TikiSoo wrote: ↑November 9th, 2023, 8:16 am
The dynamic of Thelma with Charley Chase worked well but the Zazu Pitts shorts don't work at all, imho.
This upcoming Monday we're screening Horse Feathers with a Thelma Todd/Charlie Chase short beforehand. Horse Feathers contains my favorite scene: Todd tries baby talk flirting her way to getting info from Groucho. He makes fun of her in the same baby voice saying "I'll kick your widdle teef in" -brutal, yet funny when Groucho says it.
Thanks, Miss Tiki. I had never seen any of the shorts with ZaSu Pitts and Thelma Todd, so I went to Youtube and found One Track Minds (1933) and I thought it was amusing, mostly for the supporting cast of Billy Gilbert and Sterling Holloway. Plus Spanky McFarland plays ZaSu's little brother but he doesn't have much to do. ZaSu was talented in her own right but she doesn't quite have the chemistry that Thelma later had with Patsy Kelly.
ZaSu's face and voice kind of makes me think of Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoons, I wonder if her voice inspired that character?
Horse Feathers is one of my favorite comedies of all time. Another funny line after Thelma does the baby voice was Groucho saying "Was that you or the duck?"
"I knew there was something you can't burn at both ends. I thought it was a candle"
Detective Jim McLeod wrote: ↑November 9th, 2023, 9:37 am
I had never seen any of the shorts with ZaSu Pitts and Thelma Todd, so I went to Youtube and found One Track Minds (1933)
ZaSu's face and voice kind of makes me think of Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoons, I wonder if her voice inspired that character?
The character of Olive Oyl was created by E. C. Segar in 1919 in his newspaper comic strip Thimble Theatre. Popeye was introduced to the strip in 1929. The character was initially intended to be short-term and was dropped after the storyline he was involved in ended. However, the Popeye character had become so popular with readers that he was soon brought back as a regular. Within a few years, the focus of the strip shifted with Popeye as the central character.
Fleischer Studios licensed the comic strip characters for their Popeye The Sailor series of animated shorts, with the first short released in 1933. For the first few cartoons, Bonnie Poe provided the voice of Olive Oyl. Mae Questel eventually became the principal actor voicing the role. Her interpretation is the voice that's most associated with the character. Mae Questel reportedly said that she based the voice she used for Olive Oyl on ZaSu Pitts because Olive Oyl's fluttering mannerisms reminded her of ZaSu Pitts's mannerisms.
TikiSoo wrote: ↑November 9th, 2023, 8:16 am
This upcoming Monday we're screening Horse Feathers...
Horse Feathers is one of my favorite comedies of all time. Another funny line after Thelma does the baby voice was Groucho saying "Was that you or the duck?"
"I knew there was something you can't burn at both ends. I thought it was a candle"
For years when I was a young kid and at that time had no idea why it was so, I had to remember the password my father gave me to say to him whenever I found myself locked out of the house and he would be on the other side of the door was...well, see for yourself here...
I would discover why that was at about age 15 and during my first viewing of this Marx Bros flick on TV.
(..."Aaah-HA! THAT'S where he got it!" I said to myself)
Musing-Tomorrow night is our Marx Bros screening. I work Box Office & am the first person everyone sees.
The last time I dressed as Harpo is that avatar pic & I can tell by the background it was 15 years ago, 90% of our attendees have changed.
I know where my brass horn & big scissors are.
If I can find my old beaver top hat & blonde wig, I'll wear them.
The hardest part is not talking!
TikiSoo wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 8:08 am
Musing-Tomorrow night is our Marx Bros screening. I work Box Office & am the first person everyone sees.
The last time I dressed as Harpo is that avatar pic & I can tell by the background it was 15 years ago, 90% of our attendees have changed.
I know where my brass horn & big scissors are.
If I can find my old beaver top hat & blonde wig, I'll wear them.
The hardest part is not talking!
How so, Tiki? Are you referring to the demographic here? Younger, perhaps?
(...btw, I love the idea that you love doing this sort'a thing...HONK HONK!...have fun tomorrow)
Dargo wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 11:19 am
How so, Tiki?
Several have passed on, others drop out but there's always new "regulars" that replace them.
The Tiki Family always dressed up for our Halloween show, I have a photo somewhere of us as the Munsters!
Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑November 10th, 2023, 11:13 pm
Zeppo was sexy.
That is, for a Marx brother.
Well, he was the best looking of any of 'em anyway, Bronxie. He had no shtick though, of course.
Always thought if only his singing voice were a little better, he could've had Alan Jones' part in 'Night at the Opera'.
(...perhaps he then wouldn't have had to go into the cigarette lighter business in order to earn his living...oh wait...never mind)
Groucho said Zeppo was the funniest of them all (off-screen). Groucho also said Zeppo was the least likeable, with "ice-water in his veins".
Interesting. Have to admit I didn't know this.
I did know though that Groucho's favorite brother and who he respected the most was Harpo, and because Groucho felt he was the most kindred to him intellectually and because he was such an excellent husband and father.
(...in fact, I understand Harpo was pretty much universally loved by those who knew him)
Last edited by Dargo on November 12th, 2023, 7:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dargo wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 11:19 am
How so, Tiki?
Several have passed on, others drop out but there's always new "regulars" that replace them.
The Tiki Family always dressed up for our Halloween show, I have a photo somewhere of us as the Munsters!
FWIW, one of my high school classmates for a while (junior year, as I recall) was Butch "Eddie Munster" Patrick.
Yes, Harpo was the most beloved by all who knew him. Groucho, who was not known to be sentimental, cried at his funeral.
Harpo on an intellectual par with Groucho?? I somehow find that hard to believe, lol. I was always under the impression that all the brothers except egghead Groucho were, well, mainly grown-up "street" kids with zero interests in educational pursuits.
Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑November 12th, 2023, 3:07 pm
Yes, Harpo was the most beloved by all who knew him. Groucho, who was not known to be sentimental, cried at his funeral.
Harpo on an intellectual par with Groucho?? I somehow find that hard to believe, lol. I was always under the impression that all the brothers except egghead Groucho were, well, mainly grown-up "street" kids with zero interests in educational pursuits.
Think about it here, Bronxie.
The people invited to join the Algonquin Round Table weren't exactly mental midgets, ya know.
(...and Harpo was indeed a member of that group of noted intellectuals, ya know)
