Mel Tolkin,
Lucille Kallen, myself,

and then, in a little while,
Tony Webster.

WOMAN: And they were a whole
different generation

of American writers.

They were educated, and they
went through

the Second World War...
It's a different mind set.

They had great language,
they were really well read.

It was just fabulous
sketch comedy to me

because it really came from
the heart, and it was really

about playing the reality
of a situation.

It wasn't just a glib sexual
innuendo, it meant something.

We make it a musical
and we get the greatest,

greatest composer there is.

We get Beethoven!

Now, you call up Beethoven's
agent, and you tell him...

Professor, Beethoven is dead.

Beethoven?

Dead?

Ludwig is gone?

This is a shock.

You don't pick up a paper
a couple of days,

you don't know what's going on.

All right, we can't
get Beethoven.

Call up Mozart.
Get Mozart, call his agent.

Professor, Mozart is dead.

Wolfgang gone?

Wolf... Moz...

I'm sick already.

I was so close with him.

What was it, an accident, they
were both in the same bus?

BROOKS: Sid Caesar
was so good

that he was actually a vehicle
for all my love,

my passion for comedy.

That son of a bitch held me back

because of his Promethean
talent, held me back

for about eight or nine years

where I could've been
out front doing it.

But never as funny

and as incredibly moving
as Sid Caesar.

MAN: Mel had such gall.

He would be running around
the room, and he says,

"We do this, we do that,
and so and so,"

and he would yell at the guys,

"No, that stinks,
that's dreadful."

He could drive you crazy, and he
drove some of us crazy.

BROOKS: The truth was that...
That Max Liebman was

not exactly thrilled
to have me around.

When he saw me, he...

He assessed my character
and personality immediately.

He was absolutely right,
you know.

He saw a very arrogant,
obnoxious little shithead

who thought he knew everything

and had patience for
nothing but his own thoughts.

As a matter of fact,
we had had a big fight.

Once in a while during
rehearsal,

when the girls were dancing
or something,

there was a beautiful
smooth floor...

He'd run across the room,

slide like you're sliding
into second base again,

and hit the wall with his foot.

And I yelled "Safe!"

And Max Liebman threw
a lit cigar at me

'cause I was interfering
with the rehearsal.

I began with $50 a week,

and when I was a kid,
when I was 23 or 24,

I was making 5,000 bucks a week.

What if you said
to your mother, "Mom,

I'm making $5,000."

Heart attack.
Her heart would attack her.

I was having a nervous
breakdown,

I was having anxiety attacks.

I was jogging around New York
and puking between parked cars.

We wrote sketches that had to do

with what was au courant
to New York

and what was au courant
forever, the human condition.

We were writing life sketches.

Emotionally it was very costly.

Mel Tolkin, he convinced
everybody on the writing staff

that there was such a thing
called psychoanalysis

and that we should all be in it

for the safety
and sanity of our brains.

Dr. Montague, I'm curious.

What exactly is the rate
of patient recovery

here at the Institute?

The rate of patient recovery?

I'll have that for you
in a moment.

Once in a blue moon.

I did go into psychoanalysis,
and it did help me a great deal

in making sense out of phantoms
and emotional insecurities.

And after that I went
to "Caesar's Hour,"

and then we went on to do
"Sid Caesar Invites You."

But we were running
out of steam.

We're being beaten by
Lawrence Welk.

You never heard such square
music in your life.

But it was beyond that,
it was rhomboid.

And yet they were doing twice
as much in terms of ratings

that Sid Caesar was doing.

C. REINER: When he was
on "The Show of Shows,"

the Hamilton Trio had two
wonderful girls.

One girl named Florence Baum.
Mel went up and married her.

For some reason the marriage
didn't work.

I was divorced.

I had child support,
and I had alimony,

and I was kind of broke.

MAN: As a writer, you found
success with "Show of Shows."

I mean great success.

And yet then that all went.
I mean, how did that affect you?

Um...

I cried.

I cried.
I mean I cried for two years.

Thanks, Lee.

All I did was cry, for two
years I did nothing but sob.

C. REINER: He was so anxious,

he actually was suicidal
at times.

You know what it is when you
know you got something

and you don't know how
to peddle it.

He knew he had something,
he didn't know how to market it.

I got all this...
What do I do with it?

I kill myself, that's what I do.

MAN: Mel's at a bit
of loose ends.

You're doing
"The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Was there ever any talk
of, "Come write an episode"?

I didn't even think of offering
him the chance to write.

I knew he didn't write that kind
of stuff, it's domestic comedy.

It's always this satire.

He sees the big picture
and makes fun of big things.

Marie Antoinette
has always fascinated me.

What a cutie!

Did you know her?

I went for that doll.
Yeah.

We used to go
to dances together.

Marie Antoinette?!

She had a big wig with powder.

I used to sneeze all night
from the powder.

You went with Marie...
I knew her well.

Now, the day the tumbrel
brought her to the guillotine.

The tumbrel, yes.

When that guillotine fell
and chopped her head off,

how did you feel?

Terrible.
I felt awful about it.

Killed my whole day.

Yes.

Killed her day, too, you know.

Terrible.

I couldn't eat
my dessert that night.

You felt that bad?

I love rice pudding,
turned it down.

Wouldn't
eat it?
How could you?

They chopped the head,
it's not nice.

BROOKS: He always
made me something,

and I had to become that.

And one time,
it wasn't the first time,

somewhere down the line...

He always did this
in the writer's room

of "The Show of Shows."

I turn to Mel, who was sitting
on the couch,

"and here's a man who was
actually at the scene

of the crucifixion
2,000 years ago."

And Mel, I'll never forget
his first words were, "Oh boy."

I said, "You were there?"
Yes, yes.

"You knew Jesus?"

I knew him, we all knew him,
he was thin, he was nervous,

wore sandals, came into the
store, never bought anything.

He came in, he sat around.

He asked for water,
we gave him water.

I don't mind that he came in,
but he brought 12 guys with him.

R. REINER: Mel works best when
he's put in a corner.

My father has

a way of leading him to places
that put him in places

that are so uncomfortable
and awkward for him

that it forces him to have to
figure out

a crazy, funny way
to get out of it.

And Mel, I think, is his best
when he's with my dad.

You know, comedy, we all know,
you know, it's this way,

and then you take
the other path.

And he leads you right down to
something you think

is gonna be so wonderful,
and then bang, he brings it back

to something so
stupid and funny.

MAN: You said that your job is
spotting the insane

or the bizarre
in the commonplace.

Did I say that?

Yes.
That's very good.

I'm proud of that.

I don't remember saying it,
but I'm glad I said it.

Spotting the insane
and the bizarre

in the commonplace.

I'd give myself a pat
on the back for that.

Of all the discoveries
of all time,

what would you consider
the greatest?

Would you say it was
the wheel, the lever, fire?

Fire. Fire,
far and away fire.

Fire was the hottest thing
going, you can't beat fire.

Fire used to warm us
and light up our caves

so we wouldn't walk into a wall,

so we wouldn't marry
our brother Bernie.

Fire. Yes, fire.

And cooking, oh, fire,
you can't beat fire.

When did they first learn
to cook with fire?

It was an accident.
That was an accident.

A chicken walked into
the fire by mistake...

Pfft!... and over.

Burnt... burnt up.

Pet chicken?

Yes, we kept them around
the cave as pets.

