The Marx Brothers
Marxology - Animal Crackers

Mikael Uhlin's Marxology @ marx-brothers.org

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Most prints of this film has some very noticeable edits in some scenes and the last scene of the play is almost entirely removed save for the wrap-up of the plot.

Hooray for Captain Spaulding

Captain Spaulding, the African Explorer, was the most inspired of Grouchoesque creations. There had been a real Captain Spaulding, a vaudeville fire-eater ("The Man Who Was Hotter Than Vesuvius"), so the actual name might have come from Groucho. The song, written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, is edited in most versions of Animal Crackers. The line "I think I'll try and make her" was cut from this song, probably for the 1936 reissue, and the resulting edit causes Groucho to jump halfway across the screen. However, Gustaw M. Przybylo emailed me in the summer of 2001 and informed me that Spauldings song was uncut in 1979 when he first saw Animal Crackers (CBS ran the film as a network prime time special). In an e-mail I received in July 2001, Kevin Kusinitz says that he saw Animal Crackers twice in the USA in the mid-70s. One of the prints opened with the original Paramount-logo and the other with the Universal-logo. The line "I think I'll try and make her" was cut only in one version, although Kevin can't no longer remember which one. In contradiction to this stands the info I received in February 2002 from Kay Lhota. Her friend Richard Finegan made an audio tape of the CBS TV broadcast (from July 21, 1979) and after listening to it in 2002, Richard confirms that "I think I'll try and make her" was indeed cut.

In his The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia, Glenn Mitchell writes: "BBC 2 screened the film in 1965. Untypically for the BBC, their print was missing a three-minute section from Dumont's soirée, comprising Chico's rendering of Silver Threads Among the Gold, Harpo's turn on the piano, the mock football game and Chico's return to Sugar in the Morning. There is a visible splice where this has been removed, yet it should be noted that the difference in footage tallies almost exactly with the varying lenghts quoted between American and UK prints in 1930. This BBC copy continued to be used until the 1980s."
Mitchell then writes about the theatrical re-release in the US in 1974 and the high profile, prime-time American television debut on CBS in July 1979 and continues: "A new master - as supplied to the UK for Channel Four and video release - retains the section missing from the BBC print and is of superior quality to most copies. (The author recalls the National Film Theatre once apologizing for a poor print.) As with recent screenings of 'Cocoanuts', the opening credits are slightly reduced to avoid cropping in heigh. There are other signs of tidying-up: for example, there is a brief edit to eliminate a small lapse in continuity, when Groucho appears to emerge twice from his bamboo carriage. The soundtrack has been rebalanced in some way, most noticeably during the 'Hooray For Captain Spaulding' medley, which for some reason was badly recorded in 1930. ('Bioscope' made mention of an occasional harshness in Groucho's voice.) The whole is marred somewhat by occasional damage in the material, taking the form of seemingly printed-in splices that sometimes clip the dialogue. This is particularly annoying during the house-next-door routine and in Groucho's memorable song introduction, 'Somewhere My Love Lies Sleeping - with a male chorus'. These faults are not present in the BBC copy and it is to be hoped that a flawless print may one day be constructed."

Ranjit Sandhu, a Buffalo Theatre historian, added further thoughts in some emails during January 2003. He says that the print of the re-released Animal Crackers that played at the Lobo Theatre in Albuquerque in 1974 DID contain the "I think I'll try and make her"-line. In the summer of 1978, Sandhu ran Animal Crackers at Don Pancho's Art Theatre in Albuquerque, and it still had the line. However, when the movie was shown on cable TV (Playboy Channel) in 1985, the line was censored out. The broadcast was obviously from a tape, not a film, as the opening MovieTone (1.18:1) credits were squashed to fit onto the not-as-tall TV screen (1.33:1). Sandhu suggests that by checking Universal's record books, it may be found which print/s played in Albuquerque at the Lobo Theatre in the autumn of 1974 and at Don Pancho's Theatre in the summer of 1978. If that print (those prints?) no longer exist, it should be possible to see what internegative they derived from, Sandhu adds.
More info from Ranjit Sandhu is available at Marx Variations

The latest about whether or not "I think I'll try and make her" was cut in the 1979 CBS premiere comes in an e-mail which W. Dyess sent me in October 2005;

