Room Service/At the Circus (1938)

The Marx Bros. try to find a backer for a Broadway play then scramble to find a backer for a circus. So we put them backer to backer in this hilarious twofer. In Side A’s Room Service (with Lucille Ball and Ann Miller) a cash-strapped theatrical troupe reasons no one would bounce a sick man from a hotel room. And that leads to a diagnosis of crazy comedy full of feigned illness fake suicides a bogus physician and more Marxist doctorin.’ The 3-ring circus that is Groucho Chico and Harpo provide big-top bedlam At the Circus (Side B). Groucho and Chico work a badge skit Chico and Harpo scour a strongman’s bedroom for evidence Groucho extols Lydia the Tattooed Lady and logic like the orchestra at the film’s conclusion is cut adrift and out to sea. You can learn a lot from Lydia. And laugh a lot with these classic romps.