#WERE THE MARX BROTHERS REALLY BROTHERS SERIES#

вЂњI have always been a great fan of the Marx Brothers and never missed one of their comedies. We were building a television center there and planned to produce graphics, films, and television shows. At the end, Groucho forcibly disguises the ambassador as himself and throws him at an overjoyed Minnie Ho-Ho who carries him off.ДЄs Bob Kane, co-creator of Batman, wrote in his autobiography Batman and Me, вЂњIn 1975, I was living with a friend, Russ Gerstein in Las Vegas. HarpoвЂ™s hat hides multiple devices on the end of an extending crane from a gun to a bugle to a match. Groucho and his brothers escape to the abandoned fort and must fight off the attacking Indian warriors. They wind up at the IndiansвЂ™ camp where GrouchoвЂ™s resemblance to the rock formation is instantly recognized and Groucho quips, вЂњI must have posed for that when I was stoned.вЂќ Groucho is out West with his brothers running a shady medicine show out of a wagon when confronted by an irate customer and they all beat a hasty exit. But the Indian chief refuses to consider a peace treaty until his daughter Minnie Ho-Ho marries a man that resembles a rock formation called The Great Stoneface that is the spitting image of Groucho. This creates chaos in Washington, where a meeting of generals and senators decide to send an ambassador to appease the Indians. GreeleyвЂ™s celebrated advice to вЂњgo west, young manвЂќ becomes physical when the giant statue kicks Harpo into the air towards the Wild West.ДЄ hostile tribe of Indians has driven the U.S. GrouchoвЂ™s opening narration states that the story takes place вЂњ100 years ago BC вЂ“ thatвЂ™s before credit cardsвЂќ while Harpo swings on a statue of Horace Greeley pointing westward. The voice of Chico was done by long time Filmation voice artist Ted Knight who also did the other male characters except for the role of the Indian Chief that was done by Joe Besser.ДЄlthough it was thought to be lost forever, Scheimer screened the short for an audience at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. It was Pat Harrington Jr., GrouchoвЂ™s friend.

вЂLou? IвЂ™ve got a perfect voice for you to play me.вЂ™ And I said, вЂWell, who is it, Groucho?вЂ™ He said, вЂYouвЂ™re talking to himвЂ™.

#WERE THE MARX BROTHERS REALLY BROTHERS SERIES#

Schiemer seems to have been at least partially inspired by the commercial success of Cambria StudiosвЂ™ syndicated cartoon show The New Three Stooges (1965) as well as the animated shows co-produced by Hanna-Barbera The Abbott and Costello Show (1967 although episodes were made as early as 1965) and The Laurel and Hardy Show (1966 although Larry Harmon had been working on the series since 1961).ДЄs Scheimer recalled, вЂњOne day I got a call from Groucho. The title was to reference the Marx BrothersвЂ™ film A Night at the Opera and the pilot was done as a Western that was sometimes referred to in early television as a вЂњHorse OperaвЂќ. I believe that I designed the characters and I did all the layout.вЂќ Jay Burton, Mort Goode and Mike Maltese were the writers and Hal Sutherland directed the pilot short, A Day at the Horse Opera.

The series was to consist of 156 seven-minute animated shortsДЄs Lou Scheimer of Filmation recalled in his biography, вЂњGroucho had signed on as the technical advisor. On February 14, 1966, the trade publication Broadcasting Magazine carried an advertisement from Filmation for a proposed series titled The New Marx Brothers Show. Like so many other projects, it never developed beyond the announcement. In 1961 during a period when college students were re-discovering the comedy team, Screen Gems announced they had plans for a Marx Brothers animated series to be produced by Hanna-Barbera. Groucho apparently enjoyed the shorts so much that he borrowed copies of the films to show at his house to visitors. On February 13, 1975, Disney Archivist Dave Smith invited the iconic comedian and his companion, Erin Fleming, to come to a screening room at the Burbank Disney Studio to view MickeyвЂ™s Polo Team (1936), Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938) and The Autograph Hound (1939). MickeyвЂ™s Polo TeamGroucho Marx used to joke, вЂњThere are more books about (Marx Brothers) films than there are films that we made.вЂќ While that is certainly true, Groucho was not taking into account the many animated shorts that featured him and his brothers or variations of them.ДЄmazingly, at the age of 85 years old, Groucho had never seen any animated cartoon with the Marx Brothers caricatures.

Were the marx brothers really brothers