I have that broadcast on tape, and I assure you, not only is it (and the other little jump cuts you mentioned, such as during the "house next door" routine) definitely cut, but CBS appeared to have done some editing of their own. Comparing this 1979 tape with my VHS copy from the mid-90's, I noticed two trims in particular on my last viewing, but I'm sure there must be more. First, when Harpo and Chico are finished replacing the painting, the end of that scene is cut. It ends right after Chico says "California!", ommitting the musical snatch from "Why am I so romantic?". As I said, I am sure there are others, but it's difficult to determine where they are on my copy. You see, the people who made the tape (it was one of a bunch of recorded tapes that I bought free when I bought a used Betamax in 1999) cut out commercials sloppily. The aforementioned cut on the stairs was covered by a commercial break, and it is the only commercial break that they left in the tape. The other cuts that seemed to be there also occurred around the commercial breaks (for instance, the first 10 seconds or so of the second scene, where Hives first hangs the painting), but since it's possible that the people who made the tape simply pressed "pause" too late (or, more likely, the old machine that made it was slow to respond), I cannot completely confirm this. Either way, all of the editing that was done was very minor, little 5-10 second strips like the ones I mentioned, and probably not something most people caught on a casual viewing. I'm guessing CBS cut them to make room for commercials (knowing how network TV works), but I can't be sure that they just didn't get a shortened print.

The Power Cut

In the scene where Groucho and Margaret Dumont are left in the dark when the storms knocks out the power, all that can be made out are two silhouettes. The silhouette that is supposed to be Groucho is obviously some stand-in, though. This is an oft-mentioned mystery among Marxians, and most of them have come to the conclusion that the scene must have been shot silently with a stand-in while the dialogue was recorded some other time. But why? Was it a last minute re-shooting? Was it the best way to get the correct lighting? Did they even have the technique by then to add the dialogue afterwards? A year earlier when they were shooting The Cocoanuts, they certainly had to do everything (picture, sound, orchestra etc) at the same time. A possibility is that the black-out scene was filmed with stand-ins while the head actors were standing behind the camera, simultanously doing the dialogue and that all this was to get the best possible sound and pictures.

Hungerdunger, Hungerdunger, Hungerdunger, and McCormick

There are two edits in this scene, presumably cut before the original release. The first is right after Zeppo asks how to spell semi-colon and Groucho replies "Make it a comma". The following dialogue was shot but later cut:

Groucho Dear Elsie, no never mind Elsie.

Zeppo Do you want me to scratch Elsie?

Groucho Well, if you enjoy that sort of thing, it's quite alright with me. However, I'm not interested in your private affairs, Jamison. Begin this way... let's start all over again...

It's easy to tell this has been cut since Groucho does a screen jump similar to the one in the Hooray for Captain Spaulding-number (thus indicating that this was also a later cut?). The second edit is after the following dialogue;

Groucho I tell you what you do, Jamison, I tell you what, make it three windshield wipers and one Hungerdunger. They won't all be there when the letter arrives anyhow.

Zeppo Hungerdunger, Hungerdunger, Hungerdunger, and McCormick.

Groucho And McCormick.

Then the following is cut. The edit is harder to see since there is a change in camera shot.

Zeppo Dear Elsie, scratch.

Groucho That won't do, Jamison. That won't go thru the mail the way you've got the letter. The way you've got it, McCormick is scratching Elsie. You had better turn that around and have Elsie scratch McCormick. You'd better turn McCormick around too, Jamison and see what you can do for me.

The Court of Louis the 57th

A revamp of Napoleon's First Waterloo from I'll Say She Is! occupied the third scene of act two in the play but was almost entirely removed from the film save for the wrap-up of the plot. It was probably director Victor Heerman who suggested this for the sake of brevity. This also removed what was originally Harpo's musical spot which (as in the film of The Cocoanuts) has been clumsily inserted elsewhere. Often referred to as "The Du Barry-scene", The Court of Louis the 57th has been described as a "play in the play", where the guests of Mrs Rittenhouse portrayed figures from the court of Louis 57th in a costume party. Introduced by The Royal Filipino Band, the guest of honour, Captain Spaulding, was the King while Mrs Rittenhouse was his Queen. This didn't prevent him from arranging a liasion with Du Barry, alias Mrs Whitehead. Like Napoleon's Josephine, Du Barry had to wrestle on a sofa, being upended and thrown by all four Marx Brothers, fully dressed in French court regalia.

Du Barry Sire, I fear for me to come here is indiscreet.

Groucho Nonsense, you'll be in the street sooner or later. You come from good stock, you'll probably be on the curb. Ah, Du Barry, you look wonderful in that French dressing...May I call you Du, Du?

Du Barry As you will, milord.

Groucho (calls for champagne) What do you think, do you think we'll ever get the saloon back?...And if we do, what's going to become of the bellboys in the Hotel Astor?

Hives, the butler Doucet, the French Premier.

Doucet Compliments, Your Majesty. Herzegovina has declared war upon us.

Groucho If you think I'm going to let my army fight with a Pullman car, you're crazy.

The Du Barry-scene ended with Kalmar-Ruby's Musketeers, which featured all the Four Marx Brothers. The Marxes revived the sketch for personal stage appearances in New York in August 1931. Over the years, Animal Crackers have been revived on stage on several occasions. The most recent performances were in the summers of 2002 and 2003.