Fifty Before '50: DUCK SOUP

<p>&nbsp;<i>by JB</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxWrXMdVxd0nAmb3ewW63QGqfHN4cD86MOnDVIGHacIROK-r3cjp3ODz43w8oR_N2yAzFc8toz84gX0kX-bGsMZeK8UXb97PrlBC3YpYwUoUGh0JMslt-SdlDfi1FT3u1ZDTzMxJDQRzDrhIWEDmukXdt40o0TsGdDoEnLpDihwLgfDXedj05nJhB1K0w/s4238/DuckSoupHeader.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2933" data-original-width="4238" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxWrXMdVxd0nAmb3ewW63QGqfHN4cD86MOnDVIGHacIROK-r3cjp3ODz43w8oR_N2yAzFc8toz84gX0kX-bGsMZeK8UXb97PrlBC3YpYwUoUGh0JMslt-SdlDfi1FT3u1ZDTzMxJDQRzDrhIWEDmukXdt40o0TsGdDoEnLpDihwLgfDXedj05nJhB1K0w/w400-h276/DuckSoupHeader.jpeg" width="400" /></a></i></div>This is a gala day for us. Stay tuned to the end of the column for exciting, time sensitive news.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />

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Groucho once said, in the invaluable and long out-of-print* <i>The Marx Bros. Scrapbook</i>, that <i>Duck Soup</i> was the only time the Marx brothers ever got to work with a truly talented director. Leo McCarey was a master director who had started in the silents, directing Laurel and Hardy (frequent L &amp; H co-star Edgar Kennedy makes an appearance here as an angry lemonade vendor) and would go on to direct the Oscar-winning <i>Going My Way</i> with Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVg6hHeLggQhUU9LEJ4ETS3ZTzoy1SyauKT5hWEGzraNflmD80yBHeUVLJ-3xzzt1nB9449bwFpfM0EDUx636k0njHZaaToLFqT1u1w4U8W3Mf21UcEs7tL4MlotXVBQQ54YauzttwdDyzAWQqylFI8niHVfMjXt7u89IaqMPYUr5p_1fpY-DZsaIIVEU/s3000/DuckSoup1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2356" data-original-width="3000" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVg6hHeLggQhUU9LEJ4ETS3ZTzoy1SyauKT5hWEGzraNflmD80yBHeUVLJ-3xzzt1nB9449bwFpfM0EDUx636k0njHZaaToLFqT1u1w4U8W3Mf21UcEs7tL4MlotXVBQQ54YauzttwdDyzAWQqylFI8niHVfMjXt7u89IaqMPYUr5p_1fpY-DZsaIIVEU/w400-h314/DuckSoup1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><b>THE PLOT IN BRIEF:</b> The governors of Freedonia ask rich Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) for a loan to bail out their almost bankrupt country. Teasdale agrees, but only if Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is appointed leader. They agree and stage a