Remembering Marty Feldman

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"My looks are my comic equipment, and they are the right packaging for my job."

Marty Feldman

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As hard as it is for me to believe, it was 35 years ago today that Marty Feldman died of a heart attack in Mexico City.

He was 48 years old.

I was deeply saddened when he died. It was no secret that Feldman had health issues — he suffered from thyroid disease and developed Graves' ophthalmopathy, causing his eyes to bulge, among other things — but Mel Brooks, who directed two movies in which Feldman appeared ("Young Frankenstein" and "Silent Movie"), apparently had a pretty good idea why Feldman died so young.

"He smoked sometimes half a carton of cigarettes daily," Brooks said, "drank copious amounts of black coffee and ate a diet rich in eggs and dairy products."

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Feldman was a unique comedic talent, and, yes, he was right when he said his looks were his equipment. His bug–eyed look was a huge part of his appeal. It is impossible to overestimate the value of his looks to his vocation.

Somehow I think he still would have been funny with more normal eyes.

But without those bug eyes would it have been as funny when Gene Wilder said, "Damn your eyes!" in "Young Frankenstein," and Feldman replied, "Too late"?

I seriously doubt it.

I know that, if he had lived, Feldman would be in his 80s now and almost certainly retired. But we sure could have used his sense of humor in as many of the last 35 years as the fates would allow.

Spoofing Scary Movies in 'Young Frankenstein'

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Inga (Teri Garr): Werewolf!

Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder): Werewolf?

Igor (Marty Feldman): There.

Dr. Frankenstein: What?

Igor: There wolf. There castle.

Dr. Frankenstein: Why are you talking that way?

Igor: I thought you wanted to.

Dr. Frankenstein: No, I don't want to.

Igor: Suit yourself. I'm easy.

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I have often found myself in a familiar discussion with people: Which Mel Brooks movie was better, "Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein?"

Both came out in the same year. They featured many of the same actors — including Brooks himself.

Most of my friends have come down on the side of "Blazing Saddles," and that is a hard one for me to dispute. But I've been saying for a long time that my personal preference is "Young Frankenstein," which premiered 40 years ago today, and I'll stick with that.

Maybe I was never the fan of westerns that many people are. It isn't that I don't like westerns. It's just that so many of them seemed to follow a basic formula, right down to white hats for good guys and black hats for bad guys. That really relieved the viewer of the burden of thinking.

Now, call me crazy, but I've always liked westerns that made me think. They've really been few and far between, though.

I guess the same is true of horror movies, and Brooks' humor was as merciless in its jabs at the horror genre as it was in its jabs at the western genre.

When I get right down to it, I suppose I just enjoy the puns and double entendres that go along with a horror spoof a little bit more than I enjoy the ones in a western spoof.

With a Mel Brooks movie, there is a plot in only the loosest sense of the word, anyway. The plot exists to set up jokes. It helps, of course, if the viewer is familiar with the movie/scene that is being lampooned — but familiarity isn't really necessary.

Mel Brooks is the sixth–grader the rest of us outgrew.

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It isn't necessary to be familiar with the original "Frankenstein" to be amused when Teri Garr, in the back of a hay wagon that came to meet Gene Wilder at the Transylvania train station, invites him to take a roll in the hay. "It's fun!" she assures him before demonstrably rolling in the hay and singing "Roll, roll, roll in ze hay!"

Well, she was cute.

Marty Feldman was just silly as Igor (pronounced "EYE–gore," not "EEE–gore"), but he's one of those guilty pleasures, like laughing at the all–too–predictable antics of Laurel & Hardy or the Three Stooges — only with a little more wit.

In the scenes involving Peter Boyle, who did a first–rate job of lampooning Boris Karloff's 1931 performance as the monster, it was kind of important to be familiar with elements of the movie — but it wasn't that important.

He did a fine job of mimicking Karloff's jerky movements and grunting noises, but it really helped to know that the monster in the original "Frankenstein" actually did encounter a young girl and kill her. It also helped to know how the monster killed her in that original movie.

But it was still funny, even if you weren't familiar with the original.

I had seen "Frankenstein" several times by the time I saw "Young Frankenstein" so I got the jokes. You could probably get the jokes if you hadn't seen the Karloff movie.

But I'm sure it helped.