We loved to hear, ehhhh!

So we took it out
to give it a funeral,

you know, and bury it
'cause it was our pet,

and we all went...
[sniff]...

"Hey,
that smells good!"

So we ate him up, and since then

we've been eating chickens.

You know, I've heard this story,

but I've heard that
the animal that wandered

into the fire
accidentally was a pig.

Not in my cave.

There is no Jewish kid,
no one interested in comedy,

that that is isn't
a seminal album for.

LEVINSON: He took this
historical thing and reduced it

to something so simple in a way,
and then

letting it expand into his films

is brilliant.

[Large crowd murmuring]

Occupation?

Gladiator.

Did you kill last week?

No.

Did you try to kill last week?

Yeah.

Now, listen, this is your last
week of unemployment insurance.

Either you kill somebody
next week,

or we're going to have to
change your status, got it?

Yeah.

Sign here.

Next.

Occupation?

Stand-up philosopher.

What?

Stand-up philosopher.

I coalesce the vapor
of human experience

into a viable and logical
comprehension.

Oh!
A bullshit artist!

[Groans]

MAN: He actually, I think,

respects the audience's
intelligence, you know.

He doesn't go into long
background, he doesn't.

He doesn't draw particularly

deep back stories with these
characters.

They come on, you know
who they are or you don't.

♪ The Inquisition,
let's begin ♪

♪ The Inquisition,
look out sin ♪

♪ We have our mission
to convert the Jews ♪

♪ Je-je-je-je
je-je-Jews ♪

♪ We're gonna teach them
wrong from right ♪

♪ We're gonna help them
see the light ♪

♪ And make an offer ♪

♪ That they can't refuse ♪

♪ That the Jews
just can't refuse ♪♪

There's a bit of a myth
about me and Jews.

I was never religious,
but always terribly Jewish.

I don't know.

I would say socially,

societally, I was always
very Jewish.

I like being Jewish.

WOMAN: You will address me
in the proper manner

as "Your Royal Highness"!

I am Princess Vespa,
Daughter of Roland,

King of the Druids!

Ohh...

That's all we needed,

a Druish Princess.

Funny, she doesn't look Druish.

OBAMA: As you can tell,
he was born to entertain.

Or as Mel Brooks explains it,
look at Jewish history...

Unrelieved lamenting would
be intolerable.

So every...

every ten Jews, God designed one
to be crazy

and amuse the others.

[Laughter and applause]

Let me have a swig of water.
You can watch me drink water.

[Show theme plays]

Danny Melnick called me
from Talent Associates,

said, "We need a show."

I'd known Buck Henry,

one of the funniest guys
that ever lived, so I said,

"Well, get Buck."

I know when you said,
"Let's call him Maxwell Smart."

"Why?" I said.

"Because then we can call
the show Get Smart."

I know that you said that.

I know that I said
"Cone of Silence,"

I know that you said
"shoe phone."

I remember that stuff.

Really?
You're amazing.

Isn't this top security?

Yes.

Well, shouldn't we activate
the Cone of Silence?

The Cone of Silence?

Yes.

All right, Max.

Hodgkins?

Yes, sir?

Activate the Cone of Silence.

HODGKINS, INCREDULOUS:
The Cone of Silence?

[Device whirring]

First of all, how much...

How much do you know about KAOS?

What did you say, sir?

KAOS?

What?

KAOS!

Oh, KAOS, yes, of course.

Well, that's an international
criminal organization

that was founded...

oh, I think in 1957.

How's that?

MAN: The network wanted you
to add in a mother, right?

Buck Henry and I thought that's
just gonna slow things up.

And so we said,
"No, no mother."

They said, "We insist,"
and we said,

"He was immaculately conceived,"
as far as I was concerned.

We wrote this show,
and they got it sold;

then I knew I would be getting
a couple hundred dollars a week

because NBC had picked it up.

You could go out to dinner.

So, I was able to get married.

♪ No wedding gown
for this silhouette ♪

♪ Married I can always get ♪

BROOKS: She was on
the "Perry Como Show."

I came to watch her rehearse.

She was singing
"Married I Can Always Get"

in a beautiful white gown.

A guy from way over on the other
side of the theater

said, "Hey, Anne Bancroft,
I'm Mel Brooks."

I want you to know that
in two years,

no man had ever approached me
with that kind of aggression

because I had just done
"Two for the Seesaw"

and "The Miracle Worker,"
you know, and people

were very scared of me,
especially men, like,

"What she must be, you know,
this strange creature!"

And this aggressive voice came
out from the dark,

and I thought it would
be a combination

of Clark Gable and Robert Taylor
and Robert Redford.

Turned out to be Mel Brooks.

And he never left me
from that moment on.

He would say, "Where you going?"

I said, "I'm going to William
Morris," he said, "So am I."

"Where are you going?"
"To that delicatessen."

"So am I!"

No matter where I said
I was going,

he said he was going there.

"I'm going to
the Bonsoir tonight."

"So am I!"

It just went on and on,
the man never left me alone.

Thank God.
[Laughs]

BROOKS: August 5th,

1964.

City Hall.

Nobody there but Anne and I,
and there was a black kid

who had stood up for his friend
to get married, his name was

Boone... Samuel Boone...
And I said,

"Sam, we don't have a best man
or anything,

could you stand up for us?"

He said, "Yeah, sure.

But I want to warn you...

don't break up because the clerk
who marries you

has an insanely funny voice!"

So we get in front of this
clerk, and the clerk says,

[EMPHATICALLY] "Do you,
Anna Marie Louise Italiano,

take Melvin Kaminsky Brooks..."

and we were on the floor.

We had to rise up again
and face him,

and look away from each other,

and we couldn't look at
Samuel Boone because he was...

and anyway we got married
in that fashion.

I was in love with him
instantly.

MAN: Really? Then both...
Instantly.

Because you see he looked like
my father,

and he acted like my mother.

And so for the next five years,
money was coming in.

And then I said,

well, maybe I can finish a book.

I showed it to some friends,

and I showed it to some
publishers,

and they said, "Too much
dialogue, not enough narrative."

They said, "Maybe it's a play."

Good, so I turned "Springtime
for Hitler" into a play.

And I took it to
Kermit Bloomgarten,

who did "Death of a Salesman,"

and he said,
"It's too many sets."

So I said
"What do I do?"

He said, "I think
it's a movie."

Amazing.

It's absolutely amazing.

But under the right
circumstances,

a producer could make more money
with a flop

than he could with a hit.

Let's assume,
just for the moment,

that you are a dishonest man.

MOSTEL: Assume away.

WILDER: You simply raise more
money than you really need.

If he were certain
that the show would fail,

a man could make a fortune!

Hello, boys.

If you only knew what I
went through for you.

BROOKS: I said
to Joseph E. Levine

when I was doing
"The Producers,"

he said, "Who would direct it?"
and I said, "Me."

And he said, "But you've
never directed."

And I said, "I wrote it,
I see it.

I see the rooms,
I see the people.

I know how they act,
I see the lights.

I wrote it, I see it."

MAN: Tell me about directing
Gene versus directing Zero.

BROOKS: It was difficult
to direct Zero Mostel.

I had never directed before,

and he simply wasn't taking
direction from anybody.

I really had to be careful about
not hurting his feelings

and still getting what I want.

MAN: I would've thought that
a watershed in your career

came when you met Mel Brooks.

You were playing
in "Mother Courage"

with Anne Bancroft, in fact.

Did you see it as an important
meeting right away?

[Laughs]

What's so funny?

[Laughs]

When God spoke to Moses
the first time,

if you ask him, "Was that
significant in your life...?"

It was like that, was it?

Yes. When the bush actually went
on fire...

I would say it had some
minor importance, yes.

Everything Gene did for me was
angelic and supreme.

There was one night,
it got to be 5:30 or 6:00,

and I said, "I want you to do
the wacky scene."

I thought at first it was
a joke,

and I said, "You mean tomorrow,
don't you?

We're gonna
do this tomorrow?"

And I said, "No, I need it...
I really need it tonight."

And I said, "But I've been
blowing my guts out,

I thought we were doing
this scene tomorrow."

I said, "Well, what would give
you some spirit?"

He said, "Well, chocolate."
I said okay.

He hollered, "Get me a dozen
Hershey bars!"

He got to be finished with it,

and I said,
"Have some black coffee."

He said, "I don't drink coffee."
I said, "Drink it tonight."

He said, "I don't drink coffee,
I don't like coffee."

I said, "Drink it tonight,
do it.

Drink the coffee."

[Wilder screeching]

Will you get ahold of yourself?!

Don't touch me!
Don't touch me!

[Muttering incoherently]

What's the matter with you?!

I'm hysterical!

I'm having hysteria
because I'm hysterical!

I can't stop
when I get like this.

I can't stop, I'm hysterical!

[Muttering]

I'm wet!

I'm wet!

I'm hysterical and I'm wet!

I'm in pain!

And I'm wet!

LEVINSON:
"Springtime for Hitler,"

I mean, that was pretty
"out there" comedy.

I remember seeing it at the time
and just going, "Oh, my God."

♪ And now it's ♪

♪ Springtime ♪

♪ for Hitler and Germany ♪

♪ Deutschland is happy ♪

♪ And gay ♪

♪ We're marching to a ♪

♪ Faster pace ♪

First you get a really bad
review in The New York Times.

"The worst picture
in the world,"

and "in very bad taste
with Hitler,"

and "the leading man
was too fat."

That's the end of my career.

But then Gene Shalit
came up and said,

"No one will be seated for the
first 88 minutes of this movie,

they'll all be on the floor
laughing their head off."

And it ran.

♪ Springtime for Hitler ♪

In a million years,

there would be no way for me
to win original screenplay

against "The Battle of Algiers."

And certainly Stanley Kubrick's
"2001," I mean, no way to win.

There's no way to win.

And the winner is Mel Brooks
for "The Producers."

[Orchestra playing
"Springtime for Hitler"]

I didn't trust myself
in case I won,

so I wrote
a couple of things here.

I want to thank the Academy of
Arts, Sciences and Money

for this wonderful award.

Uh, well, I'll just say
what's in my heart.

Bu-bump, bu-bump, bu-bump,
bu-bump...

[Laughter, applause]

But seriously, I'd like to thank
Sidney Glazier,

the producer of "The Producers"
for producing "The Producers."

Joseph E. Levine and his
wife Rosalie for distributing...

the film.

[Laughter]

I'd also like to thank
Zero Mostel.

I'd also like
to thank Gene Wilder.

I'd also like to thank
Gene Wilder.

I'd also like
to thank Gene Wilder.

Thank you very much.

[Applause]

[Orchestra plays
"Springtime for Hitler"]

Anne once said to me,

"Very often the stories are
father/son stories, you know."

In "The Producers," the older
man takes the younger man

under his wing, you know,
and corrupts him.

And then "The Twelve Chairs,"
the younger man

takes the older man under
his wing and corrupts him.

You know, Mel stays up a lot
at night, you know that?

I don't get to sleep till
after 3:00.

I just... I mean I have
a different...

What is it, diurnal clock in me.

I was late today when I saw you,
didn't I?

I was late today.

I'm late... I'm always late.

But when he stays up,
he reads classics.

He is truly an intellectual,
which astonishes people

when they sit down and talk to
him because they're waiting

for like, "Hey my wife is
so fat,

when she sits around the house,
she sits around the house."

And suddenly there is a man that
is talking about Strindberg

and Chekhov and Tolstoy,

and Arthur Laurents directing,

and you go,
"Who am I talking to?"

BROOKS: "The Twelve Chairs,"
it was written by two guys,

Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov.

A Russian aristocrat by the name
of Vorobyaninov now,

because of the revolution,

he's flattened out, very sad.

And his mother-in-law is dying.

Ippolit.

My jewels.

My diamonds!

I sewed them into
one of the chairs.

What?

It's as simple as that.

It's the most simple, beautiful
plot for a movie.

[Romantic soundtrack plays]

It's that wonderful, incredible

mixture of history, heart,

and bizarre comedy.

Mmm!

It's feta cheese.

It's what?

Feta... F-E-T-A.
Greek cheese, goat cheese.

Did they have that in Yugoslavia

when you were making your film?

Wood. We ate wood.

I see.
[Chuckling]

There was nothing to do
at night, there was no fun.

Tito had the car.

He's an astonishing wordsmith

because it really did
incorporate much more

than just a set-up
and a punch line.

It had to do with history,
and literature,

and philosophy, and religion,

and life, and death, and...

The difference between comedy
and tragedy is,

if you walk...

into an open sewer and die,

to me, it could be comedy.

Didn't happen to me,
what do I care?

Who gives a shit?

But tragedy is, if I'll
cut my finger, a paper cut,

I'll look at it for hours.

What I think I'm trying
to illustrate

is the innate incredible
selfishness,

the love for ourselves
in every human being.

We like other people, we do,
but if we look in the mirror

or think about ourselves,

it's a deep love.

I'm head over heals in love with
myself, I gotta tell you that!

Every night before I go to bed,
I try to kiss myself, it's hard.

I'm gonna stop and do it for
a minute now.

Mwah! Mwah!

Who could be better? No one.

You're so cute, you're adorable.
I love you!

"The Producers" made a penny,

"Twelve Chairs" made
a halfpenny.

I mean it made nothing,
you know.

And I figured, well, I'm out
of show business,

I might as well say what
I have in mind.

You know, I just flung
myself into the Netherland.

No, that's Holland...
Into the Netherworld.

I was walking down 59th Street

approaching Fifth Avenue.

I heard a voice say, "Hi, Mel,
looking for change?"

I guess my head was looking down
at the street.

Yeah, I looked up,

and there was David Begelman.

He said, "I want you to come
to my office

and see kind of a precis
of a script."

And I previously said to him,
"David, I only do my own stuff.

I don't do anybody else's ideas.

The ideas have to come to me,

and I have to
fashion them in my own way."

Then he said, "100,000."

I said, "I could change,
people change, you know."

Excuse me while I whip this out.

[Women scream]

[Crowd sighs]

It was Mel and I
and Norman Steinberg,

who at that point had a writing
partner named Alan Uger,

and Mel said, "We can't do this,
we can't have four Jews

sitting in a room writing
a movie about a black sheriff."

MAN: Funniest black man I know
is Richard Pryor,

with whom I'd worked

on "Flip Wilson Show."

So I called Richie.

Richie was a bit of a wild card.

And we sat down, and he...
Mel said,

"Let's tell you
where we're at."

And Richie said,
"Uh-huh, uh-huh."

