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[bk]

Well, you've read the notes, you've taken note of the notes and now it is time to post your very own actual posts all the livelong day.  And remember, no pithy remarks from the errant and truant about how errant and truant they were.  Otherwise, it shall be the wrath of cohen, I tell you true.

[Tomovoz]

The ship's cabin scene in whatever film (?) is my favourite.

[bk]

Here we have The Curious Case of Panni - who was so tired she was going to sleep an hour ago.

[bk]

Chico (to a beautiful girl).  You some beautiful girl.  You got "it".

Girl: Why thank you.

Chico: And you can keep it.

[bk]

Groucho: This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas.  What he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know.

[bk]

Welcome seven GUESTS.  Jump in before you feel the wrath of khan or kahn or cohen or schwartz.

[S. Woody White]

We're having thunder right now, but I'm not seeing any lightning.

I'm also not seeing Marty-dog, who must be hiding in the closet or somewhere.

Time to turn the lights out and listen to nature's stereo spectacular!

[bk]

The mirror scene in Duck Soup - brilliant.  Later recreated with Lucy on I Love Lucy.

Harpo:

[S. Woody White]

Marty just showed up from nowhere, and is hiding under my desk at my feet.  Wussdog.

[bk]

Talk about WUSSBURGERS - first Panni announces to the world she's tired and is going to bed.  One hour later she shows up, reads the notes, checks out the posts, but doesn't post.  Just disappears.  The Curious Case of the Missing Panni.

[Charles Pogue]

Can I understand this?  Why a four-year-old child could understand this.  Run out and get me a four-year-old child.  I can't make head nor tail of this.

[bk]

Groucho: You know you haven't stopped talking since we met?  Were you vaccinated with a phonograph needle?

[Jrand74]

LOL.....what a treasure trove.  An embarrassment of riches....the Marx Brothers.  Visual comics and banter that was priceless.

Of the movies, I like the early Paramounts the best, although there is something to enjoy in most of them.

DUCK SOUP and HORSE FEATHERS are my two favorites.  That said, the card game with two dowagers and Chico and Harpo in ANIMAL CRACKERS makes me roll on the floor....Harpo even ends up wearing the shoes oone of the women.

The bunker scene in DUCK SOUP when Groucho calls for help:  "There are four men and two women here, send help.  If you can't send help, send two more women....."

"....the optometrist's hospital, sort of a sight for sore eyes.......and you can get stucco - oh how you can get stucco...."

I will save some for others.....but there is a moment on the Groucho Marx You Bet Your Live DVD - where Groucho tells a high school boy:  "You're a fine looking young man."  The boy replies:  "So are you."  Groucho: "Yes, but I'm telling the truth."  The boy hesitates a moment and says:   "You got me there...."  And Groucho's expression is priceless.

[elmore3003]

Good morning, all!  Today's a housecleaning day.  I have a guest coming to visit and no place to put his things until I make some room.  I have to begin this work on the charts for the June concert of New York City Gay Men's Chorus today as well, so that I finish before I'm off to Goodspeed.  But I digress from the TOD:

DUCK SOUP is my favorite, and anything else with Margaret Dumont comes in second.  I feel Groucho is always in better form with one of her dowagers to kick around.

Favorite line (Groucho to Dumont): We're fighting for your honor, which is more than you ever did.

[Dave in the valley]

You know, the Marx Bros. didn't think that Buster Keaton was funny. What's with that?

[Matt H.]

Well, I also love all of their early Paramount films which all contain so many priceless lines that it's impossible to narrow any down. They all make me convulse with laughter.

My favorite film is HORSE FEATHERS, and when Groucho gives the lecture on anatomy, it's just one  classic line after another. Even THE COCOANUTS, as primitive as it is, has that hilarious map reading/viaduct routine.

Years ago, MCA put out an LP with excerpts from W. C. Fields' films, and it was a big hit, so they went back to their Paramount archives and did similar LPs with the Marx Bros. and Mae West. The Marx Bros. LP is wonderful, but, of course, being an LP, can only contain just a handful of notable routines (and edited at that), plus it features some of Harpo and Chico's instrumental interludes. Gary Owens did the narration on the discs.

