all about me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business by Mel Brooks (Ballantine)
The Beagles and Nova Scotia have breakfast while scripting Blazing Saddles. Earl Gray Tea and English Digestive Biscuit, developing Gene Wilder’s idea for Young Frankenstein. Cottage cheese topped with fruit while another writer pitches in for a silent film.
In addition to an uncanny memory for food, Mel Brooks has the skills of an alchemist to turn the base metal of others’ ideas into comedy treasures. But lead comes before sleep. With the notable exception of The Producers, Brooks’ greatest hits have been a team effort that usually starts out as nuggets in someone else’s mind.
In his new memoir All About Me! The unmatched self-promoter, now 95, generously shares the credit… most of the time. Look elsewhere to hear a different side of Mel Brooks’ story, with some of his colleagues babbling about elbowing one side to get all the glory he could. The same goes for his personal life, his first marriage being barely noted despite three children and years of litigation and anything that could cast a shadow over the lovable funny man.
Everything About Me, as advertised! A narrowly focused celebration of a poor Jewish child who grew up from a Brooklyn street corner jokester, is synonymous with heartfelt laughter and mischievous laughter. It’s a surprisingly tender recollection of a comedian known for making fun of anything considered sacred in America.
The entertainment world was an escape for Melvin Kaminsky, the youngest of four brothers, whose father died when Melvin was 2 and whose mother worked hard to get enough money for movie tickets. His stint as a clown teen at the Catskills resort (as opposed to the months leading up to the bombings in the wake of the Battle of the Bulge) made his heavenly dream more mundane after a post-war Army job for a commercial entertainment unit . helped.
Brooks refined his talent for comedy during his first big break, writing for the series Sid Caesar Your Show of Shows and Caesar Hour during the TV Golden Age. After years of leaning, but Brooks continued at it, thanks to his 2,000-year-old man routine with Carl Renner, TV helped write and co-produce his first film, The Producers (1968). and directed, which he adapted decades later. A Broadway juggernaut.
Along the way Brooks was Cary Grant (debonair but dull), John Wayne (he thought the Blazing Saddles script was hilarious but too filthy for the presence of America’s Favorite Cowboy) and Alfred Hitchcock (Master of Suspense). Brooks said whether she felt the high concern was an insult or tribute, she sent a note with a case of fine wine at the end). And the actress was Anne Bancroft. Her unlikely attraction to Brooks’ off-kilter persona resulted in her rare Hollywood production, A Durable Marriage.
To avoid confusing ticket-buyers, Brooks dropped his name from his production company’s non-comedies The Elephant Man, Frances, “The Fly” and other top films. His holistic view of the commercial side of the film business. Brief Discussion He sought overseas rights to his later paintings and was rewarded with more money than he earned domestically, a welcome favour.
Anyone looking for introspection will be disappointed. While Brooks celebrates his reputation for dangerous comedy, he doesn’t take any chances with today’s hot topics. Look elsewhere for Brooks to see if the saddle blazing with liberal use of the N-word will survive in our politically correct culture (no, he has said). Rethinking misogyny and homophobia that were part of the comedy canon of their generations just aren’t on the menu.
Yes, a lot about me! If Brooks isn’t praising himself, he’s self-congratulatory, he quotes others praising him, and yes, the plot and cast recalculations for his films come across as superficial. His memoir works best, which is often in the form of watching the laughter of a man who isn’t trying to make us gasp for breath.
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Douglas K. Danielle is the author of Anne Bancroft: A Life (University Press of Kentucky).
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