All About Me! My Remarkable Life In Show Business is an autobiography by the talented writer - producer - comedian - actor - and husband of Anne Bancroft, Mel Brooks. While this begins with his early family life, it sticks with his work, shying away from personal stories. However, if you are a fan of comedy, this is a must read.
Melvin Kaminsky begins in 1930's Brooklyn, with his three brothers and single mother, enamoured of films and the Borscht Belt comedians. As a young man he worked there and found it a great training ground for comedic writing. WWII arrived and he did his part, returning to a job as a producer's assistant. A thought occurred to him: you could make more money with a flop than a hit.
This lead to TV productions - meeting Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Danny Kaye and Carl Reiner - and the creation of the classic Your Show Of Shows as an integral writer. Working with Carl Reiner led to The 2,000 Year Old Man, a hit stage show and recording.
During a piano rehearsal he met the actress Anne Bancroft - they started talking and never stopped. Unfortunately, Anne and their relationship gets only 5 pages - I wish there was more. For TV he created with Buck Henry the show Get Smart, such a hit he was able to turn his brief synopsis of a three act play "Springtime For Hitler - A Gay Romp With Adolf and Eva At Berchtesgaden" into a film. No one however was going to put Hitler on their marquee, so it was changed to The Producers. Words and music by Mel Brooks (he won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay).
The rest is history, following one commercial success with another: Blazing Saddles with Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn (featuring one of the greatest endings of all time), Young Frankenstein written by and starring Gene Wilder with Teri Garr and Cloris Leachman, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of The World Part One, a remake of To Be Or Not To Be with Anne Bancroft, Spaceballs, Life Stinks, Robin Hood: Men In Tights, and among others Dracula: Dead And Loving It.
His company also produced The Elephant Man, My Favorite Year, 84 Charing Cross Road, Cronenberg's The Fly, and the rollerskating sci-fi film Solarbabies (don't ask).
The Producers was turned into a Broadway musical, and the musical filmed.
This is packed with anecdotes about each production and cast in turn, and we learn about the man through his work. This is comedy based, not on everyday life. I didn't feel like I found out anything above what I already knew about Mel Brooks, but there is more than enough to recommend this. Another thing produced by Bancroft/Brooks is their son Max Brooks, who turned his novel into the hit zombie action film World War Z.
In 2024, he is now 98 years young, and shows no sign of stopping.
2021 / Hardcover / 480 pages
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