Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is Fresh Air. I'm David Bianculli. In 1974, Mel Brooks directed and co-wrote one of the greatest film genre parodies in movie history. Actually, two of them. Blazing Saddles, his Western parody, came out in February of that year.
And in December, Young Frankenstein premiered, brilliantly lampooning and celebrating horror movies in general and James Whale's 1930s Frankenstein movies in particular. Because until December, it's still technically the 50th anniversary year of that monster movie comedy. And because today is Halloween, we decided it would be a Halloween treat to devote today's show to young Frankenstein.
Before that film, writer-director Mel Brooks already had cast Gene Wilder in two of his best comedies, The Producers and Blazing Saddles. While filming that latter movie with Brooks, Gene Wilder started sketching out an idea for a movie of his own.
It was a comic version of Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein, conceived to have him play the starring role as the grandson of mad scientist Victor Frankenstein. Wilder asked Brooks to co-write and direct it, and they began work on it immediately.
Young Frankenstein was shot in black and white, and Brooks was so faithful to the pace and look of Wales' original films, he even tracked down and used the original lab equipment from the Frankenstein movies. He also assembled an astounding cast in support of Gene Wilder. Two previous Oscar winners, Cloris Leachman and Gene Hackman, eagerly accepted minor roles.
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Chapter 2: What is the historical significance of 'Young Frankenstein'?
And also in the cast were Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Terry Garr, and Marty Feldman. In an early scene, Wilder, as the scientist's grandson, is met at the Transylvania train station by his future lab assistant, played by Feldman. Dr. Frankenstein.
Frankenstein. You're putting me on.
No, it's pronounced Frankenstein. Do you also say Froderick?
No.
Frederick. Well, why isn't it Froderick Frankenstein? It isn't. It's Frederick Frankenstein.
I see. You must be Igor. No, it's pronounced I-gor. But they told me it was Igor. Well, they were wrong then, weren't they?
On today's show, we'll listen to archive interviews featuring Gene Wilder, Terry Garr, Cloris Leachman, Peter Boyle, and Mel Brooks himself. We'll start with Gene Wilder, who spoke with Terry Gross in 2005. He recalled how he and Mel began collaborating on Young Frankenstein.
I was writing every day, and then Mel would come to the house and read what I'd written, and then he'd say, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, okay, but... We need a villain or we need whatever it was. And we'd talk a little bit and then he'd go away and I would write all the next day. And he'd come and look at it.
And then one day when he read the pages I'd written about Dr. Frankenstein and the creature sing and dance to Putin on the Ritz. He said, are you crazy? This is frivolous. You're just being frivolous. Well, my temperature rose, and after 20 minutes or so of arguing, my color went from red to, I think, blue or purple. I started screaming. And then all of a sudden he said, okay, it's in.
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Chapter 3: How did Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks collaborate on the film?
And it's really such a wonderful scene. So how did you come up with a way to, with an excuse to do it, with the plot point to get in the production number? Because we had to convince the scientific members of Transylvania that with the procedure I was using on the creature, he could be taught to be a civilized human being. what I called a man about town.
And it was for their sake that I was doing it. And I just thought of the funniest way of doing it, that's all. But instead of a monster who's going to kill their children, it was someone who could sing and dance. Well, I think we have no choice here but to listen to you and Peter Boyle doing Puttin' on the Ritz from the soundtrack of Young Frankenstein. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, up until now you've seen the creature perform the simple mechanics of motor activity, but for what you are about to see next, we must enter, quietly, into the realm of genius. Ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et messieurs, Damen und Herren, from what was once an inarticulate mass of lifeless tissues, May I now present a cultured, sophisticated man about town. Hit it!
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to, why don't you go where fashion sits?
Different types who wear a day coat, pants with stripes or cutaway coat, perfect fit.
Dressed up like a million dollar trooper. Trying mighty hard to look like Gary Cooper. Come let's mix where Rockefellers walk with sticks or Romborellas in their midst. Gene Wilder, you came up with the premise for Young Frankenstein. You officially share credits with... Milbrook shares credit with you for the screenplay and the screen story. What gave you the idea of writing Young Frankenstein?
Did you love the Frankenstein movie? Well... At the time, I didn't know why. But I know now that when I was a little boy, I was scared to death of the Frankenstein films, actually, because there were four of them in particular that influenced me. And in all these years later, I wanted it to come out with a happy ending. And...
I think it was my fear of the Frankenstein movies when I was 8 and 9 and 10 years old that made me want to write that story, that I was a young doctor or dental hygienist and found out that my great-grandfather, Beaufort von Frankenstein, left me the whole estate. That was all I had in mind at the time.
