Animal_Crackers_(film)

Animal Crackers (film)

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 Spaulding. The film was both a critical and commercial success upon initial release, and remains one of the Marx Brothers' most beloved and often-quoted movies.

Stars and direction

The film stars the four brothers, Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, and Zeppo Marx, as well as Lillian Roth and Margaret Dumont. It was directed by Victor Heerman and adapted from a successful 1928 Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, also starring the Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont. (See Animal Crackers).

The part of Hives the butler was played by Robert Greig, a character actor who appeared in over 100 films (many in the role of a butler). He also appeared with the Marx Brothers in Horse Feathers. A 15-second clip of the Marx Brothers, filmed in Multicolor on the set of Animal Crackers during the Captain Spaulding scene, was recently discovered (see "External Link" section below).

Plot

The plot concerns Groucho, as explorer Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding, attending a party in his honor at the estate of society matron Mrs. Rittenhouse, and investigating the theft of a valuable painting during the party.

Cast

Groucho Marx as Captain Spaulding
Harpo Marx as The Professor
Chico Marx as Signor Emanuel Ravelli
Zeppo Marx as Horatio Jamison and Captain Spaulding in one scene
Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Rittenhouse
Lillian Roth as Arabella Rittenhouse
Louis Sorin as Roscoe W. Chandler
Hal Thompson as John Parker
Margaret Irving as Mrs. Whitehead
Kathryn Reece as Grace Carpenter
Robert Greig as Hives
Edward Metcalf as Inspector Hennessey

Jokes

Four of Groucho's best known quips:

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.

(The American Film Institute listed this at number 53 in the 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time.)

Then, we tried to remove the tusks, ... but they were embedded in so firmly, we couldn't budge them. Of course, in Alabama the Tusk-a-loosa. But that's entirely ir-elephant to what I was talking about.

Africa is God's country--and He can have it.

We took some pictures of the native girls, but they weren't developed. But we're going back again in a couple of weeks!

They got away with that joke, but the censors cut a line from the song "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" in which Spaulding sang, in an aside about Mrs. Rittenhouse, "I think I'll try and make her", as in "seduce her".

The song was a hidden reference to a real Captain Spaulding, an army officer arrested a few years earlier for selling cocaine to Hollywood residents. See Hollywood Babylon, by Kenneth Anger. Groucho later used a somewhat jazzed-up version of the Spaulding song as the theme music for his TV quiz show, You Bet Your Life, and it ultimately became his all-purpose introductory theme in general.

Other quotes from Groucho:

"Ever since I met you [Mrs. Rittenhouse], I've swept you off my feet."

"You mind if I don't smoke?"

"There's one thing I've always wanted to do before I quit: Retire."

"I was outside the cabin smoking some meat. There wasn't a cigar store in the neighborhood!"

The film also showcases the well-known Chico-Harpo scene in which Chico keeps asking Harpo for "a flash" (meaning a flashlight), and Harpo—not understanding—produces from his bottomless trenchcoat and baggy pants a "fish", a "flask", a "flute", a "flush", etc. Eventually he begins searching for the flashlight in the dark with a flashlight. Immediately after successfully pulling out the flashlight, thunder is heard and the lights go out.

The often under-utilized Zeppo figures in a well-known gag in which Groucho dictates a letter to his lawyers, in rambling pseudo-legalese. Zeppo gets to one-up Groucho: When asked to read the letter back, Zeppo informs him, "You said a lot of things I didn't think were very important, so I just omitted them!" whereupon a minor skirmish ensues.

Re-release

Forty-four years after its original release, in June 1974, Animal Crackers was once again released in theaters. The film had been tied up in a copyright dispute since 1957, when Universal Pictures -- which owned all pre-1948 Paramount films -- renewed the copyright for the picture but neglected to renew the music rights or the rights to the original Broadway play. The 1974 re-release was big news at the time since the Marx Brothers were enjoying a resurgence in popularity among younger audiences. At the New York City re-release premiere, which Groucho attended, a riot broke out and he required police escort.

Musical numbers

Groucho's songs, "Hello, I Must Be Going" and "Hooray for Captain Spaulding", both written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, became recurring themes for Groucho through the years. The latter song became the theme of Groucho's radio and TV game show You Bet Your Life. The original full version of "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" was edited in compliance to the Hays Code when it was re-released in 1936: the sexually suggestive line "I think I'll try and make her" was removed - it came after Mrs. Rittenhouse's line: "He was the only white man to cover every acre." The only known recording of the original dialogue can be heard on the CD Boxed Set The Marx Brothers Sing & Play issued in 1995 & 2000 by Chansons Cinema, and made from un-edited European prints of the film.

You Must Do Your Best Tonight (Hives and Footmen)
I Represent (Zeppo)
Hooray for Captain Spaulding Part I (The Cast)
Hello, I Must Be Going (Groucho)
Hooray for Captain Spaulding Part II (Cast)
Gypsy-chorus
Why Am I So Romantic? (John)
I'm Daffy Over You
Silver Threads Among the Gold
My Old Kentucky Home (Marx Brothers)

References in popular culture

"Hello, I Must Be Going" became a theme in Oliver Stone's miniseries Wild Palms. It was the title of the final episode, and sung by villain Senator Kreutzer (Robert Loggia) as he died. Phil Collins also titled his second album after the song.