Mikael Uhlin's Marxology @ marx-brothers.org

The Marble Fountain

Scene 5 - Art Curtains

Beauty Ah, Chief, are you still pursuing me?

Chief Well, has your search for a thrill brought you happiness and peace of mind?

Beauty We shall see.

Chief Adventure is no substitute for love. You are cold, cold as a marble statue. Pygmalion carved a statue of Galatea and so great was his love for this marble image that he brought it to life.

Beauty And do you expect to bring me to life?

Chief Yes, with...
Chief sings "Thrill Of Love" or - in later versions - "Only You".

Glenn Mitchell suggests in "The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia" that during the duet between Beauty and Chief, Harpo pulled a rope across the rear of the stage until he exited but (by means of a double) emerged tugging at the rope's opposite end at the song's conclusion,. This routine was remade by Harpo in "NBC Colgate Comedy Hour", a TV appearance with Donald O'Connor in 11 November of 1951. Unfortunately, the original kinescope has a damaged second half and this part of Harpo's appearance is believed to be lost.

Scene 6 - The Marble Fountain

Misses Arledge, Norris, Joy, Meehan, Cole, Green, Parker, G. Spencer, Martin, Carney, V. Spencer, Thorpe

(a) Pygmalion and Galatea - The Awakening of Love

Cecile D'Andrea and Harry Walters

In his review, Alexander Woollcott mentioned "the regular allotment of statues coming to life", an obvious reference to this scene, where Beauty visits the Marble Fountain and is treated with D'Andrea and Walters version of the old Greek legend of Pygmalion and Galatea;

Pygmalion, King of Cyprus, created a lifelike statue of his ideal of womanhood. The statue which he called Galatea was so beautiful that he fell in love with his own creation. Venus (a.k.a. Aphrodite), the Goddess of Beauty and Love, took pity of the lovesick Pygmalion, turned Galatea into a living woman and presided over the marriage of the two.

The story of Pygmalion and Galatea has inspired painters, authors and composers over the years. George Bernard Shaw created Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle as the Pygmalion and Galatea of his play "Pygmalion" and that play in turn was the basis of the popular musical "My Fair Lady". This nineteenth century painting by Jean Leon Gerome was also inspired by the legend.

(b) The Death of Love

Zeppo, Harpo, Matt Riordan, Ledru Stiffler, Edgar Gardiner and Groucho

In Charlotte Chandler's book "Hello, I Must Be Going", Groucho and Erin Fleming talks about a parodic dance the Marx Brothers did in "I'll Say She Is":

Erin: They did the same dance as the very, very accomplished dancers had done...
Groucho: Dressed as tramps. And we danced better than they did.

Groucho recalled the tramp parody as being after D'Andrea and Walters' dance in the Wall Street-sequence, but as Glenn Mitchell points out in "The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia", it seems much more plausible that "The Death of Love", featuring both Zeppo, Harpo and Groucho, was the parodic "Tramp Ballet".