Editing Animal Crackers (1930 film)

{{Short description|1930 film starring the Four Marx Brothers}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Animal Crackers
| image          = Animal_Crackers_Movie_Poster.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Victor Heerman]]
| producer       = 
| writer         = [[Bert Kalmar]]<br/>[[Harry Ruby]]<br/>[[George S. Kaufman]]<br>[[Morrie Ryskind]]
| starring       = [[Groucho Marx]]<br>[[Harpo Marx]]<br>[[Chico Marx]]<br>[[Zeppo Marx]]<br>[[Lillian Roth]]
| music          = [[Bert Kalmar]]<br/>[[Harry Ruby]]
| cinematography = [[George J. Folsey]]
| editing        =
| distributor    = [[Paramount Pictures]] 
| released       = {{Film date|1930|08|23}}
| runtime        = 98 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| gross          = $3.1 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)<ref name=champs>{{cite news|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=All-Time Film Rental Champs|date=October 15, 1990|page=M-144|first=Lawrence|last=Cohn}}</ref>
}}
'''''Animal Crackers''''' is a 1930 American <!--Do not uppercase "p" in pre-Code within narrative.  See given internal link for examples of this hyphenated prefixed adjective in captions and running text!-->[[Pre-Code Hollywood|pre-Code]] [[Marx Brothers]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Victor Heerman]]. The film stars the Marx Brothers, ([[Groucho Marx|Groucho]], [[Harpo Marx|Harpo]], [[Chico Marx|Chico]], and [[Zeppo Marx|Zeppo]]), with [[Lillian Roth]] and [[Margaret Dumont]], based on the Marxes’ [[Animal Crackers (musical)|Broadway musical of the same name]]. Mayhem and zaniness ensue during a weekend party in honor of famed African explorer [[Captain Spaulding (Animal Crackers)|Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding]]. A critical and commercial success upon its initial release, ''Animal Crackers'' was shot at [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount's]]  [[Kaufman Astoria Studios|Astoria Studios]] in [[Astoria, Queens]], the second film the Brothers would make in [[New York City]].

''Animal  Crackers'' was adapted from the successful 1928 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] [[Animal Crackers (musical)|musical of the same title]] by [[George S. Kaufman]] and [[Morrie Ryskind]], also starring the Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont. Also reprising their Broadway roles were [[Margaret Irving]] as Mrs. Whitehead and [[Robert Greig (actor)|Robert Greig]] as Hives, the butler. Greig appeared with the Marx Brothers again in ''[[Horse Feathers]]'' (1932).

== Plot ==<!-- Word count should be 400-700 per [[WP:FILMPLOT]] --> <!-- Word count: 1,014 as of September 2, 2020 -->
Society matron Mrs. Rittenhouse is hosting a lavish weekend party at her mansion on [[Long Island]]. The guest of honor is renowned explorer [[Captain Spaulding (Animal Crackers)|Captain Geoffrey (or Jeffrey) T. Spaulding]], just returned from Africa. Also, the famous art patron Roscoe W. Chandler will unveil his recently acquired painting, ''After The Hunt,'' by an artist named Beaugard.

Capt. Spaulding makes a grand entrance in a [[sedan chair]] and announces that he cannot stay and must leave immediately (singing "Hello, I Must Be Going"). Signor Emanuel Ravelli, a musician hired to provide music for the party, arrives followed a few moments later by his "partner" the Professor.

[[File:1930 - Strand Theater Ad - 21 Sep MC - Allentown PA.jpg|thumb|235px|Newspaper ad for ''Animal Crackers'' (1930)]]
Mrs. Rittenhouse's daughter Arabella devises a scheme for Chandler to notice her fiancé John Parker's artistic talent and sponsor him: they'll replace the Beaugard painting with an almost perfect copy of it John painted as an art student. Arabella asks Ravelli to switch the paintings. Meanwhile, two other socially prominent guests, Grace Carpenter and  Mrs. Whitehead, come up with the very same scheme as a means of humiliating Mrs. Rittenhouse. Grace also copied the painting as an art student and the women ask Hives, the Rittenhouse butler, formerly employed by Mrs. Whitehead, to replace the Beaugard with Grace's poor copy, unaware that they are removing John's copy.

