The Producers (1967 film) Ghia, feeling his thick Greek accent would fit. Brooks thought of Dick Shawn to play Lorenzo “L.S.D.” Saint DuBois, and the actor accepted for both liking the part and having no work. Bill Macy, the husband in the TV series "Maude," was brought for a cameo as a jury foreman. Writer-director Mel Brooks is heard briefly in the film, his voice dubbed over a dancer singing, "Don't be stupid, be a smarty/Come and join the Nazi Party," in the song "Springtime For Hitler". His version of the line is also dubbed into each performance of the musical, as well as
The Producers (1967 film) for Space" ("Spaceballs"); and "Springtime for the Slum" ("Life Stinks"). When it was first released, the film received a mixed response and garnered some exceptionally harsh reviews, while others considered it a great success. One of the mixed reviews came from Renata Adler, who, writing for "The New York Times," stated: ""The Producers", which opened yesterday at the Fine Arts Theater, is a violently mixed bag. Some of it is shoddy and gross and cruel; the rest is funny in an entirely unexpected way." About the acting, she writes that Mostel is "overacting grotesquely under the direction of Mel Brooks"