Mark Evanier tells me that today is (maybe, sort of, no one really knows what with show business being what it is), the birthday of two of the biggest figures in American comedy: One of the two greatest "straight men" of all time, Bud Abbott (only Carl Reiner is his equal) and one of the great comedians, Groucho Marx.
Abbott and Costello were, of course, the very model of a two-man comedy team. I know a lot of people like their films but I tend to prefer them on radio, probably because I like verbal humor more than slapstick.
One exception was The Time Of Their Lives. A very atypical Abbott & Costello picture (fans of the day rejected it for that reason, according to some reports). It features Costello and Marjorie Reynolds as Civil War ghosts, and Abbott as the descendant of a man who betrayed them.
On radio, no one would say they were at the gold standard of Burns & Allen or Bob Hope. But surrounded by a sometimes amazingly good supporting cast that included Mel Blanc, they made shows that stand the test of time, in some cases better than Hope did. (He who lives by the topical gag...)
It's hard to know what to write about Groucho when so much has already been written. For the record, I thought Steve Allen's piece on him in one of the Funny People books was as good as any I have read. Nor do I want to just get into a recitation of favorite lines (marriage is a great institution...).
I think what I want to say is this: I doubt there are many comedians, even today, who don't have, at some time or another, a little Groucho voice in their heads. It's the voice telling them to examine a line for all its most exotic posibilities (a book is man's best friend, outside of a dog...).
Even though Groucho wrote little or none of his own material, he voiced it so perfectly that it became his (Well, love goes out the door when money comes innuendo). Working with his brothers or with others, he was, in a real sense, the very voice of comedy (I don't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member).
Who the hell else could make the words "That will be all; you may go, Jamison" into a punch line? Who could be so funny just dictating a letter? Or...
"I said beat it!"
"Oh, you said beat it. Boy, I wish I had said that. Everyone's repeating it around the club."
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