Everybody always misquotes this, probably because these variant versions get the meter correct.
Even so, the real original (in both the play and the movie) is, “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I don’t know.”
All hail George S. Kaufman!
They were more alike than you may realize, and as much as I love the Brothers Marx, I cannot allow this asparagus on the Brothers Howard (and Fine) pass unrelented. Take away Groucho’s one-liners and most of what you had left was the same sort of physical, screwball humor that the Stooges had. When it wasn’t physical, it often revolved around such things as the stupidity of someone in the scene–specifically their inability to grasp what was going on around them, or around such concepts as the contrast between social classes. IMO the Stooges’ pig latin scene, the one where they’re struggling mightily to explain it to Curley, is on a par with the “sanity clause” scene between Chico and Harpo. Also Curly could mime just as well as Harpo, though you only get to see it in a couple of shorts.
Yes you do have a point here, but even some of those famous jokes were written by Kaufman and Ryskind, and if you watch other comedies written by the team, you will recognize the style of humor.
Of course in Alabama the Tuscaloosa.
I have a CD of Duck Soup done on their radio show - some of the lines are slightly different from what was in the movie.
And please, let’s not forget the contribution of S. J. Perelman to Horsefeathers and Monkey Business.
“Why don’t you go back to your wife. Better yet, I’ll go back to your wife, and besides the improvement, she’ll never know the difference.”
Not only that, K&R wrote “pajamas” without an apostrophe. I can tell from watching the movie. 
Been listening to a lot of ‘You Bet Your Life’ on an old-time radio station. I have to say, I really liked the movies, but listening to Groucho live? Wow. The man had a -razor- sharp wit. Any show in which he doesn’t get me laughing is a rarety, and there are some in which he leaves me in tears with his delivery. His appearance in the Jack Benny show, episode entitled ‘Detective O’Benny’, is amazing. From it:
Jack: I’ll have a Coke. Groucho, what’ll you have?
Groucho (obviously ad-libbing): Well, my sponsor wants me to say blue ribbon beer, but I’ll say Heddy Lammar.
Jack (aghast): Groucho!
Groucho: You’re just annoyed that you didn’t say that first.
Jack: Well, yes.
Groucho: That makes two of us.
Harpo speaks.
According to Groucho’s memoir, Jack Benny could “take care of himself” in the ad-lib department. It must have been a fantastic show with two such talents.
Groucho also had the utmost respect for Red Skelton, considering him the successor to Chaplin.
Sorry for the (sort-of) double post. The server seemed to freeze up the first time, and I never saw my reply in the thread.
From Duck Soup :
“Remember, you’re fighting for this woman’s honour, which is probably more than she ever did.”
Ok, Spectre, OK! I plead for mercy, it was a bad asparagus! hides
What does everybody have against asparagus?
Never been able to watch the Marx in English… it’s in my list of Stuff I Oughta Get Around To Doing. From what I’ve read, many of their most famous phrases in Spanish are unrelated to what’s said in English; lots of stuff is simply impossible to translate, so the Spanish translators came up with something equally absurd and it stuck.
I want to see if Groucho talks as fast in English as his Spanish dubber 
Oh yes. The two were ‘pretending’ to be aghast at each other, but you could tell they were (quite succesfully) trying to one-up each-other, and had the audience rolling.
Interresting. Never heard the two of them together. For some reason Skelton just seems ‘mediocre’ to me, but I think that’s because I hear his same ‘characters’ all the time. Still, the fact that Groucho had respect for him bumps him a few notches.
Who could forget the immortal words of Yip Harburg, as set to music by Harold Arlen and spoken by Groucho Marx:
Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say have you seen Lydia
Lydia the tattooed lady
She has eyes the boys adore so
And a torso even more so
Lydia, oh Lydia, you encyclopidia
Oh Lydia, you queen of tattoo
On her back is the Battle of Waterloo
Beneath it the wreck of the Hesperus, too
And waving above is the red, white, and blue
You can learn a lot from Lydia!
One of the highlights from At The Circus, and one of my all-time favorite Marx Brothers scenes (along with the crowded room in A Night At The Opera and the scene in Duck Soup where all four brothers are playing The American Patrol on soldiers’ helmets- a rare comedic moment for Zeppo).
I can’t think of how to end this post.
Just for the fun of it, here is a page of Groucho quotes.
“I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.”
How about mentioning the elderly Groucho singing this on the Dick Cavet show. I remember that years later. (Though I think he adlibbed some of the lyrics.)
Going out on a limb here. I LIKE Love Happy. The scene with Harpo and the Neon lights is priceless.
I can’t remember what movie it was in, but my favorite Groucho line is:
“I am gonna memorize your name and throw my head away.”
Close second: In Duck Soup when Harpo thinks he’s opening the safe, and it turns out to be a big radio; it comes on blasting a Sousa march throughout the house, shaking the foundations and alarming Margaret Dumont.
Dumont: What’s that noise?
Groucho: I’m not sure; sounds like mice!
“The Dean is furious! He’s waxing wroth!”
“Is Roth out there, too? Tell Roth to wax the Dean for awhile.”
“Mice don’t play music!”
[It’s from Duck Soup]
One of Houston’s Spanish-language TV stations often plays a bunch of Cantinflas movies on holidays. Without dubbing or subtitles, of course.
When I knew only a bit of Spanish, Cantinflas often confused me with his double-quick speeches. After I studied a bit more of the language, I realized that he was confusing everybody!