Mel is the Man!

I have a lot of catching up to do in the world of stage entertainment. I never really heard of Mel Brooks before, and after last night I'm wondering how it is possible that a 30-something college educated American could walk the streets without knowing something of this comedic artist.

Granted, I snuck into my first movie in a real theatre at age 14, grew up in a home that hosted a TV only during the two weeks of winter vacation (the Rent-a-Center people always thought we were very strange.) I did get to play the good witch of the North for my pre-school Wizard of Oz performance but that might have been my only childhood encounter with live theatre. Since my teen years I have been trying to catch up by seeing lots of local amateur and big city professional plays and musicals, and renting all the movies an American of my age should have seen by now, but I admit I have a very lot of "audiencing" to do.

Last night we saw stage musical The Producers at the Munster Performing Arts Center. So now I find myself a fan of the creator Mel Brooks and intent on enjoying more of his creative work. One of my favorite Christmas presents from my dad when I was young was a collection of comic-book-style illustrated adaptations of the most popular Shakespeare plays. That gift makes a strong case that I come by my delight in story, stage, and theater quite honestly.

Here's a story retold by Ebert as he reviews the original 1968 movie The Producers:

I remember finding myself in an elevator with Brooks and his wife, actress Anne Bancroft, in New York City a few months after "The Producers" was released. A woman got onto the elevator, recognized him and said, "I have to tell you, Mr. Brooks, that your movie is vulgar." Brooks smiled benevolently. "Lady," he said, "it rose below vulgarity."

Brooks obviously gets the purpose of comedy and understands the oldest meaning of the word vulgar.