Ravelli and the Professor encounter Chandler and recognize him as Abie, a fish peddler from [[Czechoslovakia]]. Later that night, a thunderstorm has put out the lights and Ravelli and the Professor attempt to replace the Beaugard in the darkness. In the middle of the job, Capt. Spaulding and Mrs. Rittenhouse wander in.

During the party, the painting is unveiled. Chandler immediately notices the poor quality and realizes someone has stolen his painting. John feels discouraged, thinking the painting is still his copy. Suddenly the lights go out again, and when restored, the imitation Beaugard is missing as well.

The next day, the police arrive to search for the missing painting. John finds Grace's copy of the Beaugard and reveals to Arabella that someone else must have had the same idea to switch paintings. After getting the painting back from the Professor, John and Arabella bring it to Capt. Spaulding. The Professor is apprehended, and the three paintings are returned. Chandler momentarily mistakes John's copy for the genuine Beaugard. Realizing his talent, Chandler hires John to do a series of portraits for him. The Professor, escaping arrest, sprays the guests with a knockout substance from a Flit gun. After everyone is laid out on the floor and fully subdued, the film concludes with the Professor knocking himself out.

==Cast==
*[[Groucho Marx]] as [[Captain Spaulding (Animal Crackers)|Captain Jeffrey Spaulding]]<ref>As seen on the opening cast card. A newspaper headline shown immediately after the credits identifies him as "Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding"</ref>
*[[Harpo Marx]] as The Professor
*[[Chico Marx]] as Signor Emanuel Ravelli
*[[Zeppo Marx]] as Horatio Jamison<ref>Zeppo played Captain Spaulding in one scene</ref>
*[[Lillian Roth]] as Arabella Rittenhouse
*[[Margaret Dumont]] as Mrs. Rittenhouse
*[[Louis Sorin]] as Roscoe W. Chandler 
*Hal Thompson as John Parker
*[[Margaret Irving]] as Mrs. Whitehead
*Kathryn Reece as Grace Carpenter
*[[Robert Greig (actor)|Robert Greig]] as Hives, the butler
*Edward Metcalf as Inspector Hennessey
*The Music Masters as Six Footmen

== Jokes ==
Four of Groucho's best-known quips:
*"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know."
::(The American Film Institute listed this at number 53 in the [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes|100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time]].)
*"Then, we tried to remove the tusks, ... but they were embedded in so firmly, we couldn't budge them.  Of course, in Alabama the [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tusk-a-loosa]]. But that's entirely ir-elephant to what I was talking about."
*"Africa is God's country – and He can have it."
*"We took some pictures of the native girls, but they weren't developed. But we're going back again in a couple of weeks!"

Other quotes from Groucho:
*"Ever since I met you, I've swept you off my feet."
*"You mind if I don't smoke?"
*"There's one thing I've always wanted to do before I quit: Retire."
*"I was outside the cabin smoking some meat. There wasn't a cigar store in the neighborhood!"
*"Didn't you ever see a Habeas Corpus?" Chico: "No, but I see [[Abie's Irish Rose|Habeas Irish Rose]]."

The film also contains the well-known Chico–Harpo scene in which Chico keeps asking Harpo for "a flash" (meaning a flashlight), and Harpo – not understanding – produces from his bottomless trenchcoat and baggy pants a fish, a flask, a flute, a "[[Flit gun|flit]]", a "[[Rank of hands (poker)#Standard ranking|flush]]", etc.

Zeppo figures in a well-known scene in which Groucho dictates a letter to his lawyers in rambling pseudo-legalese. Zeppo gets to one-up Groucho: When asked to read the letter back, Zeppo informs him, "You said a lot of things I didn't think were very important, so I just omitted them!" whereupon a minor skirmish ensues: what he's omitted is the body of the letter. (Joe Adamson, in ''Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Sometimes Zeppo'', observed that this scene disproved the common notion that Zeppo was the least of the Marx Brothers:  "It takes a Marx Brother to pull something like that on a Marx Brother and get away with it.")

