Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman shared the same agent, but didn’t know each other. One day Marty was introduced to Gene over the phone who announced he was writing a part for him in a screenplay called “Young Frankenstein.” Marty said “sounds great,” never expecting to hear about this again. After all, the film was just a notion, hadn’t been set up.

Nevertheless, Gene sent Marty pages, specifically the sequence wherein “Aye-gore” meets “Dr. Fronkenstein.” Many months later, this would be the first scene the two men shot together.

Gene Wilder was a man of his word. That turned him, in the words of Marty’s wife Lauretta, into “a saint.” That sainthood would be confirmed further down the road.

Gene went to bat for Marty since Mel Brooks “eyed” playing the role of the hunchback himself, but Wilder was steadfast. He only wanted Brooks to direct. By relegating leading man duties to Wilder and remaining behind the camera, Mel Brooks wrought his best work as a filmmaker.

The rest at the link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154597959566337&set=a.66395336336.78861.574936336&type=3&theater

Because of Donald Trump’s unusual public conduct, legions of armchair analysts have wondered aloud about his mental health. A former dean of Harvard Medical School tweeted that Trump “defines” narcissistic personality disorder. New York Times columnist David Brooks has said the GOP nominee “appears haunted by multiple personality disorders.” Entrepreneur Mark Cuban was cruder, calling Trump “batshit crazy.” Trump’s coauthor for “The Art of the Deal,” Tony Schwartz, labeled him a “sociopath.” Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker found Trump’s behavior reminiscent of a brain injury.

As a psychiatrist, I have frequently encountered questions about Trump’s mental status in my daily life. A new neighbor asked me what I thought of him. A medical student wondered, would I diagnose him with a mental illness? On a recent phone call, my mother was more specific: —“Is he a narcissist or what?!”
The lessons I learned in kindergarten — not in medical school and years of psychiatric practice — are what tell me that Trump is unfit for the job.

I’m not supposed to answer that question. To underline that point, the American Psychiatric Assn. issued a statement this month reminding its physician members, myself included, to avoid psychoanalyzing the presidential candidates.

That ethical standard has been in place for decades. In 1964, thousands of psychiatrists, in response to a magazine survey, openly questioned then-GOP nominee Barry Goldwater’s fitness for White House duty. Several psychiatrists offered specific diagnoses. The fact that so many psychiatrists were willing to casually diagnose a person they'd never met embarrassed the profession and led to the codification of the so-called Goldwater Rule — no professional opinions on people we have not personally examined.

The rest at the link: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-goldenberg-trump-mental-health-20160823-snap-story.html

DFW and his beautiful wife are in California for a few days, and so we all got together for dinner tonight at a nice local restaurant. We had a great time, lots of intelligent conversation and many stories from him and his wife!

Here we are, from left to right: Lionel Mandrake, DFW's wife, DFW and me, CaliforniaPeggy!

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