It's Good to Be the King
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Selected cast: Ezio Greggio (Bernardo Puccini), Mel Brooks (Jake Gordon), Julie Condra (Dr. Barbara Collier), Gianfranco Barra (Guido Puccini), Randi Ingerman (Sofia), and John Karlsen (Dr. Caputo)
Sex, lögner & videovåld
Swedish, 2000, color, 94 minutes, no rating [made in 1992]
Producers: Mikael Beckman, Anders Ek, Johan Holm, Richard Holm, and Henrik Wadling; director: Richard Holm; screenplay: Johan Holm & Richard Holm; original music: Christer Planborg
Selected cast: Mikael Beckman (Micke), Johan Holm (Franz), Zara Zetterqvist (Little Sis), Camilla Henemark (Camilla), Micke Dubois (Hot Dog Vendor), Mel Brooks (Stressed Old Man), and Brandon Lee (Man in Line at Nightclub)
Robots
Twentieth Century-Fox, 2005, color, 91 minutes, rated PG
Producers, Jerry Davis, John C. Donkin, and William Joyce; director: Chris Wedge; codirector: Carlos Saldanha; screenplay: David Lindsay-Abaire and Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel; screen story: Ron Mita & Jim McClain & David Lindsay-Abaire; original song: Adam Schlesinger; original music: Ian Ball and John Powell; editor: John Carnochan
Selected cast (voices of): Paula Abdul (Watch), Halle Berry (Cappy), Lucille Bliss (Pigeon Lady), Terry Bradshaw (Broken Arm Bot), Jim Broadbent (Madame Gasket), Mel Brooks (Bigweld), Amanda Bynes (Piper), and Drew Carey (Crank)
The Producers
Universal, 2005, color, 134 minutes, rated PG-13
Producers: Mel Brooks and Jonathan Sanger; director/choreographer: Susan Stroman; screenplay: Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan, based on the 1968 screenplay by Mel Brooks and the 2001 stage play (book by Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan; songs by Brooks); original song: Mel Brooks; cinematographers: John Bailey and Charles Minsky; editor: Steven Weisberg
Selected cast: Nathan Lane (Max Bialystock), Matthew Broderick (Leo Bloom), Uma Thurman (Ulla), Will Ferrell (Franz Liebkind), Gary Beach (Roger De Bris), Roger Bart (Carmen Ghia), and Mel Brooks (voice of Nazi soldier in “Springtime for Hitler”/Hilda the cat/Tom the cat)
Broadway Shows*
Leonard Sillman’s New Faces of 1952
Opened Hay 16,1952, Boyale Theater, 365 performances
Sketches: Ronny Graham and Melvin Brooks
Selected cast: Robert Clary, June Carroll, Alice Ghostley, Eartha Kitt, Ronny Graham, Paul Lynde, and Rosemary O’Reilly
Shinbone Alley
Opened April 13.1957, Broadway Theater. 49 performances
Book: Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, based on the “archy and mehitabel” stories by Don Marquis
Selected cast: Eddie Bracken, Jacques d’Amboise, Allegra Kent, Eartha Kitt, and Erik Rhodes
All American
Opened March 19,1962. Winter Garden Theater. 80 performances
Book: Mel Brooks, based on the novel Professor Fodorski by Robert Lewis Taylor
Selected cast: Ray Bolger, Anita Gillette, Eileen Herlie, Ron Husmann, and Fritz Weaver
The Producers
Opened April 19.2001, St. James Theater, still running
Book: Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan; songs: Mel Brooks, based on the screenplay and songs from the 1968 film The Producers by Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Roger Bart, Gary Beach, Cady Huffman, and Brad Oscar
Television Series
Admiral Broadway Revue
NBC and Dumont, 1949
Uncredited joke/sketch consultant: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Mary McCarty, and Marge & Gower Champion
Your Show of Shows
NBC, 1950–1954
Writing team member: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Howard Morris, and Carl Reiner
The Imogene Coca Show
NBC, 1954–1955
Writing team member: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Imogene Coca, David Burns, Hal March, and Bibi Osterwald
Caesar’s Hour
NBC, 1955–1957
Writing team member: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Sid Caesar, Nanette Fabray, Howard Morris, Carl Reiner, and Janet Blair
The Polly Bergen Show
NBC, 1957
Producer/writer: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Polly Bergen, Peter Gennaro Dancers, Bill Bergen, and the Luther Henderson Jr. Orchestra
