Being a fan of the Marx Brothers, it is a thrill to see material I have never seen before. Therefore I rented the Marx Bros. Collection, Disc 3, which contained 2 episodes of Person to Person, with Edward R. Murrow visiting Groucho Marx, and then, Harpo.
Along with these was an episode of "Hollywood Half-hour"called "Papa Romani" with Chico playing his career-long Italian immigrant, and head of the family, somewhere in New York City. The plot is simple. The Romanis are getting a telephone for the first time ever, in an era when they were still considered a luxury. The wife is dead-set against it, fearing it will bring "hard luck". The teen-aged daughter seems unfazed by it, which would be unheard of today.
As soon as they get the phone, they are hounded by the neighbors who want to receive news about an impending birth, and a sports bookie who moves his "office" to the new phone, bringing John Law along with him.
At first I thought the acting was atrocious with flubbed lines that went through, and over-the-top emotional breakdowns. Then I realized that this was live, when TV was in it's infancy, with no audience to sound off against, and no way to edit out mistakes. Under these circumstances, it wasn't bad, and actually reminded me of my childhood, when I had to pay the neighbor a dime to use their phone, since we had none, either. Getting a "party line" would be a future 'step up'.
It is very different from the well rehearsed and perfected routines in their movies and that might take some getting used to.
Along with these was an episode of "Hollywood Half-hour"called "Papa Romani" with Chico playing his career-long Italian immigrant, and head of the family, somewhere in New York City. The plot is simple. The Romanis are getting a telephone for the first time ever, in an era when they were still considered a luxury. The wife is dead-set against it, fearing it will bring "hard luck". The teen-aged daughter seems unfazed by it, which would be unheard of today.
As soon as they get the phone, they are hounded by the neighbors who want to receive news about an impending birth, and a sports bookie who moves his "office" to the new phone, bringing John Law along with him.
At first I thought the acting was atrocious with flubbed lines that went through, and over-the-top emotional breakdowns. Then I realized that this was live, when TV was in it's infancy, with no audience to sound off against, and no way to edit out mistakes. Under these circumstances, it wasn't bad, and actually reminded me of my childhood, when I had to pay the neighbor a dime to use their phone, since we had none, either. Getting a "party line" would be a future 'step up'.
It is very different from the well rehearsed and perfected routines in their movies and that might take some getting used to.
