The Marx Brothers

I don't have a specific movie to review today, so I will just honor the Marx Brothers, and it isn't even a birthday.

I can't stand Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges make me want to wash my hands, but the Marx Brothers--I love the Marx Brothers, every one of them. Their humor is so odd, and their individual characters are so quirky, I can't help but laugh just at the thought of them. The plot of their films is incidental (thin at best). The formula in their scripts is predictable. Their gimmicks are the same from movie to movie. But none of that matters.

Groucho finagled. Harpo played the harp. Chico played the piano. Groucho tormented Margaret Dumont's society broad character. Harpo threw his leg at annoyed bystanders and honked a horn. Chico pretended to be Italian. It was always the same, and it was always fun.

Gummo began as an entertainer but later became an agent and manager. Zeppo was a straight man in many of the brothers' films, but he was more successful as an inventor. The story goes they were using their given names in their vaudeville act but their nicknames backstage. Someone, after hearing their odd nicknames, suggested they use them on stage as well. Chico, by the way, is pronounced like "chick," as he was quite the ladies' man.

I have a boxed set of Marx Brothers DVDs, and as much as I like Duck Soup and the Big Store, my favorite is A Night at the Opera. They are all stowed away in a cabin on a ship, and in the most memorable scene, they manage to fill the room beyond capacity in a ridiculous set of circumstances, with Chico continuously ordering two hard boiled eggs from room service.

Here are a few snappy lines that make me chuckle, all from different films: ha ha, hee hee, baa ha ha, knee slapper. And just to be silly, here is Groucho singing Lydia the Tattooed Lady from At the Circus.