Laughing is always a good idea and even more so if it is with the Marx Brothers
This Friday, September 29, on TCM it’s time to have a good marathon with those geniuses of humor that were the Marx Brothers. They were and are, geniuses never die. A group of brothers from very humble origins who became an international reference, applauded and praised to this day thanks to their fun and eccentric films.
The channel has six of them ready in a session that will begin at 2:50 p.m. and will not stop until the evening, the last scheduled title is at 10:00 p.m. The films chosen, in order of broadcast, are At the Circus, 1939, The Big Store, 1941, A Night in Casablanca, 1946, and Una noche en Casablanca. the opera (A Night at the Opera, 1935) and A Day at the Races (1937).
From nothing to success
“Starting from nothing I have arrived at the most absolute misery,” said Groucho Marx in Goose Soup. A phrase that, in real life, was not entirely true. It is undeniable that their origins were humble, they were born into a modest family. His father was a tailor who, according to Groucho, “explored neighborhoods where he was not known,” and his mother was a German emigrant who dreamed of an artistic future for her children. Chico was the oldest. Then came Harpo and then Groucho. There were also two other little brothers, Gummo and Zeppo who, although they worked with the group, did not succeed.
It was in 1929 when they debuted on the screens with The Cocoanuts. Since then their characters were fully defined. Harpo was mute, but he could pull any object, no matter how incredible, from inside his trench coat. Chico, with his little hat, and his Italian immigrant appearance was a real troublemaker. While Groucho, with his frock coat, his mustache, his verbiage and his devotion to women, turned any normal situation into enormous nonsense. The cigar that he always carried in his mouth was an old comedian’s trick. “If you forget a line, all you have to do is put the cigarette in your mouth until you remember the dialogue,” he said.
