Mel Brooks developing "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein" for the musical theater, saying of an early meeting with her: "From that day, until her death…we were glued together." Regarding religion, Brooks stated, "I'm rather secular. I'm basically Jewish. But I think I'm Jewish not because of the Jewish religion at all. I think it's the relationship with the people and the pride I have. The tribe surviving so many misfortunes, and being so brave and contributing so much knowledge to the world and showing courage." Brooks' great-nephew from his brother Lenny, Todd Kaminsky, is a New York state senator for state senate
Broadway theatre of the minstrel shows), followed by the ragtime-tinged "" (1898), and the highly successful "In Dahomey" (1902). Hundreds of musical comedies were staged on Broadway in the 1890s and early 1900s made up of songs written in New York's Tin Pan Alley involving composers such as Gus Edwards, John Walter Bratton, and George M. Cohan ("Little Johnny Jones" (1904), "45 Minutes From Broadway" (1906), and "George Washington Jr." (1906)). Still, New York runs continued to be relatively short, with a few exceptions, compared with London runs, until World War I. A few very successful British musicals continued to achieve great