One more complex running joke has Groucho turning the dialogue into a scene out of the [[Eugene O'Neill]] play, ''[[Strange Interlude]]'', in which the characters continually spoke [[aside]]s that convey their thoughts. Groucho's voice becomes deep and droning as he steps apart from the other characters to comment on the scene:<blockquote>Living with your folks. Living with your folks. The beginning of the end. Drab dead yesterdays shutting out beautiful tomorrows. Hideous, stumbling footsteps creaking along the misty corridors of time. And in those corridors I see figures, strange figures, weird figures: Steel 186, Anaconda 74, American Can 138&nbsp;...</blockquote>
The comedy, thus, is in the unpredictable shifting of the scene's meaning, from two socialite ladies and a world-famous explorer mingling at a party, to a parody of O'Neill's work, to a mimicking of a man reading out stock prices. Incidentally, Groucho had heavy investments in Anaconda Copper and after having lost everything in the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|stock market crash of 1929]] experienced a bout of depression as well as insomnia.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://ww.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=114181633| title = Comedy And The Economic Crash Of 1929}}</ref>

In the final scene, Harpo uses a [[Flit gun]] to pacify an entire crowd, finally spraying Groucho, who falls unconscious to the ground. The current prints of the film have the "Flit" name blotted out, since Paramount Pictures didn't get permission to use the trademarked name.

== Musical numbers ==
Groucho's songs, "[[Hello, I Must Be Going (song)|Hello, I Must Be Going]]" and "[[Hooray for Captain Spaulding]]", both written by [[Bert Kalmar]] and [[Harry Ruby]], became recurring themes for Groucho through the years. The latter song became the theme of Groucho's radio and TV game show ''[[You Bet Your Life]]''. It referred to a real Captain Spaulding, an army officer arrested a few years earlier for selling cocaine to Hollywood residents. The original full version of "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" was edited in compliance to the [[Production Code|Hays Code]] when it was re-released in 1936: the sexually suggestive line "I think I'll try and make her" was removed – it came after Mrs. Rittenhouse's line: "He was the only white man to cover every acre." It was long believed that this footage had been lost forever, until a pre-Hays Code print was discovered in the archives of the British Film Institute.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/marx-brothers-horse-feathers|title=If There's a Marx Brothers Revival Coming, It Will Begin This Weekend|last=Liebenson|first=Donald|newspaper=HWD|access-date=October 18, 2016}}</ref>  This forms the basis of Universal's Blu-ray restoration, released in October 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/us/dvd-bluray/the-marx-brothers/258091/marx-brothers-collection-will-include-restored-footage|title=Marx Brothers Collection Will Include Restored Footage|newspaper=Den of Geek|access-date=October 18, 2016}}</ref>

Ironically, Groucho used an even more risqué line in introducing Chico's piano sequence: "Signor Ravelli's first selection will be, 'Somewhere My Love Lies Sleeping', with a male chorus." Chico's own piano composition "I'm Daffy over You" would be played again in their next feature film, [[Monkey Business (1931 film)|''Monkey Business'']], in the film's score and by Harpo on the harp.
*He's One of Those Men (Hives and Footmen)
*I Represent the Captain (Zeppo)
*[[Hooray for Captain Spaulding]] Part I (The Cast)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://members.tripod.com/Cleo256/marx/spaulding.html |title=Lyrics to Hooray for Captain Spaulding |access-date=April 2, 2007 | archive-url= https://archive.today/20070404035821/http://members.tripod.com/Cleo256/marx/spaulding.html| archive-date= April 4, 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref>
*[[Hello, I Must Be Going (song)|Hello, I Must Be Going]] (Groucho)
*Hooray for Captain Spaulding Part II (Cast)
*Why Am I So Romantic? (Arabella and John, and as a harp interlude with Harpo)
*I'm Daffy over You (Chico; the refrain is sometimes confused with the 1950s song "[[Sugartime|Sugar in the Morning]]")
*[[Silver Threads Among the Gold]] (Chico)
*Brief piano interlude (Harpo)
*Gypsy-chorus (a.k.a. [[Anvil Chorus]]) (Chico)
*[[My Old Kentucky Home]] (Marx Brothers)

== Releases ==

The original 1930 film release ran 99 minutes. In 1936, the film was reissued with several small cuts to accommodate the [[Production Code]]. This version ran about 98 minutes.

