Creative Genius
With regard to doing things in a different way, the creative genius of Brooks has always been evident. This was definitely true when he decided to have foreground music rather than background music, which was more commonly used. He chose to have Count Basie, who is among the best ever band leaders, and made Basie and his band perform in the movie the song “April in Paris.” Amazingly, the movie’s theme song was also composed by Brooks and Frankie Laine ended up singing the track.
Creative Genius
The Name That Caused A Lawsuit
Mel Brooks wrote the perfect antagonist for the film and named him Hedly Lamarr. However, his character’s name unfortunately sounds a lot like the name of the well-known actress Hedy Lamarr, who had a contract with MGM starting from the 1930s until the 1950s. She was not really impressed by the resemblance and Harvey Korman had even joked that it would cause a lawsuit. She did file suit, but both sides settled things out of court.
The Name That Caused A Lawsuit
