The Marx Brothers, 'A Night At the Opera', another fine moment with Groucho and Margaret Dumont (mrs.Claypool) remember that this picture is made in the early 1935!
I love this scene! Watching Margaret Dumont trying to keep from smiling when she's supposed to be the straight woman. And then she finally gets a chance to smile -- in character -- & it's such a relief! What a pair!
@@brianjordan3841 You're right. That's some silliness Groucho spread over the years, and can be heard on his Carnegie Hall concert album... that Dumont would ask him after a scene "Why was this funny?" It's pretty obvious she's a great comic in her own right, and knows exactly what she's doing.
"Listen Gottlieb, nix on the lovemaking, because I saw Mrs. Claypool first. Of course, her mother really saw her first, but there's no point in bringing the Civil War into this."
One of my favorite lines in the movie. That was probably a REALLY funny joke in the 1930s. My other favorite line.. "Did you want a manicure?" "No, come on in!" "Do you want your nails long or short?" "Better make 'em short, it's getting kind of crowed in here"!
I am forever in love with the notion that Margaret had no clue that this was comedy. I, for one, think she was clever enough to know, and savvy enough to be the perfect straight man, but my heart always loves the thought that she was blithely ignorant of the comedy.
No, Groucho made a throw away comment that she had no idea, but of course Dumont knew it was comedy otherwise there wouldn't have been any timing in her responses, but to the contrary, her timing was perfect.
That’s all based on something a very old Groucho said late in life (after one or two strokes, I might add). Margaret Dumont was a veteran of the vaudeville circuit. She worked with WC Fields. She knew exactly what she was doing. You can see her superb comic timing in this clip. She’s the one who sells Groucho’s jokes. She was always his perfect partner/foil.
It was the old style. Of course you know, but you never admit, publicly, you know. It has its points. Helps warn off creeps. Remember the old maid in Hitchcock’s “The Trouble With Harry”? “Then he swore at me - horrible, masculine sounds. I didn’t understand them, of course” Male listener: (hastily) “Of course, of course you didn’t.”
The straight man grounds the comic, takes the role of the audience and connects them to the humorousness playing out before them. Directs the eye. No small part inthe story that unfolds.
One of the greatest comedies ever made. Every scene a gem. Great music and dialogue. And the Marx brothers were at the top of their game. Many younger views who watched What's My Line later on didn't know that Kitty Carlisle could sing. In fact, she and Alan Jones had operatic voices. And yes, Alan Jones was Jack Jones's dad.
So was Zeppo , but you have to be tuned in to what they are doing to get it. Much of their humor is framed by styles of their period, and they were good at that. Zeppo was Groucho's understudy, and could do his act.
I wasn't around when Groucho ruled the scene, but I've heard of his fantastic work. They didn't do him justice. He seems to be a comedic genius and a true star. The camera loves him, and he loves to sleep around behind the camera's back. Never another like Groucho Marx
Catch the look on Groucho's face when he finishes the song "Hello I must be going. " Freaking hilarious! You can see they had their 10000 hours on the road and were Vaudeville veterans. Love those guys!
Groucho: "Every time I get romantic with you, you want to talk business. I don't know, there's something about me that brings out the business in every woman"......Lol
I watched as a kid, then as I got older, the jokes got funnier. The great one liners. Delivered with such wit. Now my grandson watches. And he gut laughs at site gags. Harpo thrown out by snob, then Rosa calms him, and the mean singer takes him back and all you hear is kicking, slapping, and punching.
Back when comedies were actually funny! That ended in the 90's. Groucho and his brothers Chico, Zeppo, and Harpo were national treasures! "Do you follow me?" - "Yes." - "Well, stop following me or I'll have ya arrested!"
@@dr.barrycohn5461 Movies started to decline for me in the past decade or so. A lot of identity politics nonsense became the primary focus. Movie makers lost their bravery.
I have laughed so wildly on the countless occasions when I have watched and re-watched the films by the great Groucho Marx and his Brothers, that I believe I have developed a fissure of my pleural dome, by now.
The good thing about "Night at the Opera" is that it's funny from the start. I like "Day at the Races" too but, comically speaking, it takes a while to get going.
"Do you follow me?" "Yes.." "Well stop following me or I'll have you arrested!" I use that bit with my high school students. At least half of them laugh. The other half don't get it. Margaret Dumont was one of the best straight "men" of all time.
Good way of putting it!! From what I understand back then, the Marx brothers playfully tormented Margaret Dumont off-camera,as well as on-so she probably had to have a pretty thick skin!!
+willow11st I often heard that the reason that Margaret was such a good straight "man" was that she honestly didn't understand half of what Groucho said.
Yes. She didn't understand most of the jokes. She would frequently ask Groucho "Julie, why are they laughing?" That was her pet name for him, because his real first name was Julius.
Groucho was and is an absolute timeless classic. Comedic gold and a national treasure. The delivery of those lines of his are genius. Alan Alda's "Hawkeye Pierce" character in M*A*S*H was Groucho all the way.
Nothing personal, but, please don’t ever compare Alan Alda to Groucho Marx again. Alda is a terrible actor and an even worse individual, with an ego the size of his nose.
Thank you,Ana,-I'm glad someone is smart and sensitive enough to understand that,without having to go into the gutter! I think that's why I think I like the movies of that era more than the movies of today.Groucho himself,in interview after interview said that resorting to using that sort of material meant the performer wasn't creative enough to be entertaining otherwise-as an actor and singer,I couldn't agree more!
willow11st That's right, Willow. Falling in love with this kind of entertainment is dangerous - everything else is just not good enough. What I like about this kind of comedy is the good old fashioned sense of fun, humour. Things are better when we are a little naive, I think.
Production Companies: Warner Bros. (current owner) Turner Entertainment (current owner) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (Distributor and Presentation) Marx Brothers Entertainment (copyright holder) Irving Thalberg Productions (production)
My friends don't cheat on your girlfriend. But if you do, please try out Groucho's excuse of "I was only with her because she reminded me of you." It might work. It sounds good to me.
Margaret Dumont was definitely not rich. She had been married to a wealthy businessman who died during the 1918 flu pandemic but left her very little money. She died broke in 1965.
Groucho was kind of like this, when younger. Story: As a teenager he had somehow managed to keep a nest egg of seventy cents from the sticky fingers of Chico. This would be just enough money for Groucho to take the reigning beauty of his apartment complex, one Annie Berger, to the theatre and still have carfare home. But Miss Berger quickly devastated Groucho's high finances by having the audacity to request a treat-some taffy. She then compounded the dilemma by not sharing. Groucho was now up against it, or at least someone was, because he had carfare home for only one. What to do? Groucho benevolently disregarded her selfishness and did the only fair thing, at least the only fair thing for Groucho. He flipped her for the ride home. Miss Berger lost and was forced to walk home . . . in the snow . . . fifty-one blocks. Romance did not blossom.
First of all, so called "Margaret Dumont" wasn't her real name. There was nothing wrong with her actual birth name, Daisy Juliette Baker. She obviously "sold out" her birth name because of the shallowness of the entertainment industry?! Most likely the change was made as the result of a greedy Business Manager or Studio, with perceived notions of greater recognition accompanied with monetary gains? Secondly and in reality, it's also shows blatant disrespect for one's parents & their family heritage, just to possibly obtain (not necessarily earn) a greater buck?!
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