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A Day
at the Races (1937)
In this Marx Brothers' madcap comedy, in which Groucho
(as vet doctor) posed as a sanitarium doctor - to save the financially-failing
institution (and its pretty owner Judy Standish (Maureen O'Sullivan)):
- the classic "Tootsie-Frootsie"
ice cream scene in which vendor Tony (Chico Marx) sold racing tips
(breeder's guides) to horse doctor Dr. Hugo Hackenbush (Groucho
Marx)
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"Tootsie-Frootsie" Ice Cream Vendor
Scene
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Phone-Prank of Whitmore
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- the split-screen phone prank scene in which Hackenbush
played lots of tricks to infuriate Judy's scheming business manager
Whitmore (Leonard Ceeley), including impersonating half-deaf "Colonel
Hawkins" of the Florida Medical Board, in order to prevent
Whitmore from acquiring Dr. Hackenbush's qualifications for the
job at the Standish Sanitarium from the records department
- the famous one-liner during Stuffy's (Harpo Marx)
exam: "Either he's dead or my watch has stopped!"
- the sequence of mute jockey Stuffy repeatedly pickpocketing
the Sheriff (Robert Middlemass), each time that Tony bribed the threatening
officer with a $5 bill - to keep the scam going
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"If I hold ya any closer, I'll be in back
of ya"
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Wallpapering Miss "Flo" to the Wall
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- the film's highlight in which blonde floozie Cokey "Flo" (Esther
Muir), hired to cause a scandal with Hackenbush, was romancing
him in his suite during a late night dinner; she engaged in a close
embrace with Hackenbush: Flo: "I want to be near you. I want
you to hold me. Hold me closer! Closer! Closer", Hackenbush: "If
I hold ya any closer, I'll be in back of ya"; to prevent their
romantic affair from going any further, Stuffy and Tony - posing
as wall decorators, wall-papered her to the wall and hid her under
a pile of sofa cushions
- the two absurd medical examination scenes:- first
with Stuffy ("Just put the gown on, not the nurse"), and
then with Mrs. Emily Upjohn (Margaret Dumont), including the introduction
of "Dr. Steinberg" (Sig Rumann) scene who was there to
expose Hackenbush as a quack - with lots of bowing in the examination
room
- during the exam of Mrs. Upjohn, Judy's fiancee Gil
Stewart's (Allan Jones) misfit race horse Hi Hat burst into a sprinkler-soaked
sanitarium and rescued the "Hackenbush team" of doctors;
the trio escaped on Hi-Hat
"Who Dat Man?"
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All God's Chillun Got Rhythm
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- the two musical sequences: (1) Pied-Piper-like Stuffy
led a cavalcade of children through a barn in Gabriel: ("Who
Dat Man?"), and (2) the exuberant song and jitterbug-dance
number through Negro shanty towns, All God's Chillun Got Rhythm,
with the gravity-defying, jitter-bugging danced by Herbert "Whitey" White's
Lindy Hoppers
- the steeplechase Big Race slapstick sequence in the
conclusion
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'Groucho's' Frequent Double-Takes
Dr. Hackenbush (Groucho Marx) with Judy (Maureen O'Sullivan)
"Either he's dead or my watch has stopped!"
"Just put that gown on, not the Nurse"
Bribing and Pickpocketing the Sheriff
Bowing to Dr. Steinberg (Sig Rumann)
Examining Mrs. Upjohn (Margaret Dumont)
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