Sid Caesar Invites You
ABC. 1958
Writing team member: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Paul Reed
Get Smart
NBC and later CBS. 1965–1970
Cocreator/occasional scripter: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, Edward Platt, Dick Gautier, and Bernie Kopell
The Electric Company
PBS, 1973–1977
Role of Blond-Haired Cartoon Man: Mel Brooks
When Things Were Rotten
ABC, 1975
Cocreator/coproducer/occasional scripter: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Richard Gautier, Dick Van Patten, Bernie Kopell, Richard Dimitri, Henry Polic II, and Misty Rowe
The Nutt House
NBC, 1989
Coproducer/writer: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Mark Blankfield, Brian McNamara, Molly Hagan, Gregory Itzin, and Ronny Graham
Get Smart
Fox, 1995
Cocreator of original 1965–1970 series: Mel Brooks
Selected cast: Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, Andy Dick, Elaine Hendrix, and Heather Morgan
Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks
PBS, 2003-present
Voice of Wiley the Sheep: Mel Brooks
* Mel Brooks’s Brooksfilms Ltd. also produced the following films: Fatso (1980), Loose Shoes (1980), The Elephant Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982), Frances (1982), The Doctor and the Devils (1985), Solarbabies (1986), 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), and The Vagrant (1992), and Mel Brooks participated in such documentaries as Sunset People (1984) and The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998).
* Mel Brooks also served as script consultant on the following Broadway shows: Nowhere to Go But Up (1962), Kelly (1965), and The Best Laid Plans (1966).
Bibliography
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Adler, Bill, and Jeffrey Feinman. Mel Brooks: The Irreverent Funnyman. New York: Playboy, 1976.
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Bedell, Sally. Up the Tube: Prime-Time TV in the Silverman Years. New York: Viking, 1981.
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Blumberg, Esterita “Cissie.” Remember the Catskills: Tales by a Recovering Hotelkeeper. Fleischmanns, N.Y.: Purple Mountain, 1996.
Brooks, Max. The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. New York: Three Rivers, 2003.
Brooks, Mel, Ron Clark, Rudy DeLuca, and Barry Levinson. Silent Movie (a screenplay). New York: Ballantine, 1976.
Brooks, Mel, and Tom Meehan. The Producers: The Book, Lyrics, and Story Behind the Biggest Hit in Broadway History! How We Did It. New York: Roundtable, 2001.
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Publications
Among those utilized were: American Film, Backstage West, Billboard, Biography, Boxoffice, Cable Guide, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, Cinefex, Classic Film Collector, Classic Image, Cult Movies, Current Biography, Daily Variety, the Detroit Free Press, Drama-Logue, Ebony, Empire, Entertainment Today, Entertainment Weekly, Family Weekly, Film Comment, Film Threat, Film-fax, Films in Review, Films of the Golden Age, Flightime, Forward, Globe, Hollywood Citizen News, the Hollywood Reporter, InStyle, Interview, Jewish Exponent, Jewish Journal, Jet, L.A. Weekly, the London Daily Telegraph, the London Evening Standard, the London Guardian, the London Sunday Telegraph, the London Times, Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, the Los Angeles Times, Monthly Film Bulletin, Movie Collectors World, Movieline, the National Enquirer, the New Jersey Record, New York, the New York Daily News, the New York Observer, the New York Post, the New York Times, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Parade, People, Playboy, Premiere, Rocky Mountain News, Rolling Stone, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday Review, Sight & Sound, Star, Time, Tzme Oi/£ London, Total Film, Travel Leisure, TV Guide, C/S Weekly, l/SA Today, Valley Vantage, Vanity Fair, the Village Voice, Virginian Pilot, Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post