Zeppo Marx as Horatio Jamison in the 1930 Marx Brothers Film Animal Crackers. As usual, Zeppo plays straight man to his brother Groucho.
Posted on 09/12/2008 7:31:45 AM PDT by Diocletian
Zeppo Marx as Horatio Jamison in the 1930 Marx Brothers Film Animal Crackers. As usual, Zeppo plays straight man to his brother Groucho.
Growing up in the pre-cable TV era, our choices of programming were quite limited and local television stations had to rely on old movies and reruns due to the high cost of producing original broadcasting. Even though our selection was limited it was a blessing in disguise. Other than TCM buffs (like myself) and the annual Christmas showings of It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol (the one starring Alistair Sim is the best, by the way), how often are the kids of today seeing the old black and white classics?
Some of my fondest memories growing up were thanks to these old Hollywood productions. I grew up watching Our Gang/Little Rascals on Saturday mornings which would play after the new cartoons of the time. On weekend evenings, my father and I would laugh hysterically at Laurel and Hardy and especially The Three Stooges. These shows would be repeated endlessly, and you’d learn them word for word, and slap by poke. They would take you back to a time that seemed so much simpler, so much more trusting and maybe naive. Whether it was real or not was beside the point.
Early Sunday afternoons, one of the stations broadcasting from Buffalo would play movies starring The Marx Brothers. At that age, Harpo Marx was by far the funniest because of his physical comedy. Whether mugging for the camera or revealing the inventory of his cloak, it was an easy segue from the physical comedy of Laurel and Hardy/The Three Stooges to Harpo. Yet I wasn’t completely sold on the Marx Brothers since so much of their humour went over my head. Nevertheless, I knew what I was watching was special and that there would be a time when I’d be better able to understand it and appreciate it.
I rediscovered the Marx Brothers during my university days and before you can say “Why a Duck?” I became a devoted fan. I recall watching A Night at the Opera and laughing throughout the entire film. The mix of anarchy with Harpo’s physical comedy plus the wordplay between Groucho and Chico along with the incredible singing and music of Il Trovatore won me over with ease. Shortly thereafter, I watched Animal Crackers (which I consider their best film) and was once again blown away by the multi-layered entertainment that was packaged so tight and neatly. Shortly thereafter, I bought every movie of theirs that was for sale and since then have watched them over and over again.
My favourite Marx brother for a long time was their lead, Groucho for obvious reasons. Since then, it has shifted to Chico due to his punning, scheming, and attempts at carousing. Chico would play the bridge between Harpo and Groucho.
The Marx Brothers sing a tune in Duck Soup
But what about Zeppo? He seems to be the Rodney Dangerfield of The Marx Brothers since he gets “no respect”. Only appearing in the Brothers’ first four films, Zeppo was relegated to playing the straight man as opposed to the anarchic humour of the other three brothers. Was this because he was untalented? According to the brothers themselves, as well as family members and friends, Zeppo was not only the funniest of the brothers, but was also able to seamlessly ape each of the brothers’ characters (and sometimes stand in for them). Some suggest that Zeppo wasn’t allowed to display his humourous side since he’d either overshadow the other three, or more likely because he would make Groucho’s act redundant. Being the kid brother (a whole 11 years younger than Groucho and 13 and 14 years younger than Harpo and Chico, respectively) Zeppo had to give way as the older three had already well established characters that were easily to translate to the screen.
click here to read the rest of the article plus excerpts from Zeppo's last interview
Also, much of the Marx Bros. humor was topical and relevant to the climate of the time (twenties and thirties). Therefore, if you are not up on what was going on at that time, a lot of the jokes will go right over your head. References to celebrities and events of those years will not mean a thing to the average 20 year old of 2008.
Such as Groucho Marx engaging in his Eugene O’Neill interludes in “Animal Crackers”.
- Groucho Marx
Very nice. Thanks for posting this. I remember when Groucho died, when I was a child. Many years later, when I was a cute young college student at UCLA, I found a treasure trove of books by and about him, watched all his films, and I fell completely in love with him. I had this mad crush on Groucho for years. I like to think we would have been a good match, except for a couple generations...
Or Habeous Irish Rose!
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