Marx Brothers

[firstfrost]

Half of our Lyric group saw Animal Crackers at the Lyric last night. (The other half was sick or out of town or destroyed by the Red Line Disaster that apparently trapped people on a train outside of Davis for about two and a half hours); perhaps they will go later.

Having seen very little Marx Brothers other than the amount that seeps into you as part of American culture, it was interesting. Even an imitation Groucho was darned compelling to watch and listen to (and, having watched some bits of the movie on Youtube later, the Lyric version was more turned-up-to-11 than the real Groucho), and I enjoy physical comedy when it's clever, which it generally was. (Why were there only three brothers on the program cover? Buffy the Vampire Slayer has taught me that Zeppo is the one to ignore, but still... I didn't even realize he was supposed to be a Marx Brother until later.)

But... I don't get why "The gate swung open and a fig newton entered" is funny. It's clearly supposed to be, but it sails right over my head. I hate to have jokes explained, but it's going to be bugging me for days.

Comments

[shumashi.livejournal.com]

Zeppo is the forgettable one because, well, he's forgettable. :) Groucho, Harpo, and Chico have over-the-top schticks while Zeppo is usually the straight man/romantic lead.

I feel like there was a line before the fig newton line that it built on, but I didn't get the joke either.

[desireearmfeldt]

And in many of the movies, in fact, the straight man/romantic lead is someone other than Zeppo.

[shaggy-man.livejournal.com]

How many could "many" possibly be? Zeppo was only in the first five movie.

Besides, do you actually remember any of the other romantic leads? Foil though he was, there was nobody in any of those movies whose name was not "Dumont" who could hold a candle to Zeppo in that capacity.