In High School the world belongs to the jocks. And I grew up in LA at a time when surfing was the rage. So every guy had a decent physique (except us nerds... but we now have better skin).
Life was hopeless. I’d be alone at 60. Losing my occasional dates to over-the-hill athletes now playing in beer leagues.
But then I saw THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. It was a revelation to me. You could get a girl like Laurie Petrie by being skinny, dorky, and a COMEDY WRITER? All is not lost. I’m funny. Where do I sign up?
My sense of humor in High School was the only skill I had to wow the opposite sex. Okay, so none of the cheerleaders would actually go out with me, but they would sign my yearbook and say I amused them. So at least they knew who I was. (It also helped that there weren't a lot of other funny people in my High School class.)
I thought about that recently when I read an excerpt from Mel Brooks’ upcoming autobiography. He talks about being smitten by Anne Bancroft and eventually marrying her. Here is another case of a beautiful woman who could probably have anyone she wanted and she chose this short gnome. Being able to make people laugh is a real gift — even as valuable as the ability to throw a spiral. And resulting in far fewer concussions…unless you wrote for Roseanne.
I look forward to reading the rest of Mel’s book. The small portion I read sure made me happy.
Loved this entry.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really aware of how much of a babe Anne Bancroft was until "To Be or Not to Be" and then it was like-How did I never see this woman?
How many times have I heard "You're funny!" from a woman? (My response is usually "Yeah, but looks aren't everything".
Great entry Ken.
I remember a Jiminy Glick appearance in which Jiminy asked Mel "what's your beef with the Nazis?" Mel laughed his ass off the whole time but said "this is the silliest BLEEP interview I've ever been in!" and walked off early.
ReplyDeleteMel Brooks is a comedy legend! Can't wait for the book.
ReplyDeleteHumor can get your foot in the door with the girls. After that. . .good luck! haha
I started reading the book last night. It begins with his growing up in Depression Era Brooklyn. In just the first chapter he shares two, or three memorable stories.
ReplyDeleteI sat right behind their son Max when Mel spoke at the Kennedy Center.
ReplyDeleteThe next day I thought of the perfect thing to have said to him. "We're here to honor your father but many of us also remember your mother fondly."
Being able to make people laugh and making a living making people laugh are two different things. If you can make a living making people laugh then you can get women like Anne Bancroft.
ReplyDeleteI hope he has given Buck Henry due credit for the co-creation of "Get Smart." Never understood why Buck had to take a 'with' credit in the main title after receiving an 'and' credit as co-writer of the pilot episode. Also, why do you suppose Mel never wrote for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" especially since the series dealt with the day to day life of television comedy writers?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of humor in school.... the best line was uttered by my friend Duke in 8th grade U.S. History. When Mrs. Newton told him that his report on Patrick Henry was late, Duke stood up and said, "Give me 'til Thursday, or give me death.!"
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity to work with Anne three times. First two times she was alone 'doing a job'. The third time was on Curb Your Enthusiasm when it shot in NYC. What an incredible difference in her demeanor when Mel was there. I'll never forget it. They were both so charming and Anne made me believe she was happy to see a familiar face - mine.
ReplyDeleteAs I remember, someone asked Anne Bancroft what it was like to be married to him and she said that each evening, she'd hear his key in the lock and say to herself, now the fun begins.
ReplyDeleteI saw an interview with Bancroft and Brooks many years ago - I've tried forever to find it available anywhere and haven't been able to. He was bouncing off the walls, doing his shtick, being himself, and she was just coolly sitting there, looking like a queen, smoking a cigarette with a small bemused smile.
ReplyDeleteAfter several minutes of him answering questions and her saying nothing, the interviewer turned to her and said, "how did a woman like you end up with a guy like this?" She took a drag on her cigarette and said one sentence: "He makes me laugh."
I've long kept a list of celebrity couples I would like to be friends with, and the two of them are at the very top.
from the genius of Mel Brooks, the 2,000 year-old man
ReplyDeleteCarl Reiner: “You lived 2,000 years. You’ve had many girlfriends. Can you remember your favorite?”
2,000 Year Old Man: “Shirley.”
Carl Reiner: “What was so good about Shirley?”
2,000 Year Old Man: “Her friend, Lila.
I ordered Mel's book last night. Amazon tells me they don't know exactly when it will be in stock, though today is the official release day. Mel's got "Supply Train Issues."
ReplyDeleteThe first time I met and talked with Mel, following a preview of Blazing Saddles in Westwood, I found myself standing next to Bancroft, close enough to smell her. I'm gay, and even I was giddy to be one foot away from that GODDESS!
The design of the dust jacket front panel seems
ReplyDelete— intentionally? — very 1970s
Coo-coo-ca-choo.
ReplyDeleteAlways loved one of the Simpsons DVD commentaries, when they had Anne Bancroft do a voice. She showed up with Mel Brooks for the recording, and the director said "You brought Mel with you" and she responded "I can't get rid of him".
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to have an odd sense of humour when I was a kid, because the so-called bullies found my antics funny, and protected me from getting the crap beaten out of me. One time, I insulted one sluggo-type, and he threatened to "kill me" after school. I have to admit that I was scared, but my friend bullies convinced sluggo to leave me be. Some girls found me funny, too, but that was not an "in" for me, sadly. Anne Bancroft was both a beauty, and a terrific actor. Mel Brooks and Anne must have had a great life together.
ReplyDeleteMarsha, that’s exactly how Roger Rabbit got Jessica.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the notice on this memoir.
