Mel Brooks' "The Producers" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Estelle Winwood

Winwood, known for her saucer-like eyes, began acting at age five and continued well into her nineties (she died at age 101). She starred in the very first Broadway play to win the Pulitzer prize: "Why Marry?" (1918) and acted with particular distinction in the plays of Shaw, Maugham, and Noel Coward.

Her movie credits include "Quality Street", "Dead Ringer", "The Misfits", "The Swan", and "Murder by Death" (as well as "The Producers").

Answer: Cardboard

Max shows him his cravat pin which, he says, "...used to hold a pearl as big as your eye. Look at me now, LOOK AT ME NOW! I'm wearing a cardboard belt!"

Answer: False

Leo does initially pose the theory that a flop could make more money than a hit; he then proceeds, at Max's prompting, to explain how he could do this if he were an unscrupulous, dishonest person. But he is horrified when Max actually decides to do it; even more so when he suggests that they should go into it together.

Answer: Throws coffee on it and wipes it with his cravat.

Mostel's timing and delivery makes this bit hilariously funny.

Answer: The Lincoln Center Fountain.

This is the culmination of a sequence in which Max invites Leo to lunch "al fresco" (he buys him a hot dog from a stand), takes him on a carousel, a boat ride in the lake, and shows him the city from the top of the Empire State Building, all to "seduce" him into collaborating with him in his plan.

The water in the fountain goes on just as Leo cries "I want everything I ever saw in the movies! I'll do it! By God, I'll do it!"

Answer: The concierge

She pronounces it "con-see-urge". Her husband had previously been the "concierge", but he died.

Answer: Birds

They are pigeons, though she doesn't specify this. She just says that "He keeps boids. Dirty, disgusting, filthy, lice-ridden boids. Ya usta be able to sit out on the stoop, like a poysin. Not anymore! No, sir!"

Answer: America the Beautiful

"'Oh beautiful fur spacious skies, fur amber vaves of'... Vat do you vant!." When they assure him that they are there because they want to produce his play, he breaks into a joyful rendition of "Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles". When Leo warns him that people are listening, he switches to "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and quietly suggests that they go inside and talk over a glass of Schnapps.

Answer: That he was a great dancer

"Not many people know zis, but ze Fuhrer vas a terrific dancer!"

Answer: Churchill

"Churchill, vis his cigars und his rotten painting...Hitler vas better looking zan Churchill, he dressed better zan Churchill, he had more hair, told funnier jokes, he could dance ze pants off Churchill!"

Answer: Christopher Hewett ( "Mister Belvedere" )

The English-born Hewett, like Estelle Winwood, began acting at an early age (7, in a production of "Midsummer Nights Dream"). He was in the original Broadway cast of "My Fair Lady", and appeared in the classic films "The Lavender Hill Mob", "The Fallen Idol", and Mel Brook's "The Elephant Man".

In the eighties, he appeared as the title character in the TV sitcom "Mr. Belvedere", as well as "Fantasy Island". Hewett died in 2001.

Answer: White

Carmen Giya, de Bris' bizarre "assistant", asks the men to remove their shoes before coming in because "White, white, white is the color of our carpet!"

Answer: Tugboat Annie

He asks the extremely uncomfortable Leo what he thinks, urging him to "...Be cruel, be brutal, because God knows, they will!" Leo, at a loss for what to say, asks "Where do you keep your wallet?"

Answer: Lorenzo St. Du Bois

He actually has trouble remembering his name. The expression on de Bris' (Hewett's) face while listening to him "sing" is priceless.

Answer: Lighting his cigar.

Her other "duties" include answering the phone ("Bialyshtock und Bloom, Bialyshtock und Bloom. Gut tag pur day!"), dancing to music on the phonograph, "getting the car" ("Oooh! Go to motel?!") and reclining seductively on the desk.The "Ulla" scenes are definitely un-P.C (but then the entire movie is!).

Answer: Offers a bribe to the New York Times critic

He tries to slip the Times critic a hundred dollars to insure a good review, knowing the man will be highly insulted. The critic throws the money to the ground in disgust, and Max chortles with glee "He'll kill us!"(I wonder, though, was the critic insulted at being offered a bribe at all, or was he upset because it was only a measly hundred bucks?)

Answer: Mel Brooks

A nice Hitchcockian touch (Brooks can also be heard saying this line on the original cast album of the Broadway show). If I am not mistaken, he makes an appearance in the audition scene as well, playing the guy in the Hindenberg getup (wrong war) who sings "Haben sie geheard das Deutsches band? Mit ze Bang! Mit ze Boom! Mit ze bing-bang, bing-bang boom!"

Answer: Renee Taylor

The talented comedienne and character actress began her career as a semi-regular on "The Jack Paar Show". With her husband Joseph Bologna, she has produced and appeared in Broadway shows such as "Lovers and Other Strangers". She is best known to most as the mother of Fran Drescher's character on the TV sitcom "The Nanny".

Although her screen time in "The Producers" is extremely short, it is her high-pitched, nasal voice at the beginning of the opening scene of "Springtime for Hitler" that initially catches the attention of the audience, who are beating a hasty retreat after the opening number.

Answer: We're Prisoners of Love

While they rehearse, Leo is seen overselling stock in the play to the prison inmates, guards, and the warden!. Some people just never learn!

Answer: False

The film was actually not very successful, and a discouraged Brooks gave up moviemaking for a while. It has since become a cult classic and, of course, a blockbuster musical. Brooks, needless to say, went on to produce "Blazing Saddles", "Young Frankenstein", "High Anxiety", "History of the World, Part I", "Robin Hood; Men in Tights", Etc., etc.