Happy Birthday Mel Brooks!
The great director/actor/producer Mel Brooks is 80 years old today! When I heard the news this morning I instantly thought about his masterpiece, Young Frankenstein. It is a true Hollywood classic. Of course, Blazing Saddles and To Be or Not To Be are also classics, and along with many of his other works, are landmarks in American culture. Certainly, none of these are solo efforts, but one of Brooks' great talents is meshing the gifts of others into his own genius to make a whole that becomes greater than the sum of it's parts. That sounds trite, but this example shows it is a truism.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Brooks! May you live as long as you want but not want as long as you live!