THE PLOT THUS FAR
The Marx Brothers became entertainment icons through a long and brilliant career on vaudeville and Broadway stages, and they sealed their immortality in a string of celebrated feature films. But the end of their film career was perfectly timed for a collision with the birth of television. The new medium provided Groucho, Chico and Harpo with unprecedented exposure: which meant, of course, an opportunity to bring laughter to millions of people all at once. It was as if live vaudeville was being beamed to the entire nation. For the next 20 years, the Marx Brothers’ appearances on television (individually and together) included sitcoms, game shows, variety programs and even the occasional drama.
This first of its kind set (featuring long-lost material from the Marx Brothers’ own collections) presents a broad and genuinely rare array of television work from the comedy legends, who still had plenty of laughs left in them after the movies. For Marx Brothers fans, and fans of comedy in general, this is truly must see TV.
Over 50 Television Appearances
GE Theater, The DuPont Show, The Jack Benny Program, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Dick Cavett Show, All Star Revue, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, Kraft Music Hall, The Red Skelton Hour, The RCA Victor Show, The Perry Como Show, The Arthur Murray Party, Championship Bridge, Celebrity Golf, Celebrity Billiards and many, many more!
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“The Marx Brothers TV Collection” is pretty amazing. Shout Factory released a set like this last year for Steve Martin and that was a work of genius. However, the Marx Brothers TV release feels like an effort to capture an important time in history. The majority of the material only highlights Chico, Harpo and Groucho. Honestly, I was thrilled to see almost a disc’s worth of attention paid exclusively to Harpo. A lot of people tend to forget how big of a deal his book Harpo Speaks was to the group back during its late 1950s release. You even get to see a vintage commercial promoting the release.
What’s so odd about seeing The Marx Brothers towards the end of their lives is that they look feeble. Most of them were big smokers, while Harpo hit his age under big eyes and a wig. It’s when you see them relaxing in pictures in the booklet or in behind-the-scenes material, you see that these were guys near the end. Yet, they remained just as funny. That is if you can overlook Groucho Marx’s role in Skidoo. Skidoo wasn’t a bad movie, just an experiment created with the panache of a 15 year old discovering hallucinogens for the first time.
The DVD comes with bonus TV clips as the special features. The A/V Quality is on par with television from 1950 through 1972. The range produces transfers that range from remastered to home movie to taken straight from the kinescope. The same goes for the audio tracks and they stay period appropriate. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to fans.
RELEASE DATE: 08/12/2014