2. Early years...
● sons of Jewish immigrants from Germany
● got their start in vaudeville acts
● there were five brothers
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Chico (Leonard)
Harpo (Adolph - changed his name to Arthur)
Groucho (Julius Henry)
Gummo (Milton - did not appear in any films)
Zeppo (Herbert)
● first film was 1929’s the Cocoanuts
(Paramount)
8. ● came out during the Great Depression
● some people found it too “silly” in the face of
national dilemma
● political satire - mocks governments where
people in power appoint leaders
● Benito Mussolini took it as a personal insult
● selected for preservation in the United
States National Film Registry for being
“culturally, historically, and aesthetically
significant”
9. Satire - Making fun of a serious subject by showing it in
an absurd way.
Slapstick - physical comedy or verbal comedy that
exaggerates things in order to make them silly.
10. 1. Satire is making fun of something that is
supposed to be serious by showing it in an
absurd way. List three things that the Marx
brothers satirized in this film, and explain
one of them in depth (4-5 sentences)
11. 2. Describe the film techniques used in the
famous “mirror scene” - do you agree with
the director’s choices? What would you do
differently if you were shooting a modern
version of that scene?
12. 3. During the final battle scene, Groucho keeps
changing outfits. What kind of outfits does
he change into, and what might this act be
symbolic of?
