Harpo speaks! New recordings reveal mute Marx brother chatting with audience

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The comedy legend, who adopted his silent persona because of stage nerves, did occasionally address his audience, as revealed by a new archive release Groucho was the cigar-chomping wit with the improbable moustache, Chico was the piano-playing rustic grifter and Zeppo played the straight man and the lover. But as any Marx Brothers fan knows, Harpo was the pantomime, who cracked up the audience without saying a word, dressed in his tattered raincoat and curly wig. His persona was childlike and mischievous but also musical – he let his harp and his taxi horn do the talking. But now we get to see, or rather hear, a new side to Harpo Marx. A very special recording has been unearthed of Harpo in 1964 speaking to an audience, in character. Arthur “Harpo” Marx was born Adolph Marx in New York in 1888. He started performing with his brothers in 1910, and his nickname probably came about because of his instrument of choice – he was an entirely self-taught musician. By 1915, due to his nerves a...
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Concessions review – moviegoer melancholy for Michael Madsen’s final film

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Madsen cameos as a stuntman visiting a smalltown movie theatre on its last day before closing down in this amiable, bittersweet story for cinephiles

The late Michael Madsen makes his final, posthumous appearance as a boozy stuntman called Rex Fuel in this laidback ensemble film from feature first-timer Mas Bouzidi, a piece of moviegoing melancholy developed from the director’s short of the same title. Bouzidi gives us the time-honoured scenario of a smalltown movie theatre’s last day before closing down, resonantly named the Royal Alamo and showing for its last stand a couple of films on 35mm. The place has been stricken, of course, by the prevalence of digital streaming, although the wistful mood doesn’t seem too different from Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show from 1971, when Netflix wasn’t a problem.

The Royal Alamo is now a bittersweet place of memories whose spirit is perhaps epitomised by the two guys listlessly working at the concessions stand, and bickering amusingly like Kevin Smith’s Clerks. (“That movie where Johnny Depp played the creepy paedophile … ”, “Willy Wonka?”, “Yeah”) The title might imply that some concessions are metaphorical. Perhaps doing a dull job is a concession made in return for privileged access to the dream factory.

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