Animal Crackers is a 1930 comedy film, in which mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding. The film was both a critical and commercial success upon initial release, and remains one of the Marx Brothers' most beloved and often-quoted movies.
Stars and direction
The film stars the four brothers, Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, and Zeppo Marx, as well as Lillian Roth and Margaret Dumont. It was directed by Victor Heerman and adapted from a successful 1928 Broadway musical of the same title by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, also starring the Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont.
The part of Hives the butler was played by Robert Greig, a character actor who appeared in over 100 films (many in the role of a butler). He also appeared with the Marx Brothers in Horse Feathers. A 15-second clip of the Marx Brothers, filmed in Multicolor on the set of Animal Crackers during the Captain Spaulding scene, was recently discovered (see "External Link" section below).
Plot
The basic plot concerns Groucho, as explorer Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding, attending a party in his honor at the estate of society matron Mrs. Rittenhouse, and investigating the theft of a valuable painting during the party. The bulk of the movie consists of a succession of comedy sketches, one liner jokes and visual gags.
Cast
Jokes
Four of Groucho's best known quips:
- One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
- (The American Film Institute listed this at number 53 in the 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time.)[2]
- Then, we tried to remove the tusks, ... but they were embedded in so firmly, we couldn't budge them. Of course, in Alabama the Tusk-a-loosa. But that's entirely ir-elephant to what I was talking about.
- Africa is God's country--and He can have it.
- We took some pictures of the native girls, but they weren't developed. But we're going back again in a couple of weeks!
They got away with that joke, but the censors cut a line from the song "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" in which Spaulding sang, in an aside about Mrs. Rittenhouse, "I think I'll try and make her", as in "seduce her". Unfortunately, no footage of this line is known to exist.
The song was a hidden reference to a real Captain Spaulding, an army officer arrested a few years earlier for selling cocaine to Hollywood residents. See Hollywood Babylon, by Kenneth Anger. Groucho later used a somewhat jazzed-up version of the Spaulding song as the theme music for his TV quiz show, You Bet Your Life, and it ultimately became his all-purpose introductory theme.
Other quotes from Groucho:
- "Ever since I met you, I've swept you off my feet."
- "You mind if I don't smoke?"
- "There's one thing I've always wanted to do before I quit: Retire."
- "I was outside the cabin smoking some meat. There wasn't a cigar store in the neighborhood!"
The film also showcases the well-known Chico-Harpo scene in which Chico keeps asking Harpo for "a flash" (meaning a flashlight), and Harpo—not understanding—produces from his bottomless trenchcoat and baggy pants a "fish", a "flask", a "flute", a "flush", etc.
Zeppo figures in a well-known gag in which Groucho dictates a letter to his lawyers in rambling pseudo-legalese. Zeppo gets to one-up Groucho: When asked to read the letter back, Zeppo informs him, "You said a lot of things I didn't think were very important, so I just omitted them!" whereupon a minor skirmish ensues.
Re-release
In December 1973, UCLA student and Marx Bros. fan Steve Stoliar drove to Anaheim, California to view a rare screening of Animal Crackers at the Old Town Music Hall theater. The print shown there was a poor-quality bootleg, likely because the film had not been distributed for theatrical release since the mid-1950s. Paramount Pictures had allowed its licenses to expire, and rights had reverted to the authors of the Broadway stage play: the playwrights George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, the composer Harry Ruby, and the lyricist Bert Kalmar. Although Universal Studios had acquired Paramount's older films in 1959, Animal Crackers evidently was regarded a mess best left untouched. Stoliar impulsively called Groucho Marx to enlist Groucho's support for an unlikely campaign to attempt to persuade--or pressure--Universal Studios into rereleasing the film. Groucho agreed to visit the UCLA campus for a publicity event. [3]
On February 7, 1974, Groucho and his assistant, Erin Fleming, visited UCLA under the aegis of Stoliar's newly-formed "Committee for the Rerelease of Animal Crackers" (CRAC). The event drew about 200 students, 2,000 signatures on rerelease petitions, and several reporters.[4] Universal scrambled to appear responsive: a spokesman told a UCLA Daily Bruin reporter that the studio was "delighted" by the interest, and that "we have negotiated with the heirs of the writers (Morrie Ryskind and George S. Kaufman), but they were asking much more than we wanted to spend. Just recently we reached an agreement, and we're waiting to sign the contracts." (Not quite: Ryskind was still in the pre-heir stage--he lived until 1985. The songwriter Harry Ruby was also alive, though he died two weeks later, aged 79.) The spokesman added that he expected the film would soon be released. As the Daily Bruin put it, "The rest of the day belonged to Groucho, as he showed surprising flashes of his old brilliance." Asked to name his favorite comedian, he said: "Me." He also said that "Animal Crackers is the best of our movies."[5]
Groucho's UCLA appearance generated national press coverage. An appearance on the nationally-syndicated Merv Griffin Show soon followed. In April 1974 Groucho and Stoliar "received an answer from Universal. According to Vice President Arnold Shane, they were 'delighted with the response of the students.'" On May 23, 1974, attempting to gauge public interest, Universal screened a sharp new print of the film at the UA Theater in Westwood, just south of the UCLA campus. Encouraged by the response there--lines stretched around the block for months--on June 23rd the studio screened the film at the Sutton Theater in New York.[6] Groucho attended the New York premiere. A near-riot broke out and a police escort was summoned.
From there Animal Crackers went into national release.
It is also because of these rights issues that Animal Crackers did not see an appearance on television until July 21, 1979, when CBS broadcast the film. [7]
Musical numbers
Groucho's songs, "Hello, I Must Be Going" and "Hooray for Captain Spaulding", both written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, became recurring themes for Groucho through the years. The latter song became the theme of Groucho's radio and TV game show You Bet Your Life. The original full version of "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" was edited in compliance to the Hays Code when it was re-released in 1936: the sexually suggestive line "I think I'll try and make her" was removed - it came after Mrs. Rittenhouse's line: "He was the only white man to cover every acre." There is no known print or audio of those few seconds that were trimmed from the film. Chico Marx's own piano composition "I'm Daffy Over You" would be played again in their next feature film, Monkey Business, by Harpo on the harp.
- You Must Do Your Best Tonight (Hives and Footmen)
- I Represent (Zeppo)
- Hooray for Captain Spaulding Part I (The Cast)[8]
- Hello, I Must Be Going (Groucho)
- Hooray for Captain Spaulding Part II (Cast)
- Gypsy-chorus
- Why Am I So Romantic? (John)
- I'm Daffy Over You (Chico)
- Silver Threads Among the Gold
- My Old Kentucky Home (Marx Brothers)
References in popular culture
- "Hello, I Must Be Going" became a theme in Oliver Stone's miniseries Wild Palms. It was the title of the final episode, and sung by villain Senator Kreutzer (Robert Loggia) as he died.
- Phil Collins titled his second album after the song, "Hello, I Must Be Going."
American Film Institute recognition
The Marx Brothers were collectively named #20 on AFI's list of the Top 25 American male screen legends. They are the only group to be so honored.
References
See also
External links
