How exciting to think that nearly 70 years after their initial release, two of the most beloved classic comedy films of the fabulous Marx Brothers have been re-released in London this summer. Both A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937) opened at Riverside Studios on the 5th of July, and will also be screening at cinemas around the UK in the coming weeks. Surely, Groucho, Harpo, and Chico Marx must all be individually smiling from somewhere above to find that the best of their film work not only lives on, but continues to delight movie theatre audiences.
These two particular films, which were - respectively - The Marx Brothers' sixth and seventh silver screen hits, not only represent them at the height of their box-office success, they were made at a uniquely pivotal turning point in their film careers. Few modern fans realize that in addition to the 13 movies they left behind, they had once been a very successful act on the Vaudeville, Broadway, and West End stage. Also, only the most die-hard followers know that in the years prior to these two films, there had once been five Marx siblings in the act.
By the time that The Marx Brothers went in front of the movie cameras for their film debut, brother Gummo had long since dropped out of the performing end of show business. The part he once played in the family act had been taken over by younger brother Zeppo. At this point, the stage and screen personas of the quartet were pretty much locked into place. Groucho always portrayed the wise-cracking Mr. Know-It-All role in their productions. Although they were Germanic and Jewish by heritage, brother Chico adopted the accent of an Italian immigrant whose malapropism-laden English was "not-a zo gooood." In contrast, Harpo played the role of a bewigged and silent mute, who used a bulb horn to replace the spoken word. And, handsome Zeppo, played the "straight man" to his brothers goofy clowning.
Together, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo made five films together, which expanded their well-established stage fame to an even wider audience. Signed to Universal Pictures, the quartet starred in The Cocoanuts (1929), Animal Crackers (1930), Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), and Duck Soup (1933). After their five picture deal with that company lapsed in 1933, they were left high-and-dry in Hollywood, with none of the established picture companies snapping them up. Eventually they signed to prestigious movie giant, MGM Pictures. However, their path to becoming stars on the MGM lot actually happened quite by chance. Throughout his life, Chico Marx was a notorious gambler. By coincidence, one of his card playing buddies at the time was the head of production at MGM, Irving Thalberg. Aside from being married to actress Norma Shearer, and being a member of the Hollywood elite himself, Irving was a huge Marx Brothers fan. Upon his insistence, MGM signed the comedy team to an exclusive film contract.
After having filmed Duck Soup, Zeppo Marx, who was long getting weary of being part of the family act all his life, made the decision to leave his brothers to go into the "business" side of show business. It was during this era he began the Marx Agency, and became a talent agent along with his older brother Gummo.
The first two films that Irving Thalberg began working on with Groucho, Chico and Harpo, were A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. Since their stage and film act called for a romantic hero/straight man to play their gags off of, in both of these films, actor and singer Alan Jones became their handsome matinee-idol co-star. Also featured in Opera and Races was The Marx Brothers' long-time female co-star, Margaret Dumont.
Although the film Duck Soup is today revered as a sheer comedy masterpiece, at the time of its release, it did not do well at the box-office. Irving Thalberg felt that the team's formula had to be changed slightly. In the first five films, The Marx Brothers were not sympathetic characters (with the exception of Zeppo). In the plots, Groucho, Chico and Harpo were either trying to dupe someone out of something, pull a fast scheme over on someone, or trying to chase some pretty girl into bed. Using the character that was played by Alan Jones as the romantic lead, Irving saw to it that by the end of the film the brothers somehow assisted him in winning over the hand of the pretty girl he was in love with. In the case of Opera it was Kitty Carlysle, and in Races, it was Maureen O'Sullivan.
Since their previous pictures often erupted into nonsense and comic pandemonium, this new ploy would give these two films a sub-plot which could be resolved with a romantic happy ending. This new storyline thread gave A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races a fresh new dimension. In both cases, Thalberg's instincts were correct. The Marx boys knew how to do zaniness and anarchy, but now their films had a sympathetic and romantic side as well. These two movies became their biggest box-office hits. When Opera was initially released, it grossed $3 million, only to be topped two years later by Races, which made $4 million.
One of the most brilliant aspects of both of these films was the fact that they also rekindled the trio's razor-sharp comic timing. Their first two movies were actually cinematic versions of their hit stage shows The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers. To work out new comic bits, before filming Opera and Races, MGM sent Groucho, Harpo and Chico out on the road to try out their gags before theater audiences, as a special live act at movie houses. In this way, by the time the cameras rolled, they knew which gag lines worked, and which ones needed rewriting-to get the maximum number of laughs.
The one sad footnote about this pair of films is the fact that immediately after work on A Day at the Races had begun, Irving Thalberg died suddenly. But, fortunately, production was already well underway, and this second MGM-produced Marx Brothers film also bears his indelible stamp of quality.
The next film the trio did, Room Service (1938), found them loaned out to another studio. In actuality, Room Service had been a Broadway play, and the film was a bit of a departure for them. It also reunited them with brother Zeppo, who acted as their agent behind-the-scenes to get them into this film. It is also noted for co-starring Lucille Ball and Ann Miller. Without the supervision of Thalberg, The Marx Brothers made three more films for MGM over the next couple of years. They included At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940) and The Big Store (1941). After that the trio temporarily disbanded, they later joined forces for their two final films: A Night in Casablanca (1946) and Love Happy (1949).
However, of all of their 13 films together, A Night at The Opera and A Day at The Races will always be fondly remembered. Not only were they The Marx Brothers' most successful cinematic outings at the box-office, to this day they still present Groucho, Chico and Harpo at the absolute top of their game.
