The Circus Being No Place for Marx Bros ...

 

More of Marx Comedy for Metro

The first MGM Marx Bros. comedy not road-tested in live theatres prior to production. Did failure of A Day at the Races ($543K loss) disincline the studio toward that added expense? Groucho thought tours an only sure way to make sure thing of Marx routines. Did he ask for, and did Leo refuse, the accommodation? If so, it was harbinger of tight times to come, for little else spoke so loud to diminished confidence in the team. Marx comedy was increasingly a matter of set pieces spotted throughout story otherwise wan, so these had to work for overall effect, being all an audience could take away from experience of seeing At The Circus or whatever the boys engaged. They had not been on a proper stage for years (other than tryouts for movie routines), let alone Broadway, and crowds forgot what panics The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers had been. Some execs, if not a public at large, saw the Marx Bros. as upscaled Wheeler/Woolsey, or any team in comedic decline. Still there was $250,000 for Marx trio to share from each of three Metro pledged them to, and we wonder if regrets did not accompany ink as it dried upon such contract, especially with guiding light Thalberg gone and less sympathetic others to handle chore the Marxes increasingly were.

At The Circus was done for less than A Day at the Races ($1.3 versus $1.7 million), and again, there was red ink ($492K). Less writers would contribute, Irving Brecher getting sole scribe credit. Surely others took part, but Brecher insisted to an end that it was all his. Louis Mayer was said to be at the least ambivalent re Marx Bros. Groucho had insulted him on occasion, foolishly so based on accounts. L.B. asked once how a picture was going and Grouch replied that it was none of his concern. How impolitic was that in a business where relationships were key? Mayer might forebear were the team still hot, but based on ticket performance, I could envision him suggesting the team “retire” from features, at least ones produced by MGM. The Thalberg formula was used again, and why not? Here was an act limited severe for vehicles to suit them, song and story imposed still to relieve Marx madness, only they were less mad than hapless helpmates to romance relief in person of Kenny Baker and Florence Rice, two who made Allen Jones and Kitty Carlisle seem like MacDonald/Eddy by comparison.

There are anecdotes to effect of Marxes, individually and together, lighting hot foots to propriety in/out of Hollywood through the 30's --- was this frustrated compensation for movies they knew weren't as funny? These were older men now, mature when they began filming (1929), mischief likelier dreamt by press agents put to task of keeping them in character whether cameras turned or not. Routines throughout At the Circus might look alright on paper, but fall flat for poor staging, off-timed edits. The director was Eddie Buzzell, friendly with the Brothers (stage and vaude) before he became a Metro factory man. Now he wore a leash and wouldn't chance front office slap for seeing things Marx way. The idea was to start and finish At The Circus on assembly terms. So, whose wrong idea was it to put the Marx Bros. under a Big Top? --- freaks among freaks was how it turned out --- and imagine squirm for 60/70's college viewers during twelve-minute wait after credits for Groucho to even show up. Salaried Buster Keaton was sent over to furnish gags, Grouch wondering why this guy might imagine he’d make funnies. Keaton said later that Marxes could never be located at a same time so work might commence. If that was the case, and progress was slowed, why keep them around to fulfill the final two per agreement (Go West, The Big Store)?

Wisecracking To the End --- Even Lobby Card Captions Aren't Spared

In fairness, Groucho didn't want any part of At the Circus, having written off movies after Thalberg passed. Latter was firewall against a front office that never much liked them, less studio effort on Marx behalf a sure sign that things could only get worse. Grouch was habitually unhappy with gags as firm-submitted … what was amusing in the morning would not seem so by lunch. Most comedians were insecure --- how to know if watchers hundreds or thousands of miles distant would eventually laugh? Groucho said, and often, that his lousy movies ended up in crumb-dump cinemas little better than holes he and brothers played through upward struggle, everything after Thalberg going bad to worse. Not hard to understand why in senior years he preferred not to be reminded of the last three at Metro. There was comfort to think At the Circus would fade quick from screens and embarrass Groucho no further. Would he have done the thing at all if he knew it would play revivals all the way to the end of his long life?

And yet there was effort applied here, albeit by ones not fully in grasp of what a good Marx Bros. comedy should be. Evidence suggests there were better situations to start that for whatever reason got discarded. This had been a case before, even Duck Soup monkeyed with and possibly denuded. Ad-libs were expected of the team, so however precise a watch got wound in advance, they'd have their singular way with it. But was that always to the good, or was what got left behind better? We’ll never know as to that. These comics rose or fell on quality of writing. Just because they looked funny and acted that way was no assurance the Brothers could be so for ninety minutes or more. Not one or combined effort of three could save a failing enterprise. To the Marxes, this was work done for a price, Groucho vexed over script quality or its lack, Chico and Harpo earning theirs, then onward to greater priorities. Grouch was pack leader for at least in part caring … we feel load he bore that was At The Circus.

Abandon of their Broadway work could not be recaptured on chalk marks drawn at Metro. Maybe this is what made Circus a war not worth fighting for Chico/Harpo. Life had been free, easy, and fun during stage days, with an audience always there to reward them, while on a sound stage, no gag seemed funny from hindsight of ten takes and counting. I’ll guess Chico had a better time performing with his orchestra in years after At The Circus, but it took a lot of supper clubs to match what one movie paid, plus Chico gambled ... ruinously so. How often do you suppose Groucho or others made him take a pledge? It's easy to knock At the Circus when you watch alone, which again brings up the question: How does this perform to an audience? Did they/Do they laugh? There is a You Tube committee that might answer, a panel of experts that do podcasts second to none for Marx lore. These are fans who have come to the table later than ones supping for fifty plus years, and theirs I must say is a fresher output of appreciation and insight. Listen to any broadcast from The Marx Brothers Council, there are 46 so far, one I particularly enjoy about the notorious Groucho plus Richard Anobile Scrapbook devoted to the team, featuring guest Nick Santa Maria, whose intros and presentations so enlivened last week’s Columbus (Ohio) Moving Picture Show. HERE be where the Council dwells, a must of an address for those who revere the Marx Brothers and want to learn more about them.