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Horse Feathers

Poster by Al Hirschfeld
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Produced by Herman J. Mankiewicz (uncredited)
Written by S. J. Perelman
Bert Kalmar
Harry Ruby
Will B. Albert Hirschfeld ( June 21, 1903 – January 20, 2003) was a Jewish American Caricaturist best known for his simple black Norman Zenos McLeod (b September 20 1898, Grayling Michigan - d Herman Jacob Mankiewicz ( November 7, 1897 - March 5, 1953) was a Hollywood screenwriter noted for writing along with Orson Sidney Joseph Perelman, almost always known as S J Perelman ( February 1 1904 &ndash October 17 1979) was an American Bert Kalmar ( February 10, 1884 - September 18, 1947) was an American Lyricist. Harry Ruby ( October 29 1895 – February 23 1974) was an American Songwriter and Screenwriter. Johnstone
Starring Groucho Marx
Harpo Marx
Chico Marx
Zeppo Marx
Thelma Todd
Reginald Barlow
Cinematography Ray June
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) August 10, 1932
Running time 68 min. Arthur Marx (previously Adolph Marx) popularly known as Harpo Marx ( November 23, 1893 &ndash September 28, 1964 Leonard Marx, known as Chico, ( March 22, 1887 &ndash October 11, 1961) was one of the Marx Brothers. Herbert Manfred Marx ( February 25, 1901 &ndash November 30, 1979) is best known as Zeppo Marx, the name he used when he performed Thelma Todd ( July 29, 1905 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress of the late 1920s and early 1930s film Reginald Harry Barlow ( June 17, 1866 - July 6, 1943) was a veteran stage and screen Character actor, author and Film director Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. Events 612 BC - Killing of Sinsharishkun, King of Assyrian Empire Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Horse Feathers (1932) was the fourth Marx Brothers film. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Events Katharine Hepburn 's film career begins Shirley Temple 's film career begins Disney released Flowers The Marx Brothers were a popular team of sibling Comedians who appeared in Vaudeville, stage plays film and television It stars the four Marx Brothers, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo, as well as Thelma Todd as Connie Bailey, and was written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, and Will B. Leonard Marx, known as Chico, ( March 22, 1887 &ndash October 11, 1961) was one of the Marx Brothers. Arthur Marx (previously Adolph Marx) popularly known as Harpo Marx ( November 23, 1893 &ndash September 28, 1964 Herbert Manfred Marx ( February 25, 1901 &ndash November 30, 1979) is best known as Zeppo Marx, the name he used when he performed Thelma Todd ( July 29, 1905 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress of the late 1920s and early 1930s film Bert Kalmar ( February 10, 1884 - September 18, 1947) was an American Lyricist. Harry Ruby ( October 29 1895 – February 23 1974) was an American Songwriter and Screenwriter. Sidney Joseph Perelman, almost always known as S J Perelman ( February 1 1904 &ndash October 17 1979) was an American Johnstone. Kalmar and Ruby also wrote some of the original music for the film. Several of the film's gags were taken from the Marx Brothers' stage comedy from the 1920s, Fun in Hi Skule. [1]

Contents

Plot

The film revolves around, among other things, college football and a game between the fictional Darwin and Huxley Colleges. College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, Colleges and military academies Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895 was an English Biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy (Huxley was a defender of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895 was an English Biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 ) Many of the jokes about the amateur status of collegiate football players and how eligibility rules are stretched by collegiate athletic departments remain remarkably current. An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit study or science without formal training or pay American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with [2] Groucho plays Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the president of Huxley College, and Zeppo is his son Frank, who convinces his father to recruit professional football players to boost the Huxley team's chance of winning. There are also many references to Prohibition. In the United States, the term Prohibition refers to the period from 1920 to 1933 during which the sale manufacture and transportation of alcohol for consumption Baravelli (Chico) is an "iceman", who delivers ice and bootleg liquor from a local speakeasy. A speakeasy was an establishment that surreptitiously sold Alcoholic beverages during the period of United States history known as Prohibition (1920-1933 Pinky (Harpo, wearing his usual pink-colored "fright wig") is also an "iceman", as well as a part-time dogcatcher. Through a series of misunderstandings, Baravelli and Pinky are recruited to play on Huxley's football team; this requires them to enroll as students at Huxley, which, of course, results in nothing but comic chaos throughout the school. The climax of the movie, often referenced as one of the greatest football-related scenes in movie history [3], includes the four protagonists winning the football game by taking the ball into the end zone in a horse-drawn garbage wagon that resembles a chariot and which Pinky rides as such. The end zone is a term used in both Canadian football and American football. The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of Carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples

