美国国家公共电台 NPR Mel Brooks Says It's His Job To 'Make Terrible Things Entertaining'

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Fifty years ago, Mel Brooks¹ released "The Producers." It was a movie about a scam to put on a Broadway musical that lost money. Years later, it became a Broadway musical about putting on that musical. And like the fictional² musical, which was called "Springtime For Hitler," "The Producers" was a hit, famous in its time as the first Broadway show ever to charge $100 for every ticket. Tomorrow night at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, the 91-year-old Mel Brooks will screen the original film. NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg got a preview of his talk.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE³: Mel Brooks' office at Culver Studios is lined with posters of his movies - "Young Frankenstein," "Robin⁴ Hood⁵: Men In Tights," "Blazing Saddles." Rows of his awards - Tonys, Emmys, Grammys - line on a shelf.

MEL BROOKS: I'm just mounting it all up. I'm going to put it in a box and see what I can get from eBay.

STAMBERG: His Oscar's not there. He keeps it at home, safe from pilferers. He won it for best original screenplay for "The Producers," the first film he directed, which almost didn't get made. Who would take on a film about producers hoping for a flop⁶ with a play called "Springtime For Hitler?" Every major studio turned it down. Producer Joseph E. Levine loved it but...

BROOKS: He said, I'll do it, but you got to do me one favor - do not call it "Springtime For Hitler" because exhibitors will not put Hitler on the marquee. Call it something else.

STAMBERG: Mel did and wrote words and music for a song with the original title.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRODUCERS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #1: (As characters, singing) And now it’s…

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, singing) Springtime for Hitler and Germany. Deutschland is happy and gay.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #1: (As characters, singing) We’re marching to a faster pace. Look out. Here comes the master race.

STAMBERG: Director Brooks has chorus girls parade down stairs in this number. They are wearing bras decorated with puffs⁷ of beer foam⁸, golden pretzels. Dancers in stormtrooper uniforms goose step across the stage. Mel uses his own voice for one musical passage.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRODUCERS")

BROOKS: (Singing, as character) Don't be stupid. Be a smarty. Come and join the Nazi⁹ party.

To do a number called "Springtime For Hitler," every rabbi in the world sent me a letter. And I would - I responded to every single one of them, and I said, listen, get on a soapbox with Hitler, you're going to lose. He's a great orator¹⁰. But if you can make fun of him, if you can have people laugh at him, you win.

STAMBERG: So far, so good. Mel had motivation, a producer, a theme song. Now, he needed a cast. Broadway star Zero Mostel turned down the part of ridiculously manipulative, shrewd, money mad producer Max Bialystock, sure that he'd make a fortune on a flop about Hitler by selling each of his backers 100 percent of the show. Zero Mostel's wife intervened.

BROOKS: Katie Mostel (ph) read the script, thought it was great and said either you do this or we're divorced.

STAMBERG: Then, producer Joseph E. Levine didn't like Mel's pick to play the other producer, actor Gene¹¹ Wilder.

BROOKS: Joe said, you know, Mel, he may be a good actor, I don't know, but he's a funny-looking guy. I'll put in another $25,000, $50,000 into it. Just get a better looking guy.

STAMBERG: Mel fought for Gene and won. OK. Gene Wilder as timid, panicky Leopold Bloom. Then there was a problem with the actor he'd cast as Franz Liebkind, the Nazi-loving author of the hoped-for flop "Springtime For Hitler."

BROOKS: Actually a guy who lived on my block, Dustin Hoffman.

STAMBERG: But - another but - after signing, Hoffman showed up one day at Mel's office.

BROOKS: He said, Mel, you can't believe this. I have to go to Hollywood for Mike Nichols to audition¹² for Benjamin in "The Graduate." I said go. Go audition. You're a mutt. They're going to look at you, and they're going to say, are you crazy, this short, funny-looking guy. So I said, I'm not worried. Dustin, I'm not worried.

STAMBERG: Well, he should have been. "The Graduate" launched Hoffman's career, playing opposite Mel's wife, Anne Bancroft.

You get us laughing at things that make us feel naughty to laugh at.

BROOKS: Really?

STAMBERG: Yeah because they're so outrageous¹³. It's too horrible. How can he poke¹⁴ fun at it? I think that's what goes on inside.

BROOKS: Well, that's the job. The comedy writer is like the conscience of the king. He's got to tell them the truth. And that's my job, to make terrible things entertaining.

STAMBERG: So in his films, Mel Brooks pokes¹⁵ fun at racial prejudice, the infirmities of old people, the Inquisition with its tortures and murders and, especially in "The Producers," anti-Semitism.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRODUCERS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #1: (As characters, singing) Bombs falling from the skies again, Deutschland is on the rise again.

STAMBERG: Four years ago, Mel Brooks joined a roster¹⁶ of movie legends - Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe. Like them, he pressed his hand and footprints into wet cement in front of the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Mel was thrilled to be asked, but he knew his fans would want to see something rapscalliony (ph).

BROOKS: So I called somebody at Fox and I said, look, you guys are brilliant. Can you make me another finger?

STAMBERG: Well, who could turn down Mel Brooks?

BROOKS: They built me another pinky, you know? So I had six fingers on one hand.

STAMBERG: Nobody said anything at first. Neither did Mel. He just dreamt of the day when a guy from Ohio was looking at the pavement and then looking up and...

BROOKS: Saying, Clara (ph) come over here. I don't believe it. Look. Mel Brooks had six fingers on his right hand, you know. That's why I did it, to be me.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRODUCERS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #2: (As characters, singing) Prisoners of love, blue skies above 'cause we're still prisoners of love.

STAMBERG: Oh, the fate of the flop - the producers go to jail where they cast inmates¹⁷ in a new show, "Prisoners Of Love." The inmates invest, so does the warden¹⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRODUCERS")

GENE WILDER: (As Leopold Bloom) Tell him he owns 50 percent of the show.

STAMBERG: I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRODUCERS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #2: (As char

1 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

5 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

6 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

7 puffs   

n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• We sat exchanging puffs from that wild pipe of his. 我们坐在那里，轮番抽着他那支野里野气的烟斗。 来自辞典例句
• Puffs of steam and smoke came from the engine. 一股股蒸汽和烟雾从那火车头里冒出来。 来自辞典例句

8 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

9 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

10 orator   

n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家

参考例句：

• He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
• The orator gestured vigorously while speaking.这位演讲者讲话时用力地做手势。

11 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

12 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

13 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

14 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

15 pokes   

v.伸出( poke的第三人称单数 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• He pokes his nose into everything. 他这人好管闲事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Only the tip of an iceberg pokes up above water. 只有冰山的尖端突出于水面。 来自辞典例句

16 roster   

n.值勤表，花名册

参考例句：

• The teacher checked the roster to see whom he would teach this year.老师查看花名册，想了解今年要教的学生。
• The next day he put himself first on the new roster for domestic chores.第二天，他把自己排在了新的家务值日表的第一位。

17 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。