Coming up at 3:30am EST on TCM...Duck Soup with the Marx Brothers!

[edbermac]

Set your VCRs and Tivos...

Rufus T. Firefly: Not that I care, but where is your husband?
Mrs. Teasdale: Why, he's dead.
Rufus T. Firefly: I bet he's just using that as an excuse.
Mrs. Teasdale: I was with him to the very end.
Rufus T. Firefly: No wonder he passed away.
Mrs. Teasdale: I held him in my arms and kissed him.
Rufus T. Firefly: Oh, I see, then it was murder. Will you marry me? Did he leave you any money? Answer the second question first.

***

Rufus T. Firefly: Take a card.
Mrs. Teasdale: Card? What will I do with the card?
Rufus T. Firefly: You can keep it. I've got fifty-one left.

***

Rufus T. Firefly: Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you: he really is an idiot. I implore you, send him back to his father and brothers, who are waiting for him with open arms in the penitentiary. I suggest that we give him ten years in Leavenworth, or eleven years in Twelveworth.

****

Ambassador Trentino: I am willing to do anything to prevent this war.
Rufus T. Firefly: It's too late. I've already paid a month's rent on the battlefield.

***

Minister of Finance: Here is the Treasury Department's report, sir. I hope you'll find it clear.
Rufus T. Firefly: Clear? Why a four-year-old child could understand this report...run out and find me a four-year-old child, I can't make head or tail of it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. I have it on VHS

The "mirror" bit with Groucho and Harpo is one of the all-time film comedy classics.

No one's allowed to smoke
Or tell a dirty joke
And whistling is forbidden

If chewing gum is chewed
The chewer is pursued
And in the hoosegow hidden

If any form of pleasure is exhibited
Report to me and it will be prohibited
I'll put my foot down, so shall it be
This is the land of the free

[driver8]

2. I went to college in Fredonia, NY. The rumor at school was that

the Marx Bros. took the name Freedonia from Fredonia, NY.

From the IMDB:

Shortly before this film premiered, the city of Fredonia, New York, complained about the use of its name with an additional "e". The Marx Brothers' response was: "Change the name of your town, it's hurting our picture."


I also found this -- so maybe the "Fredonia claim" is false:

From Anecdotage.com:

Fredonia

When the Marx Brothers made their satirical comedy Duck Soup in 1933, they did not realize that Freedonia, the zany utopian community in which the film is set, was akin to the name of a real town in New York. To their surprise, the town's mayor wrote an angry letter to Paramount shortly after the film's release. "The name of Fredonia has been without a blot since 1817," he declared. "I feel it is my duty as Mayor to question your intentions in using the name of our city in your picture."

Groucho promptly composed a reply: "Your Excellency, our advice is that you change the name of your town. It is hurting our picture. Anyhow, what makes you think you're Mayor of Fredonia? Do you wear a black moustache, play a harp, speak with an Italian accent or chase girls like Harpo? We are certain you do not. Therefore, we must be Mayor of Fredonia, not you. The old gray Mayor ain't what he used to be."

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. I'll have to look for that one

I have a book called "The Groucho Letters" — mostly correspondence between him and Arthur Sheekman, his friend and frequent film co-writer, but it has other letters to and from him — including a hilarious (on his side) exchange with Warner Brothers, which threatened to sue for copyright infringement over "A Night in Casablanca."

Here's part of one of Groucho's letters:

You claim you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without your permission. What about "Warner Brothers"? Do you own that, too? You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. We were touring the sticks as The Marx Brothers when Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventor's eye, and even before us there had been other brothers — the Smith Brothers; the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers, an outfielder with Detroit; and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (This was originally "Brothers, Can You Spare a Dime?" but this was spreading a dime pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other one and whittled it down to "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"

(If the text in the book is accurate, Groucho misspelled Dan Brouthers' name, but what the fuck?) :rofl:

[Hardrada]

4. If you think the country's bad off now

Just wait till I get through with it!!

Biy, is that appropriate.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. I've thought of that

the last few times I've watched it.

And the "We're Going to War" song. Also appropriate.



Trivia: The bit in that where they play the guards' helmets like vibes was stolen by Monty Python for the "Camelot" bit in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

[Hardrada]

6. I had to stay up and watch that flick

even though I've got it on DVD!!

Groucho's lines are pure spoof of the GOP agenda.