Robert Trachtenberg is writing and directing a documentary on Mel Brooks. The following is an excerpt from an interview he did with Brooks for the Spring issue of M Magazine.
Robert Trachtenberg
A funny thing happened the other day.
You came to see the movie for the
first time with a couple of executives
who shall remain nameless. One of them--
Jordan Fields -- was wearing jeans with
a tear in the knee. When the lights
came up, you immediatley noticed it and the
the first thing you said was...
Mel Brooks
'You're too old for that.' Yeah.
I never saluted the knee-tear in
jeans. Never. I've never gone along
with a lot of stuff. Frank Yablans, big
movie producer, used to wear alligator
penny loafers with no socks. He'd
cross his legs and you'd say, 'Hmmm,
doesn't work.' Great story: We were both
at Fox in the seventies. There was an executive
parking lot, and I had a space there.
I'll never forget it -- one day I pulled up in
in a silver '72 Honda Civic and Frank
pulls up in a sleek black Rolls Royce.
He got out, looked at my Civic and said,
"You know Mel, I'll never be big enough
to drive a car like that."
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9 comments:
The length some older men will go to attract the trim.
I told a buddy of mine that if he ever sees me in ripped jeans with buttoned pockets on the back to grab a 5 iron out of his bag and slam me over the head with it.
I told my wife that if I were to ever wear flip-flops in any city anywhere on the planet (even a tropical one), that she has my permission to shoot me.
-DB
Man, do I agree with Mel. I didn't know he had that much sense!
ML
I was wearing "no knees jeans" just last night - but in the house and only because my others were in the laundry (and the ripped ones are still so comfortable). My 16 year old daughter said - "that look is so popular, not cool, just popular!" She is a very smart girl! DMW
Brother "Epic", recall that Mr. Brooks married Anne Bancroft and one's appreciation of his good sense rises.
I have a straight razor and a church key: maybe I can get a job as a clothing designer (that look has never made any sense to me either)
It never makes you look younger. Just smaller and more desparate. Mel is the man and plenty big enough to drive a Civic.
There was a time, let's call it the late '80s and early '90s, when the jeans worked. But only if you wore them out yourself. Chixdiggit, I'm tellin' ya. And it crossed over between metal, college rock, and grunge (trust me, there was a HUGE difference at the time). But you had to be young.
Those guys Mel is talking about? Old. Mostly bald. They had those messed up little pony tails. They bought their jeans pre-ripped in places with names like Mr. Raggz and Bootleggers. Those guys, and their jeans hiked up to their scotch guts are gone. And all that remains are their mid-life crises, typically a 928 or an SL, now available on ebay.
---Danny from Bellevue
Ripped jeans are only acceptable if you can see a matching scar through the hole, and even then they're questionable.
Trad, have you ever seen the magazine called "The Rake"? It can be had via subscription or in electronic version via Zinio. It is as close a magazine has come to the style of the old "M Magazine" -- sadly, even better than the current revitalized "M Magazine".
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