Horse Feathers

I saw my first Marx Brothers movie tonight. I'm not sure what the title means. Classic comedy! A little disorganized, and sometimes too slick; I think I might have missed some of the punch lines. Having seen Groucho, I now understand much of what's in Woody Allen's head. My favorite is Harpo. You'd think that the sad, mute clown would be scary...but on Harpo it's just sweet! The most classic element of their classic comedy: vaudeville/physical jokes.

But the part that touches my heart the most is Harpo's harp. He plays beautifully! And it's such a poetic finish, to see the goofball have a serious moment, and the mute have a voice. He becomes something completely different with the music.

I found a poignant little bio piece about Harpo on IMDB: "As a child, Harpo was apparently infatuated with music. He rejoiced when his family bought a piano. He then fell into dispair when he found out that they could only afford to let one brother have piano lessons. His brother Chico Marx ended up with the lessons, which he did not take seriously." Well, I thought Chico played pretty well, but Harpo is the one who melts the auditor.

On top of all that, Harpo Marx loved children and adopted four of them; and he loved the same woman all his life. What a good guy!