Hey folks, Harry here... Our rooftop theif, John Robie, was on the spot for YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN as well... but Roger O Thornhill responded in with this thrilling report first. While Roger's been known to stab a guy in the back from time to time, I couldn't cary a grudge, so I grant-ed him the first shot at the report. So... here's our dear Thornhill...
25th Anniversary Screening of ‘Young Frankenstein’ with Cast and Crew.
Hello all, Roger O. Thornhill here. When I last corresponded I was on my way to the United Nations building to settle things with Mr. Townsend. Mistake. I’m not there five minutes before someone knifes the old boy and blames the crime on me. I needed somewhere to hide out before I could travel to Chicago. What better place than the Thursday night (11/4) American Cinematheque’s screening of ‘Young Frankenstein’ in Hollywood, CA?
Or so I thought. As of last night there were 400 tickets available for tonight’s event. A good 200 people showed up to buy tickets only to find that 20th Century Fox and FXM movies bought ALL the tickets this morning!!! You can imagine our anger. Luckily I found an old lady from Mother’s bridge club who snuck me in. And boy was it worth it.
A new 35mm print was shown with a Q&A afterwards which included: Mel Brooks, producer Michael Gruskoff, actor Peter ‘The Monster’ Boyle, the lovely Teri ‘Inga’ Garr, actor Kenneth ‘Inspector Kemp’ Mars, cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld and makeup LEGEND William Tuttle! Those peasants stuck outside had a lot to be angry about.
I knew the night was going to be something to remember when 10 minutes before the show started, right after Mel Brooks entered the room, Dustin Hoffman stood up and screamed, "Is tonight fucking great, or what?!". The crowd went nuts. WHY WAS HOFFMAN THERE? You’ll have to just keep reading…
The print was beautiful and the crowd was rowdy. There was an energy in the air that can only remind one of being at a rock show. The high-contrast B&W imagery, the great score and all encompassing hijinks, no wonder it’s a classic. Watching it again, one can only be reminded of how truly faithful this spoof of Frankenstein really is. Not only is there a comedic element, but we still get the alienation of the monster, the riotous townsfolk, etc. The film was great, what followed afterwards was even more amazing.
Once all the panelists were seated, Mel Brooks simply took over the show. He was razor sharp and full of life. Here are some of the tales each panelist told. Just the facts and a few brief stories…
Mel explained how this picture was made before ‘Blazing Saddles’ had even hit the theatres and because he had not had such a huge success as what ‘Saddles’ became no one would let him make the film in black and white. He talked about how he wanted to do a dedicated homage to James Whale’s great 1931 film and how important it was to him that everything from the black and white imagery to the sets needed to seem as if they were a part of the original ‘Frankenstein’s’ realm. Mel even got into arguments with cinematographer Hirschfeld because Mel wanted Hirsch to shake the camera a bit on the dolly moves so that it would match some of the moves seen in the original. Like any talented artist/technician Hirsch didn’t want his peers and the rest of the industry to think he was an incompetent, so they compromised on a shot here or there.
Alan Ladd, Jr. gave the film a home at Fox for 2.5 million and the rest is history.
Mel was very giving and called attention to as many of his cast and crew as he could recall, crediting others for funny ideas, bit players, etc. Gene Wilder was cited as having come up with the story concept of Frankenstein’s great-grandson coming home to ‘run the family business’. Wilder’s absence was due to the fact that he’s off filming a TV series.
Mel also talked about how Gene Hackman, Gene Wilder’s tennis partner, thought his cameo as the ‘blind man’ would take about 30 minutes and ended up taking a good week! . Hackman was not too happy about all the time spent on the scene, but due to the large amounts of physical humor, it had to be choreographed just right. They commented on Hackman’s comedic abilities, which were also used in ‘Superman’ and ‘Get Shorty’ to name a few.
Peter Boyle spoke of how he went through tough dance rehearsals with Wilder on the classic, ‘Putting on the Ritz’ dance scene. He did three days of solid rehearsals in his big Frankenstein boots just to prepare for the actual scene! Mel told him tonight for the first time that he and Wilder had fought numerous times about that scene and it was Wilder’s pushing which finally got Mel to accept it. Boyle also did his own stunt of falling into the crowd after a few takes in which a real stuntman, ‘just wasn’t working out’. Mel insisted that all of Boyle and Kahn’s love scenes, were 100% natural.