[[Paramount Pictures]] did not originally contract for renewal rights to the play and did not renegotiate when they were due to expire. Therefore, the studio's  rights to the play expired in 1956 and reverted to the authors of the Broadway stage play: the playwrights [[George S. Kaufman]] and [[Morrie Ryskind]], the composer [[Harry Ruby]], and the lyricist [[Bert Kalmar]]. When [[MCA Inc.]] acquired the rights to the film in 1958, they also tried to secure the rights to the play but would not meet Kaufman's and Ryskind's financial demands.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Minneapolis Tribune]]|page=1D|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|author-link=Leonard Maltin|date=June 23, 1974|title=Lost, strayed or ? - where are those classic films of today?}}</ref>

These legal restrictions prevented the film from being televised in the United States, but it ''could'' be televised in Canada, outside the restricted area. (The same situation prevailed in 1968, when stage rights forced MCA to withdraw the [[Olsen and Johnson]] comedy [[Hellzapoppin' (film)|''Hellzapoppin''']] from TV distribution in America, but not Canada.) ''Animal Crackers'' had not been seen in the United States since playing neighborhood theaters in reissue (alongside [[Duck Soup (1933 film)|''Duck Soup'']]) in 1949. Marx Brothers fans were unable to see ''Animal Crackers'' until 16mm copies of a Canadian TV print began circulating on the collectors' market. Some theaters took a chance on showing these inferior, unauthorized copies to paying audiences, but these revivals were not heavily publicized and escaped MCA's notice.

One of these screenings took place at the Old Town Music Hall theater in [[Anaheim, California]], in December 1973. [[UCLA]] student and Marx Brothers fan [[Steve Stoliar]] attended the screening, and impulsively contacted Groucho Marx to enlist his support for an unlikely campaign to attempt to persuade — or pressure — Universal to re-release the film. Groucho agreed to appear at the UCLA campus for a publicity event.<ref>Stoliar, Steve. ''Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho's House''. General Publishing Group (1996). pp. 24–27</ref> On February 7, 1974, Groucho and his assistant, [[Erin Fleming]], visited UCLA under the aegis of Stoliar's newly formed "Committee for the Re-release of Animal Crackers" (CRAC). The event drew around 200 students, over 2,000 signatures on re-release petitions, and several reporters.<ref>Stoliar, pp. 27–35</ref> Universal scrambled to appear responsive: a spokesman told a ''UCLA [[Daily Bruin]]'' reporter that the studio was "delighted" by the interest, and that "we have negotiated with the heirs of the writers (Morrie Ryskind and George S. Kaufman), but they were asking much more than we wanted to spend. Just recently we reached an agreement, and we're waiting to sign the contracts." (Not quite: Ryskind was still in the pre-heir stage – he lived until 1985. The songwriter Harry Ruby was also alive, though he died only two weeks later, aged 79.) The spokesman added that he expected the film would soon be released. As the ''Daily Bruin'' put it, "The rest of the day belonged to Groucho, as he showed surprising flashes of his old brilliance." Asked to name his favorite comedian, he said: "Me." He also said that "''Animal Crackers'' is the best of our movies."<ref>Silverstein, Stuart. "Groucho Returns to College." ''UCLA Daily Bruin''. February 8, 1974. p. 1</ref>

Groucho's UCLA appearance generated national press coverage. An appearance on the nationally syndicated ''[[The Merv Griffin Show|Merv Griffin Show]]'' soon followed. In April 1974, Groucho and Stoliar "received an answer from Universal. According to Vice President Arnold Shane, they were 'delighted with the response of the students.'" On May 23, 1974, attempting to gauge public interest, Universal screened a sharp new print of the film at the UA Theater in Westwood, just south of the UCLA campus. Groucho made a personal appearance and walked unescorted into the theatre on the left aisle. People in the audience stood up and started applauding and soon the entire theater joined in. Encouraged by the response there – the lines stretched around the block for months — on June 23 the studio screened the film at the Sutton Theater in New York.<ref>Stoliar, pp. 36–42</ref> Groucho attended the New York premiere. A near-riot broke out and a police escort was summoned. From there ''Animal Crackers'' went into national release.

Because of these rights issues, ''Animal Crackers'' had never been seen on television until July 21, 1979, when [[CBS]] broadcast a [[Television special|special]] showing of the film.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://vintagetoledotv.squarespace.com/print-ads-cbs/ |title=Per ''TV Guide'' ad at vintagetoledotv.squarespace.com |access-date=May 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325005853/http://vintagetoledotv.squarespace.com/print-ads-cbs/ |archive-date=March 25, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The complete, uncut ''Animal Crackers'', which had only been available for decades in an edited version for the 1936 reissue, was restored from a 35mm duplicate negative held by the British Film Institute and released by Universal Pictures in 2016 in DCP format for theatrical distribution and Blu-ray for home video as part of ''The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection''. The restored edition features an optional commentary track by film historian [[Jeffrey Vance]].

