The Marx Brothers TV Collection

Groucho, Chico, and Harpo Marx found new opportunities awaiting them on TV once their big-screen comedies lost favor. This compilation collects a potpourri of their TV appearances throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, from full-length programs to variety show skits to TV commercials. Chico and Harpo star in “The Incredible Jewel Robbery,” a 1959 episode from the General Electric Theater anthology show that plays like a silent movie comedy short, while Groucho takes his only dramatic TV role in “The Hold Out” from 1962, which co-stars Brooke Hayward and Dennis Hopper. Harpo guest stars on the premiere episode of The Red Skelton Hour, as a whimsical guardian angel and does a turn as a World War I soldier in a pantomime duet with Skelton. Harpo also hits the links for a round of “Celebrity Golf” with Sam Snead, while Chico plays “Championship Bridge with Charles Goren” and does his best Harpo impression on I've Got a Secret. Whereas Groucho tried out different characters in his numerous TV appearances and Chico adjusted his screen personality to varying degrees, Harpo was always Harpo. He never speaks, but he does lose the wig and hat for the DuPont Show episode “A Silent Panic,” playing a mechanical man in a store window. In addition to the main TV episodes, the set features a collection of bonus TV clips, Marx family home movies, and a 40-page booklet with an essay, photos, and annotated program guide. While none of the material (over 50 items) matches the trio's best work on the silver screen, there are some exciting finds in this well-curated and interesting vintage TV compilation. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)