The Pride Of Frankenstein

Are you worried now about following such a big hit as "The Producers"?
No, I was just so happy and grateful to the fates, the gods. Even if I never have another one, it will always bring in $100 a week.

Ha! But do you feel that the critics are sharpening their knives right now?
I do. I could write some of those reviews. It's the nature of the business. You know, when I made movies, I learned all about critics. The first movie I wrote and directed was "The Producers," with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. The New York Times said it was black college humor and the leading man is too fat. The next New York Times review was a review of "The Twelve Chairs," and the Times said, "What happened to the genius that gave us 'The Producers'?" By then I'd won an Academy Award for the "Producers" screenplay. I always got a good review in the Times—one picture later. So I'm pretty sure something like that might happen with this. I think in a couple of years, they'll probably say it's pretty good.

The show has been in previews for weeks. Do people recognize you at the theater?
All the time—too much. I get people that say, "Don't you remember me?" I look and I say, "Where do I actually know you from?" "I was in your class in the second grade at P.S. 19." I say, "Well, you were much shorter then." Everybody knows a famous person, but it's hard for the famous person to know everybody.

How was adapting "Young Frankenstein" to the Broadway stage? Was it different from "The Producers"?
Not really—it had an existing story. The story of "Young Frankenstein" started with Mary Shelley, and then in 1931, James Whale made a movie for Universal called "Frankenstein." When I made my movie, I tried to stay with the look and feel and texture of the black-and-white James Whale movie.

Did you see it when you were a kid?

Yeah, it terrified me and stayed with me. I think I made a movie comedy of it, in a strange way, to exorcise it from my soul so I wouldn't worry about Frankenstein climbing up the fire escape and coming into my bedroom. We lived in Brooklyn, and my mother used to say, "It's a big tenement. Why would he choose our apartment? We're on the top floor, he doesn't have to climb—he can get somebody on the first floor."