Carmen Ghia in the 2005 film.
| “ | Hello, the living room of renowned theatrical director Roger DeBris, elegeant upper-east side town house on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in June. Who may I say is calling? (After a short pause). Listen you broken down, old queen, he was drunk, he was hot, you got lucky. Don't ever call here again! | „ |
| ~ Carmen Ghia whilst answering the phone. |
Carmen Ghia is a character from Mel Brooks' musical masterpiece, The Producers. He is a flamboyantly gay man who lives with his equally flamboyantly gay partner, Roger DeBris. He is also Roger's "Common law assistant". Both are major characters in the musical.
He is played by Andreas Voutsinas in the 1968 film and by Roger Bart in both the 2001 Broadway version and the 2005 film version.
Personality[]
Carmen Ghia is a rather thin man who is really flamboyant. He acts a lot like a girl most of the time and is very protective of his partner Roger. Carmen talks in a rather sly but girly tone. Carmen has been seen to be very random at times as well, as when the main characters Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom arrive to visit Roger, Carmen makes a long hissing sound and will constantly, for no real reason at all, clap his hands directly in front of his mouth. He does this twice in the movie.
In the film[]
Carmen Ghia first appears in his house answering the phone, only to get angry at the caller and hanging up. The doorbell rings and he quickly goes to answer it. He opens it to find Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom standing at his door and he asks "Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss?". Max tells him that they have come to see Roger, and Carmen immediatly lets them come in. He tells them his name and then cups his hands together in front of his mouth and repeatedely claps them together for no reason whatsoever. After a whiles pause he asks to take their hats, coats and swastika's. Max gets embarassed after seeing the Nazi swastika he had on his arm and tells Carmen that he and Leo were at a rally with millions of people wearing them, when really they got them from a Neo-Nazi named Franz Liebkind. Carmen calls out to Roger, saying that their not alone, giving Max and Leo a creepy look on his face. Carmen comes back with Roger exclaiming "Hereeeeees Roger!" Roger reveals himself wearing a dress. After Max compliments him on his dress, he tells Max that he and Carmen loved the flop musical Funny Boy that Max had produced and the both begin singing a short song from it and then both flamboyantly giggle. Roger tells them that he is wearing a dress because he was going to a ball that evening with a prize for best costume. Carmen sneaks up on Leo saying "We always win." with a sly grin on his face. Carmen then says to Roger that without his wig on he's only half-dressed. Roger then tells him to get it while calling him the Wicked With of the Wessssst, while hissing just as Carmen did. Carmen then says "If your intention was to shoot an arrow through my heart..... Bullseye!" and then runs off up the stairs in anger to get Roger's wig. After Max asks Roger if he read the play script that Max and Leo were planning to make, Springtime For Hitler, Roger says that he finds it remarkable, but then says he won't direct it, because he thinks that a play about WWII would be to dark and depressing. He and Carmen then explain in a musical number why a show should be happy and "Gay". After introducing Max and Leo to their crew, and Max saying that Roger could win a Tony award for directing the play, Roger then starts getting dizzy and making weird sounds. Carmen says that "He's having a stroke... OF GENIUS!!!!!" Roger then suggets the second act of the play should be changed to have a happier ending for the Germans, saying that instead of losing the war, they win it! Then Roger accepts to direct. The crew, Max and Leo, Roger and Carmen then all have a massive party celebrating the new partner ship.
Carmen later appears at the auditions for Hitler, where he is teaching some girly, "ballerina-like" dance moves to a bunch of auditioners dressed as Hitler. After Roger tells them to stop, all the auditioners start going crazy and shouting and moving all over the place. Carmen tries to get them to stop by once again clapping his hands together in front of his mouth, finally yelling "SHUT UP!!!!!" to which they all immediately stop. Roger tells him to call in a singing Hitler to perform. Carmen calls in a man named Jack Lepitus, however for some reason Carmen calls his name out in a French accent. No one understands him, so Jack dosen't come up. Carmen says it again in a French accent, and no one steps up again. Carmen then grouchily says the name in English, and Jack understands him and comes on up. After failing the audition, Carmen calls in another man. He fails as well. Carmen then calls up a man named Jason Greene. Whilst Jason is performing, he makes fun of Hitler. This makes Neo-Nazi Franz Liebkind very angry. Franz goes on a short rampage and angrily shouts at Carmen and Roger that Jason could never play Hitler. He then shows them the proper way to do it. He gets up on stage and performs the song Haben Sie Guhort Das Deustche Band. During the song he goes up to Roger and Carmen and whishes his fingers at them, to which they both giggle flamboyantly once again. Franz, having done an amazing job, is then cast as Hitler.
