You may remember a few weeks ago I mentioned a special screening that I was looking forward to attending. Well, last night was that night. It was a Mel Brooks double feature at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. In the past I had attended screenings at the Aero where directors/actors would do a Q&A session in between their features. A very cool opportunity for die hard film fanatics, like myself. But this particular night was different. My whole life I had grown up watching Mel Brooks movies, I would even credit them for helping me develop this "grade A" sense of humor I have today. But anyway, back to the subject, Mel Brooks himself was going to be at this screening and was going to take questions from the audience in between the showing of Blazing Saddles and History of the World: Part 1. I really had no idea what to expect from old Mel, but my hopes were high.
We arrived at the theater a little over an hour
before the screenings began and to our surprise the line was already out the door and around the corner. (Actually, I wasn't too surprised Mel is very popular.) At that point I realized that actually meeting Mel Brooks was highly unlikely. Regardless, I was still anxious to see the two classics on the big screen in their original film print.Once inside, we took our seats, the Aero Theatre welcomed us to the special engagement and Blazing Saddles began rolling on the big screen. The movie, of course, is hilarious, but because there were so many Brooks fans in the house it seemed to be twice as funny.
Once the credits were finished rolling, the house MC introduced Mr. Mel Brooks. The entire theater rose in standing ovation
and I could barely see the top of Mel's head making his way to the front of the theater. Before the Q&A session began, the MC announced that there would be no photographs or autographs allowed with Mr. Brooks. I thought that was a bummer, but I was so taken by his presence that I soon forgot.At the ripe old age of 82 years old, Mel Brooks still hasn't lost it. He had the audience roaring in laughter. He spoke about the production of Blazing Saddles. He shared with us a story of how the Warner Bros. Executives in 1973 almost denied production. See and hear for yourself...
I'm telling you Mel hasn't lost it. After a long and VERY entertaining Q&A session Mel Brooks went to the back of the theater, took his seat and we watched the History of the World: Part 1. I will admit, this was the first time I had ever seen this movie. I loved it in all of its hilarity. Easily, one of Mel's best. "It's good to be King!"
As the movie ended we decided to beat the crowd and left just as the credits started. We had
parked blocks away, so we started walking up to my car. After about four blocks or so, we noticed a little old man, walking alone to his car. It was then it smacked me in the face...that was Mel Brooks. He had apparently left moments before us to avoid the crazy fans. I was ecstatic, here I thought I was going to miss out on meeting the man, but fate had other plans. HA HA (I know, I am kind of superstitious when it comes to this kind of stuff.) I kindly asked him if I could get a picture with him? He turned and said, of course. I shook his hand and told him what a fan I was, that I loved all of his work and that he was a household name in my family. He was so kind and talkative. He said he was grateful that we came out to see his movies. In all, it was a very cool experience. Mel Brooks will one day be listed among the greats of comedy and now I will be able to say that I got to shake the hand of this legend.
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