Editing Groucho Marx (section)

===''You Bet Your Life''===
{{Main|You Bet Your Life}}
Marx's radio career was not as successful as his work on stage and in film, though historians such as [[Gerald Nachman (journalist)|Gerald Nachman]] and Michael Barson suggest that, in the case of the single-season ''[[Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel]]'' (1932), the failure may have been a combination of a poor time slot and the Marx Brothers' returning to Hollywood to make another film.

By the mid-1940s, Marx was experiencing a depressing lull in his career. His radio show ''[[Blue Ribbon Town]]'' had failed; [[Irving Brecher]] was unable to find a sponsor for his proposed radio sitcom ''The Flotsam Family'' created for Marx, only to see it become a huge hit revamped as ''[[The Life of Riley]]'' starring [[William Bendix]] in the title role. By that time, the Marx Brothers as film performers had officially retired.

Marx was scheduled to appear on a radio show with [[Bob Hope]]. Annoyed that he was made to wait in the [[green room]] for 40 minutes, he went on the air in a foul mood. Hope began by saying "Why, Groucho Marx! Groucho, what are you doing out here in the desert?" Marx retorted, "Huh, desert, I've been sitting in the dressing room for forty minutes! Some desert alright&nbsp;...". Marx continued to ignore the script, [[ad-lib]]bing at length, and took it well beyond its allotted time slot.

Listening in on the show was producer [[John Guedel]], who had a brainstorm. He approached Marx about doing a quiz show, to which Marx derisively retorted, "A quiz show? Only actors who are completely washed up resort to a quiz show!" Undeterred, Guedel proposed that the quiz would be only a backdrop for Marx's interviews of people, and the storm of ad-libbing that they would elicit. Marx replied, "Well, I've had no success in radio, and I can't hold on to a sponsor. At this point, I'll try anything!"{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}
[[File:You bet your life postcard 1953.JPG|thumb|left|125px|Marx as main host of ''You Bet Your Life'', 1953]]
''[[You Bet Your Life]]'' debuted in October 1947 on ABC radio (which aired it from 1947 to 1949), sponsored by costume jewelry manufacturer [[Allen Gellman]];<ref>Charlotte Chandler. Hello, I must be going: Groucho and his friends. Doubleday, 1978, p 190</ref> and then on CBS (1949–50), and finally NBC. The show was on radio only from 1947 to 1950; on both radio and television from 1950 to 1960; and on television only, from 1960 to 1961. The show proved a huge hit, being one of the most popular on television by the mid-1950s, garnering a number one rating in 1953. With [[George Fenneman]] as his announcer and straight man, Marx entertained his audiences with rapier wit and improvised conversation with his guests. Since ''You Bet Your Life'' was mostly ad-libbed and unscripted — although writers did pre-interview the guests and feed Marx ready-made lines in advance — the producers insisted that the network prerecord it instead of it being broadcast live. There were three reasons for this: prerecording provided Marx with time to fish around for funny exchanges, any intervening dead spots could be edited out; and most importantly to protect the network from what was considered risqué, since Marx was a notorious [[loose cannon]] and known to say almost anything. The television show ran for 11 seasons until it was canceled in 1961. Ironically longtime major sponsor, automobile ''marque'' [[DeSoto (automobile)|DeSoto]] went out of business for declining sales that same year. For the DeSoto ads, Marx would sometimes say: "Tell 'em Groucho sent you", or "Try a DeSoto before you decide." In the mid-1970s, episodes of the show were syndicated and rebroadcast as ''The Best of Groucho''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kleiner |first=Dick |title=Groucho's straight man back|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/116069539/|newspaper=The Anniston Star |location= Anniston, Alabama |date=August 23, 1975|access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref>

The program's theme music was an instrumental version of "[[Hooray for Captain Spaulding]]", which became increasingly identified as Marx's personal theme song. A recording of the song with Marx and the Ken Lane singers with an orchestra directed by [[Victor Young]] was released in 1952. Another recording made by Marx during this period was "The Funniest Song in the World", released on the Young People's Records label in 1949. It was a series of five original children's songs with a connecting narrative about a monkey and his fellow zoo creatures.

