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Young Frankenstein- He's Tap Dancing!
30 Plays1 month ago
Next up is this classic entry into the Frankenstein BODY of work. This film is a must for all Franken-o-philes. There's really not much to add, just hit play.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_4_nm_4_in_0_q_young%2520fran
Music: Cassette Deck by Basketcase
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Hot Set Podcast and Frankensummer
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm Melinda. I'm Ariel. This is Hot Set, the movie podcast about costume design.
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome back to Frankensummer. Frankensummer. feel like we've got to have like a sting for that, like like a lightning and thunder kind of crashing. Right? It evokes nothing more than summer weather.
00:00:38
Speaker
Welcome back. We have another Frankenstein for you.
Plot Synopsis of Young Frankenstein
00:00:43
Speaker
Today's episode is actually Young Frankenstein from 1974, the famous Mel Brooks Project.
00:00:49
Speaker
And our synopsis for this Frankenstein, because um excuse you, each one has her own personality. Today's synopsis an American grandson of the infamous scientist struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.
Personal Experiences with Mel Brooks Films
00:01:13
Speaker
I think that covers everything. it really does. So and I had never seen this movie. I've seen pieces of it. like my Mel Brooks movie was Robin Hood, no, Robin Hood Men in Tights, not Prince of Peace. I mean, correct. That was a whole separate nightmare.
00:01:31
Speaker
yeah Yeah. yeah Robin Hood Men in Tights was my gig. And so it was kind of nice to see that Mel Brooks likes to keep going with that bit of like, somebody has a difference and they're like, what?
00:01:44
Speaker
Because in Robin Hood Men in Tights, it's, I have a mole. Delivery of that line will send me to space. It's not 0.2 seconds.
00:01:55
Speaker
And in this one, I have a hump. Yeah. And then it's like constantly referred to throughout the movie. All right, Mel Brooks, I see you. um So this movie stars Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Terry Garr, a million other names that I'm sure how many funny people are recognizable and like.
Young Frankenstein's Cast and Comedic Elements
00:02:16
Speaker
What a journey, especially now. This is a direct sequel to me, the original Frankenstein movie. That was our first episode of Frankenstein work.
00:02:27
Speaker
So this feels like... not at all true to Hollywood history or cinematic history, but in my now timeline, this is the direct response.
00:02:40
Speaker
And the only one. And the only one. Until we hit the 80s and then it just explodes. Yeah.
00:02:49
Speaker
I love that. But I just loved like being able to recognize like direct calls to the movie that we just watched. Like the scene um where they're ah watching the dead body be buried and they're going to go rob the grave.
00:03:04
Speaker
And it's like filmed very similarly to to the first Rangasai that we watched. um Okay. So what's your relationship with this this film and how did you enjoy your watch this time? Yeah.
00:03:18
Speaker
ah um I've seen this movie a few different times over the years. I think the first time I saw it, I was a teenager. um And I, I had seen, i agree with you that to me, the quintessential Mel Brooks movie is Robin Hood, Men in Tights. That is the first one that I ever saw too.
00:03:38
Speaker
And it is my favorite, I think to this day. um But I've seen this movie a few times. um I've seen it. I saw it a lot on TV, like back when everyone still had cable, it would be like on a movie channel with commercials. And so I've seen like the middle of this movie the most.
00:04:00
Speaker
And, um, I've seen the whole thing a few times, but it had been little while. It'd been a few years, I think, since I had seen it.
Aging Comedy and Costume Design in Young Frankenstein
00:04:10
Speaker
And um it was really great to watch it immediately after watching the original um because I was more familiar with this than the original movie. Yeah.
00:04:23
Speaker
oh And I enjoyed it. Anytime you're watching like a comedy from this era, I feel like I kind of am like a little tense because I feel like something really bad is like a really tone deaf is going to happen. yeah and this one didn't really... There wasn't much that made me... like tense up and have like a visceral reaction of like oh that was that was a joke that was acceptable to tell in this time so i was pleasantly surprised for the most part to watch it again in 2025 i gotta to say or yeah the year of our lord 2025 this is the second movie we've watched recently where i signed in to our video call
00:05:10
Speaker
You got to watch me finish the movie and be shocked and how it was ended. And in this one, I was, um it's not the right word, but I'm going to use it. I was be boggled, bedazzled, agastagog. It ended on a dick joke. It's just like, i can't, I can't even like all of that. We ended on a dick joke.
00:05:41
Speaker
sometimes it's just oh my goodness how goes I guess it's like I think that ah the most that I knew the the scenes that I had seen the most were usually with like Igor and um so I was familiar with like the outfit that he was wearing and like the hood and and like his face kind of floating in the black and white and how effective that that was but but um And Gene Wilder's hair.
00:06:12
Speaker
my God, the hair. Separate characters should have been built separately. Correct. Like as a character and as an actor of its own because Gene Wilder's hair is just like so ah phenomenally bonkers in this movie.
00:06:27
Speaker
The deep, deep, deep, deep comb over. respect and like respect on her name like the at the drop of a hat it just is like wild and like it's straight out so blown and combed out and like like it's fluff and it's just it's like constantly whipping around in a non-existent wind so like having more time to really see the makeup on gene welder's face and like the mascara doing so much work Oh my God. His eyes are really popping. His eyes are underlined and his eyebrows have been lined and filled.
00:07:07
Speaker
And I mean, I, I enjoyed watching some of the costume choices in this. Cause like the, the original Frankenstein, that 1931? Yeah. think so. Yeah. So 31, I was mind boggled because I just didn't know that that was not happening in Victorian era. So seeing it in like modern American american in Austria, Bavaria um was like interesting. And then in this one, seeing it also be kind of in the same...
00:07:39
Speaker
the same boat, the same period as that film was, was great. And um there are some really lovely little like specific comedy costume beats that i enjoy.
00:07:52
Speaker
um but I haven't had like something specific and it's gone. So ae forgot how much like formal evening wear is in this version of the movie um which there was like some in the original but there is so many scenes of gene wilder in like a tuxedo and like oh literally like white white tie and tails at one point and like terry gar in like a very 1930s evening gown and like they
00:08:24
Speaker
um do like the presentation at the end. and if like There's a whole audience of people in like formal, like a European formal... like There's so much formal wear in this movie that I was like...