Musical numbers

Notable scenes

The opening number features Wagstaff and a group of college professors singing and dancing in full academic robes and mortarboard hats. The song sets the tone for Wagstaff's irreverent view of the school:

I don't know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway;
Whatever it is, I'm against it!

One famous scene features Baravelli guarding the speakeasy, and Wagstaff trying to get in. The password for entry is "Swordfish". The use of the word " Swordfish " refers to a Password which originated in the 1932 Marx Brothers movie Horse Feathers in a scene where This bit was the inspiration for the title of the movie thriller Swordfish. Swordfish is a 2001 action / thriller Film. It was directed by Dominic Sena and stars Hugh Jackman The sketch includes several jokes about fish, with some puns-within-puns:

Wagstaff: I got it! "Haddock". The haddock or offshore hake is a marine Fish distributed on both sides of the North Atlantic.
Baravelli: 'At's a-funny, I got a "haddock" too. A headache ( cephalalgia in medical terminology is a condition of pain in the Head; sometimes Neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted
Wagstaff: What do you take for a "haddock"?
Baravelli: Sometimes I take an aspirin, sometimes I take a calomel. Aspirin, or acetylsalicylic acid (ASA (əˌsɛtɨlsælɨˌsɪlɨk ˈæsɨd is a Salicylate drug, often used as an Analgesic to relieve Mercury(I chloride is the Chemical compound with the formula Hg2Cl2
Wagstaff: I'd walk a mile for a calomel. Camel is a brand of Cigarettes that was introduced by American company R
Baravelli: You mean chocolate calomel? I like-a that too, but you no guess it. Caramel (pronounced /ˈkærəmɛl/ or /ˈkɑrməl/ refers to a range of confections that are Beige to dark brown in Color, derived from the

During this scene, the mute character Pinky wants to come in and is asked the password; he responds by pulling a fish with a small sword stuck down its throat from his coat. At one point Wagstaff and Baravelli are debating the cost of ice. Wagstaff argues that his bill should be much smaller than it is:

Baravelli: I make you proposition. You owe us $200, you pay us $2000, and we call it square.
Wagstaff: That's not a bad idea. I tell you . . . I'll consult my lawyer. And if he advises me to do it, I'll get a new lawyer.

The joke immediately after that one illustrates that the Hays Office was not in total control of film scripts yet, and hints at Chico's real-life lifestyle. The essence of this joke would be repeated by Chico in Duck Soup:

Baravelli: Last week, for eighteen dollars, I gotta co-ed with two pair o' pants. Duck Soup is a Marx Brothers Anarchic comedy film written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, with additional dialogue by Arthur
Wagstaff: Since when has a co-ed got two pair of pants?
Baravelli: Since I joined the college.

A notable scene taken from Fun in Hi Skule consists of the brothers disrupting an anatomy class. [1] In this scene, the part of the anatomy professor is played by Robert Greig, a character actor who appeared in over 100 films, many in the role of a butler. He appeared with the Marx Brothers as Hives, the butler, in Animal Crackers. Animal Crackers is a 1930 Comedy film, in which mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain After Chico and Harpo "bear him out", Groucho takes over the class and continues the lecture:

Wagstaff: Let us follow a corpuscle on its journey. . . Now then, baboons, what is a "corpuscle"?
Baravelli: That's easy! First is a captain. . . then a lieutenant. Lieutenant (abbreviated Lt or Lieut) is a Military, Naval, Paramilitary, Fire service, Emergency medical services . . then is a corpuscle!
Wagstaff: That's fine. Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and also by some police forces or other uniformed organizations Why don't you bore a hole in yourself and let the sap run out?

