Posted on 09/12/2008 7:31:45 AM PDT by Diocletian
I wrote this piece...I hope you get a chance to read it and hopefully enjoy it :)
We are of the same era, and your article brought back many fond memories. I wish my kids would watch those old shows and movies, but when I put them on, they are not interested. They connected me to the people who lived in the 30s and 40s and help me understand better where we came from. One of the social problems that is developing is the loss of a common culture based on common experiences, which has paradoxically developed due to the myriad of choices that we have when we choose entertainment.
Someone coined the phrase “The Tyranny of Choice”. I think it’s quite apropos. One need only look at “The Ed Sullivan Show” to understand how profound an effect it had on American culture at the time, and like you mentioned, a shared experience.....
Thank you for posting.
Zeppo bump!
The only problem I have with the piece is the fact that you left out a Hungadunga! You've left out the main one, too. I'm pretty sure Srdja Trifkovic will back me up on this.
But overall, That's a fine letter, Diocletian. That's an epic. That's dandy. Now I want you to make two carbon copies of that letter and throw the original away. And when you get through with that, throw the carbon copies away. Just send the stamp, airmail. That's all. You may go, Diocletian. I may go too.
See this contract here? All you need to do is sign the sanity clause.
There ain’t no Sanity Clause!
Excellent, well done. There’s a really cool DVD called “The Unknown Marx Brothers”, something like that, which has footage, history, interviews with kids, etc.
Actually, I always marveled at how different all the Marx Brothers were in personality -- almost like they didn't come from the same family.
But as a kid, I remember not only loving Harpo, but also watching how much his whole demeanor changed when he was playing music. From whacky, goofy to deadly serious when he was playing the harp. It was obvious that there was a whole other person inside that character.
When I was at college, at UCLA many years ago, word got out that Groucho was on campus. Students were literally hanging out of trees to see him.
I am, however a little confused --
"Early Sunday afternoons, one of the stations broadcasting from Buffalo would play movies starring The Marx Brothers."
Was that "Buffalo, Bosnia"?
Tie on the bed,rope out the window!
Whats the matta with you Rusty!!!?
Now you need to write an “about me” page.
I loved seeing the Groucho Marx TV shows when I was a kid.........................every once in a while one may be lucky to catch an old Marx brother film on TV.
You bet Your life!
“say the secret word and win an extra hundred dollars....”
I remember the time a grown up “Darla” Hood was on YBYL, she was a very attractive woman, (and an attractive little girl who was also Little Rascal's Alfalfa's heart throb...)
I know what you mean by “shared experience.” Even the morality of modern times cancels out one of my favorite Groucho punchlines:
WOMAN: I’m Beatrice Ryner. I stop at the hotel.
GROUCHO: I’m Ronald Kornblow. I stop at nothing.
Young people wouldn’t get it at all.
Very nice article - I love reading about them (Duck Soup is my favorite).
Zeppo made no mention of Margaret Dumont? That’s too bad - I always felt she was a big part of the act in their films.
Dumont may have been pulling Groucho’s leg, which would be the ultimate irony. In the book, “Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and sometimes, Zeppo,” the author makes the case that Dumont had been in musical comedy in vaudeville for years in the early part of the 20th century. She was no stranger to jokes. I guess that is what made her a great straight woman...timing is everything! She knew exactly what she was doing.
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