{"id":34968,"date":"2021-04-02T14:13:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T18:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=34968"},"modified":"2021-04-02T14:15:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T18:15:01","slug":"the-bootleg-files-the-hollywood-greats-groucho-marx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/02\/the-bootleg-files-the-hollywood-greats-groucho-marx\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: The Hollywood Greats \u2013 Groucho Marx"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 762:<\/strong> \u201cThe Hollywood Greats \u2013 Groucho Marx\u201d (1979 episode of a British television series).<\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: <\/strong>Fell through the proverbial cracks.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely.<\/p>\n

Zeppo Marx is one of the most mysterious figures in film history. He appeared with his brothers Groucho, Harpo and Chico in their first five feature films at Paramount (and in a segment of a promotional film for the studio), but the union within his zany siblings\u2019 antics was always tenuous. He was barely on screen in their first film, \u201cThe Cocoanuts,\u201d and snagged a single memorable segment with Groucho in \u201cAnimal Crackers.\u201d Zeppo got more screen time as the romantic interest in \u201cMonkey Business\u201d and \u201cHorse Feathers,\u201d but by their final film \u201cDuck Soup\u201d he was back to being an elusive on-screen presence.
\n<\/p>\n

When Paramount dropped the brothers from their roster, Zeppo quit the act and went behind the camera, staking out a successful career as an agent and the owner of a machinery company. Zeppo would only make two on-camera appearances after leaving the act. The first time came in a reunion with Groucho, Harpo and Chico plus their brother Gummo (who left the act in vaudeville before it gained fame) in a 1957 episode of the television show \u201cTonight! America After Dark.\u201d Sadly, no copy of that episode is known to exist.<\/p>\n

Zeppo made a final appearance in 1979 when the BBC series \u201cThe Hollywood Greats\u201d asked for his input within an episode on Groucho, who died two years earlier. Zeppo was suffering from lung cancer at the time and died shortly after the episode was completed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hollywood Greats\u201d was an hour-long documentary series with film critic Barry Norman offering a thumbnail consideration of American movie legends. In this episode, Norman shows up in front of several locations important to the Marx Brothers\u2019 development, including the Manhattan apartment building where they grew up.<\/p>\n

Zeppo shows up several times during the episode, initially recalling the family\u2019s domestic environment. <\/p>\n

\u201cFive of us slept in one bed,\u201d he says in his first appearance. \u201cWe didn\u2019t sleep very well, but we were there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norman recalls Minnie Marx, the brothers\u2019 notorious mother who pushed them into show business. Zeppo recalls that Minnie had no performing talent of her own, but when Norman asks him if any of the brothers could have succeeded in the entertainment field, Zeppo solemnly declares, \u201cI think Groucho would have because he liked it and he was ambitious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeppo talks about the siblings\u2019 vaudeville days as \u201chectic,\u201d then adds, \u201cWe\u2019d always wind up in a whorehouse. Chico paid the piano, Harpo would do something and Groucho would sing. They loved us \u2013 these hookers just loved us. And it was for free.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Zeppo has more amiable memories of their first Broadway hit, the revue \u201cI\u2019ll Say She Is,\u201d and the making of \u201cThe Cocoanuts\u201d film, he is surprisingly harsh on Groucho\u2019s first wife, the dancer Ruth Johnson whom Zeppo introduced to him. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very stupid,\u201d Zeppo says about his one-time sister-in-law. \u201cAnd for Groucho, it was difficult for him to tolerate stupidity.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Zeppo also had some unkind words about his brother. In noting his clothing, Zeppo remarks Groucho\u2019s wardrobe was expensive \u201cbut he had such bad taste that he\u2019d look bad, no matter what he paid for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norman diplomatically refers to Zeppo\u2019s role in the Marx Brothers as \u201csort of a D\u2019Artagnan grafted onto the act as an afterthought,\u201d and Zeppo himself claims he quit because \u201cthere wasn\u2019t an opportunity for me at all to be a comic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groucho\u2019s son Arthur Marx, writer Norman Krasna, George Jessel and Dick Cavett were also included in the production, which cites some of Groucho\u2019s wittiest comments and some of his least appealing behavior, including a level of severe cheapness and his habit for marrying younger women who did measure up to his intellectual level. Also included is Erin Fleming, the Canadian actress who was Groucho\u2019s late-life companion. While Fleming would be the subject of allegations of elder abuse, Zeppo insists she \u201ckept him alive the last seven or eight years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, there is relatively little in the way of classic Marx Brothers movie moments and even less from Groucho\u2019s \u201cYou Bet Your Life\u201d television series; any insight into Harpo, Chico or Gummo is completely absent from the production. A few brief clips of late-life Groucho in interviews comes in, but he is uncharacteristically somber in this presentations.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe \u201cThe Hollywood Greats\u201d episodes were ever shown on U.S. television, and the series in not available in the U.S. for home entertainment formats. The Groucho episode is on YouTube<\/a> in an unauthorized posting, but only Marx Brothers completists would be interested in this offering. If the episode offered an unflattering and incomplete consideration, at least it gave the often-maligned Zeppo one last chance to have some time on camera.<\/p>\n

IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.<\/em><\/p>\n

Listen to the award-winning podcast \u201cThe Online Movie Show with Phil Hall\u201d<\/a> on SoundCloud, with new episodes every Monday. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 762: \u201cThe Hollywood Greats \u2013 Groucho Marx\u201d (1979 episode of a British television series). LAST SEEN: On YouTube. AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None. REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Fell through the proverbial cracks. CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely. Zeppo Marx is one of the most mysterious figures in film history. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":34969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513],"tags":[1653,219,2486,2704,2703],"class_list":["post-34968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bootleg-files","tag-bbc","tag-comedy","tag-groucho-marx","tag-the-hollywood-greats","tag-zeppo-marx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34968"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34972,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34968\/revisions\/34972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}