Margaret Dumont
Nacimiento : 1882-10-20, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Muerte : 1965-03-06
Historia
Margaret Dumont would probably consider it a tragedy that she is best-known for her performances as the ultimate straight woman in seven of the Marx Brothers' films (including most of their best). By all accounts she never understood their jokes (offscreen and on), which is of course a major reason why she's so funny. Apart from a small role in a 1917 Dickens adaptation, she spent her early career on the stage, ending up with the Marxes in the late 1920s in the stage versions of The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930), and was given a Paramount contract at the same time they were. She played similar roles alongside other great comedians, including W.C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy and Jack Benny and also played straight dramatic parts (her chief love), but few of them made much impact - it is as Groucho Marx's foil that she ranks among the immortals, and she died shortly after being reunited with him on "The Hollywood Palace" (1964).
(archive footage)
A fascinating look at the most beloved comedy team in motion picture history. Exclusive interviews with those closest to the brothers supplement this collection of highlights from their film, theater, and television appearances and offer a compelling look at their lives both on and off-screen.
(archive footage)
Glenn Ford narrates this hilarious look back at the greatest comedians in movie history.
(archive footage)
Segunda parte de "Érase una vez en Hollywood". A diferencia del primer documental, sólo hay dos narradores: Gene Kelly y Fred Astaire. Incluye escenas de comedias y dramas en los que intervienen los hermanos Marx, Laurel y Hardy o Katharine Hepburn.
Self (archive footage)
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Mrs. Foster
Louisa May Foster (Shirley MacLaine) sólo quiere encontrar un hombre a quien entregarle su amor, y que no se le muera. Pero haga lo que haga para que sus maridos le duren, sólo consigue entablar relaciones y casarse con hombres cuya ambición es enriquecerse y que fallecen poco después de conseguirlo.
Persephone Updike
Jonathan Jones, a professor of ancient languages, comes into possession of an ancient coin. He translates its inscription, which gives him three powers: to inflict pain, slow down time or kill. Soon, he's pursued by enemy spies who have learned about the magic coin.
Noblewoman in Play (uncredited)
Patrick Dennis es un niño de 10 años que se acaba de quedar huérfano. Su tía, "Tía Mamá", una dama que vive por encima de sus posibilidades, le enseñará a Patrick a salir de forma extravagante de las trampas de la vida. La mejor amiga de Tía Mama es Vera Charles (Coral Browne), una llamativa actriz de Pittsburg, mientras que el testaferro se llama Patrick (Fred Clark), y no comparte para nada la forma de vida de la tía del pequeño. (FILMAFFINITY)
Georgianna Fitzdingle
A TV star meets with opposition from adults who object to the opening of a rock 'n' roll palace for teens.
Mrs. Whitelaw
A gangster and his wife attempt to go straight. Comedy. Remake of the 1938 film "A Slight Case of Murder".
Mrs. Agnes Hawthorne
After beginning their train trip to California, a famous film actress and her daughter discover their compartment has also been assigned to a handsome biology professor. Comedy.
Mrs. Hendrickson
Un ingenuo campesino llamado Benny Miller, de Cucamonga, California, ha estado tomando clases por correspondencia en materia de ventas. Al finalizar el curso, deja a su madre y a su novia Martha para labrarse un porvenir en Los Ángeles. Va en busca de su tío Clarence, contable de una empresa, quien le va a facilitar una entrevista para trabajar en el departamento de ventas. El día de la entrevista, el corrupto gerente de ventas, John Morrison, lo confunde con uno de los modelos para una nueva campaña de ventas y le pide que se quite la ropa. La esposa secreta de Morrison, Hazel Temple, descubre el error y sugiere que Benny sea contratado para evitar que esa equivocación trascienda a la opinión pública...
Aunt Dolly / Aunt Arabella
The story involves a rather odd flashback by Dale who is visiting El Dorado, home of her grandmother. She dreams about her grandmother's adventures including a romance with a cowboy who looks very much like Roy. Roy, of course, also exists in the present for Dale.
Mrs. Standish
Joe Davis Sr., headliner at a big nightclub, is visited by medical student son Joe Jr., who to Dad's chagrin wants to be a crooner, and soon comes between Dad and his girlfriend Claire. So glamorous dancer Bonnie is enlisted to distract Junior. Which does Bonnie want more, the fur coat or true love? Plot is a framework for numerous Ziegfeld style stage productions.
Mme. Traviata / Miss Rodholder
A trumpet player in a radio orchestra falls asleep during a commercial and dreams he's Athanael, an angel deputized to blow the Last Trumpet at exactly midnight on Earth, thus marking the end of the world.