00:08:38
Speaker
I'm curious, like I haven't seen all of the iterations of Frankenstein that they're like referring to in this movie, but I'm like, is that a thing those? Or did, is that just like what we think of as the thirties and the seventies, you know, like where, where does that come from?
00:08:55
Speaker
i don't know. And I feel so like at sea because I'm not doing the work to find out because I'm just like letting these Frankenstein movies tell me whatever they want to tell me. And it's like, when we go,
00:09:08
Speaker
to to Frederick. Is it Franken, Frankenstein? Is that how he's saying it in the movie? Frankenstein. So Frederick Frankenstein is so trying to not be his family's heir. He's like, no, I'm different. I'm not Frankenstein. I'm Frankenstein, Frankenstein.
00:09:26
Speaker
And, um, but when he goes to the town that his family is from, it's another situation where we've got people wearing essentially like lederhosen. Mm-hmm. These dirndles of like folkwear, but speaking it like the most American accents in the world.
00:09:48
Speaker
Like nobody's trying, except for when they're really trying like Cloris Leachman and board Terry Garr. Kenneth Mars, who's playing Inspector Kemp with like the crazy arm. But he like has to even he has to actually explain to everybody who's supposed to be from the same town that he's from what he's trying to say.
00:10:08
Speaker
Footsteps, footsteps, footsteps. but push a push off oh my God. ah Yeah. Comedy, you guys, have you met her? um but there's Oh, and speaking of like costume comedy moments, his character in particular on the same eye, he's got an eye patch and a monocle on top. Yes.
00:10:28
Speaker
and like like the I mean, like, obviously, like, it's very silly and funny, but it's like, it's so nice to see movies that are like using the clothes to. Yeah. Treating them like they are a tool. And there's like for Inga,
00:10:42
Speaker
um who's played by terry gar when they're in the lab i don't know if it's consistently every time they're in the lab but definitely like early on when they're in the lab actually working on trying to resurrect the monster um she has her own set of lab coat and lab dress that is like an actual dress with like i think like a pleated skirt like it's this whole ensemble that's like for her like science moves ah that That's funny to me because that's like – I always do the thing of not like the practical part of like what's actually happening on the surface of the movie.
00:11:18
Speaker
But I like to imagine what's happening in the world that we're being introduced to. Like that there's a tailor in town or that Inga herself has to like self-draft this. Like what do I – what I feel is going to be the most useful in a lab. Like, do I want these kinds of sleeves? Like, where do I want the waist to fall?
00:11:35
Speaker
And it's just like cleavage is serious. Do I want a lab dirndl? Yes. I think I'll do a lab dirndl. And so it's just like the amount of thinking that the characters have to do or that they have to bring it to a tailor or a seamstress in town and explain Yeah, I want it to just be a dirndl made out of something that's very easily washable.
00:11:56
Speaker
it's It's going to get very dirty. A white twill. yeah ah Make sure it's crisp, please. Thank you. Just crazy.
00:12:08
Speaker
I like to think that she bought something like out of a catalog and it came and she's like, well, that won't do. and like had to alter it to make it cute and yeah low cut for
Dorothy Jeakins: A Costume Design Legacy
00:12:18
Speaker
the lab. my gosh.
00:12:20
Speaker
Like, oh, so good. Did you did you clock that at one point ah Gene Wilder's character is wearing Jodhpurs? yes it was like a breakfast scene he's like in his little tweed jacket with the elbow patches which is something that we with the elbow patches that are so and again it's black and white so everything is like very stark but those elbow patches feel like they are straight up whatever color will show up on black and white as the darkest black because they're so like laughably dark usually elbow patches like that are kind of meant to sort of like
00:12:57
Speaker
maybe distract from the fact that it's like a repair but it's a visible repair tonally similar like yeah and this is like a black eye on both of his elbows and he turned around and I was just like I laughed out loud like because it was just like there's no reason that they needed to be so harsh it has to be purposeful and the jodhpurs were like a wham bam because they the Lepetius and the John Purse.
00:13:23
Speaker
And they were just as unnecessary as the wedding John Purse in the first Rickenstein. Absolutely. As out of place, as I would assume. It's just like, where are you going in those John Purse?
00:13:36
Speaker
To the country. We're in the country. But are you leaving your castle in the country? I think he might have even been holding like a riding crop for a horse. I'm like, there's no horse riding in this movie.
00:13:48
Speaker
That's not happening. But we're in the country, so we must act like a country baron. just love taking that of like, yeah, we have to communicate our location and then making that into a bit of a joke.
00:14:04
Speaker
And like, but yeah, the closest relationship we basically have to those horses is that every time they hear Blucher, they go, ah, that's it. Oh my God. Cloris Leachman as Frau Blucher is so great because I love like her standing next to like Inga. Like I love the pair of them together because like,
00:14:29
Speaker
I don't know how old Cloris Leachman is in this movie, but she can't be like so far away from Terry Garr in age. like they They can't be like that far apart. But like the way that everything about Frau Blücher is like severe and like dowdy more...
00:14:47
Speaker
and more a little bit more like traditional folk looking and then like everything about Inga is just like sexy and like a little nod to like the sort of yeah Bavarian Austrian but like making sure that it's that she looks like hot in the way that like a young blonde like woman has to look hot like...
00:15:12
Speaker
This is crazy. So, Chloris Leachman was about 18 years older than Terry Garr. Okay, that's actually more than I would have thought. Yeah, so, like, enough to communicate that there's a generational difference in there. Okay, never mind what said. But also, like, Chloris Leachman looking fantastic. So, even when they were making her as, like, crazy as Frau Blucher and, like, trying to make her even more severe, etc., etc., it was like, her...
00:15:41
Speaker
I loved the way that she interacted with how she was dressed. Because it's like, this is very subtle, but like even the scene where it's like um Frankenstein is settling in his room the first night that he arrives and she keeps offering him things and he's like, I don't want any of it.
00:15:59
Speaker
And she like sashays away a little bit. And it's just like she's like shimmying her shoulders and just like working with the skirts, you know? And like her hair is so severe that it makes like, she looks a little bit like a flamenco dancer, the way that she's moving with her costume.
