Reacting to HORSE FEATHERS (1932) | Movie Reaction 

It might be a hot take, but I think my favorite is either Horse Feathers or A Night in Casablanca.

"The Marx Brothers are funny" amazing

I was just about to mention her, in fact. I still believe she was murdered, most likely by her shitheel mobbed up husband, the poor devil, and staged to look like an accident. That's one of the few Hollywood conspiracy theories I would give any credence to.

I've always been fascinated with Thelma Todd, her career, and mysterious death. She was such a pretty girl ... dead at 29. So sad.

I rwad somewhere that her boyfriend confessed on his deathbed that he had infact murdered her. The rwstaurant she had owned is just in the process of being demolished as well.

@@harveydent73- she just had the rotten luck of being born in the wrong century. She'd have been right at home in the current era of torpedoing macho posturing. They'd have tossed her Chris Evanses for days nowadays.

Love your knowledge of that. Todd was comic gold, and she would have been a bigger star if she had lived a full life, and if Hollywood wasn't so blind and deaf...I think she was a good as Lombard, Blondell and the rest.

Because the show was totally unscripted, you get to see Groucho's quick wit at its best.

What about the other brothers?

@@unclerabbit254 they were not mentioned in the article he copied and pasted here

Groucho suffered with depression. He didn't have a Groucho Marx to cheer him up. (Dick Cavett said that)

Parts of the B-movie "Eegah!", with Richard Kiel, were filmed on property on Harpo Marx's Palm Springs estate. The director didn't ask permission or give notice. They were filming one day by a road when Harpo was driving by. He stopped and asked them what they were doing. The director told him they were making a movie. Harpo said "Oh, okay" and drove on.

@@unclerabbit254 Leonard "Chico" was the oldest brother and is said to have been their mother's favorite and she openly favored him while she treated Julius "Groucho" the worst and he was the one of the sons she showed the least love. Arthur "Harpo" was the second oldest. According to Chico's daughter, Groucho must have been constantly overlooked and did everything to make his mother happy, which left a deep mark on her uncle for the rest of his life. Chico was married twice and had a daughter with his first wife. However, he was a woman chaser (his nickname came from that) and had been constantly unfaithful to his first wife. He was also a gambling addict and gambled on everything. Their last two films were more or less made just to save Chico's finances as he had filed for bankruptcy a few years prior. When his brothers finally found out about his out-of-control gambling, they took full control over his finances; they took all money away from Chico as he earned it and put him on an allowance to curb his constant betting and gambling. Chico stayed on the allowance until his death. Groucho was married three times and each marriage ended in divorce. He battled depression and one of the wives was an alcoholic. He had three children (two children with his first wife, who, according to the children, lacked any sense of humor). In the early 1970s, He had a relationship with a much younger woman named Erin Fleming who was initially (and extemporaneously) hired as his secretary and later assumed the role of his manager. Several of Groucho's friends and family, including his children, charged Erin Fleming with embezzling money and pushing the increasingly frail Groucho to the limits of his endurance, largely for her own personal gain. There were also charges against her because of psychological and suspected physical abuse against Groucho. Herbert "Zeppo" (who left the act for careers as an engineer and theatrical agent) was the youngest brother and is said to have had a rather hot temper. He was very jealous and is said to have beaten a man just for talking to his wife at a party (he however, was not the faithful type himself). He was married twice, both of which ended in divorce (he and his first wife adopted two children). His second wife was much younger and later married Frank Sinatra who was a good friend of Zeppo's with whom she had started an affair behind Zeppo's back, but they remained friends. When Zeppo became ill with cancer in 1978 he moved to a house on the fairway off Frank Sinatra Drive and his ex wife accompanied him to doctor's appointments and treatment. He spent his last days with his family. Harpo was married to the same woman all his life and they had a very happy and loving marriage (according to his brothers, they were the perfect couple who wanted to do everything together and never be apart). They adopted four children and according to the children he was a very warm and present father who loved them more than anything. One of Groucho's daughters has said in interviews that when it was too tugh to be at home (due to her mother's alcoholism and Groucho's depression) she fled home to Harpo and his wife where she was always welcome (she said that Harpo however, he had a rule, that he did not allow her to speak bad of her parents). Groucho's children have said that the only time they saw their father cry was when his most beloved older brother Harpo died. There was also a fifth brother, Milton "Gummo" Marx (he was the second youngest). He was the group's first straight man during their early years on the vaudeville circuit, but left the act when he was drafted into the US Army in 1918 during World War I and replaced by his g brother Zeppo. Gummo never liked to be on stage but became a successful businessman and was later also the brothers' agent together with Zeppo. He is said to have been a calm person who had a happy marriage and they had a son. He and his wife were married from 1929 until her death in 1976. When Gummo died in 1977, his death was never reported to his big brother Groucho, who by that time had become so ill and weak that it was thought the news would be a further detriment to his health. Groucho died four months later, at age 86.

To add to this, a "college widow" was sort of a derogatory term for a gal from a college town who kept company with a number of college athlete types. The gag where all the brothers are in and out of Connie Bailey's apartment was sort of a euphemism for the comings and goings of her suitors. This movie, by the way, was made in the "pre code era" before the Hayes Act laws were enacted in the U.S., where "decency standards" were enforced upon the movie studios. As a result, probably 6-7 minutes of jokes, gags, and dialogue were edited out of all of the existing prints after the act was passed, and are pretty much now lost forever. The Connie Bailey apartment scene probably suffers most in this respect, with lots of jump cuts and a loss of natural flow to the scene

@@garagepunkfan I always wondered why the apartment scene jumps around so much with missing gags. You would think that with today's technology, someone could re-insert scenes & voices for the brothers. Or maybe we haven't looked hard enough in the film vaults of other countries to find an old intact copy of "Horse Feathers".

Well said.

I couldnt put it any better than you did and everyone I know calls me the Genius.

@@geniusjohn8280 Just like Wile E. Coyote. Genius.

@@undergroundwarrior70 Exactly!

I have that set as well and cherish it!

It was an era where most stage actors had to good-or-better dancers, had to be good-or-better singers and probably played an instrument or two or three. This way, theatres could deliver singing, dancing, drama, comedy - anything - with a small group of performers for even ten hours a day. From stage, these were passed along to movie studios - and this was part of the to-be-hated "studio system" of the '30s and '40s.

They even ended up in some older cartoons.

Really - we need to get Dawn Marie into theaters hosting all of these Marx Brothers' films.

The US passed anti-liquor "prohibition laws" in 1919. Clubs and taverns tried to become 'speak-easy' clubs, hiding the sale of liquor and beer. This was the time of rising organized crime because liquor sales were a cheap way to make lotsa money!

I did not know it was made by the Sugar (Zucker) Bros! No wonder I love it so.

Brain Donors is hilarious.

I feel like I've heard of the zucker bros. But didn't know they did any marx bros spinoffs/inspired films.

I meant, Burroughs created Tarzan in 1912. I apologize for the brain fart.

Yes! Day At The Races is my favorite! Can't wait!