Americanization: Progressive-Era Reformers, Cultural Critics, and Popular Comic Entertainments

Abstract

In 1921, “the Four Marx Brothers and Company” presented a “musical revuette” titled On the Balcony.¹ The theatrical poster billed the show as “the comedy hit of the age; quaint characterization; humorous episodes; every type of vaudeville talent.” The opening scene, simply called the “The Theatrical Agency,” features the four brothers trying to persuade an agent to hire them for his latest vaudeville show. The scene was repeated for a film trailer with this added exchange featuring Groucho Marx: Speaking in a heavy Russian accent, Groucho entreats the theatrical manager with, “I vant to play a dramatic part, the kind that toucha a woman’s heart, to make her cry for me to die.” Chico Marx, portraying his now-iconic Italian-immigrant peasant character, cuts Groucho off in accented English: “Did you ever get hit with a cocoanuts [sic] pie?” Groucho, dropping character and his accent, turns to the camera and says, “There’s my argument. Restrict immigration.”² The seemingly absurd commentary on immigration inserted into a vaudeville scene—later re-created for the trailer of their 1931 Hollywood film Monkey Business —speaks to vaudeville comedians’ ability to comment directly on their status as ethnic immigrants, and to the xenophobia that attended Americanization during the early twentieth century.