00:16:14
Speaker
And it's like, you want a routine? Just like, what about some whole milk? like everything just, makes a flamenco dancer. the beats funnier because she has something to work with. like And it's because if she was just wearing you know ah modern 1930s dress, sure, she could ham it up, but this gives her more to do with her hands, more to do with her shoulders.
00:16:35
Speaker
And it's it's just, come on now. Yeah. she's got so many layers. like She's got this like how many layers blouse with like beauty actually honestly beautiful like folk embroidery like down the sleeves and these like stripe patterns. And then she's got like a like a ah cotton kind of like shawl like folded and tucked in. She's got like the bodice and the skirt. And then she's got like another shawl. like She's got so much of fabric like on her body. it's just like And she's having to like hold the shawl and it like yeah makes her really tense and it like really
00:17:07
Speaker
works. And like when we talk about costume comedy, there's so many ways to do it. There are like really explicit ways to do it. Like, um I mean, ah Fifth Element, that's a place where you see like, you know, feminists like things that are traditionally like feminine feminine, like being applied to people that you assume are traditionally masculine, whatever, messing with that, playing with that, crossing lines and mixing things.
00:17:33
Speaker
um There's ah the... Emma from 2020, where the collars are like from historical, you know, representation, but they are extended even further to make them heightened and ridiculous.
00:17:51
Speaker
yeah But this doesn't even necessarily go in that direction of like, making things ridiculous, like, which it could like She could have 16 shawls on, you know, and you'd only be able to see like half her face. And every time the camera goes back to her she might have like another shawl.
00:18:09
Speaker
But we don't do that. Like the costumes are actually very... very Well done. like They're very like subtle, a lot of them. And like they're very seriously done. It's not like, haha, let's put this character in this ridiculous thing.
00:18:25
Speaker
Yes, there are things that are idiosyncratic, like putting Igor in a medieval peasant's hood. I love that! It's so good. All it's missing is like a Lyra pipe.
00:18:37
Speaker
Literally. like but And for those who don't know what a Lyra pipe is, it's it's the hood with like a very, very long thin tail that keeps going down the back. And so it's like that that's a choice because it's heightening it and making it like you're the monstrous assistant to a monstrous doctor.
00:18:56
Speaker
But like everything is done pretty subtly like around that. And then it's how it's used or like the lab... the lab dirndl with the lab coat but it's not like it's in a different color it's not like it has bells and whistles attached to it it's just the same thing made slightly differently and if you're watching it you might miss it a little bit or you might just like accept it um because as it's being presented to you yeah and that's like the sign like that i think is something that we love to shout out is just people that know like
00:19:31
Speaker
they like they know when to like hit that moment hard and when to like pull back and like how to calibrate what they're providing costume-wise for the moment and the goal of the scene. And that seems like something that would be really important in a movie like this, especially like Mel Brooks doing it, is like...
00:19:58
Speaker
He has really particular ideas about comedy because a lot of like jokes in his movies like come up in like all of his movies, like the types of jokes that he uses. So you would want someone that can find that balance with him and what wants the scene to be seems like it would be important to...
00:20:21
Speaker
have all the tools in the toolbox to be able to do that. um ah we should shout out our costume designer is Dorothy Jeakins, I think, J-E-A-K-I-N-S.
00:20:35
Speaker
um She's a highly celebrated ah costume designer from that era. She, I think, passed away in the late 80s or maybe the 90s.
00:20:47
Speaker
Okay. 95. 95, thank you. I think her last movie might have been in the late 80s. But she started working... as a designer in like the 50s. So she's like getting closer to the movies that they're parodying, like the universal kind of like universal horror movies. She's like a kid when those movies come out. So you would think like maybe, you know, maybe that has something do with her understanding. She was an adult. She was born in 1914.
00:21:18
Speaker
Right. Yeah. So yeah, she was, these were her like, her probably if she like started working, she was probably like coming up like during that time and studying even. So it's like, this is probably a hotspot because it's like she knows all this stuff like the back of her hand. yeah i mean, her first movie was in 1948. Joan of Arc. What a place to start. second one with Samson and Delilah. Yeah.
00:21:44
Speaker
Yeah. And she did Sound of Music. Speaking of like Austrian, she was the designer for Sound of Music. This is crazy. Okay. So looking at her IMDB, Joan of Arc, 49 is Samson and Delilah, 52, The Greatest Show on earth Then we go to Les Miserables in 52.
00:22:03
Speaker
um My Cousin Rachel, 1952. Titanic, 53. so it's like these massive like ideas that are happening. Annie Get Your Gun in 57, TV movie. Wow.
00:22:18
Speaker
South Pacific, 58. fifty eight Wow. um like These Music, 65. Wow. music man sixty two um sound of music sixty five Like these are crazy. These are juggernauts. like True Grit in 69. Oh my god. Little Big Man in 70.
00:22:37
Speaker
The Way We Were in 73. There's another movie and then Young Frankenstein. And it's just like all of these are just big, big, big. The Postman Always Rings twice in 81 on Golden Pond. And then the last movie that she did was The Dead in 87. Yeah.
00:22:54
Speaker
Wow. I mean, ah she is one of those people who represents that time of Hollywood. Yeah. Like that is such a capsule right there. Yeah. I think I read a quote from mel Brooks talking about her on this movie and that when they were talking about like the townspeople she was like, you know, do you want – Bavarian? Do you want Transylvanian? Do you want this? do you want that? Like, where are we? Like, what do you want? And I think his response to her was like, I trust you.
00:23:29
Speaker
yeah That was like, that was his direction to her. It was, I trust you. Because he was like, she's, he referred to her as like the best costume designer ever, like number one in his estimation ever. And so it's sort of like,
00:23:43
Speaker
She knew that like the differences between all of those places in terms of like the folkwear. And he was like, give me whatever you think works because I know that that will be the right choice and we'll go with that.
00:23:56
Speaker
and Like just imagine that kind of trust when you're working on a project. Like, yes, you do earn that. But it's also imagine working with a director who works that way, who recognizes Like I hired you.
00:24:09
Speaker
I know what you're capable of. And just the fact that you're coming to me with these options tells me that you know the difference. So I'm going to support your choice here. I am looking at her biography on IMDb and it's pretty in depth where it's talking about her early childhood.