And then he put out

a little vial and opened it up,

and, "Uh-huh, uh-huh,"
[Sniff]...

Then he passed it to Mel,
and he said, "Brother Mel?"

And Mel said,
"Never before lunch."

Two great bounces...

One was I wanted Richard Pryor
to play Black Bart,

and I couldn't get
him because Warner Bros. said,

"Richard takes drugs,
we can't take it."

And Richard approved of Cleavon,
so that was a bounce.

I didn't get Richard Pryor,
but I got Cleavon Little.

And I hired Gig Young to
actually play the Waco Kid

because Gig Young was ostensibly
a recovered alcoholic.

The first scene Cleavon Little
is supposed to say,

"Are we awake?" 'cause he's
hanging in the bed.

Gig Young says,
"Are we bla..."?

[Slurps]

A little spit coming out.

I turned to the assistant
director, I said,

"Gee, this guy is..."

"I told you he's a great actor.
Look at what he's giving.

Recovered alcoholic,
look at this."

And he says, "So are we awake?"
and [slurp]...

So now we begin spewing stuff
like in "The Exorcist,"

a lot of green stuff is spewing.

I said, "He's giving me
too much, you know."

And I said, "Cut," you know.

And we took him to the hospital,

and he was having the DT's,
it was just terrible.

That night I called...
Who do I call? Gene Wilder.

He flies out the next day,
he's in a cowboy suit,

he picks a horse,
he gets into the jail.

Are we awake?

We're not sure.

Are we... black?

And that's, boom, we were in.

And it was a bounce, that was
the second great bounce I took.

And after that I said,
"No more typecasting."

Good morning, ma'am!

And isn't it a lovely morning?

Up yours, nigger!

The engine that runs it
and makes it work

and stays on track throughout
the whole picture

is racial prejudice.

The new sheriff of Rock Ridge.

I'd be delighted.

Wow!
[Whistles]

I've gotta talk to you.
Come here.

Have you gone berserk?

Can't you see that
that man is a ni...

[Chuckles]

Wrong person, forgive me.
No offense intended.

Have you gone berserk?

Can't you see that
that that man is a ni...

I gotta admit something,

I don't really do anything
for the audience ever.

I always do it for me,

and most of the time
the audience joins me.

The campfire scene
certainly opened...

Opened the doors to all kinds
of gross-out comedy,

which I thought wasn't as funny
because the campfire scene

wasn't simply about farting,
it was about

this Western tradition.

Everybody saw these guys sitting
around slurping beans,

and... and there's the
unpleasant side effect.

Now it's just farting
just for the hell of it.

[Cowboys farting]

BROOKS: He said, "Okay,

farting scene out,"
I said, "Farting scene out."

That was Ted Ashley.

He saw a screening and he said,
"No punching horse."

How stupid of me, how silly.

"Can't hit a horse, horse punch.
Mongo punching a horse... out."

16 notes about
"Blazing Saddles."

By now he should realize,
he's running a film studio,

we've got about 11 minutes of
film left, you know,

to play "Blazing Saddles."

I took the yellow pa...
You know, I crumbled it up...

And John Calley was there...

And I threw it
in the wastepaper basket.

And Calley said,
"Well filed," you know.

The basis of this movie,

and I think what made it the hit
that it became,

was that you really believed
that Cleavon Little

and Gene Wilder loved each other

at the end of the day.

You really felt a tremendous
kinship between them.

Where you headed, cowboy?

Nowhere special.

Nowhere special?

I always wanted to go there.

Come on.

LEVINSON: "Blazing Saddles"
opened the door

for all modern comedy
that followed

in terms of that for
all the years, you know, after.

That literally

broke all of the boundaries that
were in existence at that time.

And Mel every once in a while is
a little taken aback

on how far things have gone.

Once you broke open Pandora's
box, that's what happens.

You started with the farts and
everybody took over from there.

You started it,
so don't complain.

See Mel Brooks'
"Young Frankenstein,"

starring Gene Wilder
as the Doctor,

Peter Boyle as the Monster,

Marty Feldman as the Hunchback,

Cloris Leachman as
the Lady with the Cigar,

Kenneth Mars as the Inspector,

Teri Garr as the Woman,

Madeline Kahn
as the Other Person.

[Thunder]

"Young Frankenstein!"

BROOKS: Gene Wilder's idea.

He was sitting down,
writing something, and I said,

"What are you writing?"

And he told me, and I said,
"I like it.

I like it, 'Young Frankenstein, '
I like it."

We made this deal with Columbia
on a handshake,

but as I was leaving,
I said, "Oh..."

I just popped my head into
the meeting room again and said,

"Oh, by the way, I don't know
if we discussed this,

but I'm gonna make it
in black and white,

as a tribute to James Whale."

Ehhhh! Pfft! Whooo!

"Come back!
Deal breaker, deal breaker!"

There were sirens going off
in the office.

If you make "Frankenstein"
in color,

already it's too silly.

You can't get the
verisimilitudiness quality

of James Whale's
"Frankenstein."

So they said, "Wait a minute,
we got an idea.

We'll make it

with color stock, and then we'll
diffuse the color,

we can do that, and it'll be
in black and white."

I said, "No, because then
when you get to Peru,

you're gonna color it again,
and I don't want you to do that.

So I'm not gonna give you that
opportunity to recolor it."

And they said...

"We simply can't make it in
black and white,

we won't make it."

So I then took the project
to some friends,

Alan Ladd at 20th Century Fox.

Alan Ladd, Jr. calls Mike

at 3:00 in the morning
and says, "I love it!

And it should be
in black and white."

We shall mock the earthquake!

We shall command the thunders

and penetrate

into the very womb...!

What the hell is "Frankenstein"
all about?

Here's a man who wants
to make another man.

Well, women do that;
well, men don't do that.

Well, men can try doing that.

The whole Frankenstein,
Promethean legend

has to do with man's inability
to make a child.

This is a nice boy!

[Sobbing]

This is a good boy!

This is a mother's angel.

And I want the world to know

once and for all
and without any shame

that we love him!

[Sobbing]

It was born out
of childhood memories,

and those memories were mostly
ones of being scared.

Then, years later, being able
to see the humor came.

So to do the picture without
the scary part,

it would've been a waste.

It's what comedy should be,

a salute and respect
to the original movie,

and just move it... move it over
two inches here to the right

or the left, and you get all
the comedy you need.

MAN: What is Mel Brooks like
to work for?

For me?

Yeah.

Nice.

And he understands me somehow,

and loves me somehow,

and allows me to be myself
to a greater degree

than a lot of people do,
and that's wonderful.

That's a great feeling.

I feel very liberated
around him.

He accepts my raunchier humor.

Come over here, you hot monster!

[Snarls]

[Distant violin]

What is it?

What's the matter?

Hmmm.

Is it that music?

It's probably just from
some nearby cottage.

Nothing to worry about.

Where are you going?!

Oh, you men are all alike!

Seven or eight quick ones

and you're off with the boys
to boast and brag.

You better keep your mouth shut!

Oh, I think I love him!

FELDMAN:
He violently directs you.

He would say, for instance,
to me in a scene,

"A little more pfft-pfft
and less krrr!"

And then say, "Action."

You must be Igor.

No, it's pronounced
"Eye-gor."

But they told me it was Igor.

Well, they were wrong,
then, weren't they?