The New Yorker interviewed him and offers it outside the paywall:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/mel-brooks-writes-it-all-down
Mel purchased the film rights for 84 Charing Cross Road as a birthday present for Anne. It's a lovely movie and maybe her finest performance.
ReplyDeleteI also loved her as the prickly dying mom whose last wish is to meet Greta Garbo in Garbo Talks. It's streaming free on Tubi. The only movie she directed, Fatso with Dom DeLuise and Candace Azzara, is available on YouTube.
My mother adored Mel Brooks and her favorite scene was the courtroom in The Producers where a mummified Kenneth Mars is still trying to sing America the Beautiful to pass as a patriot.
She serendipitously met Mel in person on a trip to Europe and he graciously posed for a picture with her. Mom blew up the photo, had it framed, and hung it in a prized spot over the mantle where it stayed for decades till she passed. If people asked we said that's our great-grandfather.
When they say Mel Brooks is one in a million, the above is a prime example of that. Because every time I hear a woman say she wants a man that can make her laugh, I say, "You lying piece of ¥£《|♡ &%##^! %=×÷*,?%$ {○☆《♡€♤♧!!! I could make girls laugh. Yet all I ever got was the "I like you like a brother/ just want to be friends" speech.
ReplyDeleteGilbert Gottfried had a very funny essay on this subject in PLAYBOY. Unfortunately, I can't remember which issue it was.
Thank you, Mel.
Hey Ken, maybe there's some way you could blackmail Mel into being a guest on your podcast.
M.B.
I have another humor in school moment - or comedy, probably.
ReplyDeleteIt was the end of the school day, late in high school. A couple classmates were there who were involved in a school play. One of them was named Eleanor. The other was sitting in a chair with casters (teacher's chair, probably). Then, when we were beginning to leave, he glided the chair like a wheel chair toward the exit, and said, in his beat FDR impression, "Come, Eleanor..." I laughed heartily at that one!
I don't think only 'hetero' men get into comedy writing to attract partners, I think gay men and gay women do too.
ReplyDeleteThe only 'category' with an issue are heterosexual women. Generally speaking (of course not always) heterosexual men want to be the 'star' of a couple and a woman being too funny is often not seen as a desirable trait.
I think it was Bob Newhart who mentioned the longevity of marriages among the comic performers he knew and attributed it to laughter and a more positive outlook among those who were steeped in comedy business and traditions.
ReplyDeleteStill, becoming a comedy writer to be more attractive to any sex seems like a long shot at best. You'd do better hiring a professional matchmaker. Look at poor Sally Rogers, as we were often asked to do in the Dick Van Dyke Show. She was man-hungry and eternally single and went on a talk show to ask for all single men to send her their proposals. But despite her efforts she usually ended up with mama's boy Herman Glimsher.
Rose Marie was happily married and devastated when her husband died during her time on the DVD Show. A recent documentary about her offers harrowing details on how her father stalked the young couple and tried to break them up. She also was sexually harassed by a producer on a movie and when she turned him down nearly all her scenes were cut.
Sally Rogers was talented, savvy, well off, and successful. She had a great apartment and a cat to dote on. So she would have been a "catch" if she wasn't a "girl."
There were a lot of takes on fixing Sally's single status; one of the worst was the mawkish "Romance, Roses, and Rye" with a deli owner who courts her, not helped by really soppy music in the key scene where she turns him down. But one of the sharpest episodes is where Sally is pursued by a comedian/louse who coaxes her to write an act for him and then wants to marry her so he'll have a smart comedy writer always ready to serve him. It's heartbreaking when Sally finds out that he's just using her but she manages to escape.
Morey Amsterdam was adorable, and he was Sally's comedy spouse and vice versa. They should have gotten married in the show's finale. Caroline in the City had a cute episode where they were a happy older couple who give Caroline and Richard romantic advice.
@WB Jax
ReplyDeleteMel has always been very gracious regarding Get Smart, readily admitting he had little to do with the show after the first season.
Lots of weird comments in here.
ReplyDeleteKen, I have to ask about your references to the website, Deadline Hollywood. It seems to have gone bonkers. The comment sections are right-wing fodder. EVERY one of the posts contain grammatical errors. Tonight, in the "review" of NBC's "Annie Live," they commented on a scene about "President FDR's downfall." Did they mean Herbert Hoover? It's mind-numbing.
ReplyDeleteI just watched the documentary "This Changes Everything" about the plight of women directors and screenwriters in Hollywood. There's a moment when a report on the ridiculously low number of women directors from the dawn of talking pictures is presented at a DGA meeting. After it is presented, Mel stands up and the women are nervous what he's going to say. Except, consistent with all the other comments about him here, he basically says, this can't continue. We need to do something about it. Because his heart is in the right place and he fears no one and is beholden to no one.
ReplyDeleteEvery one...contains. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteI just finished the book. It’s worth the money. Fans will recognize a number of the stories but it isn’t a collection of his greatest hits. One is tempted to buy the audio book, Mel Brooks narrating his own story.
ReplyDeleteBest Mel Brooks story I've heard was Neil Simon talking about when he and Mel were working on Your Show of Shows in NYC. They were out to lunch, walking along the street, and Neil noticed a pair of nuns approaching. Neil said he was nervous, not knowing what Mel might say to the nuns. They were almost past the nuns when Mel glanced at them and said, "You're out of the sketch."
ReplyDeleteThe reverse situation doesn't happen often: you don't see the Adonis take up with the funny girl. People like having them around, but it doesn't help get the guy in high school. Some funny girls like Tina Fey get to be the center of attention, though.
ReplyDelete