00:24:25
Speaker
um So she actually... so She was a sketch artist and an illustrator. And so she submitted illustrations to the LA City Planning Commission.
00:24:36
Speaker
And she was taken on by the Southern California Arts Project. In 1936, she worked in the color department at Walt Disney Studios painting animated cells of Mickey Mouse. Amazing. And then she went to – her first step in fashion design was doing layouts for Magnin's department store.
00:24:52
Speaker
And then that attracted the attention of Richard Day at 20th Century Fox, who brought her to the attention of Victor Fleming, the film director. And then she was sex seconded to the studio wardrobe department as an illustrator under Ernest Dryden.
00:25:08
Speaker
So she started as an illustrator. By the way, this is frigging delightful, being able to actually look at a costume designer from like the golden age of Hollywood and like being able to see how she got into the business yeah and how she grew in the business.
00:25:24
Speaker
Because like, unless you're Edith Head, who is who is named here because she worked with Edith Head, you know, like there there are like specific names that people will take the time and the effort to follow. And so it's like,
00:25:38
Speaker
all these people that we've talked about in different old films that we, we just have no idea because nobody took the time to follow their, their roots. So every single time we find somebody who is not someone like Edith head, who someone who is not in fashion or costume might still recognize that name.
00:25:55
Speaker
Like, this is just cool to be able to be like, look at where she came. yeah I know. And there were some, i I was like kind of skimming through that. There was some, a couple of things where it was like,
00:26:07
Speaker
I feel like the implication was that maybe she kind of, you know, took some credit, took some, took over some projects. Well, her first. Made things happen for herself is what I will refer to that as.
00:26:20
Speaker
I think that's a very good way to say it. Cause her first, I just literally scrolled down to this. Her first break was, which was the Joan of Arc, her first um listed title as like costume designer in 48.
00:26:33
Speaker
She was hired as a sketch artist. And then the, director liked her work so much that he promoted her to design the costumes, replacing the previous designer, Barbara Karinska.
00:26:45
Speaker
And they both won the Oscar for that. Yeah. i yeah and I feel like that sentence implies so much. It implies a lot of politics. It implies a lot of of chess pieces being moved.
00:27:00
Speaker
And so I think that also, sorry to project, but like the beginning of her life, she was abandoned by her parents and she was left to her own devices. And so I think that that kind of like she She supplemented – I'm literally reading from this biography.
00:27:18
Speaker
She supplemented her studies by working as a live-in servant with local families. like She had to work for herself. She had to hustle. So it's like regardless of how like toothy that is, this is definitely modeling somebody who was like dogged about I'm going to make it and I'm going to make it so that I can take care of myself.
Career Trajectories in Costume Design
00:27:38
Speaker
and And I mean the entertainment industry is not one where – you You know, like you you some sometimes you have to do that. yeah And you have to be the squeaky wheel sometimes in order to get noticed. And if you're just sitting around waiting for things to happen, they're not going to.
00:27:58
Speaker
so i mean, I do really enjoy that based on what I'm reading in text, obviously do not know anything about this person or how she existed in the world. But like, aside from what I'm reading here, but I do like,
00:28:12
Speaker
that she could do all that work for herself and make such a name for herself that she would get to places where she'd be working with directors of renown who whose names are very well known. And, and they'd just be like, we value your work.
00:28:28
Speaker
We know your work. And like, we know that you're good at it. That's amazing. That's nuts. It's cool. That's nuts. So good job, Dorothy. yeah Excellent work. I mean, we don't need to tell you that. mean, goodness.
00:28:43
Speaker
And also like from 67 to 70, she held the position of curator of textiles at the LA County Museum of Art. i So like, what an example of how your skills can cross so many different job titles.
00:28:55
Speaker
Like, I mean, anybody who works in like a creative field could tell you, Yeah, whatever you're signing up for on the gig, you have like 500 more skills. Like, you have to market when you can in order to get the job that you can. Like, there is no, like, except for random people, there is no straight line in a job path.
00:29:18
Speaker
in this arena. No, and there's no, there's no like, oh, I've made it to the top and that's the end. Like the only place to go from there is back down. Like, so it's like, there's always peaks and valleys, like things happen, things don't work out. Something else works out that you never would have thought. Like there's so many, it's unpredictable. And I don't think, yeah, there's no straight path and there's no like just straight diagonal line. Yeah. you know And i I just like every time that comes into conversation, i always want to take the time to talk about it.
00:29:53
Speaker
Because like finding that out by talking to so many people as I did, like friends of friends who are working in Hollywood and giving them a call and thanks to those people for taking my call. And like talking to professional designers who who've had crazy big careers and um In Hollywood and out and them also being like, oh, I just happened to be in a place at a time and just like, yeah, how prevalent that really Is is who frustrating
00:30:24
Speaker
its crazy word because it's like, yes, in this field, you work, you work hard, you do creative things and that will get you known for sure. And like, if you are good to work with, that will get you known. If you do stuff on time, that will get you known.
00:30:40
Speaker
But there are so many people who work in this field and there are only so many positions of like designer that can be fulfilled.
00:30:50
Speaker
yeah And so some folks have figured out where their strengths are and where they're like happy places, which might not be designer. And so they get to be known within their field at like the height of their field, which is like being a dyer or a distressor or something like that. Right.
00:31:05
Speaker
And like, these are just kind of things that, that you like, you you can only really see like ah a step ahead of you at a time. Yeah. It's like, um the way I like to think about it is like everyone who does succeed to those levels in the field deserves to be there, but not everybody who deserves to be there gets to succeed to that level. Yeah. Like there are so many talented people and like they're in every level of every industry. Like they're doing every job, but yeah a few people are gonna like get to that super high level. And like, they absolutely 100% deserve it work to be there. But there are so many people that are crazy talented working at every level of this industry. So it's it's it's an industry that like blows my mind, because there are, yes, so many people who who then like become curators somewhere or
00:31:59
Speaker
go into the education field or, you know, go into fashion design or whatever, because there's not necessarily enough positions or jobs available. There's not enough, like, steady income available.
00:32:13
Speaker
And that's pretty interesting to know that there's like, if you're a banker, you're going to find a gig, right? Like as far as I know, you're going to find a gig.
00:32:24
Speaker
It might not be steady forever, but like you could work as a teller and then work your way up like within a bank or become somebody who works on like Wall Street or whatever in finance and play your cards right. You might be working that job until you retire.