Earlier in the scene, he recited this little poem in response to the professor asking the students to explain the symptoms of cirrhosis, which Baravelli mis-hears as "so roses":

So roses are red
So violets are blue
So sugar is sweet
So so are you. Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic Liver Disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrous Scar tissue as well as regenerative

A little later, Wagstaff advises Pinky that he "can't burn the candle at both ends". Pinky then reaches into his trenchcoat, and pulls out a candle burning at both ends.

The film prominently features the song "Everyone Says I Love You", by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, which was later the title song of the eponymous 1996 Woody Allen movie Everyone Says I Love You. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; December 1 1935 is an American Film director, Writer, Actor, Comedian, and Everyone Says I Love You ( 1996) is a Musical film written and directed by Woody Allen. All four brothers perform the song:

Zeppo leads off with a "straight" verse, befitting his usual non-comical characterization:

Everyone says I love you
The cop on the corner and the burglar too
The preacher in the pulpit and the man in the pew
Says I love you.

Harpo whistles it to his horse, and later plays it on the harp. In keeping with his standard mute characterization, he does not sing it.

Chico sings a comical verse, with his standard fake Italian accent, while playing piano:

Everyone says I love you
The great big mosquito when-a he sting you
The fly when he gets stuck on the flypaper too
Says I love you.

Groucho sings a somewhat sarcastic verse while strumming a guitar, befitting his attitude throughout the film of being suspicious about the college widow's intentions:

Everyone says I love you
But just what they say it for I never knew
It's just inviting trouble for the poor sucker who
Says I love you.

Except when Harpo (the dogcatcher) whistles it to his horse, the song is used to serenade Connie Bailey (played by Thelma Todd). Thelma Todd ( July 29, 1905 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress of the late 1920s and early 1930s film

Eventually, Pinky and Baravelli are sent to kidnap two of the rival college's star players to prevent them from playing in the big game. The intended victims (who are much larger men than Pinky and Baravelli) manage to kidnap the pair instead, removing their outer clothing and locking them in a room. In order to escape, Pinky and Baravelli saw their way out through the floor. The saws came from a tool bag Pinky carried with them that held their "kidnappers' tools," which included, among other things, rope, chisels, hammers and at one point, a small pig. This is an example of the surreal edge of Marx Brothers humor, which later became a heavy influence on Bugs Bunny cartoons. Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members Clyde Rabbit (uncleMrs Bugs Bunny (wifePapa Bunny (fatherMama Bunny (motherRugs Bunny

One direct example of that influence occurs in the speakeasy. Two men are playing cards, and one says to the other, "cut the cards". Pinky happens to walk by at that moment, pulls a large meat cleaver out of his trenchcoat and chops the deck in half. This none-too-subtle gag, which was recycled from the brothers' first Broadway show, I'll Say She Is, would be repeated by Curly Howard against Moe Howard in the Three Stooges' 1936 short subject Ants in the Pantry, and by Bugs Bunny against Yosemite Sam in the 1948 cartoon, Bugs Bunny Rides Again. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located I'll Say She Is is a stage Revue written by brothers Will B Johnstone (book and Tom Johnstone (music and starring the Marx Brothers Curly Howard ( October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952) was a member of the American Slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges Moe Howard ( June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975) was one of the Three Stooges, the Slapstick comedy team who starred in The Three Stooges were an American Vaudeville and Comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous Short subject films Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Short subject is a format description originally coined in the North American Film industry in the early period of cinema. Ants in the Pantry is the 12th Short subject starring American Slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. Clyde Rabbit (uncleMrs Bugs Bunny (wifePapa Bunny (fatherMama Bunny (motherRugs Bunny Yosemite Sam is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Bugs Bunny Rides Again is a 1947 Warner Bros Merrie Melodies short released in 1948, directed by Friz Freleng

A picture of the brothers in the "chariot" at the end of the film made the cover of TIME in 1932. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. [4]