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The monster also encountered a blind man, who was lampooned by Gene Hackman. His scene where he tries to serve hot liquid to the monster always makes me laugh.

But when you talk about always making me laugh, there are two ladies in "Young Frankenstein" who always have me in stitches — Cloris Leachman and Madeline Kahn, two extraordinarily gifted and talented actresses.

Both had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress in recent years (Leachman won for "The Last Picture Show," Kahn was nominated for "Paper Moon" but lost to co–star Tatum O'Neal). Having both of them in the same movie was a real coup for Brooks, one he would not duplicate until he made "History of the World Part I."

Kahn got the Best Supporting Actress nod over Leachman (who could resist that bride of Frankenstein look? — as opposed to Frau Blucher, the very mention of whose name made previously docile horses buck and whinny) but lost to Ingrid Bergman.

Mel Brooks' Masterpiece?

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"If you shoot him, you'll just make him mad."

Jim (Gene Wilder)

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A friend of mine recently observed, after watching it again, that "Blazing Saddles" is still good after 40 years. "Why is that?" she asked.

I guess the answer to that is different for everyone. In my case, it's just always funny, no matter how many times I see it. Some movies (or sitcom episodes or comedy CDs) are like that. They always make me laugh, even though I know what is coming.

Others have much shorter shelf lives.

But "Blazing Saddles," which premiered on this day in 1974, always makes me laugh. It's one of those movies that you can just say the punchline and usually make the people around you laugh.

Such as ... "Mongo like candy." (I suppose that is my personal favorite.)

"Blazing Saddles" was like anything else Mel Brooks did. It was simply silly fun, usually offensive to someone, in some respects a guilty pleasure, I guess.

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It might have been his masterpiece, though.

Whatever you might say about any other Mel Brooks movie — that, for example, it was not politically correct — went double for "Blazing Saddles."

In many ways, Brooks seemed to save his most objectionable stuff for "Blazing Saddles."

Like this line (delivered by Slim Pickens) on testing for quicksand: "Horses? We cain't afford t' lose no horses, you dummy! Send in a couple–a niggers."

The "N–word," as it is called now, was abundant in "Blazing Saddles." I can only wonder what kind of response this movie would get if it was making its debut today. Would people appreciate the satire? Or would they focus only on the use of an offensive word?

The head of Warner Bros. objected to the word at the time — but he also objected to the campfire scene and the scene in which Mongo punched a horse, two of the scenes I hear mentioned the most. He wanted those scenes and every use of that word cut from the final product, but Brooks had complete control and ignored the complaints.

A few years ago, in an interview that served as the basis for an article in the Directors Guild of America's magazine, the DGA Quarterly, Brooks said he probably would have to leave out the N–words if he made the movie today.

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Interestingly, both actor Cleavon Little and writer Richard Pryor encouraged the word's use 40 years ago.

Frankly, it would be wrong for anyone to take offense at anything Brooks said or did in his movies. He was impartial about that, an equal–opportunity offender. He made fun of blacks, but he made fun of whites, too. He made fun of Jews, but he also made fun of Christians. He made fun of women, but he also made fun of men. He spared no one.

I have always thought his humor was — mostly — just plain silly. If I had a complaint about Brooks' humor, it was that I often thought it lacked sophistication. Sometimes I thought his humor was a little, well, obvious. I like wit that catches you by surprise. But that's just me. There have certainly been times over the years when I have felt that the humor on Saturday Night Live was just plain silly, lacking sophistication, a little obvious. But I still watch it. (OK, I don't watch it as often as I did, but I do watch it.)

I guess it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it seems to appeal to most people in a guilty pleasure kind of way. I always liked what Roger Ebert said about it: "It's a crazed grabbag of a movie that does everything to keep us laughing except hit us over the head with a rubber chicken."

Ebert conceded that the movie's goal wasn't lofty — merely to make people laugh.

"It's an audience picture," Ebert wrote, "it doesn't have a lot of classy polish and its structure is a total mess."

And, yet, Brooks always makes me laugh. Saturday Night Live does that, too. Not as much as it once did, but still ...

Did you know that Brooks wanted John Wayne to make a cameo appearance? Wayne declined. He loved the script and assured Brooks he would be "the first in line" to see the movie, but he thought the risqué material wasn't right for his image.

