Melvyn James Kaminsky was born 26 June 1926 to Maximilian and Kitty (Brookman), the youngest of four children. Maximilian, a Jewish immigrant from Danzig, died suddenly when Mel was just two years old, leaving his mother Kitty to work ten hours a day in the garment district to provide for her family. She also had to bring extra work home at night to make ends meet until Mel’s brothers were old enough to work. By the time Mel was 14 he had learned to use comedy to help him cope with being small in stature in the Williamsburg (Brooklyn) slums where they lived. He learned the drums and began playing gigs for pocket change. He went to college for only a year before the Army drafted him; Mel became a member of the early edition of explosive ordinance disposal and participated in the Battle of the Bulge.
After the war Mel worked the borscht circuit but another Kaminsky, no relation, worked that circuit and, after a case of mistaken identity, Mel took the professional name Brooks. His first shot at stand-up comedy came when he filled in one night for an ill comedian. He began his acting career in Redbank, New Jersey, worked in radio and held the position of social director at Grossinger’s in the Catskills. In 1949 he was asked to write material for NBC’s Broadway Review by his friend Sid Caeser. Sid paid Mel out of his own pocket. Mel also worked on Your Show of Shows with other writers like Woody Allen, Carl Reiner and Neil Simon. After several years of kicking around in New York, Carl Reiner went to Hollywood and Mel Brooks followed. The year was 1960. The same year they made an LP of their “Two Thousand Year Old Man” interview and it sold over a million copies. Among Mel’s many achievements to date is the NBC show Get Smart, the movies The Producers, Blazing Saddles, To Be or Not to Be, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men In Tights. And who knew that Mel Brooks had a fan in George Lucas, who reportedly loves Spaceballs despite Star Wars being the subject of Mel’s satire. Mel Brooks always pushes the satire envelope. In Blazing Saddles the greedy white man pits himself against a “dumb” black man that is made sheriff in the hopes that he will end up dead and the town will fall apart so the land can be snatched up. Wait, a black sheriff in the Old West? Yeah, Brooks went there. It’s a situation, no matter how you slant history, that would never have happened. Black Bart almost had himself a spin off TV show but it didn’t happen for some silly reason or another, such a shame, it would have been hilarious! Cleavon Little played the part of Bart very well using the stereotype of black men at that time to his advantage to save the town. Robin Hood: Men in Tights poked fun at another big 1990’s film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It had another hallmark of a Mel Brooks film, besides being hysterical, it had the must have a Jewish character, Rabbi Tuckman. Obviously a great stand in for Robin Hood lore’s Friar Tuck. This movie went to the point of lampooning the 1938 Errol Flynn version by putting all the men in tights that matched. Sometimes in the odd detail that the funny is found like in Maid Marion’s Everlast chastity belt and the “key” Robin has. After all, Robin of Loxley and Marion of Bagel were made for each other. See what Brooks has done here? Sometimes it may come down to the names of characters. But the funny is there. In another film Spaceballs we have a seemingly Jewish styled character in Yogurt. He’s the stereotypical “Jew” concerned with the money magic of merchandizing! Yet, the audience only sees the spoof on Yoda, the Force, lightsabers and the Wizard of Oz. One thing that really makes this film successful is that there is an underlying love story. Not Prince Valium and Princess Vespa but Lonestar and Vespa. It’s funny because they spend the whole movie not broaching the subject of attraction and when Lonestar finds out he’s an “honest to God prince”, Vespa chooses him rather than the “pill” Valium. Pizza the Hut, voiced by Dom DeLuise, is also pretty funny One thing that Mel Brooks does is to make sure the audience knows that what they are seeing is just a movie is play to the camera. He has the character look right at the camera, something that Cary Elwes’ Robin of Loxley does often in the presence of Prince John (Richard Lewis) or the Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Rees). Whether it’s a raised eye brow or a line delivered the audience knows! The crowd at the end of …Men in Tights exclaims “A black sheriff?” To which Ahchoo promptly replies, “Why not? It worked in Blazing Saddles!” The young kid running through the forest screaming that the sheriff’s men were giving chase screams right into the camera and again after Robin trounces them, saving the young man. Mel Brooks is not afraid! All he wants to do is entertain the masses and he does it well with the help of some friends. He has repeat offenders in his movies. (I think the only other current Hollywood director that has a noticeable favorite is Tim Burton!) Amy Yasbeck is featured twice. A right favorite, appearing in three Brooks films, is Dick Van Patton. But perhaps the one actor that was cast the most in Brooks’ films was none other than comedy great, Dom DeLuise appearing in six movies. Cloris Lechman and Gene Wilder also make the list of repeat offenders to work with Brooks. A funny story about Gene Wilder and Young Frankenstein, Wilder worked with Brooks on the script and starred in the film under the condition that Brooks not make a cameo in it. That happens to be a great movie too. Bibliography "AVClub.com." n.d. 10 March 2013. <http://www.avclub.com/articles/mel-brooks-on-how-to-play-hitler-and-how-he-almost,89843/>. "EBSCOhost.com." n.d. 2013. <http://0-web.ebscohost.com.iii-server.ualr.edu/ehost/detail?sid=42a219c6-a0ca-43fd-81e0-286ea133190d%40sessionmgr111&vid=4&bk=1&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=brb&AN=203033188>. Mel Brooks. n.d. 10 March 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000316/?ref_=sr_1>.
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