Springtime for Hitler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A fictional play in Mel Brooks' The Producers, Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp With Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden is a musical about Adolf Hitler written by Nazi Franz Liebkind.
The play is chosen by the washed-up producer Max Bialystock and his neurotic accountant Leo Bloom in their fraud scheme to raise substantial funding by selling 25,000 percent of a play, cause it to fail, and keep all the remaining money for themselves. In order to ensure the play is a total failure, Max picks the worst director he can find, Roger DeBris, a stereotypical homosexual/transvestite caricature, and gives the part of Hitler to an uncontrollable hippie named Lorenzo St. DuBois, who calls himself LSD.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The play starts with a musical number, Springtime for Hitler, which contains the memorable chorus "Springtime for Hitler and Germany / Deutschland is happy and gay/We're marching to a faster pace/Look out, here comes the Master Race/ Springtime for Hitler and Germany/ Winter for Poland and France / Springtime for Hitler and Germany/ Come on Germans, go into your dance."
Accompanied by dancing stormtroopers who at one point form a Busby Berkeley-style swastika, the play immediately horrifies everyone in the audience except the author, an unbalanced ex-Nazi named Franz Liebkind, played by Kenneth Mars, and one lone viewer who breaks into applause—and is pummelled by other disgusted theatregoers. As the audience is storming out of the theater, the first scene starts, with LSD dressed up in full Nazi uniform and talking like a beatnik. The remaining audience starts to laugh, thinking that it is a satire, and the spectators return to the theater.
Franz, disgusted, goes behind the stage, unties the cable holding up the curtain and rushes out on stage explaining that this is not how it should go. One of the actors hits him with a pipe through the curtain, and he falls over. The play continues, and the audience thinks that his performance was part of the act.
[edit] 2001 musical and 2005 film differences
In the 2001 Broadway version of The Producers and its subsequent 2005 movie, the part of LSD was not included and Hitler was played by the gay director, Roger DeBris, who sang a flamboyant solo Heil Myself. Franz was originally chosen by Max to play Hitler, but due to an unfortunate accident after the Good Luck song when he broke his leg (the irony here is that the term 'break a leg' is used instead of 'good luck' in the theatre), Max asked Roger to play Hitler. The swastika choreography at the end is maintained through a large mirror that is raised to show the swastika to the audience. In these versions, Franz does not interrupt the play, but waits until after the play to confront the producers and attempts to kill them, but fails. He breaks his other leg running away from the police.
[edit] Trivia
It can be said that the idea for Springtime for Hitler was co-opted from singer/songwriter Tom Lehrer. While he was introducing himself (the audience didn't know the announcer was Tom Lehrer), he said: "He is generally acknowledged to be the dean of living American composers, and is currently working on a musical comedy based on the life of Adolf Hitler".
[edit] Quotes
- "Springtime for Hitler and Germany / Rhineland's a fine land once more / Springtime for Hitler and Germany / Watch out Europe, we're going on tour."—Lead Tenor Stormtrooper in beginning of song
- "Springtime for Hitler and Germany / Winter for Poland and France"—The opening number
- "Springtime for Hitler and Germany / U-boats are sailing once more!"—Sung while the actors are in a large Swastika formation
- "You're German. We're all Germans. That means...we cannot attack Germany."—LSD in a briefing room scene
- "Vat is zis 'baby, baby'? Ze Führer has never said this 'baby'"—Franz, grieving about LSD's way of talking (using words like "baby" and "groovy")
- "You are the victims of a hoax!"—Franz to the audience after letting down the curtain
- "Don't be stupid, be a smarty / Come and join the Nazi Party!"—line from the opening number sung in a vocal only cameo appearance by writer/director Mel Brooks.
- "Ja!"
- "What can I do for you?"
- "You will please be unconscious"
- "Heil myself / Watch my show / I'm the German Ethel Merman, don'cha know?"—Roger as Hitler
