Picture taken by Minju Kim/ Staff Photographer
MINJU KIM
Staff Writer
Duck soup is easy to make. The Marx Brothers, however, did something not so easy — created a masterpiece of American comedy film.
On Oct. 3, the film “Duck Soup” was screened for the commemoration and celebration of the Freedonia Marxonia event, funded by the Hahn family and coordinated by Fredonia reference librarian Cindy Yochym.
This year, being the 100th anniversary of the year the Marx Brothers officially took on their comedic names, Freedonia Marxonia and the screening of “Duck Soup” seemed more enthusiastic than ever before.
“Duck Soup” is a 1933 Marx Brothers anarchic comedy film that takes place in the country of Freedonia, which sounds like our own home-ground of Fredonia. Four of the brothers take part in the film, in which Groucho Marx is the newly elected clumsy mayor named Rufus T. Firefly. He is the main character of the film and doesn’t seem to carry common sense, thus spreading mayhem throughout Freedonia and provoking a war with its neighboring country, Sylvania.
However, at the end, Freedonia gains its victory with the help of its army of chimpanzees and dolphins.
Throughout the film, the audience enjoyed various kinds of humor used in the movie, such as slapstick, satire of incompetent government and making fun of the aristocrats. Barbara Yochym, last year’s winner of the Marx Brothers look-alike costume contest, talked about her favorite part of the film.
“The mirror scene — it’s the classic,” said Yochym.
Not only is it a classic, but the mirror scene is also one of the most famous parts of “Duck Soup.” In it, Pinky (Harpo Marx) dresses as another character, Firefly, and pretends he is Firefly’s reflection displayed on a mirror. Copying Firefly’s every move to near perfection, Pinky almost succeeds in deceiving Firefly until Chicolini (Chico Marx) interrupts him.
The mirror scene has been recreated in various genres many times: in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Hare Tonic, the Mickey Mouse cartoon Lonesome Ghosts, The Three Stooges short Idle Roomers (1944), “The Pink Panther” (1963), the TV series Gilligan’s Island episode “Gilligan vs. Gilligan” (1966), the film “Big Business” (1988), The X-Files episode “Dreamland” and the Family Guy episode “Road to Germany.”
What also kept the audience alarmed was the pronunciation of “Freedonia.”
“I think it’s really funny that out of all the things, [the Marx Brothers] picked Freedonia. They even say it the same way as our college. I think that’s really funny,” said Samantha Gaudio, a senior early childhood education major, after watching the film.
Every time the characters in the film said the word “Freedonia,” it sounded exactly the same as “Fredonia.” Therefore, whenever the patriotic citizens of Freedonia sang “All hail Freedonia!” it made the audience feel like somebody was praising Fredonia with so much passion and glory.
The Freedonia Marxonia exhibit will continue until Oct. 15 in Reed Library. Yochym commented on the overall aspect of 2014 Freedonia Marxonia.
“I was happy about the turnout,” Yochym said. “We received some positive comments on the exhibition. People liked the display and layout of the exhibition. [They said] it was informative.
“Thanks to everybody. So many different departments helped in many ways. It couldn’t have been done without all this help from everybody, especially Matthew and Cherie Hahn who funded this event. Also, [thanks to] the founder of Freedonia Marxonia, Douglas Canham of the class of ’87,” said Yochym.