Dwie lewe nogi, ale oh, tak zgrabny ma Sweet Georgia Brown

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...

Madeline Kahn as "Empress Nympho" [History of the World: Part I]

[and again:]

Mel Brooks in "Inquisition - the musical" [History of the World: Part I]

"The French Mistake" [Blazing Saddles]

Men in Tights

"Puttin' on the Ritz" [Young Frankenstein]

Madeline Kahn as "Lili Von Shtupp" - I'm Tired [Blazing Saddles (1974)]

Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft - Sweet Georgia Brown IN POLISH

All hail, Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky, 28th June 1926)!

If you're blue, and you don't know where to go to

Had a lovely afternoon/evening en famille for another of our "Film Club" viewings, at The Perseverance pub in the fabulously twee "hidden London village" of Lamb's Conduit Street in Bloomsbury [above] - this time entirely centred on the films of the legendary Mel Brooks, and we managed to get through The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. I haven't laughed so much in ages...

Time for this, methinks:

Young Frankenstein - Puttin' on the Ritz

Genius.

Say what? C'est magnifique!

Hils, Crog, Madam Arcati and I are trolling off to the venerable environs of the Science Museum today for their new blockbuster exhibition Versailles: Science and Splendour, which promises - among myriad other exhibits - a rare view of such items as the world’s most famous watch, made for Marie Antoinette, Louis XV’s rhinoceros, and a royal portrait of a pineapple!

Just as well we're doing something indoors, for after all that glorious sunshine we have had for several weeks we had our first rain showers in ages overnight, and the prospect is for a spell of more "normal" weather for April [i.e. mizzle]...

To mark the occasion of viewing all that opulence, this!

Mel Brooks - Its Good To Be The King

Mais oui!

Who can satisfy their lustful habit? I'm not a wabbit!

I wish.

It's been peeing down all night, and it feels more like October out there than the end of June. I certainly did not want to get out of bed for work this morning...

Never mind, eh? Among a whole raft of fellow luminaries, including Henry VIII, John Inman, Harold Evans, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Cusack, Richard Rodgers, Willie Whitelaw, Gilda Radner, Kathy Bates, Peter Paul Rubens, A. A. Gill, John Wesley and - erm - Elon Musk, it is the fantabulosa Mel Brooks' 95th birthday today!

On this Tacky Music Monday, I think a rather appropriate song from one of his funniest films is in order:

Madeline Kahn as "Lili Von Shtupp" - I'm Tired [Blazing Saddles (1974)]

Here I stand, the goddess of Desire
I set men on fire
I have this power
Morning noon and night, it's drink and dancing
Some quick romancing
And then a shower
Stage door johnnies constantly surround me
They always hound me
with one request
Who can satisfy their lustful habit?
I'm not a rabbit!
I need some rest!

I'm tired
Sick and tired of love
I've had my fill of love
From below and above
Tired
Tired of being admired
Tired of love uninspired
Let's face it
I'm tired!

I've been with thousands of men
Again and again
They promise the moon
They're always coming and going
And going and coming
And always too soon!

Tired
Tired of playing the game
Ain't it a crying shame?
I'm so tired...
Goddammit, I'm tired!

I've been with thousands of men
Again and again
They sing the same tune
They start with Byron and Shelley
then jump on your belly
and bust your balloon!
Oy! [BANG!]

Tired
Tired of playing the game
Ain't it a friggin shame
I'm so...
Let's face it
Everything below the waist...is kaput!
Tired!

Have a good week, dear reader.

We do routines and chorus scenes, with footwork impecc-able

"Our gang" congregated again in the salubrious surroundings of the Hoop & Grapes pub in Farringdon Road for one of our irregular "film club" afternoons today [late celebrations for History Boy's birthday] - which (obviously) stretched well into the evening...

Among the delights on show were this:

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Camelot (Knights of the Round Table)

...and this:

Young Frankenstein - Puttin' on the Ritz

Simply faboo, my dears!

---

STOP PRESS: The evidence...



Hats!

It's a Spandex world

Some people manage to combine both things

"Leggings are in and pork pies are out" was the headline that caught my eye today...

It's not as interesting as it sounds, of course; merely an announcement of the latest revisions to the "basket" of goods that are used to help calculate the cost of living in the UK by the Office of National Statistics.

