March 6, 1965 –
I’m not a stooge, I’m a straight lady – the best in Hollywood. There is an art to playing the straight role. You must build up your man but never top him, never steal the laughs.
Daisy Juliette Baker, Groucho’s favorite comic foil, died on this date.
Groucho Marx continued to alternately call Margaret Dumont “a great lady” and to denigrate her in interviews. But he seemed, at the end, to realize how important she’d been to his career. When accepting his 1974 Lifetime Achievement Oscar, the ailing Groucho told the audience, “I only wish Harpo and Chico could have been here – and Margaret Dumont.”
And so it goes
The Haus of Dcaligari 