Showing posts with label Marx Brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marx Brothers. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The Marx Brothers Behind a Sofa


The Marx Brothers

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The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers’ thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute as among the top 100 comedy films, with two of them (Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera) in the top twelve.

The core of the act was the three elder brothers, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho; each developed a highly distinctive stage persona. The two younger brothers, Gummo and Zeppo, did not develop their stage characters to the same extent, and eventually left the act to pursue other careers. Gummo was not in any of the movies; Zeppo appeared in the first five films in relatively straight (non-comedic) roles.

Grouch Marx's Fake Moustache-

A fake moustache or false moustache is an item of prosthetic make-up used in dressing-up, acting, espionage and crime. National fake moustache day in the United States is on 24 February, while the international celebration is on 3 February.

Here are a few Notable false moustaches:

The most notable fake moustache of all-time was probably worn by Charlie Chaplin for his role as The Tramp. He initially wore it as a means of disguising his youth for the role.

Groucho Marx (see above) also used a fake moustache during his years in vaudeville and in the early Marx Brothers movies. However, his was drawn onto his lip with grease paint, containing no hairs or bristles. In later life he grew his own, real moustache. It, along with his cigar and waggling eyebrows, were his famous trademark.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A Day at the Races Starring The Marx Brothers


The Marx Brothers, A Day at the Races, 1937.
Photograph by Ted Allen

Made in Hollywood: Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation Archive, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

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The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950. Five of the Marx Brothers’ thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute as among the top 100 comedy films, with two of them (Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera) in the top twelve.

The core of the act was the three elder brothers, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho; each developed a highly distinctive stage persona. The two younger brothers, Gummo and Zeppo, did not develop their stage characters to the same extent, and eventually left the act to pursue other careers. Gummo was not in any of the movies; Zeppo appeared only in the first five.

- The Marx Brothers inspired the characters of Yakko, Wakko and Dot in the 90s animated cartoon series Animaniacs

- The British rock group Queen released in 1975 an album called A Night at the Opera, a name which they chose after watching the Marx Brothers' movie. Their next album was called A Day at the Races, also inspired by the Marx Brothers' 1937 movie.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

I Love Lucy (with Harpo Marx)


I Love Lucy

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I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951 to May 6, 1957 on CBS.

I Love Lucy was the most-watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons, and was the first to end its run at the top of the Nielsen ratings (an accomplishment later matched by The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld). I Love Lucy is still syndicated in dozens of languages across the world.

The show in this postcard (called 'Lucy and Harpo Marx') originally aired on May 9th, 1955 (Season 4, Episode 27)

Plot:
The gang meets Harpo Marx and Lucy does the famous 'mirror' routine with him.