Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Groucho Marx: You Bet Your Life: The Lost Episodes (1950)****


During the Great Depression, The Marx Brothers made America laugh when the country needed it most, and by the end of WWII were winding down their movie careers. But while Chico and Harpo were getting too old for physical slapstick comedy, Groucho’s witty mind was still razor sharp. In 1947 ABC radio debuted You Bet Your Life, a weekly quiz show hosted by Marx and his smooth, yet amusingly un-hip announcer George Fennemen.

In 1950, the show jumped to NBC and that extraordinary new medium, television, where it enjoyed an amazing 11 year prime-time run. Since most of the 400-plus episodes are public domain, there are many You Bet Your Life compilation discs out there, and this reviewer has made it a point to see just about all of them. But The Lost Episodes is by far the best collection. I’m not sure what qualifies these shows as “lost” but I strongly suspect they were considered too racy and off beat to be included in the standard syndication packages that were sold to TV stations as family entertainment in the 1970s and 80s.


In this set, we meet folks like comedian Ernie Kovacs, boxer Archie Moore, Gary Cooper’s mom (who is a scream) as well as a host of less famous, but no less interesting, figures. And speaking of figures, there are a few of those buxom young lasses scattered about who bring out the lecherous best in Groucho, and the double-entendres fly with abandon.


It’s also interesting to see how the rules of the quiz, the prize money and contestants’ expectations changed over the years. In the early episodes, guests were lucky to walk away with ten dollars, and the ones who did were giddy with excitement. In later years, the grand prize was $10,000, a staggering sum for 1959. Yes, it’s old. Yes, it’s dated. Some of it’s just plain weird. But for escapist belly laughs with a history lesson thrown into the mix, Groucho fans will be mighty glad these lost episodes turned up.

4 comments:

Retro Hound said...

LOVE Groucho and this show. I've only seen a few, but they are all funny. Does this have the one with the woman with 11 kids? "11 kids? How did that happen?" "Oh, I love my husband." "I love my cigar too, but I take it out ever once in a while!"

Bunched Undies said...

Thanks RH. Apparently the cigar thing is one of those urban legends. Groucho always denied saying it, and I have seen all the YBYL discs out there and haven't found it yet.
I guess everyone associated with the show is gone now so we'll probably never know for sure...

Retro Hound said...

Well, I'm going to believe it until proven wrong!

Bunched Undies said...

I too believe it...I'm sure it ended up in the editing room trash can, never to be restored

Roma (2018) ✭✭✭✭✭

Alfonso Cuarón’s directorial career has dealt with everything from updated Dickens ( Great Expectations ) to twisted coming of age ( Y Tu Ma...