Mrs. Allenwood
Uno de los musicales “acuáticos” más famosos de la Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, con Esther Williams en el papel de una estudiante enamorada de un compositor de canciones (Red Skelton) mientras ensaya en la piscina bellas coreografías de danza sincronizada. Con numerosas y espectaculares escenas de ballet acuático.
Mrs. Croxton-Lynch
Tres amigos marinos disfrutan de siete días de permiso en la ciudad natal de uno de ellos, pero éste tiene un problema: tres amores en el mismo puerto y todas acuden a recibirle...
Mrs. Willoughby
Comedia musical sobre un hipocondríaco que tiene que trabajar como ascensorista en un hospital.
Louise Harlan
Laurel y Hardy dirigen una escuela de danza. Laurel se encarga de los bailes clásicos y Hardy de los modernos. Bob Bailey ha hecho un invento importante, pero no puede casarse con la mujer a la que ama porque el padre de ésta se opone a la boda. Hardy trata de ayudarle en la comercialización del invento y ensaya distintos métodos para hacer dinero. Uno de ellos consiste en suscribir una póliza de seguros a favor de Laurel. Hardy, para cobrar la póliza, se entrevista con una banda de maleantes especialistas en eliminar a personajes asegurados...
Ophelia MacDougal
A nightclub performer, jealous about the talents of an aspiring singer, tries to sabotage her chances at a professional career.
Mme. Langehanke (uncredited)
Película ambientada en Nueva York y dividida en varios episodios independientes, pero enlazados entre sí por un traje de hombre que va pasando de unas manos a otras. Cada personaje vive una aventura especial relacionada con el traje.
Mrs. Culpepper
Two Army sergeants disrupt a bar, a party and an Army-Navy dance.
Flo Faulkner - Landlady
This package for comedy and the musical numbers has Luke Brown being drugged by the gangster operators of the swank Boathouse Inn; most notably Roxie a sexy pickpocket. Brown has information that Chow Brewster and his cousin have inherited $3,000,000. The owner of the Inn intends to keep Brown under wraps until they can drive Chow to suicide. He will then marry Chow's cousin before she finds out about her inheritance.
Mrs. E. V. Lawson
A group of children put on a show in order to prove that a down and out musician was the real composer of a Broadway show's songs.
Mrs. Hemogloben
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is a 1941 film about a man who wants to sell a film story to Esoteric Studios. On the way he gets insulted by little boys, beaten up for ogling a woman, and abused by a waitress. W. C. Fields' last starring role in a feature-length film.
Martha Phelps
Groucho Marx, ayudado por los juguetones Harpo y Chico, organiza un caos en cada planta -e incluso en las paredes y techos- de un gran almacén. En el intento de cortejar a su eterna Dulcinea, la encantadora viuda Margaret Dumont, Groucho empeora la maraña de una feroz intriga de altos ejecutivos.
Mrs. Franklin Evans
A woman-hater who inherits a beauty salon gets a new perspective on females after capturing a gang of thieves.
Mrs. Suzanna Dukesbury
Los Hermanos Marx tratar de ayudar al dueño de un circo a recuperar algunos fondos robados antes de que se encuentre a él mismo sin trabajo.
Pantomime Teacher
Aspiring actress Louise Muban attends the prestigious Paris School of Drama during the day and works at a dreary factory assembling gas meters at night. She daydreams and "acts" her way through life, and her fellow students at school begin to suspect her stories are just that - fabrications. After Louise begins to weave an actual meeting with a debonair playboy into a fantasy of club dates and romance, her classmate Nana discovers the lie when she too meets the playboy. Nana sets a trap for Louise, and the result is an end to one fantasy and the realization of another.
Mrs. Bell-Rivington
Snooty heiress decides to track down her dead sister's kids, who are living a Bohemian life with their uncle in Greenwich Village. Once she finds them, she discovers that the Bohemian life is fun and free of the constraints her country-club life places on her. But she decides to take the uncle to court anyway to free him from the kids so he can paint.
Martha Arlington
Two men running a carnival airplane ride are hired to fly to retrieve what they think are photos for a reporter. Actually, they are retrieving diamonds stolen from a noted gem dealer. As it turns out, their plane crashes on the very estate of the dealer. Thinking the duo are police officers, the dealer offers his home for their convalescence from the accident. Meanwhile, the diamonds have been snatched by a kleptomaniac dog and buried on the estate. When the smugglers track down the pair, they try to convince the dealer that they are officials from an institution from which the two have escaped. Before long, the carnival fellows, the crooks, the gem dealer and his family, along with a platoon of cops, are tearing up the grounds to find where the dog has buried the diamonds.
Mrs. Abernathy
Two strangers, a man and a woman, are framed for a jewel robbery and thrown in jail. After they get out, they join forces to track down the real thieves.