[Ben]

Wicked 10 nominations

Assassins got 8 I think. I'm working on the list as it was announced at Tonys.com

6 for Caroline, 6 for Fiddler, 6 for Avenue Q, 6 for Henry 4

[Ben]

Long Post Warning!!!

Best Play
 
Anna in the Tropics         
Author:  Nilo Cruz
Producer:  Roger Berlind, Daryl Roth, Ray Larsen, Robert G. Bartner,
The McCarter Theatre Center
 
Frozen
Author:  Bryony Lavery
Producer:  MCC Theater, Robert Lupone, Bernard Telsey, William
Cantler, John G. Schultz, Hal Newman, Zollo/Paleologos & Jeffrey
Sine, Roy Gabay, Lorie Cowen Levy & Beth Smith, Peggy Hill, Thompson
H. Rogers, Swinsky/Filerman/Hendel, Sirkin/Mills/Baldassare, Darren
Bagert
 
I Am My Own Wife
Author:  Doug Wright
Producer:  Delphi Productions, Playwrights Horizons
 
The Retreat from Moscow   
Author:  William Nicholson
Producer:  Susan Quint Gallin, Stuart Thompson, Ron Kastner, True
Love Productions,
Mary Lu Roffe, Jam Theatricals
 
Best Musical
 
Avenue Q
Producer:  Kevin McCollum,   Robyn Goodman, Jeffrey Seller,
Vineyard Theatre, The New Group
 
Caroline, or Change
Producer:  Carole Shorenstein Hays, HBO Films, Jujamcyn Theaters,
Freddy DeMann,
Scott Rudin, Hendel/Morten/Wiesenfeld, Bergére/Fox
Theatricals/Manocherian, Roger Berlind, Clear Channel Entertainment,
Joan Cullman, Greg Holland/Scott Nederlander,
Margo Lion, Daryl Roth, Zollo/Sine,    The Public Theater
 
The Boy from Oz   
Producer:  Ben Gannon, Robert Fox
 
Wicked
Producer:  Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B.
Platt, David Stone
 
Best Book of a Musical
 
Avenue Q
Book:  Jeff Whitty
 
Caroline, or Change
Book:  Tony Kushner
 
The Boy from Oz
Book:  Martin Sherman; Original Book:  Nick Enright
 
Wicked
Book:  Winnie Holzman
 
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
 
Avenue Q
Music & Lyrics:  Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx
 
Caroline, or Change
Music:  Jeanine Tesori
Lyrics:  Tony Kushner
 
Taboo
Music & Lyrics:  Boy George
 
Wicked
Music & Lyrics:  Stephen Schwartz
 
Best Revival of a Play
 
Henry IV
Producer:  Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten
 
Jumpers
Producer:  Boyett Ostar Productions,   Nederlander Presentations
Inc., Freddy DeMann,
Jean Doumanian, Stephanie McClelland, Arielle Tepper, The National
Theatre of Great Britain
 
King Lear
Producer:  Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten,
Stratford Festival of Canada
 
A Raisin in the Sun         
Producer:  David Binder, Vivek J. Tiwary, Susan Batson, Carl
Rumbaugh, Ruth Hendel, Jayne Baron Sherman, Dede Harris, Arielle
Tepper,   Cynthia Stroum, Barbara Whitman
 
Best Revival of a Musical
 
Assassins
Producer:  Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard,
Julia C. Levy
 
Big River
Producer:  Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Ellen Richard,
Julia C. Levy,
Deaf West Theatre, Ed Waterstreet, Bill O'Brien, Center Theatre
Group/Mark Taper Forum
 
Fiddler on the Roof
Producer:  James L. Nederlander, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley,
Harbor Entertainment, Terry Allen Kramer, Bob Boyett/Lawrence
Horowitz, Clear Channel Entertainment
 
Wonderful Town
Producer:  Roger Berlind, Barry and Fran Weissler, Edwin W. Schloss,
Allen Spivak,
Clear Channel Entertainment, Harvey Weinstein
 

[Robin]

Darn!

