Talk:Mel Brooks

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Contents 1 The Producers 2 herrings 3 topics 4 Even in the future everything is out of order 5 Mel Brooks and "taste" 6 Origins of 2000-Year-Old Man 7 Reoccuring themes/events in movies 8 Brooks' parents nationality 9 Early life 10 Immortal? Really? 11 AFI's 100 years 100 laughs 12 The Man In the Moon 13 1921?

[edit] The Producers

"Such success has translated to a big-screen version of the Broadway adaptation/remake with actors Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane"

Wasn't the movie version somewhat of a flop? According to Boxofficemojo, its budget was $45 mil and made only $38 mil total. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aronnyc (talk • contribs) 07:15, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] herrings

was his father really a herring dealer? come on.

Dumb question.Lestrade (talk) 21:56, 19 January 2008 (UTC)Lestrade

[edit] topics

Quoting Homer Simpson: "You mean Mel Brooks is Jewish?!". Come on, his movies are full of Jewish gags and there's no mention on this page?!

What...you mean like "Druish Princess"? --Alcalde 19:21, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

I'll add it — ßottesiηi ^{Tell me what's up} 23:03, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Even in the future everything is out of order

His first wife and children are mentioned at the very end after his second wife and child. Should there be sections for his personal and professional lives? --68.198.246.166 13:55, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

---

I remember Mel mentioning that he was in the 78th division in WWII on an old Johnny Carson Show. He told a story about getting chewed out for shooting a German telephone line in two. All I could find on the web is this mention on an Australian TV interview, this year: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1090168.htm

"Andrew Denton: What sort of a war did you have, did people actually shoot at you?

Mel Brooks: It was called World War Two remember? It was a big war.

Andrew Denton: How quickly people forget.

Mel Brooks: Yeah, yeah. I remember we were...I was with the 1104th Engineer Combat Battalion, attached to the, I think, 78th Division of the 7th Army, and we were near the Germans, and they were on the other side of a creek, and we were on one side of the creek, and we could hear them singing: "Ja, ja, ja, ja, ja. ja, ja, ja, ja", and I said give me that, give me that blow horn, and I sang, "I’ve been away from you a long time..." I did a Jolson medley, and believe it or not, at the end of the medley I could hear clapping. That was my wartime activity."

I'm going to look for more referances to the 78th Div. so I can add it to the main page. Mytwocents 07:26, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mel Brooks and "taste"

There are many good quotes from Mel Brooks about "bad taste" being the best compliment you can pay his movies (such as criticisms of "The Inquisition" in History of the World Part I).--Buckboard 08:45, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Origins of 2000-Year-Old Man

I was under the impression that Reiner and Brooks began the 2KYOM thing when Reiner purchased a tape recorder in the early 1950s; he and Brooks were sharing a cab that day and rather than hooking the machine up and saying "Testing" or something, he looked at Brooks and spoke into the microphone, "Is it true that you were present at the Crucifixion?" Whereupon Brooks responded by saying "Ooohhh, boyyyy" and off they went. They ad-libbed these bits at parties for many years before the first commercial recording came out, and that it was only ever a party game for them until much later on. Any way to confirm? Wspencer11 15:20, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reoccuring themes/events in movies

Should we mention some of the themes or events that seem to reoccur in most of his movies? One thing I noticed he does a lot is compare a situation to Paris, like in Spaceballs when the self-destruct alarm is activated President Skroob asks "where the hell are we? Paris?!", and when Renfield in Dracula Dead and Loving it 'wakes up' from his bad dream he says "two veloptuous women, grinding, heaving, how to describe it... have you ever been to Paris?" Just something I thought was worth mentioning...

[edit] Brooks' parents nationality

Kaminsky is a tipical polish surname, not russian. And from XVIII century until 1911 Poland was divided into 3 parts (russian, prussian and austrian). Becouse of that polish citizens where treated as russian, german, or austrian. So it would be good to check if the Kaminsky familly weren't polish Jews. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.160.143.2 (talk) 13:17, 29 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Early life

Cleaning up a recent edit, I've removed for now "For high school, he went to Eastern District High. He graduated in 1944." as it conflicts with a long-standing statement that he went to Abraham Lincoln (New York). Perhaps he went to both but that's not how it was worded. Anyway I don't know the facts and have added a citation request there. Cheers, Ian Rose 20:46, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Immortal? Really?

Now... I know there was once this one Jewish guy thats pulled it off, so I'm not saying it's impossible... but doncha think that there should be some kind of external source associated with that part of the entry?

[edit] AFI's 100 years 100 laughs

Mel Brooks was the director with the most top 15 appearances (three): Blazing Saddles (6th), The Producers (11th), and Young Frankenstein (13th). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.33.250.120 (talk) 02:57, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Man In the Moon

No mention of this classic 1960 TV movie is made in this article. What gives? Titanium Dragon (talk) 23:58, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 1921?

I always thought 1926. --83.6.73.75 (talk) 12:07, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Maybe that's right. Can you cite a reliable source for that date? Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 12:16, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

According to the book, "It's Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks", by James Robert Parish, pp. 16-17, (Wiley, February 26, 2007, ISBN-10: 0471752673) Melvin Kaminsky was born on June 28, 1926. JeanColumbia (talk) 12:45, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. IMDB and IBDB also agree that it is 1926. -- Ssilvers (talk) 16:30, 26 May 2008 (UTC)