One of Marx's most oft-quoted remarks may have occurred during a 1947 radio episode. Marx was interviewing Charlotte Story, who had borne 20 children. When Marx asked why she had chosen to raise such a large family, Mrs. Story is said to have replied, "I love my husband," to which Marx responded, "I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while." The remark was judged too risqué to be aired, according to the anecdote, and was edited out before broadcast.<ref>Dwan, R. As Long As They're Laughing : Groucho Marx and You Bet Your Life. Baltimore, Midnight Marquee, 2000, p. 129. {{ISBN|188766436X}}</ref> Charlotte Story and her husband Marion, indeed parents of 20 children, were real people who appeared on the program.<ref>Kanfer, S. Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx. New York, Vintage, May 2001, p. 136. {{ISBN|0375702075}}</ref> Audio recordings of the interview exist,<ref name="snopes">{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/grouchocigar.asp|title=The Secret Words|website=Snopes.com|date=February 15, 2001 |access-date=April 13, 2015}}</ref> and a reference to cigars is made ("With each new kid, do you go around passing out cigars?"), but there is no evidence of the claimed remark. "I get credit all the time for things I never said," Marx told [[Roger Ebert]] in 1972. "You know that line in ''You Bet Your Life''? The guy says he has seventeen kids and I say, 'I smoke a cigar, but I take it out of my mouth occasionally'? I never said that."<ref>Ebert, R. A Living Legend, Rated R. ''Esquire'', July 1972, p. 143. Retrieved October 4, 2013.</ref> Marx's 1976 memoir recounts the episode as fact,<ref>Marx, G. and Arce, H. ''The Secret Word is Groucho''. New York, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1976, pp.&nbsp;33–4. {{ISBN|0399116907}}.</ref> but co-writer Hector Arce relied mostly on sources other than Marx himself—who was by then in his mid eighties, in ill health and mentally compromised—and was probably unaware that Marx had specifically denied making the observation.<ref>Kaltenbach, C. Also 20 Years Dead: Groucho. ''Baltimore Sun'', August 19, 1997, p.&nbsp;E-1.</ref> Head writer Bernie Smith recalled in a 1996 interview that the remark was indeed made—but again, well after the fact.<ref>Stoliar, S. Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho's House. New York, BearManor Media, October 2011, pp.&nbsp;124–5. {{ISBN|1593936524}}</ref>

In 1946, as part of the marketing campaign for the Marx Brothers film ''[[A Night in Casablanca]]'', Marx created a storyline that [[Warner Bros. Pictures]] threatened to sue him, contending that that title was too similar to their 1942 film ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]''.<ref>Clifton Fadiman (ed), Little Brown Book of Anecdotes, Boston 1985, p. 387</ref> Groucho wrote open letters "responding" to the [[Warner Bros.#History|four Warner brothers]], including one in which he questions their own use of various words, such as: wondering if "in 1471, Ferdinand Balboa Warner, your great-great-grandfather,... stumbled on the shores of Africa and... named it Casablanca"; suggesting that "[[David Burbank|[David] Burbank]]'s survivors aren't too happy with the fact that" Warner Bros. [[Burbank, California]] studios are called their "Burbank studios"; and even suggesting a Marx Brothers legal action addressing "What about 'Warner Brothers'? ... Professionally, we were brothers long before you were."<ref>{{cite web |title=Groucho Marx letter to Warner Brothers |url=https://archive.org/details/Groucho_Marx_Letter_to_Warner_Brothers |access-date=2007-02-05 |via=[[Internet Archive#Text collection|Internet Archive text collection]]}}</ref><ref><!-- Mikkelson (2000) A Night in Casablancaː Did Warner Bros. threaten to sue the Marx Brothers over their 1946 film titled 'A Night in Casablanca'?-->{{cite Q|Q123469979}}</ref>