Hello, fellow Marxists! Welcome to the final episode of Full Marx. This week we basically turned the show over to our listeners and let them decide what we would talk about this week. Lots of people wanted us to cover the brothers’ post-Marx Brothers career so we talked about that and some of their late career appearances. We also talked about some of our favourite movie moments and our general thoughts about the Marx Brothers amazing achievements and career.
Finally, thanks to all our listeners for their kind words and active participation during this series. We’ve appreciated all your comments and suggestions. You made doing this a lot of fun so thanks!
And thanks for listening.
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Okay guys, time to break the silence. You really know your listeners because you were correct on Sneaky Dragon episode 365, I’ve been savoring the last episode of Full Marx, listening to it in short doses since Wednesday.
Thanks immensely for reading my email on the last podcast, I’m flattered. First you read my top 10 movies a few months ago on Sneaky Dragon and now I get another callout on Full Marx? I’m honored.
I did want to comment back to you that when I gave Wes Anderson and Woody Allen as modern directorial examples for the Marx Brothers, those were just the first two comedy directors who came to mind and honestly…it was late when I wrote that email. However, your discussion on dream directors was brilliant and I couldn’t agree more with your solution. Dave, you’re so right when you say that the director should simply be present for the directorial utility and not one that would overshadow the Marxes with their style. I really never thought of it that way, but that’s exactly it, the Marx Brothers need to shine. I posed this question because of your strong knowledge of film and I knew you’d have some interesting conversation with it and you two didn’t disappoint.
Still, that’s not to say Woody Allen probably would have killed to direct Groucho Marx…
As for the biopic question, I seem torn by my own selfish need to see some version of the Marx Brothers on the modern screen versus a film that has a risky percentage of harming their legacy. Ian is so right when he mentioned how these films follow a formula that’s really prescribed and kind of depressing. Most are. Then Dave pointed out that the biopic should maybe focus on their younger career in Vaudeville and maybe Broadway. It’s funny you mentioned that because over at the Marx Brothers Council Facebook page, there’s a member named Scott Alexander who’s a screenwriter. He wrote a screenplay for a Marx Brothers biopic about 18 or 20 years ago I think. Even though Scott hasn’t mentioned much about the screenplay, I did read somewhere that it focuses on the Marxes as brash, young performers as they toured in their 20’s, comparing them to the punk rockers in the 70’s and how they blazed a trail through music when they toured…the Marx Brothers would be seen doing the same with their comedy. So who knows, maybe one day someone will use Scott’s screenplay and give us a glimpse of the Marxes as we’ve never seen them before, when they were making a name for themselves.
Another Council member, Cinco Paul, considered the Marx Brothers as an animated film. I think Ian mentioned something along those lines during the podcast. I take Cinco Paul’s idea under serious consideration since he’s one of the writers of the Despicable Me films…maybe he’s onto something there.
Thinking deeper about this, I truly believe that the Marx Brothers are really like a fine work of art, to be admired and never duplicated. Their inspiration and influence runs rampant through comedy’s DNA and maybe that’s enough. Or maybe it’s because I tried to watch the 1992 Zucker Brothers produced film “Brain Donors” last night and came to this realization.
With all of the above in mind, it’s fun to imagine what could be and run with it, even if it seems impossible or wrong. We do it to fill the void that all Marx Brothers fans have and that’s to keep their legacy alive. The fourteen episodes of Full Marx has done just that, your contribution to their legacy can take it’s place in the pantheon of Marx fandom and I have them to listen to over and over.
From the grateful heart of a Marx Brothers alpha fan, Thanks for all your hard work and efforts that went into Full Marx, I truly enjoyed every second.
I agree with you, Ed. The Marx Brothers – like so many comics in every generation – are inimitable and never to be repeated. A few people brought up Brain Donors as an example of a modern re-working of the Marx Brothers. Out of curiosity I watched as much of the movie as I could stand, but it left me pretty cold. What made the Marxes so great was only partly on the page – it was their comedic charm, talent, timing, and skill that was learned through years of performing on stage that really iced the cake. Very few actors could duplicate that – just as very few actors could duplicate Keaton, Chaplin or Fields.
And thank you for your final remarks in your comment. That means a lot. I know you’re a Merx Brothers superfan! And thank you for your enthusiasm and support during Full Marx.