Larry stole my favorite Marx Bros. line.  And it's from my favorite Brothers Marx movie, Duck Soup.

I remember reading Groucho Marx's letter to the lawyers at Warner Bros., who were suing the studio that was issuing A Night in Casablanca, saying that the title of the movie was an infringement on their movie, Casablanca.  It's priceless.  Maybe it's on the web somewhere.  I'll go on a webquest for it...

[Matt H.]

Thanks for going to the trouble of typing all of that. I got it from the Playbill site, but it's nice having it here, too.

Biggest shock to me was the Tony committee not playing footsie with Andrew Lloyd Webber and nominating BOMBAY DREAMS as Best Musical. The reviews were as mixed for it as they were for THE BOY FROM OZ, so I figured they'd throw ALW a bone.

Joe Mantello got nominated for ASSASSINS and not for WICKED! (Of course, he could have been nominated for both, but I suspect the committee didn't want to thwart his chances by splitting his votes.)

[Ben]

Second Long Post Warning!!!
Part Two of Tony Nominations

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
 
Simon Russell Beale, Jumpers
Kevin Kline, Henry IV
Frank Langella, Match
Jefferson Mays, I Am My Own Wife
Christopher Plummer, King Lear
 
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
 
Eileen Atkins, The Retreat from Moscow
Tovah Feldshuh, Golda's Balcony
Anne Heche, Twentieth Century
Swoosie Kurtz, Frozen
Phylicia Rashad, A Raisin in the Sun
 
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
 
Hunter Foster, Little Shop of Horrors
Hugh Jackman, The Boy from Oz
Alfred Molina, Fiddler on the Roof
Euan Morton, Taboo
John Tartaglia, Avenue Q
 
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
 
Kristin Chenoweth, Wicked
Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Avenue Q
Idina Menzel, Wicked
Donna Murphy, Wonderful Town
Tonya Pinkins, Caroline, or Change
 
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
 
Tom Aldredge, Twentieth Century
Ben Chaplin, The Retreat from Moscow
Aidan Gillen, The Caretaker
Omar Metwally, Sixteen Wounded
Brían F. O'Byrne, Frozen
 
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
 
Essie Davis, Jumpers
Sanaa Lathan, A Raisin in the Sun
Margo Martindale, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Audra McDonald, A Raisin in the Sun
Daphne Rubin-Vega, Anna in the Tropics                    
 
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
 
John Cariani, Fiddler on the Roof
Michael Cerveris, Assassins
Raúl Esparza, Taboo
Michael McElroy, Big River
Denis O'Hare, Assassins
 
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
 
Beth Fowler, The Boy from Oz
Isabel Keating, The Boy from Oz
Anika Noni Rose, Caroline, or Change
Jennifer Westfeldt, Wonderful Town
Karen Ziemba, Never Gonna Dance
 
Best Scenic Design
 
Robert Brill, Assassins
Ralph Funicello, Henry IV
Eugene Lee, Wicked
Tom Pye, Fiddler on the Roof
 
Best Costume Design
 
Jess Goldstein, Henry IV
Susan Hilferty, Wicked
Mike Nicholls and Bobby Pearce, Taboo
Mark Thompson, Bombay Dreams
 
Best Lighting Design
 
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Assassins
Brian MacDevitt, Fiddler on the Roof
Brian MacDevitt, Henry IV
Kenneth Posner, Wicked
 
Best Direction of a Play
 
Doug Hughes, Frozen
Moises Kaufman, I Am My Own Wife
David Leveaux, Jumpers
Jack O'Brien, Henry IV
 
Best Direction of a Musical
 
Joe Mantello, Assassins
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town
Jason Moore, Avenue Q
George C. Wolfe, Caroline, or Change
 
Best Choreography
 
Wayne Cilento, Wicked
Kathleen Marshall, Wonderful Town
Jerry Mitchell, Never Gonna Dance
Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan, Bombay Dreams
 
Best Orchestrations
 
Paul Bogaev, Bombay Dreams
William David Brohn, Wicked
Larry Hochman, Fiddler on the Roof
Michael Starobin, Assassins
 
Regional Theatre Tony Award
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
 
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement
James M. Nederlander
 
Building on a tradition that began in November 2003, The 2004 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre will be decided, announced and presented this fall in order to give the honorees their own moment to shine in the Tony spotlight.