00:32:38
Speaker
In this, I feel like there's so many just like avenues where you can like fall down the hill into a different field completely. Because there just is no guarantee that you can work in this position that you have.
Comedic Choices in Young Frankenstein
00:32:55
Speaker
Because it's kind of like a gig by gig. Yeah. Every job temporary. Every job is temporary unless you're getting hired by like a costume house. that is doing something. And even then maybe it's just project by project yeah and it might fold.
00:33:10
Speaker
So it's, yeah, right wrap, wrap your mind around that. Wrap your mind around that, everybody. mind Um, so, ah ah I didn't notice for a long time it to to to bring it back.
00:33:24
Speaker
that To Franken-Summer? Let's do it. frank and summer I did not notice. for This is like the harshest transition. So whatever. Sorry about it. I'm here on a video call, like pushing imaginary hair behind my ear because my hair is so short. That doesn't mean anything.
00:33:43
Speaker
um But I did not notice. I don't know why it's on the fucking poster, but that um that the monster has that like zipper on his neck instead of the bolts. I don't know if I just like accepted it and like didn't think about it like critically. I just was like, yeah, that's it. And I'm with you.
00:34:02
Speaker
and you It didn't become present until like the end of the movie. And I was like, oh, my God, he has a zipper on his neck. Like, what a demented choice. And I say that like with all the love in my heart, like it's so funny and so weird. And such a that's the comedy of it all. Right. It's just like looking at how.
00:34:24
Speaker
How, like, why would it be bolts? Because lightning, I guess, but it's like you don't necessarily need bolts to be in a monster to have the lightning. in the side of your neck? like In what side of your neck? Because it's like you're you're already on the metal that the lightning is attracted to, so you don't necessarily need to have it in your body. And like, I understand a bolt maybe like where your spine actually is, but the side of your neck? Like, what's there? Yeah.
00:34:50
Speaker
So it's like, this is kind of lampooning. The thinking there where it's like, well, if not that, then why not have it just be a metal zipper? It makes like the zipper is more practical because if you need access to something inside, you just open her up. like you
00:35:09
Speaker
Which I have like a little this means nothing to anybody except for me. A little trivia about Peter Boyle. My mom lived in New York in the 60s and seventy s and part of the 80s.
00:35:21
Speaker
And Peter Boyle dated her roommate. So he would hang out at her apartment sometimes. oh my God. And like I – this is only thing I knew Peter Boyle for.
00:35:32
Speaker
Like my entire childhood was like, oh, yeah, that guy. i think he like hung out in my mom's apartment. and I hope he took her roommate as his date to the premiere of Young Frankenstein. Wouldn't that? be hilarious. It would be so amazing. My mom would just like never talk about it. It wasn't a big deal.
00:35:47
Speaker
What? What? I unfortunately, like, I think knew him first as the the dad in Everybody Loves Raymond, like, before I saw this movie, um which is, I mean, like, what an iconic performance. But, like, I do think that I prefer to think of him as the monster from this movie. I do as well. Because what what a what a lovely performance. Like, you start off with, emoting grunts and then having the opportunity to perform as, like,
00:36:18
Speaker
A stage actor telling all of these people in this town to calm their shit. like This doctor has given me life. Which, okay.
00:36:30
Speaker
Now this is the part that you got to watch me yeah watch the movie. If you had... if you had if i were If you had paid me $30 I were to guess how the monster was going to end up at the end of this movie, you could not.
00:36:47
Speaker
There's no amount of money that would have led me to the correct answer, which was in a cheetah print ah set of pajamas with a very cozy fancy bed reading the Wall Street Journal with like the thickest glasses and like half rim glasses, are they? Like,
00:37:06
Speaker
Married to Elizabeth. To the bride whose hair has this like crazy evolution. oh my god. Where it's just like the white stripes like start and then all of a sudden the hair is like in the full cone. just magically. She's like taking on the hissing and all that.
00:37:24
Speaker
And it's just like never would I have guessed that that's where we were going to go. But I love that that's how it ended for him. the ability to speak and... taste in pajamas right and I did appreciate that um that Victor uh uh Gene Wilder was like breaking generational trauma by being nice to the monster whereas like in the original Frankenstein like they were horrible to him they were immediately like horrible abusing him and like locking him up and and gene wilder's like no he has to understand that we love him and then he won't be monstrous anymore and i was like yes that's it way to go and like the dance sequence with them where he's unveiling to like the society of scientists and surgeons that he has
00:38:13
Speaker
he has succeeded where his grandfather like essentially failed. And here's my creature dancing. We're tap dancing in our like evening wear. just Oh my
Exploring Costume History in Film
00:38:24
Speaker
God. Also like that was the, the audience, like being in like the formal wear, there's something is just so quintessentially European about being in like tailcoat formal wear like some of the guys in the audience were with like a sash like a colorful like what is that to sash and the pins because I always associated that like with um let's go to sound of music because I used to watch that movie on a cycle so
00:38:58
Speaker
Thank goodness it's the same designer. ah But like, I watched that on a loop. It's one of the earliest movies that I watched when I was younger, aside from like Disney cartoons, right? um But they have sashes also takes place in Austria, right?
00:39:13
Speaker
yeah And so they have sashes when they're wearing evening wear for certain things. But that is a political motivation because it's that like flip where the the the Reich is like, the Third Reich is like taking power, right? And so it's like identifying that I am maybe like landed gentry because isn't – isn't um Why can't i remember words right now? Mr. Von Trapp.
00:39:38
Speaker
Mr. Von Trapp. He is a person who is not just a businessman. He's got like some kind of royalty. Yeah, his heritage is like yeah established, I think. And so i think that I always understood those sashes to denote some kind of your status. yeah And so it was like, yeah, like what your title might be.
00:40:01
Speaker
yeah And so like, it made sense if it was like a state dinner or like a very specific thing that people would be wearing medals or sashes to denote. Like, yeah, their titles.
00:40:12
Speaker
I'm thinking of the Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway. And the state – like, they have a state dinner. yeah And there are some of the guys are, like, where – so, like, that makes sense that it's some kind of, like, royal signifier.