FELDMAN: I seemed
to know what he means,

because after, he said,
"Yes, but maybe there was

a little too much tweet...

Yeah.
and so can we do it
again with

pfft and krrr
and no tweet?"

And I would say,
"Fine, Mel."

And we'd do another take,
and he'd say, "Great."

So, obviously I understood,

but I don't know what
I understood.

And then the craziest one
of all, Cloris Leachman,

who really glued the movie
together

with her intensity,
her insanity.

I am Frau Blucher.

[Thunder, Horses whinny]

LEACHMAN: "Young Frankenstein,"

I lived in that castle,
that became my castle.

Would the Doctor care for
a brandy before retiring?

No, thank you.

I'd turn, he'd turn, we'd walk,
I'd take a few steps,

I'd turn back, he'd turn back.

Some warm milk...

perhaps?

No, thank you very much.

Ovaltine!

Nothing!

Thank you!

It threw me a little bit,

so that's why my performance
is what it is,

I'm reacting to Gene.

You mean the laboratory.

Hmm!

Ha ha ha!

Oh, Gene, don't laugh!

I didn't have to have
any discipline,

it was Gene who couldn't
control himself.

After lunch in the commissary
every day,

Mel and I ended up being
the only people there

who were cleaning up,
and I just thought,

we're two Jewish mothers.

He's a darling guy.

I pretend we're married
sometimes,

just to myself.

GRUSKOFF: 1974 was
a major year for him

because "Blazing Saddles" was
released in February or March

and then "Young Frankenstein"
was released in December,

and we were up against
huge pictures when it...

You know,
"Towering Inferno."

And we were like, we like
snuck in, you know, really.

And to have those two movies
in one year,

as he says, he wasn't
Mel Brooks,

he was MEL BROOKS!

[Carefree soundtrack plays]

"Really? A silent movie?"

I said, "Yes.
Nobody talks."

And this is a tribute
to Charlie Chaplin,

and to Buster Keaton,
and to Harold Lloyd,

all the great, great
silent movies.

So Laddie said,

"'Young Frankenstein'
you take away color,

and now you're coming to me
and you say

you want to make a movie and you
want to take away sound."

The business had changed
in a way that you no longer

could do what Chaplin,
how they did it,

because he knew what he wanted
to do... or Keaton...

They knew what they wanted
to do... they didn't write it

with like, "And so-and-so
as he lifts his hand,

it touches the so-and-so..."

you know, like trying to write
that out

to make it sound interesting
to read

was an exhausting experience.

BROOKS: It proved
very difficult because

in the middle of making
this silent movie,

I said, "Oh, no sound,
I can get rid of the boom,

I'm so free, I don't have
to worry about, you know...

Later I just put
some title cards."

And I was in a morass,
I was in quicksand.

LEVINSON: It was very difficult
for Mel who's extremely verbal,

his language and the way that
he talks and everything else,

and now you're saying okay,
now this is Mel Brooks,

silent Mel Brooks.

[Game ball whacking
against paddles]

[Game SFX continue]

BROOKS: Sid Caesar was
a studio chief.

I was able to pay Sid back
and give him an important role

in a movie that I had made.

Mel has this intensity,
and this great mind

for comedy, and it's great
to see him flower out.

I'm a little jealous,
I'd say that, but that's human.

I directed him with all the love
in the world

'cause I loved him, and I was so
grateful to him

for teaching me what was
important in comedy.

MAN: Let's talk about
your private life.

Let's talk about...?

Your private life.
My private life?

You can attempt... you can try,
and I don't blame you.

If I were you, I'd ask a lot of
questions about my private life.

Well let's try.
Tell us where you were born.

Actually I was born in Paris
in the 16th arrondissement.

I played the accordion
when I was three.

I used to dream
by the river Seine

about coming to America one day.

I think I'm going crazy.

I was born in Brooklyn,
Williamsburg,

wishing I had been born
in Paris,

and wishing that some of the
girls in Brooklyn were

as relaxed and easy
as the girls in Paris.

My brother Bernie was a pitcher,
mostly underhand.

My brother Lenny was a hero
during World War II.

My brother Irving was
an intellectual,

gave me wonderful stuff to read,

and we were all kind of pups
in a cardboard box growing up

together in real poverty.

I wonder if there's such a thing
as fake poverty, but anyway...

We are so poor, we do not even
have a language,

just a stupid accent!

She's right, she's right!

We all talk
like Maurice Chevalier.

Hunh, hunh, hunh!

ALL: Hunh, hunh, hunh!

BROOKS: My mother was
a saint that raised four
boys without a husband.

My father died when I was two,
and in those days,

you had to wash diapers,
you had to cook for four boys,

you had to clean the house,

you had to make some
money somewhere.

My Aunt Sadie used
to bring home work,

and my mother would have a big
bundle of bathing suit sashes

and work until 1:00 or 2:00
in the morning,

and these were heroes.

I was in analysis six years

and I could not launch a decent
attack against my mother.

I like my mother.

I love my mother.

If I could, I would go skinny
dipping with my mother.

Not until I was about four
did I realize, four or five,

that other kids had fathers
and I didn't.

And then I don't know how
that affected my...

My psyche, but, you know, it...

it was a brush stroke
of depression

that really never left me.

Not having a father,

another great wellspring source
of love

that every child is entitled to.

Did becoming a father
help at all?

Yeah, it helped,
it helped a little, yeah.

It helped a little being...
Being a father,

and giving as much as I could.

Can you tell us a little about
your first marriage?

Well, my first wife was
a wonderful gal.

We were too young to really
appreciate what our...

Our real desires and needs were.

I think the word "more"
comes into it.

I think my first wife
needed more.

I needed more

attention from the world,
with less attention from a wife.

And there was nothing wrong,
there was nothing...

She's a wonderful gal.

She's, to this day, a good
mother and grandmother.

I just... it was
in a way, you know, unfortunate,

and in another way I met Anne,
and, you know, and that took.

You know, it took because Anne
and I both grew up

during the marriage.

We both grew up, we both knew
what was really important,

and what love meant, and what...

What doing for each other meant.

With Florence I got three
wonderful children.

And then Anne gave me Max.

I'm giving you the truth.

Now, you ask questions,
you get the truth.

♪ High anxiety ♪

♪ Whenever you're near ♪

♪ High anxiety ♪

♪ It's you ♪

♪ That I fear ♪

I called Hitchcock when we had

a rough draft
of "High Anxiety."

"My next genre film is I want
to do Hitchcock.

You, sir,
are an entire genre."

And I brought him what we had
outlined anyway.

And he looked through it,
and he said,

"Interesting,
very interesting."

He said,
"I think this will work."

[Gasping]

I know a lot of the other girls
are turned on

by these sort of kinky
phone calls

but I really couldn't care less.

[Gasping]

How did you, um...

get my room number?

[Gasping]

[Gasping continues]

I am not going to listen
to any more of this.

I mean, I've had
just about enough!

[Gasp!]

What are you wearing?

Ge... ge...

Jeans?

[Gasping]

Ooh, you're wearing jeans?

I bet they're tight.

Most of the women in movies

were to give the men
some reality,

and were not let loose
and were not encouraged.

They could be as funny, and
sometimes funnier, than men.

Mel gave sexy ladies a chance
to be funny,

and he allowed Madeline Kahn
to be sexy and funny.