Teri talked about how this was one of her first films and how exciting it was to have a director encourage the actors to come up with ideas and new bits. An experience she has had few times since. All the actors present agreed about how great the onset vibe was and how open Mel was to new ideas, many of which ended up in the film.
WHY was Hoffman present? Well… Hoffman lived on 11th street in NY and so did Mel. Mel thought Hoffman might have some talent and basically offered him the role of the crazy German writer who wrote ‘Springtime For Hitler’ in the film ‘The Producers’. Hoffman backed out when he was called off to California to audition for a new film called, ‘The Graduate’ which would also star Mel’s wife, Anne Bancroft. AHA.. the connection.
Ken Mars,who eventually landed the role of the German writer in the ‘Producers’ was called in to continue his Germanic stylings as ‘Inspector Kemp’ in ‘Young Frankenstein’. Mars talked about how Mel let him take as much time as he needed with his wooden arm in the film.
Tuttle talked about how much he respected Mel’s decision to make the film B&W, which for the 70s was pretty rare and how much better the make-up looked in glorious B&W. He also reminisced about how great the lost MGM backlot was and how few backlots today compare with it.
Mel and Co. repeatedly complemented Wilder’s performance as a role he was born to play and sent out best wishes to actress Madeline Kahn, who also was unable to make it tonight.
Much talked about and missed was the legendary Marty Feldman, ‘Igor’. They talked about how his lines to Kahn about a possible sexual tryst were pure improv to the point that they had to keep re-shooting because everyone was cracking up. By the time Marty began gnawing on Kahn’s mink stole, even Hirsch’s assistant cameramen began shaking the camera with laughter during the scene. Mel spoke very fondly of Marty and described how much of a nice guy he was off the camera and how great he was at coming up with the most amazing jokes ‘out of thin air’.
Tales were told of Cloris Leachman tickling Peter Boyle while he was tied down to the table and how important it was for Brooks to make her look like Mrs. Danvers from ‘Rebecca’. Brooks, obviously again showing his Hitchcock fandom, this just a few years before making, his send up Hitch film, ‘High Anxiety’.
Brooks talked of an upcoming project in which he’s going to try and score a Tony. The guy already has two Academy Awards, a Grammy and a recent Emmy, so what the heck, right? What’s his plan? He’s going to try and do a Broadway version of ‘Springtime For Hitler’ (no joke). Heck, I’d go see it.
A very geekish fact was revealed that the Laboratory equipment actually came from the garage of a prop master who handled that set on THE ORIGINAL FRANKENSTEIN! I’ve often marveled at just how perfect it looked. The prop master apparently had kept all the equipment working so there was no need to rebuild anything!
Another question asked why Mel wasn’t in the film. He divulged that he actually is in the film as the voice of an offscreen werewolf and a cat hit by a dart thrown by Gene Wilder. In all seriousness he explained that with this great cast, there was no need for him and he knew it. What he thought worked the best about the performances and what he admitted he felt was the key to comedy, was that the actor take their character and lines with a heavy air of sincerity. They have to believe fully in what they are doing no matter how absurd it is. Their dedication to each moment will either make or break the moment, the character or the film for that matter (good point).
A final comment came when someone mentioned how he’d seen Mel’s film while sitting behind a group of German tourists here in the states on vacation. They apparently loved the film. Brooks quipped, ‘They love me, hey they even loved WW II for a while, right?’—a joke played even better knowing that Brooks served our country during that grisly war.
In true showbiz fashion, they ended the event on that last highnote, leaving the audience wanting more. Much in the same way, I plan to do right now.
All involved were very approachable for autographs and one could walk away knowing that just occasionally in Hollywood a group of dedicated artists can get together, listen to each other, care about their work and are even rewarded for it at the B.O.
Ahh, for the days long gone, when ‘Double Jeopardy’ wasn’t America’s favorite film…
But, hey, don’t take my word for it. FXM did a 3 camera shoot, so look for clips of this gala on their channel in the near future.
My train for Chicago departs soon. Might I catch ‘Sleepy Hollow’ at Paramount this fri. night? Who knows…. Thornhill out.