00:40:29
Speaker
– but It only seems to be in this sort of like a Germanic area, general area of Europe. Like I don't think of it associated with other parts of Europe, even like, I don't think of it with like Scandinavia necessarily, or like the UK, certainly I don't, or like France, even, I don't think of it, Spain, I don't think of it. It's only this sort of like German Austrian,
00:40:56
Speaker
i ah that very specific area of Europe. know Yeah, point to that on a map, friend. It's very small. hard of It's hard to find. It's very small.
00:41:11
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like I do wonder what that is. am i Did I like Google evening wear with sashes and did it come up with the most incredibly wrong thing? Yes, it did. and will I have an answer right now? No. But it's like that is interesting that With all the research that you and I have done for costume designs and in costume studies, it's interesting that we haven't like landed on that one yet. i know. And it's like, ah but i think I do think we've had this conversation before, you and I. like Sometimes people think that we will literally know like everything there is to know about clothing.
00:41:48
Speaker
And um that is impossible. there isn't There is no way to know everything without needing to like fall back on research. Like that is, it's too much information. And there are people, there are people who like just have that space in their brains to like...
00:42:08
Speaker
keep certain things but like together and go like, Oh yes, I can actually pull that. Like there are Sherlock Holmes is of you know costume history, clothing history, fashion history, who can just like pull this information. And those people frequently find their place in like a museum or,
00:42:27
Speaker
a fashion house or a rental house or whatever, because they have a brain that can catalog these things and retain that information. But I think that you and I are on the other side, another another side of that spectrum, where we also like to collect techniques and like skills, not just information.
00:42:49
Speaker
and so like, we kind of have to dump like some of that information out of our catalog so that we can fill like skill techniques um and like how to do things. And then we like release those things when we need to fill up new information. And so, yeah, it's, there's no way for me to be able to keep all of that information in my head and like and blessings to all those who can. I love that so much.
00:43:18
Speaker
amazing. yeah ah But like, I don't know, i i choose your way of thinking about it because it makes us sound like smart and skillful. So like, that's great. I i go with that.
00:43:29
Speaker
Well, I think it's more like hyper focus, right? Where it's like we allow space for our hyper focuses and the things that allow us like stress relief, which for us can be these like, crochet, embroidery, like these project based skills.
00:43:44
Speaker
oh Yeah. And because we like want to lean in on those things, like for certain jobs or just for ourselves, that takes up a lot of space. And then it's like, yeah, I can't be thinking about like, what does a sash mean in 1936 in like Bavaria, Austria? Like, what does it mean for the political climate at that time? And like, but what's happening? And how does that apply to a A mythical doctor named Frankenstein. And then like and then i need you to switch gears and start talking to me about 16th century Spanish shoes. And like, there's only so much. Yeah. And not only sixteenth century Spanish shoes, but the the shoes that the poor would have been wearing and the shoes that the rich would have been wearing and the shoes of the middle class. Yeah. yeah but it was like the artisan class what would they have been wearing exactly and where did they come from and what were they made of and yeah oh my god like so much you can do there's only so much um uh yeah bless bless those people i don't even know what else ah like the words have gone the words have gone from my brain is there anything that we haven't talked about yet with this movie that you're like we have to talk about this thing
00:44:55
Speaker
Let's think. My notes are so unhinged. ah Creepy Baroque castle. Great. ah Inga even has sexy lab coat.
00:45:08
Speaker
Giant science goggles. like These are not notes. I mean, they're pretty great because it's like one-eyed police officer with a prosthetic arm that is like very removable but is also sturdy enough that he can be used as a battering ram at the end of the movie.
00:45:27
Speaker
what ah What an awesome understanding of prosthetics at that time. and like um don't know. I think that Oh, this is a good one. So the monster, right? That's one of the, aside from Dr. Frankenstein, those's that's the other like through line in Frankenstein in all the different versions that we will be watching.
00:45:45
Speaker
Sure. And in the first one, that actor had to wear the heaviest costume. We talked about that. It was like 40 pounds or something additional, right?
00:45:56
Speaker
The asphalt boots, like all of these things were heavy, heavy, heavy to make his performance look add more like to to him being a monster to yeah to the weight and the movement, the slowness. and Yeah, more creepiness, more wrongness. Yeah.
00:46:14
Speaker
And in this one, Peter Boyle is already a ah big guy. True. And like was it Boris Karloff who was playing the monster in the first one? And so Peter Boyle is already big framed and like pretty gigantic.
00:46:28
Speaker
And it does not seem, i don't know this to be true or not true, but it doesn't seem like he had costume that was like informing his role in the same way. It doesn't seem like he was carrying sandbags. Yeah.
00:46:44
Speaker
it seemed like a lot of it was just the shapes of like the coat that he's wearing and the other things because we see him in evening wear. We see him in lighter, and tighter clothing and like he's moving like he would.
00:46:58
Speaker
it's just like, yeah, the zipper, the the color of his skin and like the way that the, his like, scalp is like attached to his like temple, you know, like the shape of his skull, those things yeah um are highlighting that he is reanimated.
00:47:17
Speaker
Did you notice how many nails were in the bottom of his shoes? where it not and There was a couple scenes where he's like laying on the table and he's got like his big platform black shoes.
00:47:29
Speaker
And um that might be something that maybe people are like, We've kind of lost the the use of like nails in shoes in a lot of ways because we kind of glue everything together now.
00:47:43
Speaker
But like back in the day, like the the sole of your shoe was like nailed on and then like covered so that it was secure. But if you needed your shoe repaired, they would like pull the nails out and like repair your shoe. yeah.
00:47:59
Speaker
There's a shot of him laying on that but like slab but and you see the bottoms of his feet and there's like 50 nails in each shoe, like in the bottom. And like the nail head is like protruding out like the bottom of the shoe.
00:48:14
Speaker
And I was like, I don't know why this is here. It seems like it's a joke, but I don't get the joke. Yeah. That feels like such a generational thing because yeah, it's not the technology that we have.
00:48:29
Speaker
that For our shoes commonly anymore, like, yes, you do have cobblers who still, like, for for more expensive shoes, yeah this is still a thing. But it is definitely not as common anymore because it's all about glue. Like, and athletic shoes. And in athletic shoes, you don't want necessarily metal bits.
