The “Blazing Saddles or Airplane! ?” thread got me to thinking about Madelaine Kahn. I was reading thru her Wikipedia entry and was struck by this sentence, talking about her work with Mr. Brooks:
Why? She was undeniably brilliant in all his previous films and HOTW was another huge success, so why did he not have her in his productions ever again? It’s not as if Mr. Brooks stopped making movies after that.
Interesting question. It looks like he made two more movies before she died, maybe there just wasn’t a role good for her?
Well, Brooks only directed four films after History of the World: Part 1, and six years passed between that film and Spaceballs. And, by the late '80s and early '90s (when Brooks was making those last few films), Kahn was also doing a lot of TV and stage work. It might well be that she was busy when he was filming, or, as Maserschmidt notes, he didn’t have the right roles for her in those films.
As far as I can tell from a few minutes of googling, I’m not seeing any evidence of any bad blood between the two of them (and, in fact, it looks like they had a great deal of mutual respect and admiration). Brooks didn’t work with Gene Wilder on those later films, either, and I know that the two of them adored each other, as well.
I was coming in to suggest this, as it’s the simplest answer, which often is the likely answer. Sometimes, schedules don’t line up. It’s not like either ever had a bad word to say about the other.
I seem to recall reading that Gene Wilder only said ‘yes’ to “Young Frankenstein” on the condition that Brooks not appear in it. Doesn’t mean they weren’t on good terms, but Brooks had a habit of stinking up a film.
From her Wikipedia page:
1981 History of the World, Part 1
1982 Slapstick of Another Kind
1983 Betty
1984 City Heat
1985 Clue
1986 My Little Pony: The Movie
1986 An American Tail
1986 Comedy Factory CTV
1987-1988 Mr. President
1990 Betsy’s Wedding
1991 Road to Avonlea
1992 Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book
1992 Lucky Like
1992 Ror Richer, For Poorer
1993 Sesame Street
1993 Monkey House
1994 Mixed Nuts
1995 Nixon
1995 New York News
1996 London Suite
1996 For Love Alone
1996-1999 Cosby
1998 A Bug’s Life
1999 Judy Berlin
1999 Little Bill
Except for 1989, she worked pretty steadily, for almost two decades.
That’s not correct at all. Young Frankenstein was really a Gene Wilder project to start, he took the fill-in role in Blazing Saddles with the agreement that Mel would make Young Frankenstein. As to not appearing in Young Frankenstein, I think you’re correct Gene talked him out of it. Probably for the reason you stated, Mel isn’t really a very good actor in the end.
In both Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead and Loving It, whenever Amy Yasbeck was onscreen, I kept thinking, “I miss Madeline Kahn.” Though I will concede that MK was probably too old for those roles.
Harrumph!
In fact, Kahn spent the first half of '89 starring in a revival of “Born Yesterday” on Broadway.
Hey, he is a freaking genius, I practically worship Mel Brooks. Few people have ever been funnier just to listen to, probably Groucho then Mel. He is made of awesome, but seriously, his acting? No so good.
HOWT:P1 wasn’t all that hot at the box office.
HOWT:P1 $31.7 million ($10M budget)
Young Frankenstein $86.2 million ($2.78M)
Blazing Saddles $119.5, the 10th film to cross $100m ($2.6M)
In those days theaters got a higher cut of the gross and, at least for the last two, home media wasn’t a concern. So the ROI wasn’t much compared to his big films.
Reviews were middling for the most part except many top reviewers really dinged on it.
I remember waiting in a multiplex lobby and peeked into the theater where HOWT:P1 was playing opening weekend. Not even a handful of people.
There really was talk before it was released that there was going to be a sequel. It wasn’t just a joke title. That never happened.
Combined with the lesser successes of High Anxiety and Silent Movie, the studios were less interested in continuing to finance his films.
Of the movies he made after he last worked with Madeline Kahn the only one that had a Madeline Kahn type role was Life Stinks. Possibly it was her good taste that kept her away because movie stinks.
Really, every movie he made after High Anxiety stinks. And HA wasn’t all that good either.
Space Balls was funny. Oh no not again was extremely funny.
Sing what I sing, sing after me.
Be my echo if you can be…
Getting to own Sesame Street videos made having kids worth all the bother.
He seems to be aware of his limitations in that regard; he never cast himself in serious roles. For example, he was one of the two producers of the David-Lynch-directed The Elephant Man, but didn’t try to horn in on an acting part.
Possibly his most serious dramatic efforts are in his remake of To Be or Not to Be, in which he played the role Jack Benny did in the original. But there again he was following a fellow-comic, so the expectations weren’t of a heart-rending dramatic turn.
Could have sworn that I saw it in a bio flick.
Also, his character in that movie is an enormous ham, so he didn’t have to act too hard to pull it off.
I didn’t get a “Harrumph!” outta dat guy…