But here's the icing on the groatcake - included as a bonus giveaway supplement at no extra cost, you cheap grifter you, is the booklet to the Master Sound CD release of Bozos, written by the Firesigns, which goes a long way to supplying the missing chapter to the book, although it doesn't include a transcript. This I know I got from Ed Fray at notveryprettymusic, because he helpfully watermarked the scans, so big manly hugs of gratitude to Ed! Okay, Ed! Enough with the manly hugs already! Down boy! SECURITY!!
Want this textual thrill pack delivered to your dwelling or workplace ABSOLUTELY FREE of charge? Just a dollar? Simply tell us why the Marx Brothers are the Rosetta Stone, the Holy Grail, and the Dog's Bollocks of comedy.
ReplyDeleteBecause once you've done the monkey-doodle-doo you'll never do anything else. Gimme gimme gimme!
ReplyDeleteFour Or Five Guy© festoonic is currently appearing as Carruthers Cowlick in the Off-Off-Broadway (Pig's Neck, NEB) production of Auntie Maisie's Dilemma.
DeleteThe Marx Brothers combined musical comedy and slapstick with their particular brand of humor, with gags that were often senseless and simultaneously philosophical.
ReplyDeleteIn 1937, Salvador Dali pitched a comedy titled “Giraffes on Horseback Salad” to MGM as a vehicle for the Marx Brothers. Dali envisioned the comedians running amok in his surrealist world, the bizarre episodes set to a Cole Porter-esque musical score.
"Je suis Marxiste, tendance Groucho." (I am a Marxist of the Groucho variety.)- Jean-Luc Godard
I don't know (or much care) if the "young people of today" (Generation Yawn) find them funny (or actually know what funny is), but their humor is over a hundred freaking years old now and still makes me laugh. A combination of hard-earned professional skills and natural genius. Groucho and Harpo are mythical archetypes, eternal. Chico was necessary as the sorta-straight man, but the otherbrothers were just baggage. Duck Soup is the lightning in a bottle.
DeleteNoted singer/songwriter Richard Marx reunited with his long-dead brother Karl (noted pinko) and almost brother David (noted Beach Boy sub) for a bang-up version of the hit song "Don't Mean Nothing" at the recent Senate impeachment fundraiser. Hats off to these fine citizens, helping out those less fortunate. Next up for this supergroup? The "I'm Nasi Goreng" remix album...
ReplyDeleteBombshelter Slim is the inventor of the Slimline Bombshelter, a patented device that folds to pocket size yet expands to provide protection from radioactive fallout for "up to two people". He may be contacted via the Warden at the Adirondack Correctional Facility.
DeleteLydia, oh! Lydia, say have you met Lydia
ReplyDeleteOh! Lydia, the tattooed lady
She has eyes that folks adore so
And a torso even more so
Lydia, oh! Lydia, that "Encyclopedia"
Oh! Lydia, the Queen of tattoo
On her back is the Battle of Waterloo
Beside it the Wreck of the Hesperus too
And proudly above the waves
The Red, White and Blue
You can learn a lot from Lydia
She can give you a view of the world
In tattoo if you step up and tell her where
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree
Or Washington crossing the Delaware
Oh! Lydia, oh! Lydia, say have you met Lydia
Oh! Lydia, the tattooed lady
When her muscles start relaxin'
Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson
Lydia, oh! Lydia, that "Encyclopedia"
Oh! Lydia, the champ of them all. This song alone qualifies Groucho as the funniest song ever sung. The Marx Bros were much funnier than their sisters
"Uh ... Clem."
ReplyDelete(COMMENT CONTAINS STEALTH LINKAGE - CONSULT YOUR PROCTOLOGIST IF IN DOUBT)
Because SHE's not the patient...
ReplyDeleteAND I'm not the doctor!
Comedy???
I thought the Marx Brothers were musicians.
Tell Dali to set the camera-timer to 90 minutes...
(this ain't no contractual obligation hyperbole)
Finally, if Queen had stolen a 3rd album title...it would have been Duck Soup. Unfortunately, it was already the title of a great bootleg.
Encycloplydia?
ReplyDeleteRecommended reading...
(thank you, docart420)
ED, - ( Mrs. Teasdale's boy?)
ReplyDeleteIf I hug you any tighter I'll be behind you!
Hail, Hail Fredonia!
I shot an elephant in my... you all know and all love it.
They were and will always be the best.
Squeeze The Wheeze!
ReplyDeleteFor you almost-literates, Four of the Three Musketeers by R. Bader is a must-to-read (what else you got going during lockdown)?
ReplyDelete--Muzak McMusics
The definitive document of their early years on stage.
DeleteIf anyone has a mobi/epub they could loadup ...
DeleteVery nice blog you got here, m8. I like the Marx Bros because they don't believe in the sanity clause, either.
ReplyDeleteLikewise I'm sure, Konrad! (Although that's FT3 to you, not m8)
DeleteBack in a long time ago, Decca (!) records put out a vinyl with Gary Owens (!) adding unnecessary and stupid narration amongst short clips from various films of the Marx Bros. At some point I acquired a copy of it in electronic format and spent way too much time removing the pointless additions, leaving 22 minutes of disconnected and context-free wonderfulness. It sounds a little something like this: *
ReplyDeleteListening to this as we speak - thank you!
Delete"A code and two pair of plans - haw haw! Some joke, huh?"
IF they are the same ones I am thinking of, they also did a W.C. Fields and maybe more...
DeleteGo away kid, ya bother me.
https://img.discogs.com/K_8Wu-FHhFNspdMAAahsdhXtAOo=/fit-in/600x302/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1651572-1461642390-3019.jpeg.jpg
One more:
DeleteMae West – The Original Voice Tracks From Her Greatest Movies
Label: Decca DL 79176
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold
Country: US
Released: 1970
Come up & see me some time...
Yep, that's the stuff. Minus the late 60s showbiz additions to the "Original Voice Tracks", it's exceptionally listenable, in my estimation.
Delete