The prolonged celebrity of Mel Brooks: adapting to survive in the multimedia marketplace, 1961–2004

Abstract

This article examines the strategies by which Mel Brooks has survived as a performer for a prolonged period of time in the competitive and unpredictable industries of film, television and other media. In contrast to the careers of many film comedians, Brooks has not manufactured an easily definable ‘star’ image as has been identified in the careers of Bob Hope, Robin Williams (King 2002, p. 32) and Jim Carrey (Drake 2003, p. 196). Instead, Brooks has significantly adapted his performance style and personas for different media and for new historical eras. At the same time, Brooks has supplemented his career with new roles including that of film director, film producer through his company Brooksfilms, and Broadway theatre producer – together making his image complex and hard to define, but always contributing towards Brooks's celebrity status. In this respect, Brooks's strategy reflects broader industrial trends in which celebrity status has become increasingly more important to career survival than an artist's unique performance skills (King 2010, p. 9). Most significantly, however, this article examines the relationship between career longevity and critical acclaim – an area of study that has, so far, been neglected. In short, this article examines how Brooks's prolonged celebrity, sustained and complicated over many decades of performance adaptations, has ultimately earned him critical prestige today.

Keywords:

• survival
• Mel Brooks
• prolonged celebrity
• adaptation
• stardom