Didn’t Judy Collins open for those two bands in Salt Lake?
Chico would just ask them to a friendly game of cards, and clean them out.
Chico wasn’t that great a card player. Or bettor. Supposedly, he bet on one of the horses in A Day at the Races despite the fact that the race was staged and the winner determined beforehand. When Groucho asked him why he was betting when he knew the other horse couldn’t win, Chico said, “But look at the odds!”
The Ritz Brothers are justly forgotten. No personalities, and their act consisted of mugging for the camera.
It would be more like the 1910 Fruitgum Company just hanging out with the Allman Brothers, which isn’t all that hard to imagine.
It seems unfair to expect anybody to hang out socially just because they’re both in the industry. Why don’t the stars of “Friends” socialize with the stars of “The Big Bang Theory?” They’re relatively contemporary.
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My mother-in-law always raved (back in the 1970s, when Groucho was doing college tours) about how much she liked the Ritz Brothers more than that Marx Ditto. Alas, there doesn’t seem to be much movie-wise available of the Ritz Bros, and what we’ve seen was totally forgettable, not funny, and (as you say) they had no screen personalities. So we’ve always been mystified by her taste.
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Their comedy possibly not aging well aside, isn’t another reason why the Ritz Brothers aren’t remembered today is that they were mostly inactive by the 1950s whereas at least one of the Marxes’ or Stooges’ continued performing and making public appearances on TV until well into 1970s? Unlike many of their comic peers, I don’t think the Ritzes ever tried to break into TV with a variety show or sitcom that could’ve kept them in the public eye longer. About the only time I can recall an appearance by one of the Ritz Brothers is one of them (I think Harry) make a cameo on a comedy special around 1976. I believe he also did a cameo in a Mel Brooks film (Silent Movie?) around the same time.
Also, from my understanding (I’ve never really seen a Ritz Brothers movie), in most of their movies, the Ritzes were strictly supporting comic relief to musical leads like Alice Faye rather than the stars carrying the movie. As a result, TV just couldn’t package their old movies like they could for the Marxes, the Stooges, Abbott & Costello, and Laurel & Hardy.
I see Exapno Mapcase is here, but where’s RTFirefly?
Sigh. No one remembers the Bowrey Boys.
Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey! I grew up watching them.
I bought a DVD of them, recently.
Co-Starring Bela Lagosi.
Yep, Joys. Also one of the last public appearances by Groucho, although I don’t recall whether or not they had any scenes together. Groucho appeared pretty frail in this special. Mostly what he did–if you can belive this–is ask Billy Barty, who was made up and walking around like Groucho, “Am I having fun?”
From your link:
Please. Curly was more talented comically than any of the Marx Bros..he didnt need a writer to get laughs.
Also, the Stooges are much better known than the largely forgotten Marx Bros.
Greetings, traveler from an alternate universe! Are you enjoying yourself here?
Aren’t they the template for the Animaniacs? The patter and dance, at the expense of memorable characters?
I live in the universe that contains the planet Earth..not the planet Snob. The Marx Bros had award winning writers; Curly had to improvise. The MB were amazingly culture specific while the 3S are enjoyed in many different cultures. Even in USA 2013 walk down any street and see which comedic groups are still known. It wont be the Marx Bros.
BTW.. Grouchos character in Duck Soup, and the MB treatment of Margaret Dumont in general, is amazingly misogynistic.
I notice that I can watch almost all of the Marx Brothers movies on Netflix, and none of the Stooges.
Groucho’s character is not misogynistic – he’s hilariously insulting to everybody, regardless of gender!
First of all, I am not in the USA, and while the Marx Brothers are universal, very few people outside the borders of the United States have even heard of the Three Stooges.
Second of all, while I can’t tell you from personal experience, I suspect that even in the States, the Marx Brothers are far more respected than the Stooges, if only because you can admit to liking them if you’re over 12 years old.
Third of all, can I have some examples of the scintillating dialog the Stooges are oh-so-famous for?
I’m not going to argue taste. If you love the Stooges, great. Enjoy them.
I will point out that the writing for Harpo was mostly limited to: “Harpo enters”.
Which team is better known? I can’t figure out a good way to put metrics on it. The Stooges get more hits on Google, but there was a Stooges movie just a couple of years ago.
My guess is that just about everybody who knows about the Marxes knows about the Stooges and vice versa, at least in America. The Marxes were international stars in their day. I picked up a French poster for A Day at the Races in a little shop in Paris and the owner was so excited I was a fan he let me have it even though I was short a few francs. If you can think of any way to back your statement with anything more than your say so, I’d like to look at it.
Madsircool: It’s obvious from watcching the films that the Marx Brothers, expecially Groucho, disrepected Margaret Dumont because she was a rich snob, not because she was a woman.
Furthermore, the Marx Brothers could improvise. There is a story, possibly apocryphal, that George S. Kaufman watched them in a film for which he had written dialogue. He is supposed to have said: “Stop, I think I heard one of my lines.” There are also anecdotes about them improvising lines while in vaudeville performances.
I agree with Alessan and Prof. Pepperwinkle. The Marx Brothers are way more respected than the Stooges. That is because they are way more talented.
There’s something kind of absurd about fans of two old-time comedy teams arguing that nobody has heard of the other comedy team. And I say that as a Marx Brothers fan who has never cared at all for the Stooges.
The Marxes also improvised a great deal, although maybe they did it more on stage than in movies. The scripts were a jumping off point, and Groucho did just fine when bantering with people in unscripted situations. And anyway I don’t think I accept the notion that improvising is better than delivering a funny line. If it’s funny, it’s funny.
Right. Even thought they may have snob appeal, they’re vicious to all kinds of snobs in their earlier (and mostly better) movies.
That was supposed to have happened during a stage performance of A Night at the Opera.