Hmmm . . . in Mel Brooks’ “The Producers”, Zero Mostel’s character is named Max Bialystok. I had no idea of the history of the place. I wonder how Brooks came up with that name for that character?
Good luck, Brooks has been known to lie when asked about such things. For years he'd been telling that the word "blücher," as in "Frau Blücher," the Cloris Leachman character in "Young Frankenstein," sounds like the German word for glue. Which once was commonly made with collagen extracted from animal bones, especially horses. Which is the 'gag' behind why you always hear a horse whinnying every time her name is spoken.
Except it doesn't. "Blücher" is nowhere close to any of the German words commonly used for "glue." Or Yiddish for that matter. In fact, Brooks eventually dropped the pretense and admitted he made up the story. "Blücher" is just an ordinary German surname.
Which puts him in good company. Michael Gambon is famous for telling bald-faced lies when the interviewer is asking banal questions.
That’s the first thing I thought of when I read that name.
L
If you've ever been to a real Jewish bakery, you may have noticed next to the bagels are a round treat that has a hole on the top with onions sprinkled inside and baked.
They are called "Bialys", after the Polish city of Bialystok.