When he was 14, Mel Brooks, began his career in show business as a comedian at several Catskill Mountain resorts north of New York City. After service in Germany in World War II - he dismantled booby traps and defused land mines among other duties - he returned home determined to establish a career in entertainment where he soon found himself enjoying writing more than performing. He honed that skill for several years on Sid Caesar's Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. Around 1960 he teamed up with Carl Reiner, also a Caesar comedy writer, to develop a sketch that would make both of them famous.
Entitled "The 2000 Year-Old Man," the concept featured a comic Brooks as the old man being interviewed by Reiner as the straight man. Over fifty years the duo produced several recordings of the often ad lib sketches produced in studio as well as live on countless television programs. After this success and a move to Hollywood filmmaking wasn't far behind.
Today we wish the 2000 year-old man a very happy birthday. The performer, writer, director, producer, songwriter, and perpetually wacko comic personality is 97 years old. In his seventy year career he's brought us some of the finest comedy to grace the American stage, big screens in theaters, and the television screens in millions of our homes. And there's no end in sight either with his work in animated features and now rare television appearances. It's only a guess where his talents could emerge in the future.
 |
| Brooks in a still from Blazing Saddles, 1974 |
His film career began with The Producers in 1968. The rest is history, a laugh track of films including:
Blazing Saddles (1974) "Mongo only pawn...in game of life."
Young Frankenstein (1974) "Abby...Normal."
Silent Movie (1976) "Non!"
High Anxiety (1977) "Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup!"
History of the World Part I (1981) "It's good to be the king."
Spaceballs (1987) "May the schwartz be with you."
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) "Actually Scarlet is my middle name. My whole name is Will Scarlet O'Hara. We're from Georgia."
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) "I have been to many stakings - you have to know where to stand! You know, everything in life is location, location, location...."
The Producers (musical) 2001 "Will the dancing Hitlers please wait in the wings? We are only seeing singing Hitlers.
The Producers (film remake) 2005 "My blue blanket! Give me back my blue blanket!"
Young Frankenstein (musical) 2007 "He vas my boyfriend!"
The American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Comedies list has The Producers (1968), Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein ranked at #11, #6, and #13. Here is the unforgettable three minutes and twenty seconds from the film he calls his personal favorite, the 1968 production of The Producers:
I think one reason why the 2000 year-old man is still laughing with us at 97 rests with the fact that the Mel Brooks on stage and film is most often the same man one finds in private life. How does he do it? I recall the many stories my National Park Service colleagues told of Brooks and his wife, Anne Bancroft. In the '70's and '80's they were frequent guests at Caneel Bay Resort inside Virgin Islands National Park on the island of St. John. Known for playing practical jokes on the younger park rangers and resort staff during the day, Brooks and Bancroft hosted them at after-hours gatherings where hilarity ruled. Given the public comedy we know, one can only imagine the memories to come out of the spontaneity of such an evening. The world would be a far happier place if all of us could have more evenings like that.
Today, instead of laughing at the comedy and satire Brooks gave us over the years the political correctness of the day would rather smother it and insure we never produce it again. So unfortunate. Regardless, with the passing of Carl Reiner at 98 in 2020, we're looking at Brooks as the last man standing from a remarkable era of comedy entertainment in the US. Here's wishing one of the funniest men on the planet a very happy birthday. It's my hope that we can laugh at his wacko genius for years to come.
For more information as well as a most entertaining read this summer I recommend Brooks's memoir published in 2021. Without a doubt it will leave you smiling.
No comments:
Post a Comment