And then my agent at the time, Mike Medavoy, before he became a movie mogul, called me up and said, how about a movie with you and Peter Boyle and Marty Feldman? And I said, well, what makes you think of that?
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Chapter 4: What unique filming techniques were used in 'Young Frankenstein'?
He said, because I now handle you and Peter and Marty. And I said, well, as it happens, I do have something. Well, send it to me right now. I said, no, I want to work on it a little bit. And that night I wrote two more pages. The Transylvania station scene, almost verbatim the way it is in the film. And then I sent it off to him.
And he said, I think I can sell this and maybe we can get Mel to direct it. And I said, I don't think he's going to direct something he didn't conceive of. 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.
Chapter 5: Who were the standout cast members in 'Young Frankenstein'?
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?
I had never heard of it before, and while we were filming outdoors on location, Mel says to Marty Feldman, Marty... Who's playing the doctor's assistant. Igor. Your assistant, yeah. Or Igor. He says, bend over and say to Gene, walk this way, and then crouch down and walk away. And I said, Mel, what does that mean? He said, I'll tell you later. I'll tell you later. Just do it for now.
And so I took the cane, and I followed Marty after the camera started rolling, and I walked this funny walk, and everyone laughed afterwards. And I said, now will you tell me what it means?
He says...
A man has a terrible case of hemorrhoids. He goes into a drugstore and he says, have you got some talcum powder for me? I've got terrible hemorrhoids. And the pharmacist says, walk this way. And he says, if I could walk that way, I wouldn't need the talcum powder. And I said, where did that come from? He says, it's an old vaudeville routine. It's years old. But I had never heard of it before.
But it worked. And another real classic one, when you get to the castle, There's these large brass door knockers. With knobs. With knobs on them. And as you're approaching the door, you lift... Terry Garr. Yeah, that's right. You lift Terry Garr out of the wagon that you've arrived in. And your head is kind of buried in her chest as Igor knocks on the door and you say... No. No, you tell it.
You tell it. Well, he knocks on the door, and just when Terry's breast is brushed up against my face, I look and see the knockers, and I say, what knockers? And she says, thank you, doctor. Now, how did you guys come up with that one? It also sounds like this is a classic. No, that's Mel. That wasn't written.
He just said, when you lift her off the wagon like that, look at the knockers and say, what knockers? Well, I thought it was very funny at the time. But that wasn't written. That was just improvised. It wasn't improvised. He just said, say what, knockers. And it worked. What knockers.
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Chapter 6: What memorable scenes highlight the humor in 'Young Frankenstein'?
And she became a costumer in L.A., and my father died when I was 11, and he was in vaudeville, and they met in a Broadway show, my parents. And then he came out to Hollywood to be in movies, and that didn't pan out, and he became very ill afterwards. And he passed away. So my mother had to support three kids by her wits. So she went and got a job in the studios as a costumer.
In fact, she was a costumer on Young Frankenstein before I even got the job. And she told, don't tell anyone I'm your mother. I said, what is this about? It's so weird. Anyway, I learned. Why didn't you want anyone to know? I do not know to this day. Was it for her sake or your sake? I don't know. But finally I told Mel, I said, you know that lady over there? That's my mom.
He was so great because he's just a great guy. And he will bring her over here. And he was wonderful.
Terry Garr speaking to Terry Gross in 2005. Terry Garr died last year. After a break, we'll hear from three more young Frankenstein alumni, Peter Boyle, Cloris Leachman, and Mel Brooks. And Justin Chang reviews the new film, Begonia. I'm David Bianculli, and this is Fresh Air.
On today's Halloween show, we're saluting Young Frankenstein, the Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder monster movie comedy that is celebrating its golden anniversary. Next up is Peter Boyle. Today, Boyle is best known for his comedy work on television as Ray's grumbling father on the long-running sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.
But by the time he agreed to play the creature in Young Frankenstein, Boyle was a dramatic character actor with roles in Taxi Driver, The Candidate, and Joe. Terry Gross spoke with Peter Boyle in 1988.
How did you get the part of the monster?
Uh... Gee, I forget how I got it. I knew Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman, and I knew Mel, and there was a conversation. They wanted to do a spoof on Frankenstein and it was decided, you know, I was best for the monster, Marty was best for Igor and blah, blah, blah like that. And Gene Wilder, you know, wrote the original script and then he and Mel rewrote it and it became a movie. It just happened.
So did you go back and watch the original, study Boris Kovalev?
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