back to article How Groucho Marx lost his voice and found his funny bone

One hunded years ago this week on May 7 1915, a U-boat of the Imperial German navy torpedoed the vast ocean liner known as the RMS Lusitania – with 1,962 people on board over a thousand civilians drowned, including many from the US, which was then still neutral in World War One. Groucho Marx in Duck Soup Groucho Marx in Duck …

  1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana

    Only a genius can come up with stuff like that. I just love his off-the-wall humour

  2. EddieD

    Too many quotes...

    I can't pick just one.

    Chico and particularly Harpo, were virtuoso musicians, but Groucho was a virtuoso with repartee. Of all the monochrome masters, the Marx Brothers have pole position for me. As a child I sat and watched the films with my Granny - along with Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Hope and Crosby, but as a middle aged man it's the Marx Brothers box set I have on my shelves.

    Many a stand up comedian, and many a writer, acknowledge their debt to the Marx Brothers, and Groucho's attitude in particular. Many have got close, but I don't think anyone has surpassed Groucho with his effortless ability to charm, surprise, and just plain make folk laugh.

    Thanks for reminding me to get Duck Soup out on this moist Mayday Monday

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Happy

    "And a hard-boiled egg"

    Been too long since I saw those films!

    1. PleebSmash
      Thumb Up

      Re: "And a hard-boiled egg"

      Duck Soup is one of my favorite comedies.

  5. Afernie

    One of my favourites

    Dealing with Anti-Semitism with the mockery it so richly deserved - upon being told that the swimming pool at an exclusive country club was 'off limits to Jews':

    "Well... my daughter's only half-Jewish - can she go in up to her waist?"

    1. BillG
      Happy

      Re: One of my favourites

      Alan Alda proudly proclaims that he based Hawkeye's machine-gun style of humor on Groucho.

      P.S. Why a duck?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: One of my favourites

        Because the leg.

  6. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Alert

    Groucho quote?

    For (UK) election week there can be only one...

    "These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The beauty of Groucho's humour ...

    For me, the real beauty of Groucho's humour was his ability to deliver pointed comments and and barbed jokes without ever having to resort to foul language. There is a lesson there that I wish some of the current batch of so-called stand-up comedians would learn from!

  8. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. EL Vark

      Re: I have to say

      Agreed, "The Big Store", while perhaps a cut above some of the other lesser titles, doesn't merit inclusion with the greats. Though I did sort of like "A Night in Casablanca"; wasn't that the one with "Do you have milk fed chickens? Well, squeeze one and bring me a glass." Perhaps not, memory fades. As does taste. I've known more than one person, including a young woman whom I used to date, who refused to watch Los. Bros. Marx because they were in B&W. Groucho would've taken that idiocy and run, I tells ya.

    2. Duffy Moon

      Re: I have to say

      "Go West" is worth it for the scene where they take the train apart to keep it going. I've never seen my mother laugh as much before or since.

      1. bep

        Re: I have to say

        Which scene contains the immortal line:

        "Why Tallulah, I didn't recognise you standing up!"

        (Hopefully I've remembered that right).

        OK, why a duck?

    3. D Moss Esq

      Re: I have to say

      The Big Store was dreadful?

      Oh come on.

      "Shoot the talcum to me, Malcolm"?

      "The bassinet with a built-in lullaby", 40 years before Victoria Wood's "sockette with a built-in wolf whistle"?

  9. disgruntled yank

    Indeed

    On the other hand, Groucho told in his autobiography of one of his brothers coming back from a vaudeville show and saying that he had just seen the world's greatest comedian: Charlie Chaplin

  10. Spaceman Spiff

    I still remember

    I still remember my folks taking me to Marx Brothers' movies in the 1950's. He has been a favorite of mine ever since. Over the years, I have collected all the work of theirs (and his) that I have been able to find (and steal).

  11. Mark 85
    Pint

    Here's to Groucho

    and his brothers. I'll sing along to "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" while drinking a toast.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8

  12. Arctic fox
    Happy

    One of my favourite quotes refers to an outraged husband........

    .....whose wife was working for one of the large film companies during the 1930's who confronted the guy who had cuckolded him in the company car park and shot him in the testicles (ouch). Groucho apparently responded upon hearing the news by saying "he wasn't shot in the car park, he was shot in the amusement arcade".

  13. OzBob

    He gets a mention on "Super-mensch - the legend of Shep Gordon"

    as being a fan of Alice Cooper. Apparently Freddy Mercury was also a friend and used to put him to bed at nights.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    On TV

    "I find television very educational, every time some one turns it on I go into another room and read a book"

    Which my local library has printed on their window

    1. Kubla Cant

      Re: On TV

      "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

  15. Stevie

    Bah!

    The scene in the circus midget's custom train carriage involving cigars almost made me pass out from laughing so hard when I first saw it in '74.

  16. D Moss Esq

    Don't let's forget Mae West ...

    ... and WC Fields

  17. billse10

    Shyster Flywheel and Shyster (the BBC remakes) may be the first way some people come across them, but digging on to the movies and just some of Groucho's rapid-fire is worth it :)

    Another election season quote:

    "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."

    Not political, but a favourite - ""One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.""

  18. stbeals

    Groucho Outlived Elvis

    I love Groucho. What a nice remembrance. The article has the day of his death wrong. It's August 19th. His death was overshadowed by that of Elvis Presley, who died three days earlier. A great book I just finished about his final days is "Raised Eyebrows", by Steve Stoliar.

  19. Elmer Phud

    Politics

    "There ain't no sanity clause"

  20. netminder

    I saw him perform at Carnage Hall in the 60's - it was magical.

    He told the story of how they went from vaudeville to stage to movies. Groucho insulted a very important Vaudeville theater owner & the Marx Bros could not get booked anywhere. But Chico had lost a ton of money gambling with a guy that owned a string of legitimate theaters. The guy told Chico to turn their act into a play & he would book them so he could pay off his debt. That play was "Coconuts" & things were going great, so well they produced a couple more plays. But Groucho pissed off some important guy & they couldn't get booked any more. But Chico had lost a ton of money playing cards with some big shot in Hollywood who suggested they film their stage plays so that they would have money to pay him off.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon