Who knew? RC2 begins better to understand why Nazis somehow end up in almost all his films. And we thought some of the Producers' scenes were just fiction. The Corner linked to this BBC story in its coverage of the passing of Brooks' wife, Anne Bancroft.
"Brooks joined the US army during World War Two and became a combat engineer. He was involved in operations of clearing German mines after the Battle of the Bulge, and it was in the army that Brooks developed the traits that would serve him so well in the years to come. He organised shows for the US troops, and when the German army began transmitting propaganda over loudspeakers Brooks is said to have replied with a version of Al Jolson's 'Toot-toot-tootsie'."
P.S. RC2's favorite Producers line comes from the nutty expatriate Nazi playwright when he sees how "the producers" have turned his hero, Hitler, into a laughingstock. To his horror, he finds the audience laughing at his hero and shouts them down in a thick German accent, "You are da audience! I am da author! I out-rank you!"
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