This movie was fascinating to me because it is a time machine back to the childhoods of other people. My father and mother would have been 16 when this movie was a hit. I grew up hearing about Joe Penner from them as my father would regularly do the "Wanna buy a duck?" line (and, unbeknownst to me I'd hear Penner in cartoons without realizing it). You haven't lived until you heard my Tony Soprano-like father saying "You wanna buy a duck?" Believe me, you'd buy...or else! :) And then, of course, there is the premise of the movie, which a young (11 years old when this movie came out) Mel Brooks either knowingly or unknowingly ripped off in The Producers. Of course. "Springtime with Hitler in Germany" could only come out of the laughably perverted mind of Brooks. But still...
My parents, Mel Brooks, and I wonder how many other people were influenced by these comedians...Milton Berle...the voice of Harriet of Ozzie and Harriet fame who was quite the singer in her day...I found myself laughing at Penner myself, and it was as if I were in a time warp sharing a laugh with my now long gone parents in their childhood. What a gift.
My parents, Mel Brooks, and I wonder how many other people were influenced by these comedians...Milton Berle...the voice of Harriet of Ozzie and Harriet fame who was quite the singer in her day...I found myself laughing at Penner myself, and it was as if I were in a time warp sharing a laugh with my now long gone parents in their childhood. What a gift.