Hello, Marx Brothers fans! This week is our most controversial episode yet!
Ian and Dave take a look at the Marx Brothers final Paramount picture, Duck Soup. Directed by the very talented Leo McCarey, with great songs by Kalmar and Ruby. What could go wrong?
Well, here’s the thing: one of the fellas is not a fan of what must be the Marx Brothers most zany picture. Who loved it? Who was left cold? You’ll just have to listen to the episode to find out!
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Though I’m not a regular listener to the main podcast, I loved both your Tintin and Beatles podcasts, both of which I came to late. I’m thrilled both that you’re doing a Marx Brothers podcast and that for the first time I get to listen to one of your specialist podcasts as they come out. So far I’m finding it the best yet. As with the Tintin ones, I thought I knew everything about the subject but David is coming up with all sorts of stuff I didn’t know, or had forgotten, or had never considered, or not attributed sufficient importance to, (particularly relating to the business side, which had a huge effect on the films we got). Well done, thanks and congratulations.
Re Duck Soup, it’s a great favourite but I also dislike the lack of harp and piano, and the way some people treat it as the only Marx Brothers film you need to bother with (I have the same complaint with how people talk about “The General” and “Pet Sounds”). Of course I don’t agree with Ian’s view of the film, but his view was shared by Irving Thalberg, so he’s in good company.
Thanks, Ian. Glad you’re with us for this little journey!
However, I’m sorry to hear that you have a problem with Sneaky Dragon…just kidding! JUST KIDDING! I don’t want to make two Ian’s mad at me!
This is heresy, but I miss the piano more than the harp. Not that I have a problem with it…
It will be really interesting to hear Ian’s reaction to A Night at the Opera, which addresses many of the points he made about Duck Soup.
As a Scot, I’m legally obliged to point out that ‘d’oh!’ is generally credited to a fellow countryman, James Finlayson, who was the guy with the bald head and droopy moustache in many of the best Laurel and Hardy films. Fin was the absolute master of the pop-eyed double take, often accompanied by a fairly elongated d’oh as a perfect expression of complete exasperation with our bowler hatted friends.
Minor clarification: Andalusia is a region of Spain, not a city. Location shots from the town of Loja stood in for Sylvania.
Really loving this podcast, and looking forward to the next one.
Chris, heresy is not liking Duck Soup! ????
I agree with you though. Chico’s piano bit is always one of my favourite parts of any Marx Brothers film. Ian is right that it lends an empathy and fills out Chico’s character faster than any amount of exposition could.
I am GREATLY enjoying this series! Thank you! I am even looking forward to “The Big Store” episode.
Here’s an interesting bit of trivia about Louis Calhern: The year this movie was made (1933), he married an actress named Natalie Schafer (familiar to all of us as “Lovey Howell”). They divorced in 1942.
Fantastic! I really need to up my trivia game!
The thing that fascinated me about Calhern’s stance on AA, which was likely one of the most effective programs dealing with addiction, is how unusual such pronounced atheism would have been at the time.
Anyway,thanks for listening, Peter.
Hello Boys!
Great job on Full Marx!
FullMarx for both of you, although Ian, it’s ok that you have a problem with parts of Duck Soup. Everyone is wrong now and then! Haha!
A couple notes-NRA at the beginning stood for the National Recovery Act- and was basically an FDR program as described by David.
I just love these podcasts- I now have to find your Beatles one.
Because I couldn’t find this outlet for comments about Monkey Business, let me add that Lotta Miles- ( later lengthened to Carlotta Miles ), was a name the actress used because her prior career was in a Tire company ad in the ‘20s – she appeared as “Lotta Miles “ a a spokescharacter in the vein of “Madge,”the Palmolive commercial beautician in the ‘70s or “Flo”, the spokes person for Progressive Insurance here in the States.
Pardon my digression. I love listening to your podcasts as I take a long walks wearing my fedora and enjoying a cigar. I get a few strange looks when I’m laughing out loud as I walk. Thanks!!
Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Hail Freedonia!!
Danny
Another great one guys!
BTW – James Finlayson is the Laurel and Hardy foil who popularized the “D’Oh!” reactions.
Right you are! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu-RMcvSzPw
A very thorough episode. I especially like the opening half hour when you give the history of how Duck Soup came to be and how Flywheel was broadcast. My favorite Marx movies are from Paramount but I must admit that this is only #4 for me (ahead of Monkey Business). The musical opening, the “Going to War” musical (along with the Harpo insert) and the battle scene are almost unwatchable.
I am a huge anti-war person so the battle scene to me is tremendously unfunny. When they conk the man who pushes the vase on Groucho’s head they push him out the window and then you see Zeppo aiming toward the ground indicating that he is murdering the guy. Also the “you’re shooting your own men” statement is SO unfunny. I cringe at that line more than I cringe at “And that’s why darkies were born” line.
Couple of questions — When the vase explodes off of Groucho you can see he has a hangman’s noose around his head. Why, and when? You discussed the cuts in the mirror scene. But how would you change Harpo’s hat or clean up the broken mirror without cuts? Are you only referencing the two cuts that show Groucho in thought?
And, if I may, may I add one little criticism? I think that most people who listen to the podcast have probably seen the movies countless times. Could you talk about key points or key gags instead of recreating the entire movie scene by scene? I think it would make a smoother podcast. Just one person’s suggestion.
Great podcast. I’ve made it through the Paramounts and am looking forward to the MGMs and others.
Thanks, Randall. Duck Soup is a much more divisive film than I would have thought!
And thanks for your criticism. I think your point is valid, but I felt our first episode about The Cocoanuts was way too unfocused. It’s actually harder than you’d think to remember things you might like to talk about without cues. Also, we’re three movies from the end now so it’s too late to switch it up! Sorry if it’s too annoying for you.
These podcasts are like eavesdropping on a pair of very interesting people at the next table while waiting for my third pot of coffee, frantically taking notes on overstarched cuffs reminding me to expand my Marxian library for the first time since the 1980s. And when one of you brings on his daughter, it elevates things to a delirious family reunion that would actually be worth attending. You’re great company for long drives from work. Or to work. Or why work at all…
A second, minor, correction to your discussion here, regarding the mirror sequence. Max Linder did, indeed, perform a variation of it in his “Seven Years Bad Luck,” but you had the roles reversed in the discussion, echoing an error in “Hail, Hail, Euphoria,” a wonderful read by Roy Blount, Jr. Max Linder, ever the well-dressed, Top-hatted dandy, played the master of the house rousing from a hangover, and it is one of his servants who broke the mirror and served as his doppelganger. However, in retrospect, it would be a better movie to have the roles reversed, and let Linder be the comic servant instead of the befuddled head of the household. In this brief scene, the servant is doing the comedy – Linder is only reacting to the situation.
An earlier, silent, Raymond Griffith film, “You’d Be Surprised,” had a sequence where a line of policemen are waiting for the coroner to arrive, all dutifully pointed to the main entrance, when Griffith appears at a door to the rear, walks to the front, and asks, “What time does the parade start?” It seems to predict Groucho’s inaugural scene. The Griffith film credits the titles to Robert Benchley, who had signed with Paramount as a very underused screenwriter in 1926.
I broke the images down at https://animatingapothecary.blogspot.com/2016/03/an-appreciation-of-raymond-griffith.html – and the film itself is available from Grapevine video.