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Lydia the Tattooed Lady
Duck Soup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (October 2, 1890[1] – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian and film star
famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers.
He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born. He also had a
successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game shows You Bet Your Life and
Tell it to Groucho.[2] His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such
as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigars, and a thick greasepaint moustache and eyebrows.
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (October 2, 1890[1] – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian and film star
famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers.
He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born. He also had a
successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game shows You Bet Your Life and
Tell it to Groucho.[2] His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such
as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigars, and a thick greasepaint moustache and eyebrows.
Mustache, eyebrows and walk
In public and off-camera, Harpo and Chico were difficult to
recognize by fans without their wigs and costumes, and it
was almost impossible to recognize Groucho without his
trademark eye-glasses, fake eyebrows and mustache.
The greasepaint mustache and eyebrows originated
spontaneously prior to a vaudeville performance in the early
1920s when he did not have time to apply the pasted-on
mustache he had been using (or, according to his
autobiography, simply did not enjoy the removal of the
mustache every night because of the effects of tearing an
adhesive bandage off the same patch of skin every night).
After applying the greasepaint mustache, a quick glance in
the mirror revealed his natural hair eyebrows were too
undertoned and did not match the rest of his face, so Marx
added the greasepaint to his eyebrows and headed for the
stage. The absurdity of the greasepaint was never discussed
on-screen, but in a famous scene in Duck Soup, where both
Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) disguise themselves as
Groucho, they are briefly seen applying the greasepaint,
implicitly answering any question a viewer might have had
about where he got his mustache and eyebrows.
Marx was asked to apply the greasepaint mustache once more
for You Bet Your Life when it came to television, but he
refused, opting instead to grow a real one, which he wore
for the rest of his life. By this time, his eyesight had
weakened enough for him actually to need corrective lenses;
before then, his eye-glasses had merely been a stage prop.
He debuted this new, and now much-older, appearance in
Love Happy, the Marx Brothers's last film as a comedy team.
He did paint the old character mustache over his real one on
a few rare performing occasions, including a TV sketch with
Jackie Gleason on the latter's variety show in the 1960s (in
which they performed a variation on the song "Positively Mr.
Gallagher, Absolutely Mr. Shean," written by Marx's uncle Al
Shean) and the 1968 Otto Preminger film Skidoo. In his 70s at
the time, Marx remarked on his appearance: "I looked like I
was embalmed." He played a mob boss called "God" and,
according to Marx, "both my performance and the film were
God-awful!".
The exaggerated walk, with one hand on the small of his
back and his torso bent almost 90 degrees at the waist was a
parody of a fad from the 1880s and 1890s. Then, fashionable
young men of the upper classes would affect a walk with
their right hand held fast to the base of their spines, and
with a slight lean forward at the waist and a very slight twist
toward the right with the left shoulder, allowing the left
hand to swing free with the gait. Edmund Morris, in his
biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, describes a young
Roosevelt, newly elected to the State Assembly, walking into
the House Chamber for the first time in this trendy, affected
gait, somewhat to the amusement of the older and more rural
Members who were present. Groucho exaggerated this fad to
a marked degree, and the comedy effect was enhanced by
how out of date the fashion was by the 1920s and 30s.
recognize by fans without their wigs and costumes, and it
was almost impossible to recognize Groucho without his
trademark eye-glasses, fake eyebrows and mustache.
The greasepaint mustache and eyebrows originated
spontaneously prior to a vaudeville performance in the early
1920s when he did not have time to apply the pasted-on
mustache he had been using (or, according to his
autobiography, simply did not enjoy the removal of the
mustache every night because of the effects of tearing an
adhesive bandage off the same patch of skin every night).
After applying the greasepaint mustache, a quick glance in
the mirror revealed his natural hair eyebrows were too
undertoned and did not match the rest of his face, so Marx
added the greasepaint to his eyebrows and headed for the
stage. The absurdity of the greasepaint was never discussed
on-screen, but in a famous scene in Duck Soup, where both
Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) disguise themselves as
Groucho, they are briefly seen applying the greasepaint,
implicitly answering any question a viewer might have had
about where he got his mustache and eyebrows.
Marx was asked to apply the greasepaint mustache once more
for You Bet Your Life when it came to television, but he
refused, opting instead to grow a real one, which he wore
for the rest of his life. By this time, his eyesight had
weakened enough for him actually to need corrective lenses;
before then, his eye-glasses had merely been a stage prop.
He debuted this new, and now much-older, appearance in
Love Happy, the Marx Brothers's last film as a comedy team.
He did paint the old character mustache over his real one on
a few rare performing occasions, including a TV sketch with
Jackie Gleason on the latter's variety show in the 1960s (in
which they performed a variation on the song "Positively Mr.
Gallagher, Absolutely Mr. Shean," written by Marx's uncle Al
Shean) and the 1968 Otto Preminger film Skidoo. In his 70s at
the time, Marx remarked on his appearance: "I looked like I
was embalmed." He played a mob boss called "God" and,
according to Marx, "both my performance and the film were
God-awful!".
The exaggerated walk, with one hand on the small of his
back and his torso bent almost 90 degrees at the waist was a
parody of a fad from the 1880s and 1890s. Then, fashionable
young men of the upper classes would affect a walk with
their right hand held fast to the base of their spines, and
with a slight lean forward at the waist and a very slight twist
toward the right with the left shoulder, allowing the left
hand to swing free with the gait. Edmund Morris, in his
biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, describes a young
Roosevelt, newly elected to the State Assembly, walking into
the House Chamber for the first time in this trendy, affected
gait, somewhat to the amusement of the older and more rural
Members who were present. Groucho exaggerated this fad to
a marked degree, and the comedy effect was enhanced by
how out of date the fashion was by the 1920s and 30s.
Outside of a dog, a book is a
man's best friend. Inside of a
dog it's too dark to read.
I don't care to belong to a club
that accepts people like me as
members.
Behind every successful man is
a woman, behind her is his wife.
A black cat crossing your path
signifies that the animal is
going somewhere.
A child of five would
understand this. Send someone
to fetch a child of five.
I refuse to join any club that
would have me as a member.
Humor is reason gone mad.
man's best friend. Inside of a
dog it's too dark to read.
I don't care to belong to a club
that accepts people like me as
members.
Behind every successful man is
a woman, behind her is his wife.
A black cat crossing your path
signifies that the animal is
going somewhere.
A child of five would
understand this. Send someone
to fetch a child of five.
I refuse to join any club that
would have me as a member.
Humor is reason gone mad.