==Reception==
Like its predecessor ''[[The Cocoanuts]]'', ''Animal Crackers'' was a financial success. By June 1932, the film had earned $1.5 million in worldwide [[box office|theatrical rentals]].<ref name="variety 1932">{{cite news|date=June 21, 1932|title=Big Sound Grosses|journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|location=New York|page=62}}</ref>

==Multicolor clip==
<!-- [[WP:NFCC]] violation: [[File:AnimalCrackersColor.jpg|right|thumb|[[Multicolor]] frame from a scene rehearsal (Harpo in robe and without wig)]] -->
In the 1990s, a 15-second clip filmed in [[Multicolor]] during the rehearsal of a scene in ''Animal Crackers'' was found and aired as a part of the [[Turner Classic Movies]] documentary ''Glorious Technicolor'' (1998). The clip is significant because it is the earliest known color footage of the Marx Brothers, and also for an appearance by Harpo without his usual costume and wig.<ref>The American Widescreen Museum, ''[http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/oldcolor.htm Early Color Motion Pictures]'', ''WidescreenMuseum.com'', 2003. Accessed February 8, 2010.</ref>

==References in popular culture==
* Captain Spaulding is mentioned in the song "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" written by [[Harold Arlen]] and [[Yip Harburg]]. Groucho performs the song in the Marx Bros. film, ''[[At the Circus]]'' (1939);  [[Virginia Weidler]] also sings it in ''[[The Philadelphia Story (film)|The Philadelphia Story]]'' (1940).
* "Hello, I Must Be Going" became a theme in [[Oliver Stone]]'s miniseries ''[[Wild Palms]]''. It was the title of the final episode, and sung by villain Senator Kreutzer ([[Robert Loggia]]) as he died.
* British musician [[Phil Collins]] titled his [[Hello, I Must Be Going! (album)|1982 album]] after the song "Hello, I Must Be Going".
* The song "Hello, I Must Be Going" also accompanies the opening credits of [[Woody Allen]]'s ''[[Whatever Works]]'' (2009).
* "Captain Spaulding" is one of many Marx Brothers character-related pseudonyms for [[Sid Haig]]'s murderous clown character, John Cutter, in [[Rob Zombie]]'s ''[[House of 1000 Corpses]]'' and its sequel ''[[The Devil's Rejects]].''
* The film is referenced in ''Murray Takes a Stand'', a 1976 episode of ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]''.
* In the TV series ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]''  , in which actor Alan Alda's portrayal of Hawkeye Pierce is inspired by Groucho, early episodes featured  a character named Captain Calvin Spalding, played by musician [[Loudon Wainwright III]].
* "Hooray For Captain Spaulding" is performed in English and in French in a scene toward the end of [[Woody Allen]]'s 1996 movie musical ''[[Everyone Says I Love You]]'' at a party scene in Paris where all the guests are dressed as Groucho Marx.
* The Groucho-hosted quiz show ''[[You Bet Your Life]]'' used an instrumental version of "Hooray For Captain Spaulding" as the theme for most of its run.

==See also==
*[[List of United States comedy films]]
*[[Kalmar and Ruby]] songwriting team

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Animal Crackers (1930 film)}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0020640|Animal Crackers}}
* {{Tcmdb title|67408|Animal Crackers}}
* [http://www.filmsite.org/anim.html Full description of ''Animal Crackers'' from Filmsite.org]
* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=10753 Internet Broadway Database entry on ''Animal Crackers'']
* {{YouTube|Kvje18C018M|Multicolor test filmed on set of ''Animal Crackers''}}
* [http://members.tripod.com/Cleo256/marx/spaulding.html Hooray for Captain Spaulding]

{{Marx Brothers}}
{{George Kaufman}}
{{Victor Heerman}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1930 films]]
[[Category:1930 comedy films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American comedy films]]
[[Category:Films based on musicals]]
[[Category:Films directed by Victor Heerman]]
[[Category:Films scored by Harry Ruby]]
[[Category:Films set in country houses]]
[[Category:Films set on Long Island]]
[[Category:Films shot at Astoria Studios]]
[[Category:Marx Brothers (film series)]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]