1968 - “The Producers” is released on film.  The movie marks the first feature film for writer/director Mel Brooks.  The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
  The 1968 movie stars Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom, Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock and Kenneth Mars as Franz.
Trivia: (From IMDB)
-The original Swedish title for the film was a direct translation of the original title - Producenterna (The Producers). The film didn’t arouse much interest from the public. This changed when the title was replaced by “Det våras för Hitler” (Springtime for Hitler). Then the film became an instant smash. All subsequent Mel Brooks films then got Swedish title starting with “Det våras för….”.  Springtime for Frankenstien, Springtime for the Sheriff, Springtime for Space.
-Kenneth Mars slept in his costume to better get into character.

2001 - “The Producers” (the musical) opened on Broadway on April 19th, 2001.  It ran for 2,502 performances and won a record breaking 12 Tony Awards.
  Music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks, Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan.  Direction and Cheoreography by Susan Stroman.
  The musical stars Matthew Broderick as Leo Bloom, Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock, Gary Beach as Roger DeBris, Roger Bart as Carmin Ghia, Cady Huffman as Ulla and Brad Oscar as Franz.
Trivia:
-Mel Brooks originally wrote the music by humming the melodies to the songs into a tape recorder and having a musically literate friend write it down on staff paper.
-The previous record for most Tony awards won was held for 37 years by Hello Dolly! which won 10 Tony’s.
-The Producers broke the record for the largest single day box office gross in theatre history, taking in more than 3 million.

2005 - The musical is turned into a movie.  Susan Stroman also provides the direction for the movie.
  The movie stars Broderick, Lane, Beach and Bart in their original roles.  Changes in the cast are: Uma Thurman as Ulla and Will Ferrell as Franz.  Jon Lovitz also joins the cast as Mr. Marks.
Trivia: (from IMDB)
-Brad Oscar, who plays the taxi driver, was the original Franz on Broadway.
-Uma Thurman was doubled during some of the dances by Angie L. Schowrer who was playing Ulla on Broadway during the filming of the movie.
-When Max is visiting the little old ladies at the apartment he pushes some apartment call buttons.  Names that appear are: A. Bancroft (Mel Brooks’ late wife), M. Kaminsky (Brooks’ birth name) and J. Gatsby (from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby).
-There really was a Hamlet musical. And it really was a flop. It was called “Rockabye Hamlet”, it lasted for seven performances at the Minskoff Theatre in 1976.