Mel Brooks was so brazen in its satire that major studios would not touch it, nor would many exhibitors. Brooks finally found an independent distributor who released it as an art film, a specialized attraction. In 1968, Brooks received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film, beating such writers as Stanley Kubrick and John Cassavetes. "The Producers" became a smash underground hit, first on the nationwide college circuit, then in revivals and on home video. Brooks later turned it into a musical, which became hugely successful on Broadway, receiving an unprecedented twelve Tony awards. With the moderate financial success of
Mel Tolkin Mel Tolkin Mel Tolkin, né Shmuel Tolchinsky (August 3, 1913 – November 26, 2007), was a television comedy writer best known as head writer of the live sketch comedy series "Your Show of Shows" (NBC, 1950–1954) during the Golden Age of Television. There he presided over a staff that at times included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Danny Simon. The writers' room inspired the film "My Favorite Year" (1982), produced by Brooks, and the Broadway play "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" (1993), written by Neil Simon. Tolkin, who won an Emmy Award and every other major prize for television writing,