Why a Duck?: Visual and Verbal Gems from the Marx Brothers Movies

by Richard J. Anobile (Editor), Groucho Marx (Introduction), Richard F. Shepard (Preface)

Here it The funniest scenes from the funniest of all Marx Brothers film, recreated for you by means of more than 800 fame blow-up photos taken directly from Animal Crackers

Genres: Humor, Film, Media Tie In, Nonfiction, Biography, Comedy

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Anobile pioneered the use of the movie frame blow-up technique to recreate entire films in book form. His books were valuable resources especially in a time before VCR's and DVD's and the internet. While they might be viewed as simplistic picture books now, they were an attempt at curating film at a time when it was often still an after-thought. Anobile has spent much of the rest of his life in film production.

Reviews

[Clark Hallman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought Why a Duck?: Visual and Verbal Gems from the Marx Brothers Movies, edited by Richard J. Anobile, in 1973 and I have read it numerous times over the last 39+ years. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed the Marx Brothers. To me, Groucho Marx was a comedic genius in both a visual and witty-dialogue sense. Likewise, Groucho’s brother Harpo, who did not speak in the Marx Brothers movies, and his brother Chico, were both gifted comedic actors. Their brother Zeppo also appeared in non-comedic roles in the first four movies covered in this book (listed below). Why a Duck? presents photographs made from actual movie-frame blow-ups and printed dialogue from segments of eight Marx Brothers movies. Anobile selected wonderfully entertaining sequences from the movies, which enable the reader to enjoy these hilarious comedic actors in book form. The book includes significant photo/written-dialogue sequences from the following movies: The Cocoanuts (1929), Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), Duck Soup (1933), A Night at the Opera (1935), and A Day at the Races (1937). It also provides a smidgen of sequences from At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940), and The Big Store (1941). It also includes an introduction by Groucho. Again, I have read this book numerous times over the years. Every time I read almost any part of Why a Duck?, it makes me laugh out loud. Of course, I highly recommend seeing the movies, but you can get a quick hit of laughter anytime by reading even small sections of this book.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marxist gems galore!

[David]

Back in 1971 it would have been a great book to have, in the days before it was easy to have individual copies of the movies themselves.

[Frederick · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's too bad the original cover doesn't show up here. [Note, 12/02/2007: I thank Keely, one of my fellow Goodreads Librarians, who, after reading this, corrected things by putting a picture of the cover here.] It was [is] a drawing by Al Hirschfeld, the great NEW YORK TIMES chronicler of stage and screen faces. The drawing depicts Groucho, Harpo and Chico.
Published in 1972 or so, a good thirty years after the Marx Brothers officially quit the movie business, WHY A DUCK consists almost entirely of stills from from nine of their thirteen movie comedies. (The editor, Richard J. Anobile, left out, for legal reasons, one classic, ANIMAL CRACKERS, and for legal reasons AND reasons or taste, ROOM SERVICE, A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA and LOVE HAPPY.) But this is not merely a collection of stills. The major routines from each movie are virtually reproduced in still pictures with printed dialogue. It's as if Anobile had re-edited the films, cutting extraneous parts.
It is a great introduction to the Marx Brothers. While nothing beats seeing the movies, students of comedy can learn a lot about craft following these book form recreations of the Marx Brothers' best scenes.
The photographs are various sizes, and the layout is such that the humor is heightened. As a coffee-table book, WHY A DUCK is almost perfect.
Richard J. Anobile did the same for W. C. Fields with a book which, I think, pre-dates this one. It's called A FLASK OF FIELDS and also features a Hirschfeld drawing on the cover. Anobile is also known for a Pyrrhic victory:
In 1974, he published THE MARX BROTHERS SCRAPBOOK, an amazing book of interviews he did with many of the people who worked with the Marx Brothers. He interviewed Jack Benny and (I think) George Burns. He also interviewed people who'd written for the Marx Brothers (songs, scripts, scenarios, etc.) He interviewed Zeppo Marx and Gummo Marx. But, he also interviewed, and at incredible length, Groucho. Groucho is almost completely unguarded here and tells the sorts of stories you might imagine he'd tell his children or nieces and nephews or close friends. Shortly after the book was published, Groucho was suing Anobile. Groucho was in his eighties and would be dead in three years. If I'm not wrong, Groucho won and the book ceased to be printed for a long time. Whatever the outcome of the suit, one thing is certain: Instead of becoming the ultimate source on the Marx Brothers it was intended to be, THE MARX BROTHERS SCRAPBOOK became a much-disparaged curiosity. I think it's the best record of Groucho's inner life we'll ever get.
But nobody can complain about WHY A DUCK, except to say that it is out of print.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank goodness for the Marx Brothers. Is it any wonder that Groucho was blackballed during the McCarthy Era? Who'll it be next? Will we enter the Charlie McCarthy Era where ONLY dummies will be allowed to talk?

[Seb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprised this is even on goodreads. The rare case of a book that's basically obsolete, it appears to be from the 70's when you straight up couldn't access films once they were out of movie theaters. The best option to revisit the Marx Brothers films was to check out this book of stills and quotes from the best scenes. A friend gave it to me as a joke (?).

All that being said I had fun & I was laughing out loud!

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book with some of the great moments from Marx Brothers films.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a throw-back to the days before home videos. Seems silly now that the Blu-Rays of these films are so readily available but remains an interesting piece of Marx Brothers marginalia.

[elsie ☮︎]

when your circle small but all y’all crazy

[Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recall picking up this volume at a used book emporium in the middle of the woods of upstate NY called the Owl Pen many years ago. Since then, I have turned these dusty pages time and time again in order to get my quick fix of the inimitable comedy troupe. I've since purchased the entire set of their movies on DVD and I know many of the scenes so well I can play through them in my head. Regardless, it was a clever idea of putting text under movie stills and the material is some of the funniest pure comedy ever concieved.

[Valerie]

I have to admit to not having seen many Marx Bros films, so this book was useful in filling in the cracks in my education.

I recently acquired a different edition of this second-hand. I found it was lacking a certain flavor that inheres in the films--still pictures can't really convey the manic movements in the movie clips I've seen.

And of course there's no sound. A lot of the Marx Brothers' work was in the sound effects; vocal timbre; etc.

[Walter Five · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvelous work, the unexpurgated script of Animal Crackers with all the cut wisecracks and running jokes set with photo stills of the movie. Back when this book was published in 1972, before videotapes, this was the only way we fans could re-live films like ''Animal Crackers.'' And until very recently, the only way we could know the dialog of the 'lost' lines (an uncut print was recently located, and a restored edit has been released on Blu Ray in 2016.)

[Joe Noir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and others like it, mostly edited by Richard J. Anobile, were all we had before home video.