Hello, I Must Be Going

Last Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, and yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the death of Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx, and I felt I should commemorate it here.

Among other things, Groucho Marx largely educated himself, reading voraciously and becoming a man of letters. There’s a lot to be said about the comedy of the Marx Brothers, much of which has already been pointed out, including Groucho’s wordplay with others, most notably film “foils” such as actress Margaret Dumont as well as his brothers (ammunition provided by such legendary screenwriters as S.J. Perelman, George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind).

I would hate to think of the Marx Brothers as “dated,” though I suppose they are in a way, but to me, their comic energy is unmatched. And it’s a shame that, for many people, their only recollections of Groucho Marx are feeble parodies of him in decline during some of the admittedly-self-indulgent Dick Cavett interviews shortly before his death (Howard Stern and Gilbert Gottfried, people who are otherwise funny, are guilty on that score).

To capture some of the occasionally manic movie dialogue with Groucho, though, I present a link to this review by David Bromwitch of a Marx biography. And to watch the brothers in action, here is a promotional clip from “I’ll Say She Is” in 1931, based on a stage play.