March 6, 1965 –
Script writers build up for a laugh, but they don’t allow any pause for it. That’s where I come in. I ad lib – it doesn’t matter what I say – just to kill a few seconds so you can enjoy the gag. I have to sense when the big laughs will come and fill in, or the audience will drown out the next gag with its own laughter.
Daisy Juliette Baker, Groucho’s favorite comic foil, died on this date.
Groucho was often cruel to her on-screen but when the cameras stopped rolling, he had nothing but nice things to say about Margaret Dumont, calling her a “wonderful woman.”
The Haus of Dcaligari 