The February edition of the MTA’s monthly television show, Transit Transit (Saturdays, 3:30 p.m., WNYE 25) , has a segment about Marvin Franklin, the NYC Transit Authority track inspector who was killed last year in an on the job accident in Brooklyn. The piece talks with some artists who knew Franklin and his co-workers and covers the opening of an exhibition of his work at the New York City Transit Museum in December. In case......

Unnamed sources are telling the Daily News and The Post that a deal between the stagehands’ union and Broadway producers is within reach. The two sides have an agreement on the main sticking point, the dispute over the number of stagehands required for a show’s “load-in” and are currently negotiating salaries. As one source put it, "Everybody is confident we can finally get this done." There’s even optimism that some shows affected by the strike......

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Gothamist. Zagat Guide and Zagat.com, which has a special discount for Gothamist readers that sign up. AMEX Urban Adventures, because big cities are full of little adventures. The Whitney Museum, currently featuring an exhibition of Kara Walker's work. Go Eight, a Hanukkah party on December 8th at Webster Hall. New York Dish, where AMEX cardmembers can dish about restaurants. Young Frankenstein, the......

According to Broadway insider Michael Riedel, it’s not “if” but “when” the stagehands will go on strike – and “when” could be a soon as tonight! The long and contentious contract negotiations between the producers and Local One are now at an acrimonious standstill over changes to rules governing overtime pay, work assignments and the number of stagehands required per production. Last night Thomas Short, president of the international union that must approve Local One’s......

Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks’s latest big-budget musical theater beast – rumored to cost over $16 million – has finally slouched toward Broadway to be born. It opened last night at the Hilton Theater; this morning the Times’s Ben Brantley shuffled out of the delivery room to tell us all about the freak of nature Brooks delivered. Proud ticket buyers who shelled out the record-setting $450 for “premier seats” are probably going to want to put......

Whether or not you're going to the annual Village Halloween Parade this evening, it'll probably effect your day in some way if you live or work in the area. If you want to avoid the mayhem, don't be anywhere in the vicinity of 6th Avenue between Spring and 22nd Steets. The streets intersecting the route will be closed off at 5pm sharp! If you want to watch, get there early to stake out a spot.......

Bad news is staggering down from Young Frankenstein’s extravagant Broadway castle: When critics begin gathering with pitchforks and torches next weekend, the show’s star, Roger Bart (he plays the titular role Gene Wilder made famous in the film), may be benched with a herniated disc. A monstrous problem indeed, as the part demands extensive dancing, and according to Michael Riedel, Mel Brooks is panicking. (Isn’t Larry David available?) A little birdy tells Riedel: "One scenario......

Will lightning strike twice for Mel Brooks, who hopes to enliven his stage adaptation of Young Frankenstein with the same spark that made The Producers a money making machine? His new monstrosity is already selling advance tickets for a Broadway run in October – a top ticket price of $450 sets a new record for excess – but last week Young Frankenstein came staggering out of the lab for an out-of-town rampage in Seattle. The......

Casting for the stage production of Young Frankenstein has Cloris Leachman fans up in arms. Leachman originated the role of Frau Blucher in Mel Brooks' classic film and has just been let go from the Broadway production, which will hit the St. James Theater stage this Fall. According to the New York Post, "the producers were so intent on having Cloris reprise her role as the hilariously sinister Frau Blucher that they flew her to......

Michael Riedel has double-the-entendre fun with his rumor-laced news that the London revival of Equus – yes, that Equus starring the Harry Potter kid naked as a jaybird – is going to Broadway! According to Riedel’s sources, “one problem, though, is the length.” Wait for it... Wait for it... “Of the play, people, the play!” But producers seem cocksure, despite a couple small problems regarding young Daniel Radcliffe: “Where he comes up short (at least......

Eric Slovin and Leo Allen have been called modern comedy's greatest comedic duo since Abbot and Costello or Laurel and Hardy. Together they've earned accolades, devoted fans, a television pilot, and written for Saturday Night Live, all without ever compromising their comedic sensibility. What would you say are your earliest memories of seeing or hearing things that made you laugh? Leo: My brother and I used to watch Monty Python when we were kids.......

Neal Pollack, author of Never Mind the Pollacks and The Neal Pollack Anthology of Literature discusses his latest book, Alternadad, his childhood, and his foray into the world of screen writing. What are some of your earliest memories of seeing or hearing things that made you laugh? I have a very vivid memory of watching Mel Brooks's Silent Movie with my dad. I must have been eight years old or even younger. I remember sitting......

Peter Boyle, who you may know as the father ("Frank") on "Everybody Loves Raymond", died last night at the age of 71, in Manhattan. Boyle wasn't always an actor, he pursued acting only after he left the life of a monk. His successful career includes his roles in films like The Candidate, Young Frankenstein, Monster's Ball and Where the Buffalo Roam (a portrait of Hunter S. Thompson, in which he played Carl Lazlo, Esq.). While......

A Brooklyn high school student was reprimanded by school officials for coming to school in a Hitler costume. The Post reports that 16 year old Walter Pertyk was taken out of his second period English class at Leon M. Goldstein High School (named after a "prominent Jewish educator") over his Halloween garb. "Excuse me, fuhrer, can I talk to you for a minute?" is how Petryk recalled the dean, Paul Puglia, summoning him out of......

New York City has announced a new incentive program for producers to shoot their films and TV shows in NYC with panache: Announcing that the second film version of The Producers, based on the Broadway musical (which was based on the film), would be shot at the new Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Some of the big features of the Empire State Film Production Credit Program:- A Tax Credit (5% refundable tax......

God, Gothamist loves how our area airports are working with the heightened security alerts. Like having a supervisor wave through a woman and her scissors at Newark airport, even though scissors are items non grata. The incident happened in the wake of the heightened security alert (you know, maybe planes were going to head into Las Vegas), and when a supervisor allowed a female airport security guard to pass through with a wrapped manicure set.......

Inimitably elegant photo blogger, rion, tells us that Gothamist's favorite crank, Larry David, has been hanging out in Midtown West, with the likes of Mel Brooks. Then she mentioned a poster of The Producers with Larry David and David Schwimmer on it. As the wheels started to turn, we thought, "Hmm, this smells like an episode of Curb!" Of course, rion was ready for our barrage of questions and directed us to this link that......