The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy team that was popular on stage, screen, and radio for 30 years. They were celebrated for their inventive attacks on the socially respectable and upon ordered society in general. Born to Jewish immigrants from Germany and France, the group of brothers are widely known by their stage names: Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo.
They got their start in vaudeville primarily using their musical talents, but by the 1920s the Marx Brothers had become one of America's favorite theatrical acts. They satirized high society and human hypocrisy, and they became famous for their improvisational comedy in free-form scenarios. For instance, one moment in Horse Feathers (1932), one of their most popular films, included a running gag from their stage work, in which Harpo produces a ludicrous array of props from inside his coat, including a wooden mallet, a fish, a coiled rope, a tie, a poster of a woman in her underwear, a cup of hot coffee, a sword; and, just after Groucho warns him that he "can't burn the candle at both ends," a candle burning at both ends. |
Examples of Work:
The Cocoanuts (1929) Animal Crackers (1930) Monkey Business (1931) Horse Feathers (1932) Duck Soup (1933) A Day at the Races (1937) |
Comedy team Al Shaw and Sam Lee, who were known for their razor-sharp comedic timing and off-kilter jokes, were a unique kind of comedy that enthralled America. They didn’t do pratfalls, they didn’t mug for the camera, they didn’t even smile. They shot each other the occasional worried glance but not much else. When they moved at all (which was rare), their movements were perfectly synchronized. The jokes were recited in a monotone one after another, with no pause for an audience reaction. In addition, what is anomalous about Shaw and Lee was that they somehow managed to have what amounted to a vaudeville career decades after the death of vaudeville. Almost no one else managed to do this.
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Examples of Work:
"Stop, Look, and Listen" (1917) "Nature's Gifts" (1921-1922) "The Beau Brummels" (1928) "Going Places" (1930) |
Al Minns and Leon James were a prominent American Lindy Hop and jazz dance duo. They performed on their own, on television programs, as a part of the Harlem-based Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, and in the Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races (1937). The two began as Savoy Ballroom dancers in Harlem, and ultimately they were a significant part in keeping the genre of jazz dance alive. Together they developed a novelty act as a pair of dancers who continually charmed audiences. They even created their own signature move, the Al and Leon Shim Sham.
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Examples of Work:
A Day at the Races (1937) Hellzapoppin (1941) Jazz Dance (1954) The Spirit Moves (1987) |