I felt a bit bad about chippin’ Mel Brooks in my post yesterday about the difference between really being connected to your muse and straining to reach that creative zone where ideas flow. So I decided to check out the first movie where Uncle Mel was credited as a writer, New Faces, which debuted in 1954, a full 13 years before he would win the Oscar for Best Screenplay for his debut film The Producers.
New Faces began as a Broadway revue in 1952. Although the price of producing musicals now makes a Saturday Night Live style music and sketch comedy show cost-prohibitive, the format had a long run starting with revues like the Ziegfeld Follies in the 1920s. It allowed for topical satire and an easy rotation of acts that weren’t working without stress or major financial loss. A lot of stars emerged from these productions.
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