travsd

LOST MARX BROTHERS SILENT FILM FOUND!

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Just got the exciting news from the folks at Marxfest that a 23 second fragment of the lost silent Marx Brothers film HUMOR RISK, self-financed by the team in 1921, was discovered earlier this month and is now in the hands of a private archive. Previously thought destroyed in its entirety, this small portion of the film was found in the garage of the former Great Neck, NY estate of Groucho Marx. The clip is short on plot, but you can already see the beginnings of the magic that would make their later sound pictures so popular: 

For more on the Marx Brothers, read The Marx Brothers Miscellany: A Subjective Appreciation of the World’s Greatest Comedy Team — and come see us at Marxfest, May 17-26, 2024!

Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.

One comment

  1. OMG! I haven’t used that little ditty in years, but now is definitely the moment! This is exciting, fabulous, and wonderful news! Thank you for sharing this! (I just moved to a new apt, and I’ve been trying to catch up with Facebook & e-mail, etc. — so that’s why I’m just now reading your message!) Thanks!

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