Growing up on the lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1890s and 1900s, with four energetic brothers (three ... or four who had some equal talent), a determined stage mother, and an uncle who was a Vaudeville God of the day (with his partner Mr. Gallagher), Groucho Marx lived long enough to achieve glory as one of the funniest men in history. He was always a bright man - mostly due to reading and self-help. With at least Harpo and Chico (and maybe Zeppo) he achieved what he should have due to talent.
But he would have disagreed. Groucho was the family intellectual - oddly enough. He read and studied the classics (which led to his becoming a lover of Gilbert & Sullivan, among other things). But he always wanted recognition of a talent which (surprisingly) he did not have - he thought of himself as a writer.
If Groucho had concentrated on writing there is a real chance that he would have been lost in the mainstream of also-rans of long ago. Unlike his long forgotten fifth brother Milton (Gummo) who did not like theater life and left the act in the early 1920s, Groucho did not recognize his limitations. It was a matter of ego, of course. Groucho had a witty repartee, and appreciated the works of Gilbert, Shakespeare, Kaufman and Hart, and Moliere. But he lacked their talent to write - he could shoot out quick jokes, polished by road trips in Vaudeville and the theater.
His fans mention a best seller he wrote in the 1930s, BEDS. Also some of his insulting letters. But BEDS is not read as much as say GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDS. The insult letters are funny, but inconsistent. Complaining to the Warners Brothers over the right of a film called A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (which Warners felt imposed itself on their hit CASABLANCA), Groucho suddenly talks of who had the rights to the use of the word "Brothers" (Jack Warner and his siblings did not have their use of the name until after Groucho and his siblings). He brings up all references to the use of "Brothers" including the long forgotten 19th Century Baseball star Dan Brouthers. It's funny, but it is bypassing an interesting point that Jack Warner would have stuck to - that his movie's success was not meant to sell another film company's film.
Erudite and witty but inconsistent and weak. That's a good description of Groucho's literary "strengths".
Twice Groucho tried to break out as a serious dramatist/screenplay writer. Working with his friend the screenplay writer Norma Krasna (competent, but hardly earth-shaking), Groucho turned out this movie and the anemic TIME FOR ELIZABETH. They only show how wise it was that Minnie Marx was pushing Groucho's comic timing and acting ability, not his knowledge of the rules of English.
THE KING AND THE CHORUS GIRL (1937) was a topical film - about royalty marrying commoners for love - that was big due to the "Abdication Crisis" of 1936 of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. In reality though the subject was a bigger one than that at the time. One of the big scandals of the 1930s was the romance of King Carol of Roumania (who was married) and who fell for a pretty Jewish woman Magda Lupescu. In the end Carol abdicated his throne and married Magda (apparently it was a very successful marriage). The Constitutional issues of a mighty power were involved in the 1936 Abdication Crisis. Carol and Magda were from a much less powerful Balkan country. So they have been sort of forgotten except for a piece of doggerel:
"Said the beauteous Magda Lupescu, As the gentleman came to her rescue - 'Tis a far better thing to live under king - is Democracy better I ask you?"
In THE KING AND THE CHORUS GIRL, Fernand Gravey is an overthrown monarch who is rich and living in Paris (possible, but sounds too preposterous). He is wasting his life, and his aunt (Mary Nash) and former chancellor (Edward Everett Horton - suggesting why Gravey is an ex-monarch) want him to straighten out. One would think introduce him to other European royal houses (as he's rich he's a great catch). But he won't hear of it, so he goes on binges every night. Then he sees at the Folies Bergiere Joan Blondell (an American dancer) and she keeps rejecting his advances. This makes him curious, but he tries harder. For whatever inane rationale they have, Nash and Horton keep Blondell being stand-offish against Gravey so he could become more determined to marry her (why? why is she special?). She goes along, and even pretends a boyfriend (Alan Mowbray). Eventually, after going through the regulation twists of second rate love farce (the sort of things that the Brothers successfully spoofed in their films) matters do finally settle.
No film is totally without merit. I gave this a six out of ten because of some clever trick in the final section of the film dealing with an ocean liner, that was unexpected, and slightly charming - but also (oddly enough) a steal from an unexpected source: Buster Keaton's THE NAVIGATOR. Given Groucho's dislike of Keaton on GO WEST, this is probably by Krasna.
But there is a trace of asperity at times in Gravey's increasingly jealous ex-king. On board his yacht, Gravey is talking to an annoying (he's not trying to be) Mowbray. Clearly impatient, Gravey asks Mowbray if he can swim. Mowbray admits he cannot, and with Groucho like asperity Gravey asks if he would like to learn how to swim now or not. Mowbray makes a hasty exit. Somehow that line might have come from MONKEY BUSINESS or A NIGHT AT THE OPERA.
