'To Be With Mel Brooks Is To Laugh'
Lee Adams
A few weeks ago I spent 10 days in Hollywood working on a TV special. Whenever I go out there I'm reminded of the old Rodgers and Hart song. "The Lady is a Tramp." with it's line . . . "Hate California. It's cold and it's damp. . ."
I landed in a pelting rainstorm, as usual, and the first words from the cab driver were, as usual, "Just arrived? Boy, you just missed the great weather! This is the first rain we've had in a month." I'll believe it when I see it.
What I did see was my hotel room, the back seat of cabs, a few restaurants, and the Culver City Studios -- for about 16 hours a day. But te work was exciting and my co-workers friendly and professional, so it was a pleasant though tiring trip.
But the highlight of the journey was a hilarious dinner with Mel Brooks and his wife, Anne Bancroft. (Can't help the name dropping -- gotta tell it like it was.)
Anybody who's seen "The Producers" or "Blazing Saddles" or heard "The 2000 Year Old Man" knows Mel Brooks is funny. I've been lucky enough to have known Mel since the Fifties. In fact, we wrote a show in 1961 called "All American."
During the Creation of this less-than-classic musical, we were walking down the street -- Mel, my parter Charles Strouse, and I -- and Charles suggested we drop in at the Ziegfeld Theater where Anne Bancroft was rehearsing a play.
Charles had played the piano for her when she was studying singing. At that time Anne Bancroft ws a big Broadway star ("Two for the Seesaw," the sensational hit, was in 1958) and Mel, although recognized in the business as a brilliant writer, was still unknown to the public.
We stopped in, Mel met Anne. We talked for five minutes and left. As soon as we got outside Mel said. That's some lady! Do you think she'd go out with me?" She would and did. Their improbable marriage is now 12 years old and seems to be an extremely happy one.
|