‘I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right?’. When I first heard these words spoken by Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks’ timeless classic, The Producers, I knew I had come across a genius comedic mind at work. How fitting and kismet that the first page of his memoir, All About Me, would feature this exact quote.
Mel Brooks (Photo by Steven R. Stack).
Mel Brooks is, simply put, Hollywood royalty. The legendary EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner is a comedic icon of screen and stage, whose hit creations include Get Smart, The Producers (later adapted into a hit Broadway play), Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead and Loving It, among countless others.
All About Me covers every aspect of Brooks’ incredible life; his early years in Brooklyn, growing up with his mother, the loss of his father at a young age, serving in the army during World War II, his deep love for entertainment, his first introductions to Broadway musicals and — of course — meeting and falling in love with his late wife, Anne Bancroft.
Each chapter focuses on different stages of his life, but the majority are dedicated to his most memorable movies. Mel gives us fantastic behind the scenes recounts and insights into his entire career, from his first break working on TV with Sid Caesar and his lifelong friend, the legendary Carl Reiner, to his wanting to break into film. He realised while working on TV that film would be where he could really excel, as movies were seen the world over and lived on for decades, whereas TV shows and episodes were easily forgotten (pre-streaming, of course).
As a big fan of The Producers — both film and musical adaptation — I loved that this book went into such intense detail regarding Mel’s journey to getting his hit (and controversial) satire made. So many studios wouldn’t touch it due to its subject matter, despite being a satire. He talks about the casting process for the movie, getting to be the director despite not having the relevant experience at the time, being told he had been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (and not believing it) to ultimately winning.
This is a truly wonderful book that left me grateful to the 95 year old icon for giving us a glimpse into his remarkable life and the great tales of his storied career, and how his great films leapt from his mind to the screen.
—All About Me by Mel Brooks (Penguin Books Australia) is out now.
All About Me
My Remarkable Life in Show Business
For anyone who loves American comedy, the long wait is over. Here are the never-before-told, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and remembrances from a master storyteller, filmmaker, and creator of all things funny.
All About Me! charts Mel Brooks's meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Whether serving in the United States Army in World War II, or during his burgeoning career as a teenage comedian in the Catskills, Mel was always mining his experiences for material, always looking for the perfect joke...
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