See you at Rock and Shock!!

I'm doing Rock and Shock for a second year in a row. And this one is no exception!! The guest this year is none other than this guy right here!!

I'll have plenty of my books, new prints and new sketches!! And I'm available for commissions all weekend long. So hit me up!!

Alice and the Invaders From Wonderland Issue Two

For those of you who have come out to shows or bought issue one online thank you!! Here's the cover art for issue two!! Artwork by the fantastic Paul Loudon!!

The Marx Brothers

The Five Marx Brothers (from left to right): Harpo, Zeppo, Chico, Groucho and Gummo (who never appeared in any of the pictures but was a part of their early vaudeville shows.)

I'm a long time fan of the Marx Brothers. And while I do enjoy A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races I've come to realize recently that I DO NOT enjoy them as much as those early Paramount Pictures. The only one I didn't like from the early years was the Coconuts. And that had a lot to do with the obnoxious romantic lead in that film. They could have given the romantic lead to Zeppo and it would have been a much better film. But Animal Crackers all the way through to Duck Soup I absolutely love and could watch a thousand times... and probably have.

But I got thinking about that recently. I used to enjoy both their first endeavors for MGM a lot when I was younger. I still enjoy them. Even At The Circus I don't mind. They both have memorable scenes that make both pictures classics. And yes. They are classics... not including At the Circus, mind you. But I just enjoy those early Paramounts so much more. I thought about that in the last few years and I've come to realize there are a lot of factors that have lead me to feel that they're just not as those earlier pictures. Now here me out!!

One being the Marx Brothers AREN'T the stars of any of the MGM pictures. You might think I'm crazy for saying that. And maybe you're right. But watch both A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races again sometime soon. Or any of the movies the Marx's did for MGM and you'll see what I mean. The focus of the movies are the romantic leads whether it be Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle or Allan Jones and Maureen O'Sullivan. Or even Kenny Baker (not R2D2 Kenny Baker) who looks like someone punched the Pillsbury Doughboy in the face for an entire day.  The Marx Brothers have been relegated to being co-stars of their own movies. This is somewhat more forgivable in Night at the Opera and Day at the Races. Because they had a great director with Sam Wood. A brilliant writer in George S. Kaufman. And a producer who understood and advocated for them in Irving Thalberg.

Once Thalberg died suddenly the wheels fell off the bus. Louis B. Mayer hated the Marx Brothers. As a matter of fact I think Louie B. Mayer hated comedy. MGM ruined the careers of so many big name comedians. One of those people he destroyed was Buster Keaton who worked as a gag writer on At the Circus. BEING PAID SCALE!! That topic is for another post. Keaton's elaborate gags didn't blend well with the Marx's style of comedy. When Groucho called Keaton on the inappropriateness of his gags Keaton's reply was, "I'm only doing what Mr. Mayer asked me to do. You guys don't need help."

I don't think either Groucho or Buster were the bad guys in this particular disagreement. I think they both were the victim of MGM's amazing ability to ruin comedy.

The other thing I've found over the years is I hate musicals!!

You might be saying to yourself, wait a minute!! You said you like the Marx Brothers earlier films an they have musicals! Doesn't that make you a hypocrite? No and you should be ashamed of yourself for asking. Actually, I have a reason for that. You see. While those early Marx Brothers movies DID have musical numbers in the films. A lot of films at that time had the characters for whatever reason breaking out into song. I'm not sure why but it might have a lot to do with the transition from stage to film which had a lot of music acts. And a couple of the early Marx Brothers films WERE adapted from stage plays which had musical acts. So a lot of the mindset could have been taking the theater experience and bringing it to the films. Which actually kept going for many years following. I'm not sure when it all stopped being a mainstay. Might have to look that one up.

But here's the thing. When the Marx Brothers broke into song in those early Paramount Films they were very comical and almost poking fun of the whole concept of the musical number in a film.

When Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle break into song during A Night at the Opera it's very sappy and schmaltzy. You find yourself wanting to fast forward through the number unlike the musical numbers of the early films. To be fair. Of all the surrogate Zeppo's, Allan Jones was one of the better ones.