I meant every word David, your podcasts make everything better for me…Full Marx was the “gateway” to everything else you guys do, now I enjoy the Sneaky Dragon and Listening Party podcasts as well with Completely Beatles on deck. I just happened to be Googling “Marx Brothers podcast” one day and everything exploded. I had just started listening to the Council podcasts with Bob, Noah and Matthew and wondered if there was more. Imagine my surprise. I truly think we might be living through a new age of Marx mania…or maybe I’m just thinking that because the old information super highway has so many lanes open for Marx fandom right now. Either way, it’s fun and unprecedented for a guy who thought nobody else appreciated the Marxes when he discovered them back in 1975.
I wanted to convey my best wishes as we wrap up 2018 and let you know how much Full Marx meant to me one more time. It truly helped me through some rough times in the past months, so much that I’ve repeated some episodes three and four times. You guys are lifesavers! Enjoy your year’s end and my best for a prosperous New Year!!
Right back atcha, buddy!
Congratulations, Dave and Ian, on completing another terrific sidecast. I paused the final episode just long enough to find and watch the Incredible Jewel Robbery for the first time, and it was a treat, so thanks for highlighting that.
As with Totally Tintin and Compleatly Beatles, you were able to use the ardent fan / casual fan combination to trigger great conversations that shone a revealing light not just on the Marxes, but on comedy and creativity more widely. This series has deepened my appreciation of the brothers and their achievements, even if I do remain firmly stuck in the Paramount Forever camp.
I’d still love to hear you and the Marx Brothers Council guys get together one time. Any chance?
Hail Freedonia!
I’d love to hear a “Full Marx/Council” Team-Up! That would be just as great as the first time the X-Men met the Teen Titans! Okay, it would be greater!!!
Chris, thanks for your usual great comments and support. We really appreciate it. As for the Council, there is an invite in the air and I really should get back to them!
Hello Fellow Marxists!
Congrats and thank you for the marvelous Full Marx sidecast. Your insights and research were delightful and entertaining. Thank you for the final mention of Susan Fleming/ Million Dollar Legs. That was a fun little in-joke to listen for every time.
I have been a very avid fan of the Marxes (and now of the Dragons!) and I have read and watched a lot about them, but I was very happy to learn so much new information about their careers. Thanks for that.
You read a letter in which the writer mentioned that he or she had listened to Compleatly Beatles twice– I hadn’t thought of that. I loved it so much, I think I will Get Back for a second helping.
As to the last episode, and the debate at the end about the end of Duck Soup, I must weigh in– in agreement with Dave. Although I can see how surrealists would love the Marxes’ comedy, I don’t see the end of Duck Soup as true surrealism. Yes, the end scenes of the battle are quite madcap, but they are in furtherance of the war sequence, albeit full of great absurd gags. My take was that Ian may have misunderstood Dave’s comparison of surrealism being completely dreamlike, and disconnected completely from reality. That’s not the end of Duck Soup. DS just takes the various lines- “Help is on the way”… etc, and takes them to absurd lengths. Not really surrealist in the Dali sense — no lobsters in the hair or spoons tuning a barbed wire harp- or flaming giraffes…
Anyway…. Excellent, my friends, excellent.
Thanks so much, and I will see– well, hear–you on the regular Sneaky Dragon podcast.
Hail Freedonia,
Danny
Danny, thanks for your active participation during the run of Full Marx. I looked forward to your enthusiastic comments every week.
The Boswell Sisters clip performing “An Old Spanish Custom” is one of the highlights of this episode – the patter during the recording and the joyful humor make it a perfect interlude for the discussion. You could almost imagine them doing the curtain scene while the set behind was being changed. And if I were clever enough, and had a good enough memory, I could use the theatrical term for that!
As far as Full Marx goes, 10/10
I just finished listening to this series and I loved it. Just my second podcast I’ve subscribed to, I’m really late to the game, but that isn’t unusual. I may have to give Sneaky Dragon a listen soon. My 10-minute commute isn’t long enough to get through podcasts very fast! I still need to watch At the Circus and I’ll have seen all of them. Watching Incredible Jewel Robbery when I’m done here. Thanks so much!
Really glad you enjoyed it, Robert!