[William E. Lurie]

I just heard that the Kristen/Patti (poorly received) CANDIDE has been taped for PBS.  I was not about to pay the inflated prices they were charging, so I'll see it then and see if it as mediocre as I've heard.

[Emily]

Good morning!  Good yawning!

I'm back from my whirlwind trip to Toronto with DL (Dear Lurker)Andrea and some other friends where we caught Canstage's production of The Last Five Years.  I not going to pull a DR Maya and go into a detailed review (lol) but I will say that it was enjoyable and that the performances of the two actors were excellent although the set and lighting were lackluster at best (very very beige... literally.)  It was the first time I had seen the show produced (my only knowledge previously being the cast album from the original off-broadway cast).  I think I understand why so many people had "issues" with the show's concept when they saw it for the first time.  The fact that the characters have almost no chance to interact with one another directly is especially frustrating live.  It is this problem that makes The Last Five Years better as an album than a play.  I still love it (and loved seeing it play out in front of my eyes) though.

This morning I just managed to crawl out of bed and make my way downtown for my ridiculously early intensive summer class.  When I arrived at 9am, I walked into the classroom exhausted (the building is on the upper half of University Street - which means I came close to needing a pick and climbing rope) only to find a note scrawled across one of the black boards from the course's TA saying that the lecture was cancelled for that day and that our papers were still due tomorrow.  How sketchy is that?!?  Grr...  Well I guess I should be happy because now I have time to post heer and to have a cup of coffee and to start writing my critique of the Hong Kong section of the McKenna Brothers' The Valour and the Horror.  There's nothing like talking about POW camps early in the morning.  

I don't really know all that much about the Marx Brothers, but I do enjoy Groucho's "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member"

[Emily]

Question to all DRs (regardless of whether it's Ask BK/DR Day or not)

I saw that the TONY noms are out today.  While I rarely have a chance to actually see any of the shows that get nominated, I still always look forward to the awards for the numbers they show from each of the musicals (okay okay... AMOUR is the exception )  Which scene(s) do you think each show will chose to mount for their showcase?  I hope Wicked does "Defying Gravity" but I can understand why they wouldn't...

[Ben]

Em (if I may be so informal with you). I don't think they will do Defying Gravity. They will probably choose one of the ensemble numbers, such as when Kristin & Idina arrive in Oz.

I'll have to think about the others althought any number from Boy from Oz will be a Hugh Jackman showcase.

[Robin]

And here's the letter, as promised:

Dear Warner Brothers,


Apparently there is more than one way of conquering a city and holding it as your own. For example, up to the time that we contemplated making this picture, I had no idea that the city of Casablanca belonged exclusively to Warner Brothers. However, it was only a few days after our announcement appeared that we received your long, ominous legal document warning us not to use the name Casablanca.

It seems that in 1471, Ferdinand Balboa Warner, your great-great-grandfather, while looking for a shortcut to the city of Burbank, had stumbled on the shores of Africa and, raising his alpenstock (which he later turned in for a hundred shares of common), named it Casablanca.

I just don’t understand your attitude. Even if you plan on releasing your picture, I am sure that the average movie fan could learn in time to distinguish between Ingrid Bergman and Harpo. I don’t know whether I could, but I certainly would like to try.

You claim that you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without permission. What about “Warner Brothers”? Do you own that too? You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about the name Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. We were touring the sticks as the Marx Brothers when Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventor’s eye, and even before there had been other brothers—the Smith Brothers; the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers, an outfielder with Detroit; and “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (This was originally “Brothers, Can You Spare a Dime?” but this was spreading a dime pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other one, and whittled it down to “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”)

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—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 first Harry of all time and that all other Harrys are impostors. I can think of two Harrys that preceded you. There was Lighthouse Harry of Revolutionary fame and a Harry Appelbaum who lived on the corner of 93rd Street and Lexington Avenue. Unfortunately, Appelbaum wasn’t too well-known. The last I heard of him, he was selling neckties at Weber and Heilbroner.

