A 1962 attempt at a Claymation Marx Brothers TV show

[boingboing]

Originally published at: A 1962 attempt at a Claymation Marx Brothers TV show - Boing Boing

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[dfaris]

Take all of the high comedy from the Flintstones and add all the creepiness of the Twilight Zone. It’s a wonder it didn’t last

[BreezerSneezers]

That was not good, and pretty much on par quality-wise following their move to MGM.

[SpunkyTWS]

@boingboing

Some folks have also theorized that Groucho’s voice was done by Groucho himself or Dayton Allen or Pat Harrington, Jr., the latter two being comedians who occasionally replicated Groucho’s voice for commercials or cartoons. I don’t think it sounds like any of the three and Chico’s doesn’t even sound to me like a professional actor.

Who did Harpo’s voice?

[KrustyBuddy3000]

You can tell the lack of knowledgeable Marx associates involved from the very beginning, when the title jingle mispronounces Chico’s name as “Cheek-o” rather than “Chick-o”.

[awfulhorrid]

Well, I made it through two minutes. Yeah. I do have to comment about the theme song, though. Is it just me, or did anyone else keep expecting it to slide into Green Acres?

[YankInNewZealand]

I’m wondering if Hortense Rittenhouse was voiced by Margaret DuMont, the put-upon socialite who featured in all of their movies.

[Otherbrother]

I’m somewhat surprised to see that this was in color in 1962. TV shows like Bewitched and Gilligan’s Island were still shooting in Black and White a couple years later.

[SmilingDemon]

Groucho looking at “Babes” through a keyhole? Super creepy…

[SpunkyTWS]

It was an awful attempt at humor and also made me wonder who the target audience was supposed to be. At that time most stop-motion animation seemed to be used either for science fiction films or children’s shows, like Rankin-Bass productions.

[dfaris]

The Flintstones was apparently aimed at an adult audience.

Flintstones Cigarette Commercial

[YankInNewZealand]

@SpunkyTWS

It was an awful attempt at humor and also made me wonder who the target audience was supposed to be.

Remember, this was 1962. I think the creep factor would appeal to a certain demographic of Mad Men-era guys who remember the Marx Bros movies.

Totally creepy by today’s standards.

[Otherbrother]

@YankInNewZealand

Remember, this was 1962. I think the creep factor would appeal to a certain demographic of Mad Men-era guys who remember the Marx Bros movies.

Totally creepy by today’s standards.

Groucho Marx’s character was always making creepy sexist jokes so this was pretty on-brand for him. For example, here’s his character making what seems to be a joke about creeping on prepubescent girls in one of his movies:

Capt. Spaulding : [Describing his trip to Africa] We took some pictures of the native girls; but, they weren’t developed. But, we’re going back again in a coupla weeks.

In real life he probably wasn’t much better. His 3rd wife was 40 years younger than him.

That said, there’s plenty of equally-creepy (or worse!) stuff in modern animated shows. Like this exchange in The Family Guy, for example:

Peter: I’ll let you have sex with my daughter.
Waiter: I don’t know. Let’s see what your daughter looks like.
Peter: (points past his daughter to a more attractive young woman) She’s right there.
Waiter: Okay, I’ll do her. But can you tell her to cry and beg me to stop?
Peter: I think that can be arranged.

Pretty depressing to me that that show remains on the air.

[Brainspore]

The Flintstones was basically a shameless rip-off of The Honeymooners.

[awfulhorrid]

@Otherbrother

Like this exchange in The Family Guy, for example:

Yeah. I watched some of that show a decade or so ago, but it didn’t take me very long to determine it was very much not for me.