Gene Wilder

And Mel, you have to understand this important point.

He had done The Producers for $50,000 over two years, and he didn't make a penny from it.

Then he did The Twelve Chairs, $50,000 for two more years, and didn't make a penny from it.

That's four years of work.

And then they offered him quite a bit of money to direct Young Frankenstein.

And he took it.

He called me first.

He said, what are you getting me into?

I said, nothing you don't want to get into.

He said, I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know.

The next day, I got a call saying Mel's going to do it.

There's quite a few really classic jokes in Young Frankenstein.

One of them, and this seems like it's probably the oldest joke in the world, and I'm not sure.

Oh, dear.

I think you know the walk this way joke?

No.

Why don't you describe how it happens in the movie, and tell me if it's something that you and Brooks came up with, or whether this joke has a long previous life, because it seems like, I don't know I ever heard it before the movie, but it seems like it should have been around forever.

Do you know what I mean?