Venues
Events
VideoLocal Culture
Life is Only Two Blocks Away
A Look at Famous New Yorkers and their Native Neighborhoods
Greenwich Village 1960 (Christian Montone)/Greenwich Village 2010
| | More
Mel Brooks: Greenwich Village 1960’s Apartment
“Shoddy and gross and cruel,” wrote Renata Adler, critic for the New York Times, about an independent film she had seen entitled The Producers. In the late 1960s, the Jewish man behind this dark comedic masterpiece had not yet become the one who famously wrote, produced, directed and starred in a large number of his own socially relevant comedy films, nor did he have all four major entertainment awards under his belt. The young Melvin Kaminsky was not yet appreciated worldwide as the outrageous Mel Brooks.
Beginning his life in a Brooklyn neighborhood without a father, little Melvin (as he was originally called) turned to comedy to survive. However, this dream was put on hold when he entered the army during World War II. During this time, inspiration struck.
After his return, his writing for television led him schlepping over the bridge onto West 11th Street in Lower Manhattan with his marriage to the late Anne Bancroft. Standing where Mel Brooks once stood on the street, one can see a lively little neighborhood across from The New School. Those living on this street appear to look like every other New Yorker. But, it was here that comic genius put “Springtime for Hitler” to paper. His struggle to get The Producers made began and ended in New York City. In this sense, the beginning of Mel Brooks’ great career might only be two blocks away from any New Yorker.
The distinctively-voiced Mel Brooks is now famous for his socially important, necessarily vulgar, comedic work. However, it is interesting and uplifting to realize his career and his life did not begin at the top. With this, one gains a new inspirational understanding and appreciation of the man who once said, “It’s good to be the king!”