Book Review: The Animated Marx Brothers
Coverage of the Marx Brothers’ career has been quite impressive during the past few years. Books discussing their films, their stage work, and their television work have come along, as well as more available footage from these various ventures.
“The Animated Marx Brothers” by Matthew Hahn (Bear Manor) adds to Marx Brothers scholarship by compiling all of the animated cartoons in which the comic siblings appear.
Sometimes comedians have such an enormous impact on the continuing pop culture, every detail of their contribution is worth examination. While we can’t go back and investigate their stage shows, we can see how they were presented in animated form. And along with seeing these cartoons, we are able to better understand how important to the culture they might have been during their own era.
The author explains in his Prologue how movie star caricatures in Hollywood cartoons dates back to the silent Felix The Cat films, and how then-current stars like Hugh Herbert and Roscoe Ates, while fun to draw, did not live on the way Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, and Laurel and Hardy have. In the guest Foreword, author Joe Adamson explains how Marx Brothers fans can become frustrated by the limitation of the Marxes having only 13 features to enjoy, thus their ventures on stage, TV, and in cartoons allows us to explore further.
The bulk of the text is a chronological annotated filmography of the animated films that feature The Marx Brothers. There is a section on theatrical cartoons, followed by another on TV cartoons, and then the author extends to everything from flip-books to recent internet creations. It could not possibly be more thorough and complete. There are several interesting graphics, while information is provided for each title, including, where appropriate, some biographical info about the studio, the producer, or the director.
Just as animated Marx Brothers extends beyond their films, the importance of this book extends beyond just a study of the Marx Brothers. This reference is also a fascinating presentation of how animation itself has evolved from the silent movie era into the internet age. It is filled with interesting details on so many aspects within those parameters, that such a book must be recommended for any library or research center, as well as fans of The Marx Brothers, animation, art, filmmaking, and humor.
The Animated Marx Brothers is available here.