TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hooray For Captain Spaulding And More Groucho Greats

ADVERTISEMENT

By WALT BELCHER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 12, 2007

"One morning I shot an elephant in

my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas,

I don't know." - Groucho Marx in

"Animal Crackers" (1930)

TAMPA - In 1976, when Frank Ferrante was 13 years old, his father took him to a hotel where Groucho Marx was scheduled to make an appearance to promote the book "The Secret Word Is Groucho."

Ferrante had been a fan since he had discovered the Marx Brothers movies a few years earlier.

"I was a good little Catholic boy who was being taught by strict nuns, and I could not believe how wild and free Groucho and his brothers were," he said in a recent telephone interview. "They were so funny and irreverent. It was liberating."

But those old movies he saw on TV were made in the 1930s and '40s, and the sight of a frail, 86-year-old Groucho at the hotel was unsettling, not just for Ferrante but also for almost everyone who came to the book signing.

"First, he showed up three hours late, and there were literally hundreds of people waiting," Ferrante says. "It was pretty traumatic to see him so thin and weak. His eyes were glassy, and his voice was a whisper. It was hard to believe that this was the same man who was in 'Duck Soup.'"

It was obvious that the crowd was apprehensive. There was a nervous tension in the air as a seemingly disinterested Groucho began to mumble his way through a question-and-answer session.

"Finally someone gave him an opening when he asked, 'Are you making any new Marx Brothers movies?'" Ferrante recalls.

Without missing a beat, Groucho replied, "No, I'm answering stupid questions."

The spark came back to his eyes as other people started asking questions that garnered witty replies.

"Because we loved him so, it was an honor to be insulted by Groucho," Ferrante says.

Marx died less than a year later.

"You know you've got the

brain of a 4-year-old child,

and I bet he was glad to get

rid of it." - Groucho in

"Horse Feathers" (1932)

Ten years after Marx's death, Ferrante would bring Groucho back to life on the stage. It was the beginning of an amazing career that continues to this day.

Ferrante grew up on the Marx Brothers movies, such as "Animal Crackers," "Duck Soup," "Monkey Business," "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races."

He was a fan of Groucho's TV game show, "You Bet Your Life," which ran for 13 years.

Then when Ferrante was a theater student at the University of Southern California, he wrote and starred in a one-man play in which he painted on Groucho's trademark eyebrows and moustache.

It was a hit, and word of mouth spread. In the audience one night was Groucho's son Arthur Marx, along with Victor Heerman, the director of "Animal Crackers."

"I was completely nauseous with all that pressure," Ferrante says.

Arthur Marx was so impressed that he cast Ferrante in a play he had written about his father, "Groucho: A Life in Review."

"Here I was a 23-year-old kid planning to maybe become a theater director, and I was getting to play Groucho from age 15 to 85," Ferrante says.

For this role, he won New York's Theatre World Award of 1987 and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. He reprised the show in London's West End and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for comedy performance of the year.

He went on to play Groucho in the off-Broadway revival of "The Cocoanuts" and has played Captain Spaulding in several regional productions of "Animal Crackers."

In 2001, Ferrante starred in, directed and produced "Groucho: A Life in Revue" for PBS.

He has played the role more than 1,000 times, and he brings his one-man stage show, "An Evening With Groucho," to the Largo Cultural Center on Wednesday.

He also will be performing it at the historical Asolo Theater in Sarasota Nov. 28 through Dec. 1. That run is being sponsored by the Sarasota Film Festival, which has been showing Marx Brothers movies at the Asolo this month.

Ferrante says he learns something from every performance.

"I am not impersonating Groucho," he says. "I am an actor taking on a role, so I try to create this character that is full of energy and loves to sing and dance and react to the audience. But I can't let go of the look, sound and movements that Groucho brought to the stage."

"That's what I always say. Love flies out the door when money comes innuendo." - Groucho in "Monkey Business" (1931)

In Ferrante's "An Evening With Groucho," he sings all of Groucho's silly songs from the movies such as "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady," "Hello, I Must Be Going," "I'm Against It" and Groucho's theme, "Hooray for Captain Spaulding."

He also ad-libs and improvises with the audience.

"Groucho loved to interact with an audience," Ferrante says. "He did it in vaudeville, and it was what made him a great host on 'You Bet Your Life.'"

Born Julius Henry Marx on Oct. 2, 1890, Groucho was the third of five sons born to poor immigrant parents. Along with his brothers Chico, Harpo and Zeppo, Groucho toured in vaudeville and starred on Broadway before their movie career took off in the 1930s.

Groucho's humor is not dated, Ferrante says.

"People still respond to his wit, intelligence and irreverence," Ferrante says. "He thumbs his nose at authority, and that seems to resonate with every generation."

Every 20 years, there seems to be a Marx Brothers revival, Ferrante says.

"In the 1960s, they were popular on college campuses because they were anti-establishment heroes. 'Duck Soup' makes fun of the futility of war," he says.

"On another level, it's just silly slapstick comedy, and then there is Groucho's verbal wordplay.

"When I look out at the audiences, I will see a 5-year-old laughing at Groucho's bad behavior and a 93-year-old who saw the films when they debuted," he says.

"I'm 44, and my generation appreciates Groucho," he says. "I remember leaving a performance one night and a man came up to me and said, 'You're the guy!' You're the guy!. You are Groucho! We all wanted to be like Groucho. But you got to be Groucho.'

"Groucho could say and do things that were subversive and irreverent and get away with it," he says. "That was his appeal. He created a character that saw through pretense, broke the rules and seemed to enjoy every moment."

ON STAGE

An Evening

With Groucho

WHAT: Frank Ferrante's one-man show based on the humor of Groucho Marx
WHEN: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

WHERE: Largo Cultural Center, 105 Central Park Drive; (727) 587-6793

TICKETS: $32 VIP, $29 advance, $25 age 60 and older, $15 students 19 and younger

WHEN: 8 p.m. Nov. 28 to Dec. 1

WHERE: Asolo Theater, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; (941) 360-7399

TICKETS: $20, $25 and $30

For information on Frank Ferrante's Groucho, log on to www.grouchoworld.com. Walt Belcher can be reached at wbelcher@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7654.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT