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Director Cameo (1)
The film was shot with many of the same props and lab equipment as the original Frankenstein.
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The assistant property master's name, Charles Sertin, is on the third brain on the shelf.
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The idea of Frederick's dart hitting a cat was ad-libbed on set. When Gene Wilder threw his dart off camera, director Mel Brooks quickly screamed like a cat to create the illusion.
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A couple who are talking on the train near the beginning of the film are having the same conversation in English, then in German.
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Teri Garr, who plays Inga, was called in when Madeline Kahn, whom Mel Brooks had originally wanted for the role, turned it down and asked if she could play Elizabeth instead. Mel Brooks told Garr that if she could come back the next day with a German accent, he'd like her for Inga. She looked at Mel and said, "Vell, yes, I could do zee German ackzent tomorrow - I could come back zis afternoon" and the part was hers. Garr has said that she based her accent on Cher's wigmaker whom she worked with on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.
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The skulls that Freddy and Inga find under the castle were real skulls except for the one that was six months dead, which was hand-crafted.
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The cast and especially Mel Brooks had so much fun and were so upset when principal photography was almost completed, that Mel added scenes to continue shooting.
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The original cut of the movie was almost twice as long as the final cut, and it was considered by all involved to be an abysmal failure. It was only after a marathon cutting session that they produced the final cut of the film, which both Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks considered to be far superior to the original product. At one point they noted that for every joke that worked, there were three that fell flat. So they went in and trimmed all the jokes that didn't work.
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Gene Wilder conceived the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene, while Mel Brooks was resistant to it, feeling it detracted from the fidelity to Universal horror films in the rest of the film. It was only when he saw it with a howling audience that Brooks was confident about the sequence.
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When the monster is being brought back to life, the area around his eyes (and what appears to be his teeth) begin to glow. This was done with a plastic head created to look exactly like that of Peter Boyle. Some fake teeth, fake brain tissue, and a light were used to create the effect.
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Due to make-up continuity problems, certain shots in "The Blind Man" scene had to be re-shot. In the shot where The Blind Man spills soup on the Monster, the "Hand" spilling the soup actually belongs to director Mel Brooks, not Gene Hackman.
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Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle and Marty Feldman appear together in this film by virtue of the fact that their mutual agent had a deal with the movie studio.
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When they started to film the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene, no one was sure what the creature should say. The first time out of the gate, however, Peter Boyle came up with a strangled version of "Puiinin on da reeez!"
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The Blind Man's parting line "I was gonna make espresso" was not in the script, but was ad-libbed by Gene Hackman during shooting. Hackman was uncredited when the movie was originally released in theaters.
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The Gasthaus, or guest house at the beginning of the riot scene is Gasthaus Gruskoff, named after producer Michael Gruskoff.
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Frederick and Kemp's full names, along with the origin of Kemp's wooden arm, are revealed in a scene originally deleted from the finished film, but included as an "extra" on later DVD releases.
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The brain which Igor is sent to steal is labeled as belonging to "Hans Delbrück, scientist and saint." A real-life Hans Delbrück was a nineteenth-century German military historian and professor at the University of Berlin, notable for going beyond technical problems and linking warfare to politics and economics. His son Max Delbrück was a twentieth-century biochemist and Nobel laureate.
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Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks got into only one fight during the movie's production, but it was a big one with Mel throwing a huge temper tantrum, yelling and raging and eventually storming out of the studio. Shortly thereafter, Gene received a phone call from Mel, saying, "Who was that lunatic yelling and screaming on the set today? You should fire that bum!"
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The experiment the medical student mentions, where Darwin preserved a worm in fluid until it came to life, is mentioned in Mary Shelley's foreword to the novel "Frankenstein." The Darwin in question was Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of the famous Charles Darwin.
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Just like in the original Frankenstein, greenish face makeup was used on the monster to make his features more prominent in the BandW film.
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Originally in the script, after Igor drops the brain jar, he was to turn to the camera and quip, "Funny thing is, I tried!"
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According to Mel Brooks (in the commentary for Spaceballs) when Gene Wilder came on the cast for Blazing Saddles, he requested that Mel Brooks do *his* movie idea next: resulting in this movie.
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The shifting hump on Igor's back was an ad-libbed gag of Marty Feldman's. He had surreptitiously been shifting the hump back and forth for several days when cast members finally noticed. It was then added to the script.
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Gene Wilder's performance as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein is ranked #9 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.
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Mel Brooks initially thought that the "Walk this way" gag was too corny and wanted it cut from the film. But, when he saw the audience's reaction to it one night at a screening, he decided to leave it in.
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Rock band Aerosmith took a break from a long night of recording to see "Young Frankenstein" in 1974. Steven Tyler wrote the band's hit "Walk This Way" the morning after seeing the movie, inspired by Marty Feldman's first scene, the "walk this way... this way" scene.
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At the 1975 Golden Globe Awards, Cloris Leachman was nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy/Musical, while Madeline Kahn was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for their work in this movie. However, Madeline Kahn has more screen time than Cloris Leachman.
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The Blind Man scene includes parts where we see the monster having hot soup poured on him and getting his thumb lit on fire. To keep himself protected, Peter Boyle had a hot pad on his lap, and he held a fake thumb with alcohol on it to keep the fire burning.
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When Mel Brooks was preparing Young Frankenstein, he found that Ken Strickfaden, who had made the elaborate electrical machinery for the lab sequences in the Universal Frankenstein films, was still alive in the Los Angeles area. He visited Strickfaden and found that Strickfaden had saved all the equipment and had it stored in his garage. Brooks made a deal to rent the equipment for his film and gave Strickfaden the screen credit he'd deserved, but hadn't gotten, for the original films.
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The painting behind Inspector Kemp in the village meeting hall is "The Children of Charles I" by Anthony van Dyck.
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The Broadway musical version of Young Frankenstein starring Roger Bart as "Dr. Frederick Frankenstein" and Shuler Hensley as "The Creature" opened at the Hilton Theater, New York City on November 8, 2007. It closed on January 4, 2009 after 29 previews and 485 performances.
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Cloris Leachman, on NPR's Fresh Air on June 3rd 2009, claimed that Mel Brooks told her the Blücher (as in Frau Blücher) means glue in German, hence to reason for the horse whinnies. However, this is not true: Blücher bears no resemblance to the German for glue. It is a very common name, so that shouting "Frau Blücher!" is equivalent to shouting "Ms. Jones!" The horses' terror of her name is meant to be an inexplicable absurdity.
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The periodical that Dr. Frankenstein reads while on the train is 'The Lancet', a real weekly published peer-reviewed medical journal.
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Igor (Marty Feldman) mentions that his grandfather (also named Igor as evidenced by Frederick's first visit to the lab) used to work for Frederick's grandfather. Interestingly in the original Frankenstein film the assistant's name was Fritz. Igor (spelled Ygor) did not appear until Son of Frankenstein.
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At seven minutes into the movie, Gene Wilder's character taps on a 'bell' that looks to be compact disc. Young Frankenstein was released in 1974. The compact disc was first demonstrated in 1976.
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Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte is known to English speakers as "Black Forest cake" or "Black Forest Gateau."
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The song and dance number was Gene Wilder's idea. When Mel Brooks heard about it he expressed disdain for it and referred to it as a "conceit". Wilder recalls being "close to rage and tears" and argued for the scene before Brooks stopped him and said, "it's in!". When Wilder asked why Brooks pretended it wasn't going in Brooks said that if Wilder fought for it then it would be the right thing to do.
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Director Cameo
Mel Brooks:
the voice of the original Dr. Frankenstein when Frederick sees the laboratory for the first time.
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