Others have been more willing to publicly embrace the movie. The American Film Institute ranked it #6 on AFI's list of the Top 100 comedies. And the Academy Awards recognized it with three nominations.

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Madeline Kahn received one of those nominations — for Best Supporting Actress, which she lost to Ingrid Bergman. It was Kahn's second straight Best Supporting Actress nomination. She was nominated for her work in "Paper Moon" but lost to co–star Tatum O'Neal.

For my money, Harvey Korman could have received a nomination. At one point in the movie, his character actually does say, "You men are only risking your lives while I am risking an almost certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor."

But Korman was not nominated. The movie received its two other nominations for film editing and best original song.

He could have been nominated. It was one of the best things he ever did. Likewise for Kahn, who was nominated.

And it is one of the best things Wilder has done. (Wilder wasn't nominated for "Blazing Saddles," but he has been nominated for Oscars twice, both times for Brooks projects.)

All the folks who worked on "Blazing Saddles" deserve to have it mentioned in the lead paragraphs of their obituaries when they die — as it was when Kahn's death was reported in the New York Times in 1999 and when Korman's death was reported in the Los Angeles Times in 2008.

Planning to Fail

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Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder): Actors are not animals! They're human beings!

Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel): They are? Have you ever eaten with one?

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A few years ago, the movie "The Producers" was remade.

I didn't see it at the theater. I saw it on TV.

And I was glad I didn't spend any money on a ticket to see it on the big screen. Frankly, it was a disappointment to me, and I didn't think I would have been more favorably disposed to it if I had seen it on the big screen.

Given a choice, I would much rather watch the original, which first appeared in theaters 45 years ago today, on the big screen. Unfortunately, I have only seen it on TV as well.

I have enjoyed many Mel Brooks movies over the years. "The Producers" wasn't the first Brooks–directed movie I ever saw. But it was Brooks' big–screen directorial debut — and, seeing it when I did, with the benefit of the hindsight that came from seeing "Young Frankenstein," "Silent Movie," "Blazing Saddles" and "History of the World Part I" first, I could see clear indications of what movie audiences could expect in the years ahead.

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It wasn't Gene Wilder's movie debut. That came a year earlier with a small role in "Bonnie and Clyde." But his performance in "The Producers" was his first major big–screen role, and he gave movie audiences a generous glance into the future.

I didn't need one. Wilder was already one of my favorite comic actors by the time I saw "The Producers" — kind of my generation's Peter Sellers.

When I saw him first in "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles," though, I missed watching him evolve from "The Producers," in which he played Leo Bloom, a remarkably timid accountant. He apparently stumbled onto the inspiration for a scheme when he observed that a producer could make more on a flop than a hit — because no investor would expect to receive any kind of return on a production that failed.

Producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) seized upon the idea, and thus the plot of the movie was born. Wilder and Mostel would find the worst script imaginable, hire the worst director possible and cast each role with absolutely the worst actors they could find to guarantee a flop that might not even survive opening night — then they would split for South America with the investors' money.

Well, that was the plan. But, hey, you know what they say about the best–laid schemes of mice and men.

What went awry in this particular, seemingly foolproof scheme was simple. The audience didn't hate the production. In fact, the theatergoers loved it — once they persuaded themselves that "Springtime for Hitler" was a farce and not an homage to Hitler.

It was a hit. And there wasn't anything that Wilder and Mostel could do about it — least of all pay the investors.

Wilder's blueprint for the manic victims he would later play was unveiled in his performance as Leo Bloom in "The Producers." Wilder hasn't always been a manic victim, but it's been a staple of his career.

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Dick Shawn, I suppose, was another matter.

Shawn was a manic comedian who appeared in about two dozen movies, one of which was "The Producers." He played Lorenzo St. DuBois (aka LSD), a flamboyant actor who was cast as Adolf Hitler in the play that Bialystock and Bloom were producing.

"It's practically a love letter to Hitler!" Mostel's character exclaimed after reading it.

"This won't run a week," Wilder's character replied.

"A week?" Mostel said. "Are you nuts? This play's gotta close on Page 4!"

And when the audience saw Shawn, there could be no doubt.

But, as I said, the best–laid plans ...

Is That How Music Began?

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Until June in 1981, I had always speculated about how music came to be. And then Mel Brooks told me.

