The Marx Brothers TV Collection
TV-G
Comedy
The Marx Brothers became entertainment icons through a long and brilliant career on vaudeville and Broadway stages, and they sealed their immortality in a string of celebrated feature films. But the end of their film career was perfectly timed for a collision with the birth of television. The new medium provided Groucho, Chico and Harpo with unprecedented exposure which meant, of course, an opportunity to bring laughter to millions of people all at once.
Season 1
S01:E01 - The General Electric Theater: The Incredible Jewel Robbery
The well-received half-hour show - basically a silent two-reel comedy with Harpo and Chico that could have been produced thirty years earlier - features only the briefest unadvertised appearance by Groucho.
S01:E02 - The Jack Benny Program
In this thoroughly enjoyable meeting of two comic legends, Benny attempts to win some money by going on You Bet Your Life in disguise.
S01:E03 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
In Harpo Marx's last TV appearance, Senator Smith mistakes Harpo for a famous French pianist and invites him to play at the White House.
S01:E04 - The College Bowl
In this, the final episode of the series - and the only one known to survive - Chico considers an offer to sell his popular college hangout.
S01:E05 - The Red Skelton Hour
The premiere of Red Skelton's new one-hour show was a tour-de-force for Harpo, who was on camera almost as much as Skelton.
S01:E06 - Celebrity Golf
Harpo was a serious golfer and jumped at the chance to travel to Las Vegas to take on the legendary Sam Snead. He claimed a 21-stroke handicap and clowned his way through the match, but occasionally displayed a pretty good swing.
S01:E07 - Championship Bridge with Charles Goren
There's something fitting about Chico making one of his last public appearances with a deck of cards in his hands.
S01:E08 - Groucho
You Bet Your Life had been off the air for four years when Groucho accepted an offer to do a new version of the show in England. Simply called Groucho, the show utilized essentially the same format as the American show.
S01:E09 - The Arthur Murray Party
With You Bet Your Life consistently among the top-rated shows on television, NBC frequently called upon Groucho to liven up the proceedings on some of the network's other shows.
S01:E10 - The DuPont Show of the Week: The Wonderful World of Toys
Harpo only made one television appearance during the 1961-1962 season - this special in which he and Carol Burnett walk through New York's Central Park looking at toys.
S01:E11 - Who Said That?
Celebrity panelists - on this episode, June Lockhart, Bob Considine, Quincy Howe and Groucho - were read quotations from the news of the day by host John Daly, and asked who had originally spoken them. Panelists Groucho alternates between insightful and disruptive.
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