The Cocoanuts (film)
"The Cocoanuts" is a 1929 film that marks the first sound and dialogue feature of the Marx Brothers, setting a precedent for their future works. In the film, Groucho Marx portrays Mr. Hammer, the beleaguered owner of the Hotel de Cocoanut, a struggling resort in Florida. The plot revolves around Hammer’s attempt to revive his business by auctioning off land, entrusting the task to his conman partner, Chico Marx, who inadvertently complicates matters. The story is further complicated by a jewelry theft at the hotel, which culminates at a dinner party hosted by Hammer's love interest, the widowed Mrs. Potter, played by Margaret Dumont. The film concludes with a resolution to both the auction and the romantic entanglements among the characters.
Despite its success at the box office, some audiences found certain performances and subplots distracting. The film features music by renowned composer Irving Berlin, although its songs did not achieve the same level of fame as his other works. "The Cocoanuts" blends slapstick humor with Groucho's sharp one-liners, effectively adapting to the new "talkie" format. The film's positive reception paved the way for the Marx Brothers' continued success in cinema, leading to subsequent films like "Animal Crackers" and "Duck Soup." As a theatrical production before its film adaptation, "The Cocoanuts" showcases the Marx Brothers' unique comedic style that would evolve in their later works.
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The Cocoanuts (film)
Identification: Comedic film loosely based on the 1920s Florida land boom
Directors: Robert Florey and Joseph Stanley
Date: 1929
As the first Marx Brothers film to include sound and dialogue, The Cocoanuts set the tone and pace for the entertainers’ later motion pictures.
Groucho Marx plays Mr. Hammer, the owner of the Hotel de Cocoanut, a struggling resort in Florida. Hammer decides to sell the hotel’s surrounding plots of land to revive his business, hiring Chico Marx (a con man) to raise the bids at the properties’ auction. Chico misunderstands his job and outbids everyone else, much to Hammer’s dismay. News of a jewelry theft at the hotel further disrupts the auction. Later, at a dinner party thrown by Hammer’s romantic interest, the widowed Mrs. Potter (played by Margaret Dumont), the jewelry robbers are exposed. The film ends happily with the selling of Hammer’s land and the resolution of romantic tension between the characters portrayed by actors Mary Eaton, Oscar Shaw, and Cyril Ring.
The Cocoanuts was a box office success in 1929; however, some viewers found the actors and secondary plot lines distracting. Groucho is said to have described one of the actors as possessing “strictly no talent.” Composer Irving Berlin wrote the film music, but despite his proficiency as a songwriter, his Cocoanuts songs never became as popular as his other compositions.
While much of their humor consisted of slapstick visual gags, Groucho’s quick one-liners and verbal sparring worked well in “talkies,” the new motion pictures with sound that started appearing in the 1920s. In their later films, such as Animal Crackers (1930), Duck Soup (1933), and A Night at the Opera (1935), the Marx Brothers returned to various elements introduced in The Cocoanuts, including piano and harp performances by Chico and Harpo, as well as Groucho’s romantic interludes with recurring actor Margaret Dumont.
Impact
The film became quite popular around the time of its release. As with other musical comedy films from the 1920s and 1930s, The Cocoanuts was a theatrical production before it became a motion picture. The Marx Brothers honed the piece on stage while touring from New York to the Midwest and then developed it into a film. Encouraged by the public’s positive response to The Cocoanuts, the Marx Brothers went on to film Animal Crackers (1930), which helped solidify their success in the motion picture industry during the next two decades.
Bibliography
Adamson, Joe. Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Sometimes Zeppo: A History of the Marx Brothers and a Satire on the Rest of the World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973.
Anobile, Richard. Why a Duck? Visual and Verbal Gems from the Marx Brothers Movies. New York: Darien House, 1971.
Gardner, Martin. The Marx Brothers as Social Critics. London: McFarland, 2009.
Zimmerman, Paul D., and Burt Goldblatt. The Marx Brothers at the Movies. New York: Putnam, 1968.