Young Frankenstein/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acting for Two: The Musical originally had Fred Applegate play both Inspector Kemp and Harold, the blind Hermit.
  • Executive Meddling: Almost. Columbia Pictures was originally going to produce the film, but the execs didn't like the idea of using black-and-white for it. The filmmakers took it to 20th Century Fox instead.
  • Fake Nationality: In ascending order: Inga, Frau Blücher (*WHINNY*) and Inspector Kemp.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Herr Falkstein was the last film role played by beloved character actor Richard Haydn, who was (among many other parts) Uncle Max in The Sound of Music and the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland.
  • Recycled Set: Frederick's laboratory? Every piece of equipment is from the original Universal Frankenstein movies, retrieved from storage and lovingly restored where necessary.
  • Throw It In
    • Igor's hump, which changes position from scene to scene; Marty Feldman decided to do this on his own, without telling anybody beforehand. When someone finally noticed, they added a bit where Frederick does as well.
    • During a search in the forest, Inspector Kemp's wooden arm appears to have switched sides. On closer inspection, it's actually the entire scene that's obviously been flipped as his eyepatch and monocle are on the other eye, and his badge is on the other side.
    • Brooks ad-libbed the sound of a cat getting hit with one of Frederick's darts.
    • Almost a Throw It Out moment; in some interviews, Mel Brooks stated that the only point during production where he and co-writer Gene Wilder seriously disagreed was the inclusion of the "Puttin' On the Ritz" number. Gene loved the idea but Mel hated it. After Gene vehemently defended the scene, Mel decided, "If you feel that strongly about it, we'll shoot the scene. If it works, we'll use it, if not, we won't." They shot it and it became one of the highlights of the movie.
      • The monster's shout of "PUTTINAHNDARIZZZ!" was Peter Boyle's idea.