MINNIE’S BOYS (1970) – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! This year Balladeer’s Blog looks at the musical comedy Minnie’s Boys, about Minnie Marx, the mother – and show-biz manager – of the five Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo and Gummo). Actors portraying her sons co-starred and conjured up the kind of hilarious chaos you’d expect.
If you removed all the songs, the show would still hold up as a show business biopic done in the style of a 1930s Marx Brothers movie. Some snobbish critics seemed bothered by the lack of a straightforward approach, but I think they were being silly.
Let’s face it, trying to do a straight drama about the most anarchic comedians since Edward Lear and Eugene Ionesco would have been foolish, even if their mother is the lead character, not them. The storyline in Minnie’s Boys takes Minnie and her sons from their teenage years in vaudeville to their achievement of stardom.
The broad strokes of the story are reasonably close to reality but obviously to keep the boys in character enormous liberties are taken along the way. Groucho Marx’s son Arthur was a co-writer and his father served as a consultant. Sadly, when it came down to a choice between Totie Fields and Shelley Winters, Groucho rejected Fields and pushed for the big-name star Winters. Continue reading
TOP SECRET (1984)
With a new year underway – 2017 C.E. – Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some past predictions by “psychics” (LMAO) that turned out to be wildly off the mark.
— Private automobiles would be banned … by 1990. 
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT 
AARON BURR
Here at Balladeer’s Blog people who can make me laugh are my favorite kind of people! YT reviewer Snarky Jay, as she calls herself, is entertaining, engaging and hilarious with her reviews. 
It’s been years since Balladeer’s Blog tried a post like this. I’ve had a few people saying I should weigh in on a certain situation but I’ve been maintaining that said situation is way too “Inside Baseball” for most people to care. Hell, I’m barely interested in it myself. 
Balladeer's Blog 