But he would have disagreed. Groucho was the family intellectual - oddly enough. He read and studied the classics (which led to his becoming a lover of Gilbert & Sullivan, among other things). But he always wanted recognition of a talent which (surprisingly) he did not have - he thought of himself as a writer.
If Groucho had concentrated on writing there is a real chance that he would have been lost in the mainstream of also-rans of long ago. Unlike his long forgotten fifth brother Milton (Gummo) who did not like theater life and left the act in the early 1920s, Groucho did not recognize his limitations. It was a matter of ego, of course. Groucho had a witty repartee, and appreciated the works of Gilbert, Shakespeare, Kaufman and Hart, and Moliere. But he lacked their talent to write - he could shoot out quick jokes, polished by road trips in Vaudeville and the theater.
His fans mention a best seller he wrote in the 1930s, BEDS. Also some of his insulting letters. But BEDS is not read as much as say GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDS. The insult letters are funny, but inconsistent. Complaining to the Warners Brothers over the right of a film called A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (which Warners felt imposed itself on their hit CASABLANCA), Groucho suddenly talks of who had the rights to the use of the word "Brothers" (Jack Warner and his siblings did not have their use of the name until after Groucho and his siblings). He brings up all references to the use of "Brothers" including the long forgotten 19th Century Baseball star Dan Brouthers. It's funny, but it is bypassing an interesting point that Jack Warner would have stuck to - that his movie's success was not meant to sell another film company's film.
Erudite and witty but inconsistent and weak. That's a good description of Groucho's literary "strengths".
Twice Groucho tried to break out as a serious dramatist/screenplay writer. Working with his friend the screenplay writer Norma Krasna (competent, but hardly earth-shaking), Groucho turned out this movie and the anemic TIME FOR ELIZABETH. They only show how wise it was that Minnie Marx was pushing Groucho's comic timing and acting ability, not his knowledge of the rules of English.
THE KING AND THE CHORUS GIRL (1937) was a topical film - about royalty marrying commoners for love - that was big due to the "Abdication Crisis" of 1936 of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. In reality though the subject was a bigger one than that at the time. One of the big scandals of the 1930s was the romance of King Carol of Roumania (who was married) and who fell for a pretty Jewish woman Magda Lupescu. In the end Carol abdicated his throne and married Magda (apparently it was a very successful marriage). The Constitutional issues of a mighty power were involved in the 1936 Abdication Crisis. Carol and Magda were from a much less powerful Balkan country. So they have been sort of forgotten except for a piece of doggerel:
"Said the beauteous Magda Lupescu, As the gentleman came to her rescue - 'Tis a far better thing to live under king - is Democracy better I ask you?"
In THE KING AND THE CHORUS GIRL, Fernand Gravey is an overthrown monarch who is rich and living in Paris (possible, but sounds too preposterous). He is wasting his life, and his aunt (Mary Nash) and former chancellor (Edward Everett Horton - suggesting why Gravey is an ex-monarch) want him to straighten out. One would think introduce him to other European royal houses (as he's rich he's a great catch). But he won't hear of it, so he goes on binges every night. Then he sees at the Folies Bergiere Joan Blondell (an American dancer) and she keeps rejecting his advances. This makes him curious, but he tries harder. For whatever inane rationale they have, Nash and Horton keep Blondell being stand-offish against Gravey so he could become more determined to marry her (why? why is she special?). She goes along, and even pretends a boyfriend (Alan Mowbray). Eventually, after going through the regulation twists of second rate love farce (the sort of things that the Brothers successfully spoofed in their films) matters do finally settle.
No film is totally without merit. I gave this a six out of ten because of some clever trick in the final section of the film dealing with an ocean liner, that was unexpected, and slightly charming - but also (oddly enough) a steal from an unexpected source: Buster Keaton's THE NAVIGATOR. Given Groucho's dislike of Keaton on GO WEST, this is probably by Krasna.
But there is a trace of asperity at times in Gravey's increasingly jealous ex-king. On board his yacht, Gravey is talking to an annoying (he's not trying to be) Mowbray. Clearly impatient, Gravey asks Mowbray if he can swim. Mowbray admits he cannot, and with Groucho like asperity Gravey asks if he would like to learn how to swim now or not. Mowbray makes a hasty exit. Somehow that line might have come from MONKEY BUSINESS or A NIGHT AT THE OPERA.