We did a full review of this next item before, but the video was deleted. A new video from Shout! Factory has surfaced of Chico Marx's 1950 series, The College Bowl, not to be confused with the quiz game that came along a few years later, the current iteration of which is in its 2nd season on NBC.
This College Bowl was a sitcom with musical numbers, and introduced viewers to crooner Andy Williams, who doesn't appear in this clip.
I think what scared viewers away was the fact that Chico was going solo, and no sign of brothers Harpo or Groucho. Not enough, if at all, of Chico at the piano, either.
Rating: B.
8 comments:
I looked for an earlier post about this College Bowl here, but couldn't find it.
Anyway:
You don't mention here that Chico Marx's College Bowl aired on the ABC network - which in 1950 had approximately one-third the affiliate reach of either CBS or NBC.
Putting it another way: it wasn't that viewers were staying away from College Bowl - it was that they couldn't have seen it if they'd wanted to.
In most of the country, they wouldn't have even heard about it.
In 1950, Chico Marx was the least financially solvent of the Marx Brothers; after the brother act had broken up, his well-known gambling habits forced him to stay active in the business constantly, touring with a band, doing guest bits here and there, this series, and like that there.
Check around YouTube, and you can find Chico Marx doing straight acting roles here and there (such as "No Time At All" on Playhouse 90 in 1958 - look it up).
I have seen a GE Theatre piece he did with Harpo. As I wrote, I had done a post with a complete episode, but when that video was deleted, I deleted the post. I'll hunt for "No Time at All" on Playhouse 90.
ABC was the "baby brother network" back then, if ya will. Today, they're part of Disney, while CBS is part of Paramount, and NBC is attached to Universal-Comcast. Big difference.
Chico is my favorite Marx Brother. The living embodiment of their particular brand of anarchy offscreen. Sorry Groucho.
How come Zeppo gets no love? Harpo was like a silent assassin. Groucho an agent provocateur, and Chico the genius.
For the record:
- Zeppo was the designated straight man; when they were on stage, he often served as a pinch-hitter for Groucho, but that ended when the Brothers started doing movies.
Ultimately, Zeppo got tired of having nothing to do in the movies, and took over as the group's business manager - at which he proved to be highly skilled.
- By the way - of all the Brothers, Zeppo was the least liked as a person; that may come from the 'management' thing.
On the other hand, Harpo had no enemies at all; not coincidentally, he was the only Marx brother who never divorced (one happy marriage and family).
- Maybe you noticed in the clip: Chico pronounced his name CHICK-o - with a short 'i'.All the Brothers followed this usage; these days it's how you tell serious fans from amateurs.
I took notice of that recently. Critics still go with "Chee-ko" as a default pronounciation. Their loss.
As Mike Doran already noted, Leonard Marx's stage name was actually Chicko (with a k), which was given to Leonard because he was a notorious skirt chaser at the time. It was only after the name was misspelled on a marquee that it became "Chico". Hardcore Marx Bros. fans like myself still call Leonard Chicko.
And, in the words of Paul Harvey, is the rest of the story.
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