Any excuse, really, to post my fave leggings-based song of all time:

Men in Tights

Pure imagination

The films of Gene Wilder

RIP Leo Bloom, Willy Wonka, Dr. Frankenstein, The Waco Kid - all the creations of the comedy genius Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman, 11th June 1933 – 28th August 2016)

Dwie lewe nogi

It would have been the 82nd birthday today of another of our most cherished (and most deeply missed) icons here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Miss Ann Bancroft...

In a brief tribute to her extraordinary talents, here she is with her beloved hubby Mel Brooks and their classic number (in Polish) Sweet Georgia Brown:

Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft - Sweet Georgia Brown

No wykonane gal ma cienia na Sweet Georgia Brown
Dwie lewe nogi, ale oh, tak zgrabny ma Sweet Georgia Brown
Wszyscy wzdychają i chcę umrzeć słodka panna Georgia Brown
I powiem ci, dlaczego, wiesz, że nie kłamię, nie wiele Sweet Georgia Brown

Truly fabulous!

Anne Bancroft (17th September 1931 – 6th June 2005)

[NB "Dwie lewe nogi" means "two left feet" in Polish]

It's good to be the King

Yesterday, that genius comic movie maestro and all-round funny man Mel Brooks celebrated his 85th birthday!

Always one of my favourite producers 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!

So in recognition of his survival (apart from Miss Leachman and Mr Wilder, all the others are dead), and also befitting the Gay Pride theme of this week, here are a few of the more homosexualist sketches from his vast repertoire...

The "selecting escorts" scene from History of the World Part 1, with Madeline Kahn:

Madeline Kahn as "Empress Nympho"

From the same movie, The Spanish Inquisition musical extravaganza:

Mel Brooks in "Inquisition - the musical"

And finally, Blazing Saddles and "The French Mistake" routine:

"The French Mistake"

Mel Brooks on IMDB

A huge loss

"I'm actually a thin serious person but I play fat and funny, but only for the movies."

Dom DeLuise is dead. Such a loss to the world of comedy.

Most famous, of course, for his collaborations with Mel Brooks, his early career was in children's TV, starring in The Shari Lewis Show among others before landing his own show. This led to a series of comic stooge parts on the big screen, often starring alongside real-life friends such as Burt Reynolds and Dean Martin.

Mel brooks once famously quipped that, whenever he hired Dom DeLuise for one of his films, he would instinctively add another two days to the schedule because of the constant laughter Dom provided on the set -- especially when the camera started rolling.



More recently, he returned to work aimed at children, providing voiceovers for cartoons such as Duckman and Disney's Hercules, and published two children's books.

Here is just a sample of his huge screen presence. RIP.

Caesar's Treasure Bath

Dom DeLuise on IMDB

Hedley Lamarr is dead

More bad news today - the death of actor Harvey Korman, famous in this country for his pompous sneering character roles in Mel Brooks' classic films, most notably as Count de Monet in History of the World: Part 1, and of course the fabulous Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles.

Always the foil for the leading comic, Harvey was for many years the side-kick of the lovely Carol Burnett in her successful US TV show, and over the years he worked with George Burns, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny and Peter Sellers (in the Pink Panther films).

Another great loss to comedy, and one who will be sorely missed...

Harvey Korman - Blazing Saddles

Harvey Korman - History of the World Part 1

Read his obituary in the Guardian

Harvey Korman on IMDB

One of the most talented people who ever lived

The much missed Madeline Kahn would have been 65 today. Her long-time collaborator and friend Mel Brooks summed her up thus "one of the most talented people that ever lived. I mean, either in stand-up comedy, or acting, or whatever you want, you can't beat Madeline Kahn".

I loved Miss Kahn. She was a key player in so many of my favourite films, including the classic role of "Eunice Burns" in What's Up Doc with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neil. But by far the most memorable were her appearances in a succession of Mel Brooks' best comedies: Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety and History of the World Part I.

Madeline Kahn as "Empress Nympho"

For two decades Madeline was a hugely popular regular on the US hit TV show Saturday Night Live, a show that made little impact elsewhere in the world but was responsible for launching the careers of John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, the late Gilda Radner, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey and Billy Crystal, and had a myriad of big-name hosts over the years including Steve Martin, Milton Berle, Candice Bergen, Alec Baldwin, Christopher Walken and Danny DeVito - whew!! And even at the very end she was still appearing at the top of the TV ratings, with a regular part in The Cosby Show.

Madeline Kahn was diagnosed in early 1999 with ovarian cancer, and sadly died on December 3rd that same year. A huge loss to the entertainment industry, and we shall never see her like again!

Madeline Kahn on Wikipedia