Now about the Burbank studio. I believe this is what you brothers call your place. Old man Burbank is gone. Perhaps you remember him. He was a great man in a garden. His wife often said Luther had ten green thumbs. What a witty woman she must have been! Burbank was the wizard who crossed all those fruits and vegetables until he had the poor plants in such confused and jittery condition that they could never decide whether to enter the dining room on the meat platter or the dessert dish.

This is pure conjecture, of course, but who knows—perhaps Burbank’s survivors aren’t too happy with the fact that a plant that grinds out pictures on a quota settled in their town, appropriated Burbank’s name and uses it as a front for their films. It is even possible that the Burbank family is prouder of the potato produced by the old man than they are of the fact that your studio emerged “Casablanca” or even “Gold Diggers of 1931.”

This all seems to add up to a pretty bitter tirade, but I assure you it’s not meant to. I love Warners. Some of my best friends are Warner Brothers. It is even possible that I am doing you an injustice and that you, yourselves, know nothing about this dog-in-the-Wanger attitude. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to discover that the heads of your legal department are unaware of this absurd dispute, for I am acquainted with many of them and they are fine fellows with curly black hair, double-breasted suits and a love of their fellow man that out-Saroyans Saroyan.

I have a hunch that his attempt to prevent us from using the title is the brainchild of some ferret-faced shyster, serving a brief apprenticeship in your legal department. I know the type well—hot out of law school, hungry for success, and too ambitious to follow the natural laws of promotion. This bar sinister probably needled your attorneys, most of whom are fine fellows with curly black hair, double-breasted suits, etc., into attempting to enjoin us. Well, he won’t get away with it! We’ll fight him to the highest court! No pasty-faced legal adventurer is going to cause bad blood between the Warners and the Marxes. We are all brothers under the skin, and we’ll remain friends till the last reel of “A Night in Casablanca” goes tumbling over the spool.


Sincerely,

Groucho Marx

[MBarnum]

Ha, ha! That was great Robin, thanks of posting it!

I love the Marx Bros. and the early Paramount films are my favorites. I did attempt to watch AT THE CIRCUS the other night, as I had taped it off of TCM, but just couldn't get through it. I do recall liking A DAY AT THE RACES, however.

[Matt H.]

I think AT THE CIRCUS is a gem compared to ROOM SERVICE which I find hard to sit through despite  young starlets Lucy and Annie.

Yes, I remember reading that letter to Warners in Arthur Marx's THE GROUCHO PHILES, always a wonderful book for a few quick laughs.

I think for ASSASSINS, they'll do Guiteau's song. I think Denis O'Hare has a wonderful chance of winning another Tony this year, and often they set up a supporting actor's win his show stopping moment (I'm remembering Michael Jeter's show stopper seconds before his win and the same with Kristin Chenoweth before she won her award.)

[Panni]

Talk about WUSSBURGERS - first Panni announces to the world she's tired and is going to bed.  One hour later she shows up, reads the notes, checks out the posts, but doesn't post.  Just disappears.  The Curious Case of the Missing Panni.

Della and Perry investigated and found out the following: Yes, Panni was tired, yes, she went to bed, and no, she couldn't sleep. So she got up and read the notes and the posts. Then she went back to bed and still didn't sleep for most of the night.
Panni is getting a major case of Big Brother-itis.

We took some pictures of the native girls, but they weren't developed. But we're going back again in a couple of weeks. ...Captain Spaulding

[Jrand74]

DRMATTH - I bought the Fields LP, but didn't get the others because of just the reasons you stated, funny, but the visuals were sorely missed.

Interesting Tony nominations....it should be a great show.  Who is the host this year?

WEL did you like the CANDIDE that was taped and shown on TV a couple of decades ago?  I liked everyone except the Pangloss....but I forget who played it....