There's a big difference...
Teri Garr, sexy and funny.

He likes women a lot,
and there's a real difference

between directors and men
in the business

that like women, and get women,

and are comfortable with women
being funny...

'cause there's a hell of a lot
of men that aren't,

but pretend that they think
women are funny,

but they're threatened by women,
and Mel Brooks loves women.

BROOKS: When she showed up
on the set for the first time,

she had pointed breasts.

[Chuckles]

I said, "I don't know if I...

I'm gonna be blamed for this,"
you know.

And I had been made up,
and I had my costume on,

I was all ready to go, and there
was a black pencil in my hand.

I'd just put on some eyebrows,

a little too close together
and curled,

and just waiting there,

and I started to pencil on
a little...

Allow me to introduce
Nurse Diesel,

my right-hand man... woman.

Dr. Thorndyke,
how do you do?

Dinner is served promptly at
8:00 in the private dining room.

Those who are tardy
do not get fruit cup.

LEVINSON: We were able

to make fun of certain kind
of visual setups he had,

how his camera was moving,
et cetera,

and so we were able to play
with the film language.

[Crash!]

I was making fun

of the shower scene in terms
of Bernard Herrmann's music.

"Hya-hya-hya..."

Here! Here!

Mel said, "If we do this, you've
got to do it, that's insane!"

Happy now?! Happy?!
Happy now?!

[Shower running]

That kid gets no tip.

So I finally got a real rough
cut of "High Anxiety,"

so I invite Alfred Hitchcock,
who has become my friend.

And then we went through
the picture,

and he didn't... you know,
every once in a while, he'd...

[Imitates Hitchcock]

he'd laugh...
That was Hitchcock laugh.

So we get to the shower scene,

when the newsprint from
the paper he killed me with,

or tried to kill me with,

went down the drain
and looked like blood,

and he said, "Brilliant,
absolutely brilliant."

And then he said,
"You got one thing wrong..."

[Door slams]

"Shower rings...

You have 13, we only had 10."

I had to live with that.
I had 13, he only had 10.

You're making too much noise!

I can't help it.
You're hurting me.

You're going too hard tonight.

Oh, get off it!

I know you better than
you know yourself.

You live for bondage
and discipline!

Waaaah!

One of the things about Mel
is that he's not afraid.

He will literally go for it,
you know,

because he believes that,
and he'll, like, take it

as far as you
can take something.

And that's a hard thing to do.

It's very easy to pull back,
and say oh,

it's just gonna be nice over
here, we'll be nice or whatever.

He's literally swinging
for the fence.

I said to John Calley
at Warner Bros.,

when I was making
"Blazing Saddles,"

I said, "John, can I really beat
the shit

out of a little old lady?"

[Throwing
punches]
Ohhh!

Have you ever seen such cruelty?

Oooh! Oooh!

He said, "Mel, if you're gonna
go up to the bell, ring it."

And I never forgot it.

My God, now she's dead.

No, she's not!

She's alive?!

She's Nosferatu.

She's Italian?!

If you're gonna do
a Dracula movie,

there's gotta be 20 gallons of
blood somewhere flying around.

Ohhh! My God!

There's so much blood!

She just ate!

Aah! She's still alive!

Hit her again!

No, no, I can't.

How much blood
can she have left?

Oh!

Go.

Ah!

Uh-ha-ah.
Uh-ha.

[Sighs]

She's almost dead.

She's dead enough.

It's like the Lincoln Center
fountain, it's just amazing.

His point of view has to do with

being as funny
as he could make anything.

That's a very
liberating way to be.

It doesn't even occur to him
really

that that's gonna be offensive
at some point.

All pay heed!

The Lord, the Lord Jehovah

has given unto you

these 15...

Oy!

10! 10 commandments

for all to obey!

Look, there's a light
right in your face.

Isn't it getting into your lens?

There, that's better.

Okay, what do you want to know?

MAN: Brooks Films.

None of your business.

Okay, why Brooks Films happened
started with Anne Bancroft.

She was at AFI, and she had made
a little film

called "The August,"
beautiful little film,

and then she'd made
a second film.

It was a story that she wrote
specifically for Dom DeLuise.

It was called "Fatso."

I wanted to produce it,
but I had a problem.

I saw that if I used
"Mel Brooks,"

they would expect

less heartbreak and a lot more,
with Dom, a lot more comedy.

So I said, ah, I got it,
I got it!

I will be Brooks Films.

When I first initiated
Brooks Films,

I really had a motto...

"Give talented people the room
to express their talent."

The first movie that I
completely handed over

to a first time director,
a newcomer,

was a movie that would cost
under five million.

But it was a risk.

MAN: Mel,

he saw this thing
in "The Elephant Man"

that nobody else saw.

BROOKS: Strange guy, you could
only meet him at a Big Boy,

Bob's Big Boy.

I wasn't crazy about
cheeseburgers,

but I just had a lot of faith

that he could realize
his vision.

And in "The Elephant Man,"
he did.

John Merrick.

'ohn 'errick.

No, John...

That's very good,
but say, "John Merrick."

Mer'ck.

"Hello. My name
is John Merrick."

Hello, my naaame...

is John Merrick.

You can speak.

BROOKS: Seems to be a running
theme of Brooks Films,

that all our characters are
outside the normal mainstream

of civilized activity.

They're all oddballs,

but incredibly human,
incredibly gifted, all of them.

They all really count.

STEINBERG: I got a call
from Mel.

He said, "It's Mel Brooks
meets Errol Flynn

on 'The Show of Shows.'"

I said, "I'm not gonna write
Mel Brooks,

because it'll come out...

I'm gonna write myself
as the Benjy character."

He said,
"No, I can't pay you enough."

And then I said, "You can't
pay me enough,

or you won't pay me enough?"

There was a pause and he said,
"One of those two."

Monologue's in.

Good morning, King.
Hello, Stan.

Yeah, good morning.

King, about the monologue!

What's that?
Do you smell something?

[Sniffs]

It's coming from the script!

[Sniffs]

Oh, it's your monologue!

Oh, what a stinkburger.
K.C.!

Pull!

Booom!

I hate it, it's not funny,
it's out!

Hey, babe, we're not
married to it.

Monologue's out.

MAN: Michael Gruskoff was one of
the producers, said,

"You only get Mel
when you need him."

I didn't want to step
all over it

because I was basically
the producer.

I mean I don't micromanage.

We were doing the budget,
and I realized,

"We need more money."

And I called him and I said,

"Mel, I need you.
We need $300,000."

So I said, "We have to meet
with David Begelman,"

who was the head of the studio.

"and try and get
this money."

So I said, "Let's call him

and make an appointment
in his office."

And he said, "No, no office,
we don't go into any office.

You go into an office,
you don't get anything.

They take phone calls,
they don't pay attention,

they go to another meeting.

We're going to meet him
in the hallway."

I said,
"What are you talking about?"

He said,
"You get them in the hall.

When they're going somewhere
or coming back.

I'll show you."

So, I said, "Okay.
When is that going to be?"

He said, "Around lunchtime."

I said, "On his way to lunch?"

He said, "No, you dope!
Not on his way to lunch."

He said, "He's gonna be hungry,
he's not going to listen to us.

Wait till he has lunch,
he's eaten a nice big lunch.

We get him on the way back.

We ambush him."

I said, "Okay."

I hadn't heard about this in
film school or anywhere else.

