Know for his incredibly quick wit and heavily innuendo-laced repartee, he is often considered one of the best comedians of all time. While he made 13 feature films with his siblings (and yes, the Marx Brothers were really brothers), he also went on to a long and popular solo career, most notably with the classic TV show You Bet Your Life.
Not only that, but his distinctive appearance — which, in classic vaudeville tradition, he emphasized with greasepaint — went on to become a comedy gag in and of itself: Groucho glasses, the one-piece mask made of horn-rimmed spectacles, a big fake nose, and bushy eyebrows and a mustache.
Here’s Groucho singing the song he’s famously associated with from his time with the Marx Brothers: “Hello, I Must Be Going,” as seen in the 1930 film Animal Crackers.
The song became so closely associated with him, it ended up being the title of his biography — and was the source for the Phil Collins album of the same name in 1982. – AJW
Animal Crackers: Hello, I Must Be Going
Hello, I must be going,
I cannot stay, I came to say, I must be going.
I’m glad I came, but just the same, I must be going.
…
Hurray for Captain Spaulding, The African explorer.
He brought his name undying fame
And that is why we say hurray, hurray, hurray.
One Response
I would love to play a clip of “Hello I must be going” to my classes. Sadly, I’m caught behind the Great Fire Wall with no VPN. (Currently, they are being heavily suppressed, to put it politely .) If you or any other fan has a suggestion on how I could obtain this marvelous parody of politeness, I would very much appreciate it. (We are studying the ins-and-outs of ettiquete in international diplomacy.) No, I don’t need the whole film (though I would personally enjoy that too!) I know my students would find it a gas. Thank you. Hu