Groucho and the Spirit World
We were talking about spiritualism the other day. Somebody mentioned Groucho Marx had been interested in the subject and actually attended a seance. I looked it up on the Internet, and, sure enough, it's true. I found this reference to the whole story on Dick Cavett's blog, Talk Show. It's an interesting story, so I'm reprinting it here..."Many years ago, Groucho Marx and his brothers (the real Fab Four) were playing a vaudeville house in Chicago. Groucho could always go unrecognized in public, thanks to the painted-on mustache he wore onstage. This allowed him to, as he put it “go anywhere and mingle with the common man in all his dreariness.” Back then, there was a prominent trance medium holding forth, and her devoted disciples (sometimes spelled s-u-c-k-e-r-s) solemnly offered to take the man born Julius Marx with them to a séance. Always intellectually curious, Groucho was glad to be asked along — though he told me he was “vaguely insulted” when his new friends solemnly cautioned him to show the proper reverence. “I’m not a clown 24 hours,” he said. “I can also be serious.”
The séance was held in the darkened parlor of some wealthy believer’s apartment. Groucho reported a heavy air of sanctity about the place, “and not entirely from the incense.” Lights were low and the faithful conversed in hushed tones. The medium began to chant unintelligibly, and then to emit a strange humming sound (I can’t help seeing her as Margaret Dumont), eventually achieving her trance state. “I am in touch, I am in touch with the Other Side,” she intoned. “Does anyone have a question?”
Groucho arose and asked, “What is the capital of North Dakota?”
He recalled being chased for several blocks, but escaped injury."
Photo credit: Eons
Labels: Groucho Marx, Just For Grins
posted by Christopher Newton at 12:59 PM
4 Comments:
What a great story. This is the best laugh I've had for awhile. Thanks. I'm still laughing.
Groucho Marx was once asked by an enthusiastic friend for his opinion of the latter's new waterfront property. "Don't think much of it," Groucho replid. "Take away the ocean and what have you got?"
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When they learned that a new Marx Brothers film was to be entitled "A Night in Casablanca," Jack and Harry Warner (whose Warner Brothers studio owned the rights to the famous Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman film Casablanca), threatened to sue.
Groucho promptly composed a reply:
"I had no idea that the city of Casablanca belonged exclusively to Warner Bros," he declared, noting that the average movie fan could probably learn to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo Marx. "I don't know whether I could," he added, "but I certainly would like to try." He continued: "You claim you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without your permission. You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were... Now, Jack, how about you? Do you maintain that yours is an original name? Well, it's not. It was used long before you were born. Offhand, I can think of two Jacks - there was Jack of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and Jack the Ripper, who cut quite a figure in his day... As for you, Harry, you probably sign your checks, sure in the belief that you are the only Harry of all time and that all other Harrys are impostors. I can think of two Harrys that preceded you. There was Lighthorse Harry of Revolutionary fame and a Harry Applebaum who lived on the corner of 93rd and Lexington Avenue..."
Both parties eventually dropped the subject (though not before several other letters were exchanged - see below). However, when the studio announced the production of the Cole Porter biopic Night and Day, Groucho fired off a final mocking letter to complain; The title, he claimed, was stolen from two Marx Brothers films: A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937).
There's a million of 'em
I got a good laugh out of that one, Leo. Man, I gotta go out and get me a copy of Duck Soup. Actually, I think I'll wait until Elijha is old enough to appreciate it so we can laugh ten times as hard.
Wow, that man was funny!!!
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