You knew the Marx Brothers were the stars of the original Paramount Pictures. They were the focus and the romantic characters were the side plot rather than the other way around in the MGM pictures. In Monkey Business and Horse Feathers the romantic lead was more prominent due to the fact that it was being played by Zeppo Marx.

 I admit I've been a bit unfair to one Mr. Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx in my younger days. But I feel like although he wasn't the funniest of the four brothers he played a very important part in their early success. Some of the problem might've have been his age compared to Chico, Groucho and Harpo. Who were all considerably older than he was. Some of the problem was the way he was written due in part to the fact he didn't develop a shtick the way his three other brothers did. There are times Groucho has mentioned that off camera Zeppo actually had a sharper wit than Groucho himself.

Zeppo as Groucho

But I suppose because some might say he didn't develop a "character" the way his brothers did, he got relegated to the role as straight man. But he played that role well. Much better than any of his MGM successors. One of his best films was Monkey Business which I feel like he had the best opportunity to shine. He actually added a balance to the act. Because you had three lunatics and Zeppo as the voice of reason. I suppose later on Groucho would be considered the de facto straight man. But not really. Because I don't consider the straight man to be the one to deliver the funny lines. Usually he's the catchers mit for whatever quips the clown in the act throws at him. Like in the case of Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Hope and Crosby or to a lesser extent Martin and Lewis.

Talking to my friend and Laurel scribe Brian Nelson, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of classic comedy, Zeppo never really wanted to be in the act in the first place. Very much like Shemp from the Three Stooges. in Zeppo's case he was very intimidated by his older brothers. And also when they were making the move to MGM he decided he had enough of being the straight man and possibly felt that he wasn't going to be written any better for over there than he was for Paramount.

Which is a shame. Some of those later dreadful "romantic leads" might've been better with Zeppo in the role. Groucho, Harpo and Chico were still funny after Zeppo left. But Zeppo definitely added something to the act that just wasn't the same in those later pictures.

The other thing MGM changed was they made the Marx Brothers more helpful to the romantic leads. Whereas in the Paramount pictures nobody was safe from Groucho's barbed comments. They made Groucho's remarks more focused on the "villain" in the movie. The other thing that I enjoyed about the Paramount pictures was the fact they made Harpo and Chico's morals a bit more suspect. I actually find Harpo funnier as a little bit more of a jerk than the "whipped puppy" they made him out to be in the MGM pictures.

The later ones Chico and Harpo were usually old friends of the romantic leads out to help them whereas the Paramounts their characters were possibly criminal. Horse Feathers and Duck Soup were probably the best example of that. And probably my two favorite Marx Brothers films ever made.

The early films were a bit more surreal and abstract a well. Even the titles had nothing to do with the movie. And I never minded that. MGM tried to make their comedy more grounded. Even their two biggest hits there's a less abstract and more grounded approach to the movies. Much like they did with Buster Keaton, they took away creative control and eventually just wore them out.

But if you've never heard of the Marx Brothers or you have heard of them but have never seen their movies I recommend checking ALL OF THEM out!! Even the later ones. You can either start with their first picture the Coconuts and go all the way to Love Happy (their last and by far their worst) or you can start with their best pictures and then work your way down the row. Here's my suggestion. If you want to binge watch all the Marx Brothers films watch them in this order. This will give you a good idea how the styles of comedy changed from when they were at Paramount and when they moved to MGM:

1.) Horse Feathers
2.) A Day a the Races
3.) Duck Soup
4.) Monkey Business
5.) A Night at the Opera
6.) At the Circus
7.) The Coconuts
8.)The Big Store
9.)A Night in Casablanca
10.) Room Service
11.) Go West
12.) Love Happy
13.) Animals Crackers

Go West and Love Happy I feel are their two weakest pictures. I put Animal Crackers last not because I like it's a weak picture. Quite the opposite. I think it's one of their best. I just put it there because after watching two of their worst you would definitely want to see them when they were at the top of their game