The Cocoanuts is one of the many Marx Brothers films used to bring laughter to millions of viewers. In the clip, Groucho (Mr. Schlemmer) is trying to explain a map of the area to Willy (Chico). Many aspects of the clip can be easily missed if the senses are not engaged to find them. Groucho and Chico drop many one-liners and they come so often, quickly, and subtly that it takes at least three views of the clip to catch them all.
The setting is set in the lobby of the Cocoanut Manor. The owner Mr. Schlemmer is the owner, and a swindling conman to boot. He calls Willy over to him, yet another part of some master scheme to make money. I think that the script is really the key part to what makes the scene effective. It could have been dull and boring, but the lines that are mixed in with it make it hilarious. As he describes the places on the map he names the "Cocoanut Manor, Cocoanut Willy replies wittily, "Where do you get coconut custard?", and he is answered with, "that's on one of the forks." This was only many of many puns within a five-minute series. The jokes rely on a lot of words that sound alike to make them funny and use the ability to connect two ideas, such as one joke when talking about places on the map. Mr. Schlemmer starts off the dialogue: " And this over here is where the levies are." "Oh the Jewish neighborhood," replies Chico. It takes some brains to make "levies" to sound like "Levites," who are Jews.
Another one of the factors to this clip that makes the film so successful is the chemistry between the actors. They have acted together in many films, which makes it so much more enjoyable for the viewer. The timing of each statement is impeccable, and their body language and physical expressions go well with each other.
1 comment:
This is a very funny video. These two remind me of old time Abbott and Costello skits. They seem like they could argue about anything and everything all day long. No matter what the other says the other person always has a comeback to beat the other. It seems like a war of words.
I have never seen this series before but I think that if I had I may have been hooked. Funny stuff like this always catches my attention. I spend a lot of my free time just creeping around YouTube looking for videos to make me laugh.
As for the "One Liners" you mention, I think they are great. They could probably be compared with some of the better "One Liners" such as "Who's on First." These statements add so much to the video that it does take more than one viewing to be able to appreciate them all. Actually in a sense these "One Liners" make me think of some of the things that Professor Ware often says. Like when he asked us to bring in magazines and someone asked, "What kind of magazines?" and he promptly replied with, "I don't want any porn or anything like that, just old magazines that you have just lying around." These lines are entertaining yet get the point of what he's trying to say across.
Post a Comment