So here comes Begelman
down the hall.

Mel grabs him... "Hiya, David,
how you doing?"

Tells him three or four jokes,

David is laughing,
having a nice time.

We're moving all this time.

We know that this has to happen
before he hits the office.

Then, just as we hit
his office doorway, he says,

"David, you got any cash
on you?"

And he said, "Why?"

He said, "Well, the kid..."
that was me, the kid...

"the kid here needs $300,000
to finish the picture."

"Really?" George Justin,
the production guy,

is in the hall, he says,
"Is that true?"

And he says, "Yeah."

He said, "All right,
give them the money."

And he's laughing and then he's
not laughing quite as much,

and he's got a look on his face
like, "what happened here?"

And he's in his office.

And Mel says,
"You need anything else?"

And I said, "Hm, not now."

He said, "Okay, just call me."
He's gone.

It's like Lamont Cranston,
The Shadow... and he's gone.

He was there,
now he's not there.

It's the Mel school
of how to make movies.

[Jazz band plays]

BROOKS: For years,
I've been looking for a vehicle

for Anne and Mel,
for my wife and I, to be in.

I thought it might be a Dodge.

Didn't turn out to be a Dodge,
turned out to be a movie.

"To Be or Not To Be."

SHALIT: What was it like to work
in a movie with this person?

Well, it was a lot
like being pregnant.

Some days were good

and some days you felt
like throwing up.

You get two bouquets of roses,
and I get to watch!

Well, I have to get
some appreciation!

Appreciation?
What are you talking about?

You are not only my wife,

you happen to be the costar
of this company.

Mr. Bronski, here's
the new poster

from the printer's...
Is it okay?

It's fine, Bieler, fine.

Fine? Just a minute.
Come back here!

Look, I don't mind
my name in smaller print,

I don't even mind it
under the title,

but in parentheses?!

I like it.
It sets your name apart.

Well, set yours apart.

I'm a half-assed actor
and a smart...

comic personality.

I know who I am and I know
what I can do.

I know what my limits are.

And I know voids of...

personalities I can fill.

I don't want war,
all I want is peace!

Peace!

Peace!

♪ A... ♪

♪ Little piece
of Poland ♪

♪ A little
piece of France ♪

♪ A little piece
of Portugal ♪

♪ And Austria, perchance ♪

♪ A... ♪

♪ Little slice of... ♪

When did you first become
aware of Hitler?

What a crazy question.

What a really crazy...
When did I...

When I was 14 or 15, Hitler got
to be very popular in Germany

in 19... in the 1930s.

I was aware that he was not
a nice person.

Strangely enough I didn't know
anything about

concentration camps.

When I found out as a soldier
in Europe,

it took a long time to make any
kind of human sense out of that.

And I never thought of doing
anything about Hitler

until after I got back.

[Shouting "Sieg Heil!"]

C. REINER: I love the fact
that Mel Brooks dared

to do to Hitler what Hitler
did to the Jews.

He decimated him
by making fun of him.

RIVERS: Well, there are always
gonna be people

that, when you do a Hitler joke,
you make a Jewish joke,

that are going to say,
"You shouldn't do this."

He has my philosophy, so I think
he's right, obviously.

You bring it around with humor,

you remind everybody with humor
what's happened,

what's been done,
and that makes it palat...

If you laugh at something,
you've won already.

You only have half of me.

Look, I'm going to do
my famous "Heil"

and you're not going
to get my arm in.

"Heil me, heil me,
heil me, heil me!"

I'm not in, just this part!

His little grandson was
backstage the other night

in the dressing room,
he said to Mel,

"Yes, is Hitler a good man,
or a bad man?"

And Mel looked down at him
and said,

"Well, Hitler's a bad man."

He said, "Why did Hitler make me
laugh like that?"

And then Mel said,
"Hitler didn't make you laugh,

I made you laugh."

[Orchestra playing
"Blue Danube"]

BROOKS: The great thing about
dictators is

you have to know if you get
on a soapbox with them

you're gonna lose 'cause they
have a way of spellbinding

with their oratory.

But if you can reduce them

to ridicule, then you're
way ahead.

I was looking for another genre
to destroy,

and I was lucky that I hadn't
done science fiction,

so I figured I'd plow
into it head first,

and be irreverent and crazy,
but who likes sci-fi?

Well, every kid from 9 to 20,
9 to 18.

I took off my artistic glasses
and threw them away.

This humor is
gonna be shotgun humor.

You have the ring,

and I see your Schwartz
is as big as mine.

BROOKS: I called Lucas and he
said, "I only have one caveat."

Tell me, I'll do it.

He said, "No action figures
because I read your script

and they're gonna look exactly
like my action figures.

You'd be robbing me

of an income from..."
I said, "You're right."

Merchandising, merchandising!

Where the real money
from the movie is made.

Spaceballs the t-shirt.

Spaceballs the coloring book.

Spaceballs the lunchbox.

Spaceballs the breakfast cereal.

Spaceballs the flame thrower!

Whoo! Whoo!
Whoo! Whoo!

The kids love this one.

Last but not least,

Spaceballs the doll... me!

[FALSETTO]
May the Schwartz be with you!

When it came out,
it was not a success.

Critically, it wasn't
well-received.

You know, it was kind of
lukewarm, and most people said,

"This is Mel Brooks kind of at
the end of his game."

But then once, you know,
we had a kid over for supper,

and I happened to mention
an hour or two into it

something about "Spaceballs,"

he goes, "Oh, can we talk
about 'Spaceballs'?"

And he knew every line and
everything, and I realized,

wow, something's happened here.

The DVD sells more than
my artistic triumphs

like "Young Frankenstein"
or "Twelve Chairs."

To this day,
it's the biggest hit I've got.

How much film have you got?
When is it over?

You got 400 feet?
What have you got left?

About a couple hours, an hour.

Oh, it's one of those, oh, okay.

I forgot, we're in
the 21st century, right?

Such an unusual name,
"Latrine."

How did your family come by it?

We changed it
in the 9th century.

You mean you changed it
to "Latrine"?

Yeah. Used to be
"Shithouse."

Why would I not want to play
that part, though,

do a cameo when you're
called "Latrine"?

You know, I mean it was a...
What a credit for me.

He just wants everyone to feel
comfortable

and to be as funny
as they can be.

There's no angst with working
with him,

it's just about being as funny,
and having positive energy,

and there's so many
people that make

the whole "being funny"
business miserable.

MAN: I was almost done with
the film, I had one scene left,

and I got Hepatitis A,
and I was hospitalized.

I was like... I looked like
a Jewish sardine.

I had 106 fever, I'm in Cedars.

So Mel calls my room, he says,
"Richard, it's Mel, look.

We love you..."

I'm doing a bad Mel here.

He says, "Listen,
here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna pick you up
in a stretch,

we're gonna get you right
to the set,

and we're gonna lean you
against a piece of wood,

and we're gonna paint you so
you don't look yellow.

You'll do your two lines,

we'll carry you right back
into the stretch,

you'll be back at Cedars
in 20 minutes."

I go, "Mel, I'm dying.
I think I'm dying.

I have 106 fever,
I'm jaundiced, I can't."

So I hung up on him.

He called me about 15 times
with the same riff.

He's like a funny mobster...

Jewish mobster...
When he wants to be.

The reviewers,
most of them reamed it.

And it was disappointing.

