Springtime for Hitler
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A fictional play in Mel Brooks' The Producers, Springtime for Hitler was a musical about Adolf Hitler.
Written by an ex-Nazi soldier, who has moved to New York City and who has become an American citizen, it is (to quote The Producers) "A gay romp with Adolf and Eva" ("Eva" being Eva Braun). The play is picked by producers Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom in their fraud scheme to raise huge amounts of funding, fail the play, and keep all the remaining money for themselves. In order to ensure the play is a total failure, Max picks the worst director he can find, Roger DeBris, a stereotypical homosexual caricature, and gives the part of Hitler to an alleged hippie who acts more like Elvis than Jerry Garcia and calls himself LSD (his initials).
The play starts out with a musical number, Springtime for Hitler which contains the memorable chorus "Springtime, for Hitler, and Germany / Winter, for Poland and France / Springtime for Hitler and Germany / Come on, Germans, go into your dance...".
Accompanied by dancing stormtroopers who at one point form a dancing swastika, the play is an immediate failure with everyone in the audience except Franz, the author, and one audience member who breaks into applause—and is pummelled by other members of the disgusted audience who are watching the stage with open-mouthed horror. Just as everyone is leaving, however, the first scene starts, with LSD dressed up in full Nazi regalia, and the audience loves it, thinking that it is a satire ridiculing the Nazis.
Franz, disgusted, goes behind stage, unties the cable holding up the curtain and rushes out on stage explaining that this is not how it should go. One of the actors hits him with a pipe through the curtain, and he falls over. The play continues, and the audience thinks that his performance was part of the show.
Quotes:
- "Springtime, for Hitler, and Germany / Winter, for Poland and France"—The opening number
- "You're German. We're all Germans. That means...we cannot attack Germany."—LSD in a briefing room scene
- "Vat is zis 'baby, baby'? Ze Führer never said 'baby'"—Franz, grieving about LSD's way of talking (using words like "baby" and "groovy")
- "You are the victims of a hoax!"—Franz, to the audience, after letting down the curtain
- "Don't be stupid, be a smarty / Come and join the Nazi Party!"