00:48:45
Speaker
You want that for, like, heavier... construction things like the need has evolved. So it is amazing how things get lost like that between generations, because we're just not exposed to it anymore.
00:48:57
Speaker
That's a great observation. Because I just kind of like let that like right over my head. I didn't even and didn't even notice it. That's a good call. There was just so many that I was like, this is intentional. Yeah, I i like it know what feel like it kind of has to be like referential even back to those asphalt boots that that were in the first one. And like, you know, maybe also the fact that he didn't have the bolts in the side of his neck. So it's like, where's another place that we could have crazy metal? Well, a lot of people who get hit by lightning
00:49:31
Speaker
You have metal things like, you know, like if you're standing somewhere. and i don't i don't know. It's a – I don't know. conducts electricity through the bottom of your boots. Right? I don't know.
00:49:42
Speaker
it was strange. So somebody write in. Tell us what that was. Yeah. Explain it us. Explain comedy to me. i kind of like – of course, I feel like a fool, but whatever. I'm sitting in front of a microphone with my friend acting like I'm an authority at all sometimes on costumes. But like I kind of like it.
00:50:00
Speaker
for all that I like costumes so much and I'm so interested in design decisions and like, you know, why things are what was chosen for for film and like how to tell the story that sometimes that stuff just misses me because I'm paying attention to something else. And like, it's yeah really nice when that happens, when,
00:50:20
Speaker
The costumes are doing such a good job that it's like I've i've scanned them even. then I'm just in the story. Yeah. Then I'm just watching the scene. Because that is what you want at the end of the day. And so like being able like not fight against that successful design also really nice. And just be like, oh, yeah, you got me. And then be like, wait, I'm supposed paying attention to something. Oh, it's that. Shoot.
00:50:48
Speaker
i really love the train scene at the beginning when he's leaving and he's saying goodbye to his fiance and every place that he tries to touch her, she like pulls back and she's like, said my makeup, my hair, like my nails. Even when everyone she blows a kiss and she's like, oh I know she's like, missed it. But they end up like touching elbows because that's like the only part of her body that she's like not concerned about. And I definitely do that.
00:51:12
Speaker
Like if I am like if I have my hands full or like I if I'm like sick or something and people like want to hug, I always like offer like to bump elbows with people.
00:51:23
Speaker
And I definitely do it deliberately because of this movie. That's phenomenal.
00:51:30
Speaker
And no one ever seems to know that that's what I'm doing. Even if I say, let's do this young Frankenstein style and like try to bump elbows with people, they're like, okay. And like no one ever knows
Costume Impact on Character and Storytelling
00:51:40
Speaker
what I'm talking about. I have so fully associated that with just like COVID. Because I think the first time I ever bumped elbows with anybody was the first time we heard about COVID, like starting to...
00:51:52
Speaker
like the numbers going crazy and and translating to New York. And I had a job and I met with my coordinator and she was like, how about we just touch elbows? And was like, okay, cool. And then that like became a thing for a minute at the beginning of 2020.
00:52:06
Speaker
So like I, Young Frankenstein did it first and I didn't know until today. it. the um The costume jewelry that she had like at her at her hairline, at her part, because like she was just so dramatic. like Talk about that evening wear, like the coat she's wearing and like the shine off of that.
00:52:29
Speaker
um And her hairline was just like so lovely. like she was just so What a great way to establish Elizabeth, right? is like As this beautiful starlet kind of like socialite.
00:52:42
Speaker
The same way that in the first one, we get hit so hard with her in her wedding dress. like It was so dramatic and that veil was so long for whomst. and like In this one, like every time we see her she's got like just to the nines, everything is like so perfect.
00:52:58
Speaker
And both she and Inga are like so lovely and so young, but so... like well-appointed their own ways and like just so well-dressed in their own ways.
00:53:12
Speaker
um But yeah, that bit of her just avoiding every touch of his was so good and like how he just like went with it and he was like, oh, okay. And she's like, oh, no, no, no not there.
00:53:24
Speaker
Yeah. I get it if you're like, I don't want you to mess up my lipstick or something. But like when he goes to touch her hands and she's like, my nails. I'm like, girl, your nails are not wet. You would not be at the train station with wet nail polish. It just 100% you are repulsed by this young man. Like you just don't want to be touched. like And that fur when she shows up at the castle, that horrible fur that's still got like the head is like biting its own hind leg to create like a circle. I'm just like disgusted.
00:53:57
Speaker
listen creepy. So perfect. There are folks that like are super into furs. Yeah. to each their own. um But once you've worked in any relation to first storage, I feel like that should be enough to kind of dissuade you from an attachment to furs because yeah, bins and bins and bins of donated furs that are little, little tiny little creatures with their eyes, not even replaced by glass, just like crazy little things.
00:54:30
Speaker
And it's just, It's nasty. Not my bag. no thank you. Like, i don't um I don't wear fur. It's not for me. but It's not for you. It's not. Oh, my God. Comedy. Yeah.
00:54:50
Speaker
It's when they still have the face and like the limbs like intact that you really start to to creep me out. Like yeah the presence of just like a fur stole or a fur jacket. Like I don't want it, but like it doesn't creep me out. But like when they still have the face and they still have like the feet and they still have the tails, like that's when you start to kind of creep me out with the fur. Yeah. And I say, go on and and pass things on, take good care of them. Thank that animal for the life that was taken from it and like donate to people who will keep taking care of it and keep using it and like, you know, thrift these things by them that way.
00:55:30
Speaker
But like, yeah, when they have that, it's a different level. Yeah. like yeah The taxidermy of it all. um Yeah. And it works with her character.
00:55:41
Speaker
It's perfect for her. It's absolutely so perfect. She would have absolutely had that. She have been like, do we have anything bigger?
00:55:51
Speaker
don't have a larger mammal like that I could have the whole head on my shoulder. she just Yeah. um I loved seeing the scene with that little girl like subverted into him, like catapulting her back into her room.
