THE GREAT MOVIE COMEDIANS HAVE GIVEN US ALL SO MUCH JOY AND SO MANY LAUGHS.
FORTUNATELY TOO, AS THE GREAT WRITERS OF THE AGES HAVE HAD THEIR EPIC WORKS PUBLISHED AS BOOKS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, THANKS TO THE MAGIC OF FILM - AND OF COURSE LATER - VIDEOS AND DVD'S, WE CAN ALL ENJOY THESE GREAT WORKS OF ART.
THE LEGACY THEY LEAVE US IS ALL FOR THE GOOD, BUT ONE SLIGHTLY SAD SIDE IS STILL THERE. IT IS THE ALL-TOO-TRUE FACT THAT ALL OF US DO, INDEED, GROW OLDER, AND THAT EVEN THE INCREDIBLE MAGIC OF THE MOVIES AND CELLULOID CANNOT CHANGE THIS.
THE MARX BROTHERS ARE NO EXCEPTION.
IN AUGUST OF 1948, FILMING BEGAN ON THE FINAL OFFICIAL MARX BROTHERS MOVIE: LOVE HAPPY. THE TITLE HAD VARIOUSLY BEEN CHANGED FROM "DIAMONDS IN THE BASEMENT", "DIAMONDS AND RUBIES", "BLONDE HEAVEN", "BLONDES UP", "KLEPTOMANIACS", UNTIL FINALLY, "LOVE HAPPY" WAS AGREED UPON.
THE BOYS WERE NO SPRING CHICKENS AT THIS TIME. CHICO, THE OLDEST BROTHER WAS 62, HARPO WAS 61, AND KID BROTHER, GROUCHO WAS 59. CHICO AND HARPO DO LOOK A BIT LONG-IN-THE-TOOTH IN THE FILM, BUT, ALTHOUGH THIS IS THE ONLY MARX BROTHERS FILM WHERE GROUCHO DOES NOT WEAR HIS USUAL "GREASEPAINT" MUSTACHE AND EYEBROWS, (HE ACTUALLY SPORTS HIS OWN MUSTACHE AND BROWS), HE LOOKS VERY GOOD. (GROUCHO'S CHARACTER ALWAYS SEEMED "OLDER" ANYWAY, IN FACT MANY PEOPLE, BECAUSE OF HIS APPEARANCE AND DEMEANOR, LOGICALLY ASSUMED GROUCHO TO BE THE "OLDEST" OF THE MARX BROTHERS)
THE IDEA FOR LOVE HAPPY HAD COME FROM AN ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY WRITTEN BY HARPO, WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SOLO STAR OF THE FILM. BUT, AS USUAL, BROTHER CHICO HAD SPENT ALL HIS MONEY ON GAMBLING AND WOMEN (NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER), AND HE CAME ON AS HARPO'S CO-STAR. GROUCHO, IN AN UNCHARACTERISTICALLY SMALLER ROLE, SIGNED ON AS THE FILM'S NARRATOR AND HE PLAYED THE ROLE OF DETECTIVE SAM GRUNION.
ALTHOUGH FILMING BEGAN IN AUGUST OF 1948, THE FILM DID NOT COME OUT UNTIL MARCH OF 1950. WHY? AS USUAL WITH SO MANY FILMS, THEY SIMPLY RAN OUT OF MONEY. SO, TO GET THE MUCH-NEEDED LOOT TO CONTINUE FILMING, LOVE HAPPY CAME UP WITH ONE OF SHOW BUSINESS' GREAT AND STILL-USED TRADITIONS: "PRODUCT PLACEMENT".
AS A WAY OF FINANCING THE UNFINISHED FILM, THE LAST BIG CLIMAX SCENE IN THE MOVIE, WAS TO BE A "CHASE SCENE" - THE STAPLE OF SO MANY COMEDY FILMS. IN THE SCENE, HARPO IS BEING CHASED BY THE VILLAINS. DURING THE CHASES, HE RUNS AROUND THE ROOFS OF VARIOUS BUILDINGS CONTAINING HUGE BILLBOARDS ADVERTISING VARIOUS PRODUCTS. THIS SCENE IS ONE OF THE MOST SURREAL SCENES IN MOTION PICTURE HISTORY. WE WATCH AS HARPO RUNS BY A HUGE "G.E. LAMPS" BILLBOARD AND A "WHEATIES" CEREAL SIGN. THEN, HARPO CLIMBS ON THE "BULOVA WATCH" SIGN AND RIDES THE HUGE WATCH PENDULUM BACK AND FORTH LIKE A GIANT SWING. WE SEE HARPO RIDE THE "MOBIL GAS" HORSE SIGN UP AND DOWN. AND FINALLY, HARPO GOES INSIDE A "KOOL CIGARETTES" SIGN, WHERE HE SWALLOWS ALOT OF SMOKE AND EMERGES BLOWING HUGE GUSTS OF SMOKE OUT OF HIS MOUTH AND EARS, INTO THE PURSUING VILLAIN'S FACES.