Cast

Period references

A term that occurs often in Horse Feathers, but may not be familiar to modern viewers, is "college widow". Leonard Marx, known as Chico, ( March 22, 1887 &ndash October 11, 1961) was one of the Marx Brothers. Arthur Marx (previously Adolph Marx) popularly known as Harpo Marx ( November 23, 1893 &ndash September 28, 1964 Herbert Manfred Marx ( February 25, 1901 &ndash November 30, 1979) is best known as Zeppo Marx, the name he used when he performed Thelma Todd ( July 29, 1905 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress of the late 1920s and early 1930s film David Landau could refer to David J Landau (1920-1996 author and Holocaust survivor David Landau (screenwriter, American screenwriter James Hubert Pierce ( August 8, 1900 - December 11, 1983) of Shelbyville Indiana, was the fourth actor to portray Tarzan Nathaniel Greene Pendleton ( August 9, 1895 - October 12, 1967) was an American Olympic wrestler and Film Reginald Harry Barlow ( June 17, 1866 - July 6, 1943) was a veteran stage and screen Character actor, author and Film director Robert Greig ( 27 December 1879&ndash 27 June) was an Australian-American actor who appeared in over 100 films between and. The term, which is somewhat derogatory, referred to a woman who stays in college after graduation in order to find a husband. [5] It is used to describe Connie Bailey (Thelma Todd). Thelma Todd ( July 29, 1905 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress of the late 1920s and early 1930s film Such women were stereotypically "easy"; in the film, the character is shown as being involved with each of the Marx brothers and the principal antagonist, Jennings. A modern adaptation of the concept (albeit with a gender reversal) would be Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) from Dazed and Confused who hangs around high schools because "[he] keeps getting older but the girls stay the same". Matthew David McConaughey (məˈkɑnəˌheɪ born November 4 1969 is an American Actor. Dazed and Confused is a 1993 Comedy / Coming of age Film written and directed by Richard Linklater detailing a final

During the climactic football game, at one point Groucho utters the exclamation, "Jumping anaconda!" This seemingly nonsensical phrase probably is a reference to the notorious stock market performance of Anaconda Copper immediately preceding the Great Depression. A stock market, or (equity market is a private or public market for the trading of company Stock and derivatives of company Anaconda Copper Mining Company (until 1915 known as the Amalgamated Copper Mining Company) one of the largest trusts of the early 20th century which owned all the mines [6] Groucho had delivered other jokes related to the stock market in the Brothers' preceding films (for example, "The stockholder of yesteryear is the stowaway of today" in Monkey Business) and all the Marx Brothers had experienced severe losses in the 1929 crash. Monkey Business ( is the third of the Marx Brothers ' movies and the first not to be an adaptation of one of their Broadway shows A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of Stock prices across a significant cross-section of a Stock market.

Missing Sequences

The only existing prints of this film are missing several minutes, due to both censorship and damage. Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor The damage is most noticeable in jump cuts during the scene in which Groucho, Chico and Harpo visit Connie Bailey's apartment. A jump cut is a cut in Film editing where the middle section of a continuous shot is removed and the beginning and end of the shot are then joined together Several sequences were cut from the film, including an extended ending to the aforementioned apartment scene, additional scenes with Harpo as a dogcatcher, and a scene where the brothers play poker as the college burns down. (A description of the latter scene, along with a still image, exists from a pressbook from the year of the film's release, however. )[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Louvish, Simon (2000). This is a list of United States Comedy films. It is separated into two categories Short films and Feature films Any film over 40 minutes Simon Louvish (born 1947 in Scotland is an Israeli author and film maker 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers. New York City, New York: Thomas Dunne Books. The City of New York New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous St Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the iconic Flatiron Building in New York City.  
  2. ^ Horse Feathers at Filmsite.org.
  3. ^ [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=williams/080404_scenes The top 11 scenes in football movie history at ESPN. com.
  4. ^ Cover. Time (August 15, 1932). Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and Retrieved on 2007-04-02. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 68 - Galba, Governor of Hispania, names himself legatus senatus populique Romani, breaking the line of
  5. ^ a b Horse Feathers. Marxology. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 68 - Galba, Governor of Hispania, names himself legatus senatus populique Romani, breaking the line of
  6. ^ Groucho Marx biography |Marx brothers | you bet your life! - Clownministry. com.

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