Mrs. Penner
A singer finds another heir (Gene Raymond) to marry, to avoid the one (Joe Penner) her mother found.
Emily Upjohn
El doctor Hugo Hackenbush (Groucho), Tony (Chico), y Stuffy (Harpo) intentan salvar el hospital de Judy con el dinero de una paciente millonaria. Para hacerlo, el Dr. Hackenbush se hace pasar por médico, aún cuando es sólo veterinario, y no permite que den el alta a la millonaria. Paralelamente deciden también intentar ganar una carrera con el caballo de Judy
Mrs. Whitney
Julia and Hap are a dance team. He drinks and gambles, she succeeds for a while with the help of producer Alan.
Mrs. Wentworth
Adaptación de un musical de gran éxito en Broadway.
Mrs. Claypool
Los Hermanos Marx en la alta sociedad. A dos amantes que actúan en la ópera se les impide estar juntos porque no aceptan al hombre como tenor. Utilizando varios trucos típicos de los Hermanos Marx, logran que el tenor principal se ausente, y de esta manera el joven amante tendrá su oportunidad.
Woman in Audience Yelling 'Get Off the Stage' (uncredited)
Una actriz, de la que está enamorado su agente, acaba casándose con un millonario.
Mrs. Van Updyke
Tina (Wini Shaw), a singing Gypsy with a band of roving gypsies, is invited by Tom (Phillip Reed) to come over to his mother's (Margaret Dumont) estate where a lawn party is in progress. She brings along her friends and a whole caravan of gypsies take over the green, telling fortunes, singing and dancing. Most of the comedy is supplied by the kleptomaniac butler,Bellingham, (Eddie Shubert) and his employer who humors his nutty ways...as good help seems to be hard to find.
Mrs. Murchison (uncredited)
El editor Jim Branch se enamora de una mujer de la alta sociedad, Sharon Norwood. La utilizará para conseguir información de sus allegados ricos y famosos, con el objetivo de resolver un asesinato.
Mrs. Baxter
The Great Elmer and Company, two out-of-work magicians, help lovelorn Jerry Bronson adopt Spanky Milford, to distract him. When Bronson makes up and elopes, the pair are stuck with the little boy. But Spanky inherits a Kentucky fortune, so they head south to Banesville, where the Milfords and Wakefields are conducting a bitter feud.
Mrs. Fields
A college football team recruits a tough convict.
Sybilla Crum
Shortly after his arrival from South America to New York, Steven Humbolt is found dead in his apartment at the Savoia Hotel. Inspector Decker Dawes investigates the case and although the cause of death is described as apoplexy, Dawes is convinced it as murder, especially after he learns that Humbolt had been married fifteen times.
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
La boda de su hija aporta muchas sorpresas, incluidos un cobrador de recibos muy decidido, un negocio fallido, una novia en fuga y dinero caído del cielo
Gloria Teasdale
Un imaginario país en bancarrota requiere el apoyo económico de una acaudalada viuda (Margaret Dumont) para salir adelante. Como condición para extender el financiamiento, la acreedora exige que el excéntrico Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) tome las riendas de la nación. Deseando sacar partida de la crisis, el ambicioso embajador de una potencia vecina (Louis Calhern) hará cuanto sea posible para desprestigiar al nuevo líder y para ello echará mano de dos inusuales espías (Harpo y Chico Marx).
Duchess Sophie (uncredited)
Sarajevo June 28, 1914. Dushan, the Serbian mayor of a Hungarian town, has come to see the parade of Archduke Ferdinand. While there he runs into Geza, an old friend in the Hungarian Army and invites him to come to his house and visit him and his new wife.
Self
Short film made up of various clips showcasing the Cinecolor process, including a visit to a Marx Brothers film set.
The Queen of Deleria (uncredited)
Joe Penner as a incompetent crown prince in the middle of a revolution.
Blanche Ledyard
El amante de la esposa de un gangster intenta que le lleven a la cárcel para evitar la furia del marido engañado.
Mrs. Rittenhouse
El famoso explorador Captain Spaulding vuelve de África y es invitado por la Srta. Rittenhouse a una fiesta de gala. Durante la fiesta, desaparece una pintura, y los Hermanos Marx ayudan a recuperarla.
Mrs. Potter
Durante el auge inmobiliario de Florida, los Hermanos Marx gestionan un hotel, subastan tierras, frustran un robo de joyas y, en general, actúan como ellos mismos.
Aristocrat (uncredited)
At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Charles Darnay goes to Paris to rescue an imprisoned former family servant. He is himself imprisoned and condemned by the revolutionary forces there. His wife, the former Lucie Manette, is secretly loved by a gentlemanly wastrel, Sydney Carton. Carton embarks on a daring plan to save the husband of the woman he loves.