LOVE HAPPY IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED TO BE THE MARX BROTHERS WORST FILM, ALTHOUGH MANY HARPO FANS DO ENJOY THIS RARE STARRING ROLE. YOU CAN ALSO SEE A VERY YOUNG RAYMOND BURR IN THE FILM, PLAYING ONE OF THE BAD GUYS - WITH A VERY STRAIGHT FACE. THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEWS OF THE FILM ACTUALLY WERE, SURPRISINGLY, FAIRLY GOOD, ALTHOUGH MIXED. THE MARX BROTHERS THEMSELVES TENDED TO LOOK DOWN ON THE FILM, INDEED, NEITHER GROUCHO OR HARPO EVEN MENTIONED THE FILM IN THEIR RESPECTIVE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES.
LOVE HAPPY DOES HAVE ONE OTHER HISTORIC FILM SIGNIFICANCE INVOLVED WITH IT. EARLY ON IN THE FILM'S PRODUCTION, GROUCHO WAS AUDITIONING YOUNG ACTRESSES TO PLAY A SEXY WALK-ON ROLE IN THE MOVIE, IN A SCENE WITH HIM. THREE YOUNG ACTRESSES WERE AT THE AUDITION, THE FINAL THREE TO CHOOSE FROM. ALL THREE GIRLS WERE INSTRUCTED TO "WALK ACROSS THE ROOM".
THE FIRST TWO GIRLS DID THEIR SEXIEST WALKS, AND THEN THE THIRD GIRL DID HER WALK.
THE EFFECT WAS ELECTRIC!!!
WHEN ASKED WHICH OF THE THREE GIRLS HE PREFERRED, GROUCHO SAID ARE YOU KIDDING??? IT'S THE THIRD GIRL!!! SHE'S A COMBINATION OF MAE WEST, THEDA BARA AND LITTLE BO PEEP!
THE YOUNG ACTRESS WAS MARILYN MONROE.
ACCORDING TO MARILYN, HARPO WAS AT THE AUDITIONS TOO, HONKING HIS HORN WILDLY AS HE WATCHED HER WALK. EVEN AT THIS EARLY STAGE IN HER CAREER, SHE COULD PROJECT THAT SOON-TO-BE WORLD FAMOUS SEXY PERSONA.
WATCHING "LOVE HAPPY" JUST TO GET OF GLIMPSE OF THE YOUNG MONROE IS WELL WORTH IT. SHE IS ONLY IN THE ONE SCENE WITH GROUCHO, BUT IT IS A HILARIOUS SCENE AND SHE IS MESMERIZINGLY BEAUTIFUL. MONROE WAS TO SOON REACH WORLD STARDOM AND IRONICALLY, WHEN LOVE HAPPY WAS RE-RELEASED, IT WAS BILLED AS THE FILM THAT DISCOVERD MARILYN MONROE AND STARRING MARILYN MONROE.
MANY OF THE MOVIES POSTERS FEATURED A BIG CENTRAL SHOT OF GROUCHO AND MARILYN, VIRTUALLY IGNORING HARPO AND CHICO, WHO HAD MUCH BIGGER ROLES. HER SMALL APEARANCE CAUSED A STIR, MUCH LIKE THE LATTER-DAY ROLE OF A YOUNG SUZANNE SOMERS IN AMERICAN GRAFITTI, WHERE SHE PLAYED THE BLONDE IN THE T-BIRD, THE GIRL WHO RICHARD DREYFUSS HAS A CRUSH ON FROM AFAR.
MONROE ACTUALLY DID GO ON THE PROMOTIONAL TOUR FOR LOVE HAPPY. ALTHOUGH SOME SOURCES LISTED LOVE HAPPY AS MARILYN'S FIRST FILM, THIS IS UNTRUE. BEFORE LOVE HAPPY, SHE HAD ALREADY APPEARED AS AN EXTRA IN A MEDIOCRE FILM CALLED SCUDDA HOO! SCUDDA HAY!, AND SHE HAD ACTUALLY HAD THE LEAD ROLE IN A B-MOVIE CALLED LADIES OF THE CHORUS. BOTH FILMS WENT NOWHERE.
NOT MUCH ELSE IS KNOWN OF YOUNG MARILYN'S TIME DURING THE FILMING OF LOVE HAPPY. GROUCHO DOES MENTION THE FILM IN ONE OF HIS LATER BOOKS. ACCORDING TO GROUCHO, MARILYN LOVED ITALIAN FOOD, AND THERE WAS AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT NEAR WHERE THEY FILMED AND SOME PRODUCER USED TO TAKE HER OUT THERE TO EAT ALL THE TIME.
GROUCHO ALSO SAYS HE'S NOT SURE, BUT HE THINKS BROTHER CHICO PUT THE MOVES ON YOUNG MARILYN.
THAT WOULD PROBABLY BE A GOOD BET!
