MINNIE’S BOYS
These questions seem especially puzzling when one considers the Marx Brothers. They are among the best-known comedians in the world. Everyone seems to respond to the insults, puns, and wacky situations in their movies. Yet many of the Marx Brothers’ jokes are real groaners, and their shtick tends to be silly and cruel. Why do we laugh?
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“You might call it a form of ghetto psychology gone amuck,” says Patinkin, commenting on the perennial appeal of Marx Brothers movies. “It was Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo against the world; no one not a Marx Brother was safe from their incredible scorn, their lack of respect. . . . Anyone was an enemy–the underdog had gone haywire.”
Minnie’s Boys supports this theory. It’s about Minnie Marx and her five sons, and how four of them become the Marx Brothers. Minnie, played by Alene Robertson, is a protective, overbearing Jewish mother–an underdog with bite. Her husband, Frenchie, is an unsuccessful tailor, so there’s never enough money, and the boys are always gambling and getting into fights. It’s no wonder the neighbor ladies look down their noses at Minnie as she struggles to keep up appearances and nurture the musical talent she perceives in her boys. The material is pretty thin, but it establishes the members of the Marx family as underdogs who are vulnerable to greedy landlords, gossiping neighbors, and callous booking agents. These Marx brothers are given every license to be the Marx Brothers.
The climax of the show is the moment when the brothers, standing in an abandoned Philadelphia theater where they hope to open their own show, start rummaging through an old trunk and pull out their trademark costumes. It’s a hokey scene, of course, but again the fun comes from seeing the Marx Brothers materialize before your eyes.