On opening night, after Max, Leo and Franz arrive, Carmen and Roger appear around a corner with Roger stating that the suspense of the audiences reaction is killing him. Carmen agrees saying that he feels like he's going into labor and then makes loud breathing noises as a joke about being pregnant. The two once again laugh flamboyantly and then go to greet Max and Leo, each giving them a different word for luck. Leo wishes them all good luck, to which Carmen, Roger and Franz are shocked. Roger then explains to Leo in a song that it's bad luck to say good luck on opening night. Carmen and Franz join in as well, each giving different reasons why saying good luck is bad luck in the theatre. While they are singing, Max is in the background giving different people means of bad luck, including saying good luck, making them walk under a ladder, breaking a mirror and throwing a black cat in their path. They then tell Leo that the proper thing to say is "Break a leg". Franz rushes off to get dressed as Hitler and the rest call out to him "Break a leg!" to which they all laugh. However Franz accidentely falls over crashes into a bunch of things. Max asks him what happened, with Franz replying, "I broke my leg!". Afraid of having to give everyone their money back, Max recasts Roger as Hitler. Roger then says that he could never play Hitler and starts weeping about it. Carmen then comes up to Roger, slaps him, and then begins inspiring him to do it with calming words, telling him that he's going out there a "silly hysterical screaming queen" but coming back a "great big, passing-for-straight, Broadway star!". Roger, feeling more confident, goes to get dressed as Hitler, telling Carmen to get Franz's Hitler mustache and his lucky, glorious swanson mole. Carmen yells "Got it!" and goes off to give it to Roger.
As the play begins, the audience is disgusted at the Nazism of the play, but after Roger steps out as Hitler, the audience laughs by the complete flamboyant acting by Roger. As a result the audience loves it and it becomes a smash hit! As the audience is cheering, Carmen is screaming happily at Roger, blowing him kisses and then throwing a bouqet of flowers at him.
Max and Leo however are not so happy that the play was a hit as they intended it to be horrible so they could make lots of money. Roger and Carmen arrive to congratulate them both but Max stands up angrily and prepares to attack Roger, saying that he ruined the play. Carmen protects Roger by standing in front of Max saying that he saved the little show and threatens Max, but Max just grabs the chains around Carmens neck, with Carmen screaming "My chains! My chains! My chains! OW, OW, OW, OW OW!!!!!" And right at that moment, Franz bursts in with a pistol and prepares to kill them all because of breaking the seigfried oath that Max and Leo made with him. They all run away in fright and terror as Franz tries to shoot them. Roger tells him that the play was a hit, but Franz instead says that they made a fool out of Hitler. Carmen jumps out from behind a couch and the both of them mockingly say "He didn't need our help!". Enranged, Franz aims his pistol at them and the duo scream and run off. Max and Leo hide under a desk while Roger and Carmen hide in the closet. The police arrive after hearing the gunshots and prepare to arrest Franz while Max and Leo get away. Roger and Carmen come out of hiding and Roger tells the police how crazy Franz is in an alliteration of words. Once done speaking, Carmen says "Oh, Roger, what alliteration!" with Roger replying in a girly voice "Thank you, darling!" and the both once again, and thankfully for the last time, laugh flamboyantly. The police, sick of them, tell them they're allowed to go and the both reply at the same time with a big "Thank you!' And they head off.
They are seen again at the end of the film with Roger dancing in a play called Prisoners of love with Carmen in the audience smiling happily holding the bouquet of flowers.
Once the end credits finish Roger and Carmen appear in a post-credits scene along with the rest of the cast telling the viewers to get out now that the film has finished.
Trivia[]
It is unknown if he and Roger are actually married or just living together as partners.
Carmen’s name is a play on “Karmann Ghia”, a sports-style Volkswagen car popular in the 1950s-1970s.