Captain Flashback
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CAPTAIN FLASHBACK A fanzine composed for the 408th distribution of the The Acme of Anarchy: Turbo-Charged Party-Animal Amateur Press A Potted History of the Marx Brothers Association, from the joint membership of Andy Hooper and Carrie Root, residing at 11032 30th Ave. Somewhere between 45 and 50 years ago, my NE Seattle, WA 98125. E-mail Andy at father bought us a pair of tickets to a series of [email protected], and you may reach Carrie at screenings of the Marx Brothers’ movies, [email protected]. This is a Drag Bunt Press mounted by one of the many film societies then Production, completed on 6/19/2020. active on the Campus of the University of Wisconsin. My recollection is that my sisters CAPTAIN FLASHBACK is devoted to old fanzines, were too young to attend these evening shows, the Algonquin Roundtable, competitive croquet and and this became a special occasion for just the other fascinating phenomena of the 20th Century. All two of us. My mother, who introduced me to material by Andy Hooper unless indicated. many cultural treasures including J. R. R. Contents of Issue #19: Tolkien and Elvis Presley, wasn’t a fan of Page 1: The Acme of Anarchy: “noisy” things like Marx Brothers pictures, so A Potted History of the Marx Brothers she was happy to let us have our fun. I’m not Page 2: A Key to Interlineations in Issue #18 sure we went to them all – even my Dad was Page 32: Comments on Turbo-Apa #407 Page 37: Fanmail from some Flounder: less than enthralled by Go West and The Big Letters to CAPTAIN FLASHBACK Store – but I am pretty sure we saw all of their Page 39: I Remember Entropy Department: first nine pictures, from The Cocoanuts (1929) “Madison & A Spending Spree” by Leigh through At the Circus (1939), with a fond coda Edmonds, from EMU TRACKS OVER from A Night in Casablanca (1946). AMERICA, 1974. My Dad now believes that he first encountered them at art house showings in 1950s Ann Arbor, when Groucho Marx’s weekly game show You Bet Your Life acted as an advertisement for their catalog. I know that he felt they were important – fun, delicious fun, but also something significant that he wanted to share with me. I was exhilarated by them – the dizzying rhythm of Groucho and Chico’s wordplay, Harpo’s silent business and gags, the giddy, escalating madness of set pieces like the “stateroom scene” from A Night at the Opera. I was launched into wild-eyed, gasping fits of giggling. I looked over to see my Dad in a similar condition and had a feeling of almost guilty pleasure. It was like being drunk together -- in a fleeting and innocent way. But there was something Chicago studio portrait of The Four Marx Brothers as they conspiratorial about it, too, an initiation into appeared in 1912. From L to R: Leo, Julius, Arthur, Milton. what’s really good. [Continued on Page 3] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue #19, June 2020 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Key to Linos published in May in CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #18: Page 3: “I believe that Accounting is a Sacred Science” Advert, Winter 1994 London & Southeast Connection, quoted by Joseph Nicholas, FTT #17, April 1995 Page 4: “Software,” said Charles Platt in menacing tones, “is a disease.” From “Endless Loops,” Dave Langford, SGLODION #1.5 October, 1989 Page 5: “Thank you, dear boy. But I prefer something made by man…to something made by an oyster.” & Page 6: “Smoking a cigarette is like drinking beer from a thimble.” The eccentric, Bohemian “Mac” (Anna Lee) has the best lines in Samuel Fuller’s The Crimson Kimono (1960) Page 7: “May I never be separated from this Purple.” The Byzantine Empress Theodora as quoted by Procopius in his History of the Wars. Page 8: Can peace be gained until I clasp my wombat? Dante Gabriel Rossetti writes to his brother, quoted in Mozart's Starling by Lyanda Haupt. Found by Jerry Kaufman. Page 9: “I’m man enough to simply say, “I’m going to poop,” and I’d be honored to have Ron Howard involved.” Jerry Smith (Chris Pernell), Rick ad Morty S4 Ep, 2, “The Old Man and the Seat” Page 10: “They told us there were two fathers, one above and one below.” & Page 11: “They lied. There was ever only the devil.” James Delos (Ed Harris) Westworld, S2 Ep. 4 “The Riddle of the Sphinx.” Page 12: “Remember, in a pirate ship, in pirate waters, in a pirate world, ask no questions.” Advice from Captain Vallo (Burt Lancaster), Curt Siodmak’s The Crimson Pirate (1952) Page 13: “Thou hast a generous choice; the gallows or the sea.” Mutineer Humble Bellows (Torin Thatcher), enforces the pirate code, The Crimson Pirate (1952). Page 14: “Now, Marchese, we’re in the dark, where a sword is just a long knife.” Dardo Bartoli (Burt Lancaster) takes his revenge, The Flame and the Arrow (1950) Page 15: “Prefab Trout is described as a relaxed summer convention in the autumn.” Ian Sorenson reads from the Zagat Guide, CONRUNNER #10, Nov. 1988 Page 16: “Two things I can smell inside a hundred feet – burning hamburger and romance.” Diner owner Marney (Mary North) keeps the pulp era alive, Out of the Past, 1947 Page 17: “My Doctor never told me that. I had to hear it from Phish.” Hans Moleman struggles with Medicare, The Simpsons, S.13 Ep. 16, “Weekend at Burnsie’s” Page 18: “I can’t stand breakfast. It’s just constant eggs. I mean, why? Who decided?” Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw) asks a question for all of us, Killing Eve, S.2 Ep.6, “I Hope You Like Missionary” Page 19: “The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.” From The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (1707-1770) Page 20: “Cathy and I considered ourselves the hippest of Kansas hippies.” Grant Canfield, “My San Francisco Century, Part One” PORTABLE STORAGE #3, 2019 Page 21: He was the Black Mamba, named for the dangerous snake of sub-Saharan Africa. Terminal line, obituary for Kobe Bryant, John Hertz VANAMONDE #1384, Feb. 26th, 2020 Page 22: …we drew our editorial titles for this issue from songs by Oingo Boingo… “We Close Our Eyes,” editorial by Ulrika O’Brien, issue #15 of BEAM, February 2020 Page 23: “Save some of these atomic age zingers for your English homework. Bukowski.” Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland) knows how to exit a room, Rick ad Morty S4 Ep, 8, “The Vat of Acid Episode.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “The truth, if it ever existed, has gone through its customary transformation into something more easily digested by the human mind.” Joe Adamson, Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of the Marx Brothers (1973) “Right now I'd do anything for money. I'd kill somebody for money. I'd kill you for money. Ha ha ha. Ah, no. You're my friend. I'd kill you for nothing.” Chico Marx, The Coconuts (1929) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 The Acme of Anarchy family apartment on East 93rd Street. A last Marx [continued from page 1] brother, Herbert Manfred Marx came along in 1901; his middle name honored Minnie’s first- I don’t think I was quite sophisticated enough to born son Manfred, an infant who died of understand the concept of absurdist humor or “entero-colitis” in 1886. what was so funny about Groucho speaking directly to the audience – I doubt I had ever Sam was born Simon Marrix in the French heard the phrase “fourth wall.” But I understood region of Alsace; he came to America in 1880 that they were tapping into a fundamental truth: and was universally known as “Frenchie.” He All Authority is Ridiculous. Their humor was as worked as a dance instructor during his early modern as Dadaism but seemed like it had roots years in America. After marrying the Frisian- in much older traditions: Vaudeville, Minstrel born Minnie Schönberg, he began to work as shows, Punch and Judy plays, Commedia what his sons universally described as a “very Maschera and the Commedia Improviso. bad tailor.” He didn’t like to measure his clients, preferring to guess at their sizes; rejected suits And I was convinced there was something a bit were sold door to door in New Jersey. While a magical, even other-worldly about Harpo Marx. poor tailor, Sam was renowned as an excellent He was a tornado of wild faces, frantic whistles, cook; when he fell behind on rent, he would falling silverware and irresponsibly wielded cook the landlord a memorable meal and scissors, imperfectly concealed inside a received another week’s extension in return. shapeless overcoat and an incongruously formal top hat, prepared to honk an unseen horn with Minnie was from a “show business” family. Her almost any portion of his anatomy. And at some Father Levy Schönberg had worked as a street point in almost every picture, Harpo would magician and ventriloquist in Germany, and her unexpectedly come upon a perfectly-tuned harp younger brother Al Shean was a noted – a great golden, formal harp like you would see vaudevillian, who also appeared in such films as in a huge orchestra or a dragon’s hoard – and he The Blue Bird (1940). (And another brother, would play that harp as beautifully and expertly Heinrich, would perform under the name “Harry as if he were an angel on loan from the choir Shean.”) Minnie’s mother, Fanny Salomons ethereal. The first time you see it, it makes you Schönberg was a yodeler, and also played the snort once or twice, sure that a gag is coming.