Mel Brooks was responsible for some of my best belly laughs when I was a teenager. Those really were the days, my friend.

Even today, many years later, if I am asked to list my favorite movie comedies, that list is certain to include "Young Frankenstein," "Blazing Saddles," "The Producers" ... and "History of the World, Part I."

Those movies are more than funny to me. They bring back memories that mean a lot to me now.

Speaking of "History of the World," it made its debut on June 12, 1981.

There never was a Part II.

I always thought that was part of the joke. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote a book called "The Historie of the World, Volume 1," but he was executed before he could publish a second volume. I thought the movie's title was a play on that.

It may have been. Then again, Brooks may have intended to make a sequel and just didn't get around to it. At the end of "History of the World, Part I," there was a "trailer" for a sequel that promised to show stuff like Hitler on ice and Jews in space, but that may have been a gag.

"History of the World," like all Mel Brooks movies, was loaded with gags.

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Like Brooks' version of the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments.

All the paintings I ever saw of that depicted Moses carrying two tablets bearing five commandments each. In the movie, Moses (played by Brooks, of course) carried three tablets — but he dropped one, and it shattered on the ground.

I guess you really didn't need music for that — unless it was the ominous kind that audiences always heard in thrillers.

(As Moses said when he dropped one of the tablets, "Oy!")

Or the light–hearted musical number for the Spanish Inquisition.

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But it wasn't all music.

It was mostly Mel Brooks' brand of humor — zany, silly, at times predictable — and it often used music. But not always.

If music made the bit funnier in some way, then it was an important element — because what ultimately mattered in any Mel Brooks movie was the laughs.

Young Frankenstein

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Perhaps it is the fault of the Christmas season. Or perhaps it is due to other distractions.

But, somehow, it completely slipped below my personal radar that last Tuesday was the 35th anniversary of the theatrical release of one of my favorite movie comedies, "Young Frankenstein."

Well, better late than never, I suppose.

Actually, if you're tired of the Christmas movies and specials, an evening of "Young Frankenstein" ...

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... with Eye–gor and Frohderick Fronkensteen might be just the antidote.

Truthfully, the movie was a loving parody of the movie version of Mary Shelley's horror classic, filmed in black and white like the famous 1931 film starring Boris Karloff and featuring spoofs of famous scenes with Mel Brooks' distinctive sense of humor. The original "Frankenstein" wasn't the only source of material. Brooks and co–writer Gene Wilder also borrowed from sequels "Bride of Frankenstein," "Son of Frankenstein" and "Ghost of Frankenstein," as well as "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man."

It's one of the few comedies I have ever seen that is still as funny today as it was the first time I saw it.

Some of the extraordinarily talented cast members — Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn— are deceased now. Others — Wilder, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Gene Hackman — are in their 60s, 70s or 80s.

But there may be no other film that gives you this kind of opportunity to enjoy them in their prime.

I must confess, one of my favorite pieces of dialogue is ...

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Inga: Werewolf!
Dr. Frankenstein: Where wolf?
Igor: There.
Dr. Frankenstein: What?
Igor: There, wolf. There, castle.
Dr. Frankenstein: Why are you talking that way?
Igor: I thought you wanted to.
Dr. Frankenstein: No, I don't want to.
Igor: [shrugs] Suit yourself. I'm easy.

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Or perhaps the running gag about Frau Blücher ...

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Yep, I really like this movie.

Not Exactly Politically Correct

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Mel Brooks has been around a long time.

He's 82 years old now. He began his career as a comedian, then found his niche behind the scenes, writing for Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner (who supposedly based the character of Buddy Sorrell on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" on Brooks). He went on to create the popular TV show, "Get Smart," before moving on to full-time film work.

His best films were often irreverent, and one of them, "Blazing Saddles," will be shown tonight on American Movie Classics at 9:15 p.m. (Central). But AMC, as I have noted here before, edits the films it shows so many of the best moments may be cut or bleeped or whatever. For that reason, I have attached a clip of one of the funniest sight gags at the start of this post.

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As far as I'm concerned, though, no discussion of Brooks' work is complete without a story about Brooks, preferably one that is told by Brooks himself.

And here is one of the best, from May 1992, when Brooks was a guest during the final week of Johnny Carson's tenure on "The Tonight Show." Watch it, enjoy it, then watch "Blazing Saddles."