Best of 2025 :: Published/Unpublished Other

Mel and me at the National Gallery (2015)

Owner: Simon Ma
Artist: Mel Brooks (All)

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Artwork Details

Title:	Mel and me at the National Gallery (2015)
Artist:	Mel Brooks (All)
Media Type:	Photograph
Art Type:	Photograph
Views:	131
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Added to Site:	6/28/2025

Description

Did you know that the National Gallery in London celebrates its bicentenary this year? I had no intention of visiting it that weekend I spent in the capital back in March of 2015, but someone asked me to pick them up something from the gift shop so I thought that whilst I was there I would have a mooch around. As I was moving from the main building to the newer extension I spotted someone who looked vaguely familiar. They were wearing a baseball cap, speaking into a mobile phone whilst standing at the top of the steps leading down to the Sainsbury Wing. As I got closer I notice that it even sounded like who I thought it was, before I realised it definitely was him. If this happened tomorrow then I might have thought twice about approaching him what with all this publicity in recent years about celebrities feeling their mental health and well-being is compromised when they are out and about because people expect them to be always on duty to provide autographs and pose for selfies when all they want to do is get on with their day-to-day life. Together with this, social media has recorded how these encounters between celebrities and fans can go horribly wrong when the object of the fan�s adulation ignores, or even in some instances is actively rude towards the adoring fan. Whilst this is understandable � the star may be having a bad day � you cannot help but think that this meeting will colour the way the fan thinks about their idol and even their work in future. Because social media was back in 2015 not so developed/out of control these factors never occurred to me for a second. So I stood to one side waiting for him to finish his phone call. After he had hung up and saw me approaching he instinctively knew the drill, perhaps because it had happened to him a gazillion times in the past, or perhaps he saw the phone in my hand set to selfie-mode and he pulled in close to me, directing the shot you might say, before flashing his 1000-watt smile. After the photo had been taken but before I had a chance to fanboy him he said something like, �Okay, that�s it. Time to go,� and made a beeline for the main building. His assistant � it did not look like Max (obligatory comicbook-creator reference) � who had been watching the proceedings with some amusement smiled at me and left in the same direction. I was not in any way offended that he had been so abrupt, as I knew he was and probably still is a very busy man. I did not learn how hectic his schedule was until a few days later when I found out the reason why he was in town. He was performing in a one-night-only one-man show in the West End, but he was also attending a British Film Institute ceremony to receive their highest accolade � the Fellowship.

It seems appropriate, given the location in which I met him, to quote one of my favourite pieces of dialogue of his from my all-time favourite film of his, the 1967 version of The Producers (thanks to IMDB for the precise wording of the quote):

Franz Liebkind: Nobody ever said a bad word about Winston Churchill, did they? No! �Win with Winnie!� Churchill! With his cigars. With his brandy. And his rotten painting, rotten! Hitler, there was a painter. He could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon! Two coats!

Thank you for the precious memory, Mel. I raise a toast to you on your 99th birthday.

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About the Owner

	Simon Ma ( 2 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	April 2013
Last Login:	January 2026
Country:	UNITED KINGDOM
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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