Saturday, June 13, 2009

Late arrival at the Animal Crackers odd advertisements ball



Looks like the jungle animals from this one have been rounded up and put in a box, and they've got Lillian Roth to sit on them so as to make sure they don't escape. (Great to see a bona fide caricature of Lillian, rather than just some woman, as is usually the most you'll get from these artists.)
Harpo is his usual obliging self, opting to pull Lillian and the animals along on a rope, while Chico (the carniverous crook) and Zeppo (the zestful zaney - only slightly less bizarre than a zestful zancy, which is how I read it at first) simply watch from the middle-distance in revolutionary transparent suits and hats. Zeppo, in keeping with his reduced role in the film, has decided to leave his legs at home.
Meanwhile Groucho, true to form, leans on his famous upside-down walking stick.
But what's this? One of the tiny elephants has escaped, and is being merrily ridden from the scene by that pesky miniature Harpo, up to his tricks again.

I don't know about you, but this is a film I want to see.

Anyone know what a faint-stepping funster is, and where I can buy one?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Ha! You're right--this ad is floridly feeble, stupidly sanguine, and...and...I can't even come up with any other phrases on a par with "carnivorous crook" (as opposed to a vile vegetarian?), or "zestful zaney." BTW, after I clicked to see the full-size image, I realized that funsters were fast stepping instead of faint stepping.

Matthew Coniam said...

Ah, fast stepping funsters! That makes fractionally more sense!!!

Lotten said...

Jesus Christ, this was hilarious! And totally bizarre. Had the artists watched the film, or did they draw a poster based on insane rumors about the Marx Brothers' follies? Or were some hallucinogens perhaps involved?
But you're right - the Roth caricature was professional!

Lolita of the Classics said...

Oh, and it was Lolita here. Don't know why my real first name "Lotten" suddenly popped up!