Not a silent movie, but they did this scene without any dialog. Still funny.

I wonder if this was the first time the two-people-no-mirror gag appeared in a movie.

  • NataliePortland@lemmy.caEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    I love Marx brothers! But I never caught this one. Is this the scene that Lucille Ball did with Harpo later?

    I’ve only seen Room Service and the one on the train (horse feathers?)

    • perishthethoughtOPEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Yep, right. Lucy and Harpo were riffing on this bit, which I’ve read the Marx Brothers used to do in their vaudeville routine as well.

    • PanaX@lemmy.ml
      1·
      11 months ago

      This one is great, kind of a mess structurally, but definitely worth it for the high brow, intelligent antics.

    • perishthethoughtOPEnglish
      3·
      11 months ago

      So you inspired me to do some research. I found this page which has this paragraph:

      https://www.filmsite.org/duck.html

      The mirror routine, contributed by McCarey, had been used by Charlie Chaplin in The Floorwalker (1916) and by Max Linder in Seven Year’s Bad Luck (1921). It was later replicated in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, re-enacted by Harpo with Lucille Ball on a 1950’s “I Love Lucy” show episode, and also appeared as part of the opening credits for the 60s TV series “The Patty Duke Show”. Actor/director Woody Allen paid homage to the film in his Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) - with an excerpt from the musical number “The Country’s Going to War.”

      So I guess everyone borrows from the past.