How do I insulate myself
against it?

I can't... you can't.

Every bad review is a knife
plunging through your heart.

It must be an enormous burden
to be the funniest man on earth,

and he has to live up to so many
people's expectations,

maybe including his own.

"Dracula: Dead and Loving It,"
I think,

felt more like
a Mad magazine parody.

Not bad in itself,
but not necessarily a...

But it wasn't a Mel Brooks,

it wasn't enough of Mel
in a way.

If you keep doing something,
after a while,

the public will get tired,

the critics will get tired,

the world will get tired.

So I made a lot of mistakes

making up my own mind,

but never displeasing yourself
in the feeding of the public.

Always have your...
your sacred values intact.

LANE: You know, it was an
interesting time in his life.

You know, he had sort of fallen
out of favor a bit,

as everybody does...
At a certain point, you know,

huge string of successes,
and then,

you know, and then somebody else
comes along.

Most people sink when they
have failures.

These rare individuals that are
sort of comic geniuses like Mel

are buoyant.

BROOKS: David Geffen called me
at my office and said,

"You know, I got a great idea.

I just saw 'The Producers'
on television,

and it was meant to be
a musical."

I said, "No, it's a good movie,

let's leave it alone,
forget about it."

And he said, "No,"
and he was like a terrier.

He grabbed the cuff
of my trousers

with his little terrier teeth,
and chawed, he wouldn't let go

until finally I said,

"Okay, okay, we'll make it
a Broadway musical!"

At one point he thought about,

should someone else write
the score,

went to Jerry Herman,
and Jerry was the one to say,

"You've already written two
great songs, you should do it."

And that was really
the right idea.

I think it had to be Mel.

STROMAN: He had his good friend
Tom Meehan.

Tom suggested that Mel

connect with me and my husband,
Mike Ockrent.

There he was bang on time
at 6:30,

and instead of saying hello,

he just launched into the song
"That Face."

♪ That face, that face... ♪

And he went right by me,

right down my long hallway,

dancing to this song that I'd
never heard of,

and he jumped up on top
of the sofa, and he looked down,

and he said,
"Hello, I'm Mel Brooks."

We started to work, and
it was shortly after that,

sadly, my husband became ill
with leukemia.

And we lost him.

Sorry.

He wanted me to go on as
the director and choreographer.

I didn't think I could do it

just because of how
I was feeling.

But, you know, Mel said, "Stro,

you will cry in the morning,
and you will cry in the evening.

You'll cry before you see me,
and you'll cry after I leave."

He says, "But you will laugh all
during the day."

And, you know, it saved me.
It really did.

It was meant to be that Mel
came into my life.

I got something I want
you to see.

Oh, no!

This is a contract.

It's for "The Producers,"
we're taking it to Broadway,

and I want him.

[Cheering, applause]

It was that rare thing
that happens in the theater

where all of the right people
came together at the right time.

♪ We can do it ♪

♪ We can do it ♪

♪ We can do it ♪

♪ Me and you ♪

♪ We can do it ♪

♪ We can do it ♪

♪ We can make our dreams
come true ♪

BRODERICK: The cover of
the Daily News was a picture

of this line, huge one.

It felt like it was 1938.
It was like Broadway was back.

Tony night for "The Producers,"
you were in the audience,

and you couldn't believe

how they kept saying,
"The Producers,"

"The Producers,"
"The Producers."

And the 2001 Tony Award
goes to...

Gary Beach,
"The Producers."

Cady Huffman.

Nathan Lane!

[Crowd cheering]

They've broken the record...
"The Producers."

BRODERICK:
It was surreal.

It was like I was imagining it,

the amount of Tony's
it kept winning,

and the amount of times Mel
kept coming up.

It's been wonderful being here.

I'll see you in a couple
of minutes... goodbye!

And that's when Nathan said,
"We gotta stop him somehow."

And trying to get Mel to stop,

which is very difficult to do
without a tranquilizer dart.

♪ You and me, oh,
we guarantee, oh ♪

♪ You're looking at Leo ♪

♪ And Max! ♪

♪ The Producers ♪

♪ Leo ♪

♪ And Max! ♪

♪ Ahhhhhh! ♪♪

[Applause]

STROMAN: The success
of "Producers" opened up

a whole new genre of shows

because after "The Producers"
opened, then you saw shows

like "Spamalot"
and "Book of Mormon."

I think "Producers" allowed
people to be more outrageous

and more...
and funnier.

BROOKS: This is what I was
meant to do.

That's what I started doing

in the Borscht Belt,
in the mountains.

And I left it for movies.

It's a personal burst of
creative freedom.

It's the most rewarding thing
an artist can do

is the Broadway stage.

LANE: You know, I can remember
Anne coming over

after some run-through
and her saying,

"Thank you so much for what
you've done for the show

and for getting my husband
out of the house."

Then she said the greatest thing
ever about him, you know.

"We're like any other couple,
we've had our ups and downs,

but, " she said, " every time I
hear the key in the door,

I know the party's
about to start."

BROOKS: Anne died at 73.

She could've certainly

gone on to 83, 90, you know,
would've been wonderful.

[Applause]

[Applause]

MAN: You've pretty much gotten
every award there is to...

BROOKS: Not every award.

Woman of the Year,
I have not received that award.

I don't know why.

I mean, you know, if they want
me to go get in a dress

for that award, I would do it.

To begin with, I'm very honored
and I'm very happy

and bitterly disappointed.

[Laughter]

I thought I was
going to become a doctor.

I don't even know if I'm
talented.

I'm not sure.

But I've told so many people
that I'm talented

so they believe it,

and then they tell me I'm
talented so I agree.

It's good to be da king.

I think we're good for today.

We're good for today,
we're wonderful for today.

Do I get paid for this?

No.

If this program was called
"Dutch Masters,"

I'd have boxes of cigars,

but I had to be foolish and
settle for "American Masters."

No money in it, no cigars,
no nothing.

Anyway, we'll talk again.
Bye-bye.

Thank you.

[Dramatic soundtrack plays]

♪ Hope for the best ♪

♪ Expect the worst ♪

♪ Some drink champagne ♪

♪ Some die of thirst ♪

♪ No way of knowing ♪

♪ Which way it's going ♪

♪ Hope for the best,
expect the worst ♪♪

So don't eat candy bars,

and don't eat too much
sugar anyway.

Eat all the fruit you want.

Citrus fruit is perfect

because it has a lot of fiber,

and it knows what to do.

It'll give you vitamin C,

and work it's way down

and help you eliminate.

Citrus fruit, okay.

If I've done nothing with this
whole goddamn interview,

at least I got you onto
grapefruit, oranges, tangelos.

MAN:
You never talk about a pear.

Pear is okay.
I have nothing against the pear.

A d'Anjou pear, I lo...
You know, very nice.

♪ Expect the worst ♪

♪ You could be Tolstoy ♪

♪ Or Fannie Hurst ♪

♪ So take your chances ♪

♪ There are no answers ♪

♪ Hope for the best ♪

♪ Expect the worst ♪

♪ Hope for the best ♪

♪ Expect the worst ♪

♪ The rich are blest ♪

♪ The poor are cursed ♪

♪ That is a fact, friends ♪

♪ The deck is stacked,
friends ♪

♪ Hope for the best ♪

♪ Expect ♪

♪ The Worst ♪

♪ Hey! ♪♪