Quote: David Chapman @ November 28, 2007, 3:06 PMI like it - mainly due to my son introducing me to it.
No, you're wrong.
Dan
A great idea for all writer's 40 year's plus. Page 3
Quote: swerytd @ November 28, 2007, 3:21 PMNo, you're wrong.
Dan
What, it's not his son? 
No - he's right. It was my daughter before the op.
Quote: David Chapman @ November 28, 2007, 5:09 PMNo - he's right. It was my daughter before the op.
The infamous Strapadichtomy!
The old 'Bo Selecta' shows were good, but the other shows he's done since have been f**king terrible. As for old comedy, I'm a massive Marx Brothers fan, and I'm well under 40. In fact, I started collecting their films when I was 17.
Yep The Marx Brothers were a class act alright! And a lot of Grouchos one-liners haven't aged a day! That rather plump posh lady who he was always insulting was a superb foil, she really worked well with Groucho I thought. I can't remember her name (geeks would know..) and Harpo was a real one-off. Class stuff mate!
Geek says: Margaret Dumont.
Quote: Badge @ November 29, 2007, 1:35 AMGeek says: Margaret Dumont.
Thanks!!! - where would I be without you geeks?! I knew her name but of course had forgotten. That woman, when she gave Groucho 'the smile' and 'the look'... what superb moments in comedy!
Here's some random Marx Brothers facts, from the top of my head:
1. Apparently, Margaret Dumont had a terrible sense of humour, and didn't even understand many of the jokes in the films.
2. Harpo's real name was Adolph.
3. The Brothers decided Harpo should always stay silent, because he was always forgetting his lines during their stage act.
4. The youngest of the brothers, Zeppo, who always played the straight man in the films, was said to have been the funniest of them all, in real life. Actually, he eventually stopped appearing in the movies, because he was so unhappy at always getting the boring parts.
5. After the brothers officially retired from making movies, they were forced to make at least two comebacks, as a way of making money, to help oldest brother Chico pay off massive gambling debts, which he owed to gangsters. As a result, their last few films were rush-jobs, and were poor, compared to their earlier stuff.
6. There were actually 6 Marx Brothers. The two that most people don't know about, were Manfred, who was the first of the brothers to be born, died at only 6 months old. The other, who was nicknamed Gummo, never appeared in any of their films, and made his living as a Hollywood agent.
7. Chico used to lie to girls, telling them he was Harpo, because he was more popular with female fans.
8. Harpo's blonde hair was a wig, and Groucho's moustache was simply a line of greasepaint, painted onto his upper-lip.
Why are Marx Brothers films always on so late?
There is no real violence, swearing or anything bad.
I don't suppose it's a question of age it's more about what really tickles your fancy. Agreed, Tommy Cooper was always funny but Morcambe & Wise - I could see their jokes coming a mile off.
Dick Emery was always funny I found, Benny Hill, Russ Abbott were great, The Two Ronnies - sometimes, Freddie Star very boring and Mike Yarwood was like a sleeping pill.
Then there were the fabulous sitcoms of the seventies like George & Mildred, Rising Damp and Fawlty Towers which could NEVER even be touched upon. Yet later in the 80's sitcoms seemed to have gone rapidly downhill and only ever re-appear on UK Gold for sad night owls like me.
In the 90's they perked up a bit with Men Behaving Badly and the Harry Enfield Show, so what can we make of all this?
Perhaps it's not about the timeline but the writers flourishing in it
I know. 'A Night at the Opera' was on really late the other night.
By the way, I remember once hearing Mel Brookes talking about another group of brothers, who, like the Marx Brothers, made zany comedy movies during the '30s, and were also Jewish New Yorkers. Though they were nowhere near as famous as the Marx Brothers, Mel Brookes claimed they were even funnier than Groucho et al. Unfortunately, I forgot what they were called. Does anyone know who he might have been talking about?
The Hitler Brothers!
As well as all that, then there was their political career...
Some more facts about the Marx Bros:
1. They also invented a suit hiring out business and sold it to some guy who misheard their name.
2. There were actually 27 Marx brothers and at least 38 of them were called Hoy-oo which was difficult for their mother at bath time.
3. Groucho lost his original moustache in a crap game ("if it's crap, why do you play it..")
4. Margaret Dumont was actually a transvestite called Margaret Dupont but she changed his name following the discovery of Abyssinia (Abyssinia tomorrow, sweet-heart!)
5. All the Marx brothers were unrelated except by birth.