47 “Bert & Harry Go West” featuring Scott Alexander
The Marx Brothers Council Podcast - A podcast by Matthew Coniam, Noah Diamond, Bob Gassel
Not a fan of the Marx Brothers' “Go West”? Wish it had been written by the guys behind “Duck Soup”? Well, that was the original plan. Acclaimed screenwriter Scott Alexander returns to help us examine the film’s early scripts, as penned by the legendary team of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Groucho as a leering divorce lawyer, Chico as a phony fortune teller, Harpo chasing women and actually acting like Harpo...who couldn’t love that? Apparently, MGM couldn’t; as they eventually changed everything...including the century in which the film takes place. Scott gives us a screenwriter's perspective on what happened, theorizes why Kalmar, Ruby, and their work were discarded…and portrays Margaret Dumont in a possible career-changing turn. Need we say more?
