By Mel Brooks.
I'm a fan, I'm in "The Producers" right now (I also got a copy of "How We Did It," but I don't feel like I can really review it when most of it is script and pics), so I got this. Anyway, Mel talks about his childhood and being the youngest of a bunch of boys and losing his dad at an early age, what he did during WWII, and how his career took off, before getting into each movie he's made and the quirks and actors in 'em. It's a fun, entertaining read, and you expect no less of him.
If there's anything not good/kinda off about this, it's that Mel is a bit weird about avoiding a few topics. He barely mentions that he had a first wife at all, who he had THREE kids with. I think the first three kids got like, two pages of mentions and then never come up again in the entire book? I'm not sure why that is. Admittedly, the book focuses more on his career once it takes off rather than his personal life, so that could be why. He focuses more on his second wife, Anne Bancroft (clearly that was a happy relationship) and mentions of his youngest son, Max. I sort of assume Max gets more mention since he did more film stuff and at this point is an author people have heard of, but I still felt bad for the other three kids, who I didn't even know existed before this. He also can't bear to talk much about Anne's death--well, yeah, I get that.
I enjoyed the opening of the book, in which Mel is five and convinced that Frankenstein is going to come eat him. His mom points out very reasonably that it will take Frankenstein a long time to come to Brooklyn from Transylvania, and probably eat the people who live on the first floor. I like his mom. Sensible woman.
As a kid, Mel was planning on going to a specialized high school to learn how to become a mechanic and learn a trade. Then when his oldest brother Irving came home and found this out, he said, "This kid is special. He's different. He has something. He's really bright and we've got to give him a chance to go somewhere in life. He's not going to be an aviation mechanic. He's going to go to college," and then tore up the application. "I'll forever be grateful to Irving for seeing in me a future with great expectations." Awwww. Nobody ever thought I was special and was going to go somewhere and saw a future for me...of course, that's because I'm not and I go nowhere and there is no future for me. God bless that someone recognized that this guy had "it." Later he's all "I said, I am going into show business and nobody will stop me! And, strangely enough, nothing did."
At age 14, he gets called in as a last minute replacement to play a lawyer in a play because he knows all the lines. After he accidentally drops a glass onstage, he confesses to being 14 and never having done this before. "The audience exploded in a huge roar of laughter. I felt great! I'd found my true profession. I wasn't an actor. I was a comedian." (And booted out of that show.)
At the end of WWII, a friend of his marched him down to a schoolhouse cellar and provided food and drink. Why? Because the friend reasonably deduced that people would go crazy and start shooting off their guns when the end of the war is announced, and all the bullets will be raining down..."And that's why we are going to spend the next twenty-four hours in the cellar, trading the joy of victory for the tired cliche of just staying alive." Smart man.
The inspiration for The Producers and specifically Max Bialystock was Mel's first boss, Benjamin Kutcher, who was clearly living in his office, always raised more money than he needed for the show, and that's where "you can make more with a flop than you can with a hit" originated. He also raised money from a lot of old lady backers "that he would flatter to pieces. I don't think that he ever went as far as Max Bialystock."
During his time working with Sid Caesar writing sketch comedy, at one point Sid was accidentally dressed as a Roman soldier and walked into a business scene. "Sorry I'm late," Sid said, "but I just came from an all-night costume party. Let's get on with the business." GOOD JOB! However, he does say that Sid was sometimes crazy and once hung him outside a window for complaining it was too smoky indoors. And one time Sid took a sedative and passed out during dinner in public and everyone ended up pretending it was a skit or else it would end up in the papers. "I stood over Sid with a knife in my hand and said, "So, Inspector, this undoubtedly is the murder weapon,." Larry Gelbart responded, "Let us pray," and they all put their heads down on the table. This kind of improvisation went on for forty-five minutes, with Sid out cold." Sid woke up in time for the check, to finish ordering his meal.
"One day we were walking up Fifty-seventh Street and coming down toward us were three nuns. They immediately knew I couldn't resist. Larry said, "Mel, leave it alone." Doc said, "Mel, whatever you were gonna do--don't do it." I answered "Not to worry, not to worry..." But I was lying. As the nuns approached, I shouted, "Get out of those costumes! The sketch is OUT!"
If you've ever wondered on this topic: "I knew I was going to name the main character Max, because at that point I had named all of my main characters Max. The Producers had Max Bialystock. My father's name was Max, his grandfather's name was Max, and later I named my youngest son Max."
Descriptions from The Producers:
Max: "Not only doth his cup runneth over but it spilleth all over the floor."
Leo: "Leo Bloom is a well-mannered, curly-haired, blue-eyed, forty-two-year-old walking anxiety attack. Leo Bloom and Pinocchio would probably have been very good friends. Both of them desperately want to become real live boys."
Mel's strategy for dealing with people objecting to things in his movies: lies, claims he'll take it out, then never does it. They never remember anyway, he says. "As far as movie executives are concerned, always agree with them, but never do a thing they say. When the good reviews, and more important for the front office, the money started rolling in, I never heard a bad word from the head of the studio again." He also advises you to hit up people for money in the bathroom, not in their office, where they feel like a king.
On Hitler: "I wrote back to every single one and tried to explain to them that the way you bring down Hitler and his ideology is not by getting on a soapbox with him, but if you can reduce him to something laughable, you win. That's my job."
"When you parody something, you move the truth sideways. With Blazing Saddles, we moved the truth out into the street. I told the writers: "Write anything you want. We will never be heard from again. We will all be in jail for making this movie." Later he asks the head of production if it's too crazy to beat up an old lady in a Western bar fight. The answer: "Mell, if you're gonna step up to the bell--ring it!"
When Mel got his hands and feet on the Walk of Fame, he had a sixth finger added on. He then wore it on Conan's show later that night and Conan went bananas when he saw.
During Young Frankenstein, he told people to shove handkerchiefs in their mouths to stop laughing. "I turned around once in the middle of shooting a scene and saw a sea of white handkerchiefs in everybody's mouths. I thought, I've got a big hit here. This movie is going to be hilarious."
Mel made friends with Hitchcock when making High Anxiety. When seeing it, Hitch only laughed at the bird poop scene, then walked out in silence...but did send Mel some fancy wine and his kindest regards and called it a "splendid entertainment."
And finally, when he won the AFI award, he said he didn't want to have to come back the next year to praise the next winner, so he pre-emptively praised that person in a vague sort of way. Alas, Jane Fonda won the next year and begged him to show up...as did Steve Martin, after her.
Anyway, this is a really enjoyable read. Four stars.