'Young Frankenstein' hardly a miss

Brooks/Sillerman musical breaking records

By LIZ SMITH

THE INSIDE story of the flacks of "Young Frankenstein" is that they are fighting back against those who say this Mel Brooks project has been a "disappointment." Here's their take. "The musical at the Hilton Theater grossed an astounding $1.5 million recently. Exit polls of audiences," say the mavens of the two producers, Bob Sillerman and Mel Brooks, "have shown the highest level of satisfaction of any show surveyed -- an amazing 90%." Hmmm, that's even higher than the 88% who simply adored the Mel Brooks classic "The Producers" at the height of its amazing popularity. So why don't the "Young Frankenstein" backers take some big ads, saying all this? They're shy, those guys, I guess. Their reps say they don't want to brag.

THERE HAVE been some interesting villains in the James Bond movies through the years -- Christopher Walken, Jonathan Pryce, Max von Sydow, Telly Savalas, Louis Jordan, Lotte Lenya. But the next big bad guy to confront Daniel Craig's 007 will be an actor who remained motionless in his last acclaimed movie. He is Mathieu Amalric who starred in "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." There seems to be an intellectual approach to this next Bond film. Says Matheiu: "'Casino Royale' tried to speak about the world we are in and also a broken heart, and I think the new film is also looking for a realistic approach, as well as the myth and the fantasy."

THERE IS said to be a plan for the producers of Kiefer Sutherland's "24" show to use the actor Dennis Farina in optioned material about the late mobster Johnny Rosselli. You could read all about Rosselli in Lamar Waldron's JFK book "Ultimate Sacrifice." Maybe you remember him as the Mafia connection with JFK mistress Judith Exner. His body was found in an oil drum in the sea.

I LEARNED SOMETHING new about Paul Verhoeven/Joe Eszterhas misguided masterpiece "Showgirls" the other night, watching Donny Deutsch's "Big Idea" on CNBC. There was the gorgeous Elizabeth Berkley, promoting her new reality series on Bravo, "Step It Up and Dance!" She laughed and said, "it has achieved such cult status on video and DVD and rentals, that it is one of MGM's top 20 grossing films of all time, now."