Alongside a cornucopia of "names" including John Inman, Richard Rodgers, Peter Paul Rubens, Gilda Radner, King Henry VIII, Kathy Bates, John Wesley, A. A. Gill, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Sir Harold Evans, Willy Whitelaw and - erm - Elon Musk...
...it's the one-hundredth birthday today of the peerless Mel Brooks!
Always one of my favourite film-makers way back to when I was a child, his Blazing Saddles, The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie and History of the World: Part I remain among my most cherished films, and I particularly adored his classic entourage of regular actors (Madeline Kahn, Dom DeLouise, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman among them).
He also has an unerring eye for camp - I suppose being married to Anne Bancroft for all those years must have helped!
Speaking of camp...
[and again:]
All hail, Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky, 28th June 1926)!
A comedy genius and Sweet Georgia Brown always makes me laugh. What a pair. I had sex (with a woman) in the back of a van at a drive-in movie theater while Silent Movie was playing.
ReplyDeleteIt was so sad when Ann Bancroft died. They'd been together for 41 years.
DeleteI'm not sure I really want to associate Silent Movie with sex with a woman, but each to their own... Jx
The Silent Movie memory is unfortunate.
DeleteAversion therapy. Jx
DeleteA good list of names until the last one!!
ReplyDeleteI really ought to catch up with those films.
Sx
Oh, Ms Scarlet - a "Mel Brooks binge watch" is definitely in order! Jx
DeleteBrooks Binge! I love it! And, given the apocryphal offerings on local telly, a Mel Brooks season is on the cards chez nous.
ReplyDeleteYou can never be disappointed when you watch any of his classics! Admittedly, after History of the World Part III, his output was a bit more patchy... Jx
DeleteWhen your current post showed up with his image I thought he'd "gone to join Anne in Fabulon. "Whew!
DeleteA survivor! Jx
DeleteAnd now Penelope Keith!
DeleteI know... Jx
DeleteA comedy genius indeed - Dziękuję - Mel Brooks
ReplyDeleteZgoda! Jx
Delete