Bunny has been watching the Marx Brothers lately: specifically, A Night At The Opera--one of the two best Marx Brothers movies, the other being Duck Soup. In Night At The Opera, the boys have to remove an opera singer so they can substitute another one to prove how talented he is so he can marry the girl. This was ringing some bells with me, because there is another Marx Brothers movie where someone removes a painting so they can substitute another one to prove how talented the other painter is so he can marry the girl. But I couldn't remember which one that was. So, at dinner last night we had a little conversation about the Brothers Marx.
And I apologize to those of you who don't know the Marx oeuvre, because this won't make any sense at all.
Me: What is the movie where Groucho plays Captain Spaulding?
Mr. Sweetie: I think that's Coconuts.
Bunny: No, it's not Coconuts, because Coconuts is not funny.
Me: Night at the Opera is the one on the boat with the three aviators, right?
Bunny: Yes. And Monkey Business is the other one on the boat.
Me: With the gangsters?
Mr. Sweetie: Yes. And Thelma Todd is in that one too. She's a cutie.
Me: But which one is the one with the art--where they are trying to switch the art to prove that Zeppo's a good artist.
Mr. Sweetie: Isn't that the one with Captain Spaulding?
Bunny: singing "My name is Captain Spaulding/The African explorer/Did someone call me Schnorer?/Hurray, hurray, hurray!"
Mr. Sweetie: I think that is Coconuts.
Me: No, I'm pretty sure Coconuts is the one about the land deals in Florida.
Mr. Sweetie: Yes. With Captain Spaulding.
Me: No, because Groucho holds a land auction, and Captain Spaulding wouldn't do that. (Yes, it's sad, I'm doing character analysis of Marx Brothers movies! Because everyone knows that consistent character development is one of the hallmarks of these movies--NOT.)
Bunny: No. Because Coconuts isn't funny. And it was so not funny that I refused to watch any other Marx Brothers movies for a long time.
Me: Wait. Which one is Monkey Business? Is that the college one?
Bunny: That's my other favorite one, where Harpo rides out onto the football field in a garbage can.
Me: Where the password at the speakeasy is "swordfish?"
Bunny: And Chico changes the password and he can't remember it.
Reminiscent chuckles around the table.
Me: So, which one is the one with Captain Spaulding?
Mr. Sweetie finally just got up from the dinner table and dug through the DVD shelf to pull out all the Marx Brothers moview we own.
Mr. Sweetie: We're forgetting "Animal Crackers!"
Me and Bunny: That's right! Animal Crackers!
See--this is why family dinners are so important!
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