James Baquet

    Filmmaker Mel Brooks is ... well ... ancient.

    He was born Melvin Kaminsky in a time when many entertainers changed their “ethnic-sounding” names to be more “mainstream”--as when comedian Benjamin Kubelsky became “Jack Benny”; crooners Anthony Benedetto and Dino Crocetti became Tony Bennett and Dean Martin; and actress Natalie Zakharenko changed her name to Natalie Wood.

    Brooks (whose mother’s maiden name was “Brookman”) started his show biz career as a drummer and pianist in resorts in the Catskills Mountains. One night a sick comedian was a no-show, and Brooks made an instantaneous career change, working first as a comic and then progressing to become a stage actor.

    Unlike Woody Allen, Brooks moved from stand-up comedy to comedy writing. He still performed though, and in 1960 he publicly debuted something he and writing partner Carl Reiner had been doing in private for a long time — and the reason I called him “ancient.” This was the “2,000 Year Old Man,” who had been alive at the time of Jesus, had been married hundreds of times, and had “over 42,000 children,” he said, “and not one comes to visit me.”

    Mel Brooks continued writing, including for Broadway. Then, in 1965, he created with writer Buck Henry the television show (later made into a movie) “Get Smart,” a parody of James Bond.

    And this was the foundation on which Brooks built as a filmmaker: his best movies are parodies of various film genres. These include a Western (“Blazing Saddles”); old silent films (“Silent Movie”); historical epics (“History of the World Part I”); science fiction (“Spaceballs”); Robin Hood films (“Robin Hood: Men in Tights”); and horror movies (“Dracula: Dead and Loving It” and “Young Frankenstein,” the latter considered by both Brooks and many others to be one of his greatest films).

    Brooks also holds the distinction of being one of only 12 EGOT winners, having won four Emmy Awards (for television), three Grammy Awards (for recording), one Oscar (for film), and three Tony Awards (for Broadway).

    A great achievement for a man who turned 90 last year.

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. the entertainment industry

    2. belonging to a minority group

    3. sudden

    4. types, categories

    5. woman’s family name before marriage

    6. of the main group

    7. honor, position above others

    8. smooth-sounding singers

    9. one who does not appear

    10. humorous imitation of a serious art form