00:56:10
Speaker
um i had no memory of the scene where he ends up with that like blind like priest yeah no memory of that scene ah or the fact that it was gene hackman playing that character that was gene hackman yes listen i just discovered something in real time because up and i was just like him and i was like who is that that is someone very famous who is it and in my head i was kind of like is that gene hackman but i was like he's too old looking because he's like wearing like age makeup and like a crazy beard and a giant like wig situation but yeah he was completely uncredited so his name was like not anywhere in the credits so oh my god yeah yeah wild it's
00:56:59
Speaker
finding out here first everybody gene hackman that's bonkers no but um yeah uh what an ending i was really glad i got to watch you watch the ending of the movie i yeah it was stunned like this is going to make me sound like I'm very like um dirty. And it's like, no, that's what is. It's just like, there's so many jokes happening that we have to land on essentially like ah an armpit fart joke.
00:57:30
Speaker
You just, you got me in the end. Oh my God. Frickin' crazy. mean, like... Yeah, I mean, when you think about like, okay, well, it's, a you know, we're gonna have a happy ending to this story. So like, what is that going to be? So it's like, obviously, Elizabeth ends up attracted and married to the monster. Clearly, that is where her character has been headed this entire time, I guess. Yeah.
00:58:01
Speaker
I mean, and then she just like embraces the role of the bride and like she hissed and I was like, girl, let let your hair down. I guess in your case means put that hair up like good for you.
00:58:12
Speaker
I know. Madeline Kahn is incredible. um don't know if it's true or not, but I read that originally her and Terry Garr were going to play the opposite roles. Like she was going to play Inga and Terry Garr was going to play Elizabeth at one point, apparently.
00:58:28
Speaker
Which I think also would have been wonderful. That also would have been incredibly successful. Because Madeline Kahn, anything that anything but she does. And like her from Clue, i think about all the time. And the fact that Clue was like a box office bomb like just kills me.
Preview of Next Film: The Bride
00:58:43
Speaker
Because like flames on the side of my face is just her delivery of every line that she's ever been given. So amazing. And like watching her slink around in her costumes like in this movie was just so fun. my god.
00:58:58
Speaker
I enjoyed this like way more than I thought and I'm very grateful. not Like really doing all of the universal monster like era um because that would be laying face down on the floor. Just there's just too many. Like I think that a a really strong case could have been made for us to like also watch the Bride of Frankenstein because that is like really iconic. But like also we did not do that. And here, the thing is, our next movie, which we can announce now, is The Bride, which is 80s version of Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein.
00:59:38
Speaker
It is starring Sting and... ah yeah I mean, it's like, okay, it's going to be a swing. So it's like, it's going to swing more towards the the seriousness of the original Frankenstein, but it's going to be Frankenstein in the eighties. So that's bunk hairs. And then we'll swing back out towards like young Frankenstein vibes towards the end of Franken summer.
01:00:04
Speaker
But um we're like, we're flipping. Cause now we're going into a movie that you have seen that I have not yeah seen. Yes. So that's kind of fun too. It's very fun. And so like I'm, I'm delighted because now we're moving into color and we're doing eighties does, i think Victorian.
01:00:22
Speaker
And so like, we're going to back, back, but with like a lot of eighties hair. So good for us already. that's something that I love is like period pieces, like,
01:00:37
Speaker
And the way that whatever is like contemporary to when they're made like infuses into their interpretation of the period is something that I find endlessly fascinating with costumes in particular. It's phenomenal because you always look at them like first.
01:00:52
Speaker
You look at the makeup and you look at the hair. yeah And that is exactly that era that it is in. And I learned that when I was younger. with the little women that has Elizabeth Taylor. It's the forty s little women, because that hair is very much the 40s interpretation of like the eighteen sixty s and it's just,
01:01:15
Speaker
eighteen forty s eighteen sixty s and so like it's just Because I watched a lot of like 40s Golden Hollywood things and like a lot of Shirley Temple when I was a little kid. I had no understanding of what decade I was growing up in. It was crazy. Like right next to loving the Ninja Turtles, I was like, yeah. And Shirley Temple's a little girl still, right?
01:01:33
Speaker
And everything's cool. Yeah. Dorothy, Wizard of Oz, we're fine, right? And so... um yeah Learning that was really, really, really great because it's just like it's always such an interpretation. and Right now, people are actually coming to that organically because a lot of people are observing that with all of these ah modern movies...
01:01:56
Speaker
looking back and doing um historical things, they're like, why is the makeup all makeup from now? Like this yeah is nuts. Nobody would have like this full coverage. Like you would have makeup design in a movie to make it not seem like somebody's wearing a full face of makeup, but that is not being done. not what's happening. It's not what's happening. And so people, I've seen this conversation happening on social media and it's like, yeah, isn't that interesting?
01:02:24
Speaker
Because it's like, it's happened in every decade. every single one. yeah And like, there are also ones that push against that. And so it's just like, yeah, let's talk about it. so I feel like you can also see strong influences of the present whenever you're looking at your ingenue character, because you can just like feel the director and the producers of the movie being like, but she has to be hot.
01:02:48
Speaker
yeah She has to be hot. She has to be beautiful and hot and desirable according to the the mores of right now. right now. And so it's like, that's the first place you go. And then your scope widens and you hit like older folks, what are they supposed to be looking like? And like, how old are they when they're supposed to be looking that age? And then like, what are the, the masculine characters supposed to be looking like? Like, what are all of these things communicating? Cause it's all,
01:03:13
Speaker
They're all tools to tell many a story. And then once you get to your minor characters, you can be like, that looks period appropriate because nobody's pulling the designer aside and being like, that person with three lines needs to be sexy or whatever. They're supposed to pull focus. And it's like, no, they're not. They're actually supposed to exist. So like that is also an interesting conversation, which we can connect someday to when I make you watch the Disney Beauty and the Beast series.
01:03:41
Speaker
Because that happens in that where it's like the – we've alluded to it. We've talked about it. Penny times. But yeah. Thank you for suggesting this one. um This was fun. This was a good that' just a could break from like ah serious – the monster. Yeah. We got to have those breaks. And I'm – I'm glad that I didn't suggest this movie, watch it again, and then regret my suggestion because of like deeply proud of problematic content or something.
01:04:12
Speaker
ah So that was great. That was a really nice surprise. It was a great surprise. Thanks, Mel Brooks.
01:04:19
Speaker
Okay, so we'll be back in two weeks with The Bride. a oh let's see how that one goes. Because I haven't seen that since it was on TV and like, 1999. we'll find out. can't wait.
01:04:34
Speaker
All right. We'll see you all then. See you then.