Horse Feathers

Harry Ruby

Will B. Johnstone

Arthur Sheekman (Uncredited)

***Horse Feathers*** is a 1932 comedy film starring the Marx Brothers. It stars the Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo), Thelma Todd and David Landau. It was written by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, S. J. Perelman, and Will B. Johnstone. Kalmar and Ruby also wrote the original songs for the film. Several of the film's gags were taken from the Marx Brothers' stage comedy from the 1900s, *Fun in Hi Skule*. The term "horse feathers" was a colloquial American expression for "nonsense" in the 1920s and 1930s but is now archaic.

## Plot

The film revolves around college football and a game between the fictional Darwin and Huxley Colleges. Many of the jokes about the amateur status of collegiate football players and how eligibility rules are stretched by collegiate athletic departments remain remarkably current. Groucho plays Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley College, and Zeppo is his son Frank, a student at the school who convinces his father to recruit professional football players to help Huxley's losing football team. There are also many references to Prohibition. Baravelli (Chico) is an "iceman", who delivers ice and bootleg liquor from a local speakeasy. Pinky (Harpo) is also an "iceman", and a part-time dogcatcher. Through a series of misunderstandings, Baravelli and Pinky are accidentally recruited to play for Huxley instead of the actual professional players. This requires them to enroll as students, which creates chaos throughout the school.

The climax of the film, which ESPN listed as first in its "top 11 scenes in football movie history," includes the four protagonists winning the football game by successfully performing a version of the hidden ball trick and then scoring the winning touchdown in a horse-drawn garbage wagon that Pinky rides like a chariot.

## Cast

* Groucho Marx as Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff
* Harpo Marx as Pinky
* Chico Marx as Baravelli
* Zeppo Marx as Frank Wagstaff
* Thelma Todd as Connie Bailey
* David Landau as Jennings

### Uncredited Cast

* Robert Greig as biology professor giving lecture
* Reginald Barlow as retiring college president
* E. H. Calvert as professor in Wagstaff's office
* Nat Pendleton as Darwin football player MacHardie
* James Pierce as Darwin football player Mullen
* Theresa Harris as Laura, Connie's maid
* Sheila Bromley as Wagstaff's receptionist
* Phil Tead as football commentator
* Ben Taggart as the cop who tries to give Harpo a ticket
* Edgar Dearing as the bartender in the speakeasy
* Vince Barnett as a speakeasy patron
* Florine McKinney as Peggy Carrington (scenes deleted, footage now considered lost)

## Songs

* "I'm Against It"
* "I Always Get My Man"
* "Everyone Says I Love You"
* "Collegiate" (Chico playing)
* "Bridal Chorus"
* "Wedding March"

## Trivia

* The caricatures of the four brothers that are briefly flashed during the credits are taken from a promotional poster from their previous film, *Monkey Business*.
* A term that occurs often in *Horse Feathers*, but may not be familiar to modern viewers, is college widow (see also *The College Widow*, a 1904 play). The somewhat derogatory term referred to a young woman who remains near a college year after year to associate with male students. It is used to describe Connie Bailey. Such women were considered "easy". Miss Bailey is shown to be involved with each of the characters played by the Brothers, as well as the principal antagonist Jennings.
* The film prominently features the song "Everyone Says I Love You", by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. (This song was later the title song of a 1996 Woody Allen movie). All four brothers perform the song, almost every time as a serenade to Connie Bailey. Zeppo leads with a "straight" verse; Harpo whistles it once to his horse, and later plays it on the harp to serenade Miss Bailey; Chico sings a comic verse, with his standard fake Italian accent, while playing piano; Groucho sings a sarcastic verse, sitting in a canoe strumming a guitar as Miss Bailey paddles. This is in line with his suspicions about the college widow's intentions throughout the film.
* At one point during the climactic football game, Wagstaff exclaims, "Jumping anaconda!" This is a ‘minced oath’, an expression used in sports stories of the time to show the colourful language used by coaches, without using actual samples, not then considered fit to print. This particular one also alludes to the notorious stock market performance of Anaconda Copper immediately preceding the Great Depression. All of the Marx Brothers had experienced severe losses in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Groucho had delivered other jokes related to the stock market in the Brothers' preceding films (for example, "The stockholder of yesteryear is the stowaway of today" in *Monkey Business*), and used Anaconda itself in a Eugene O’Neill parody in 1930's *Animal Crackers*.
* Production of the film was hindered when Chico was severely injured in a car accident, suffering a shattered knee and multiple broken ribs. This delayed production by more than two months and limited Chico's participation in filming. As a result, the movie was filmed so that Chico was sitting down in the majority of scenes he was in. It required a body double to be used in some of the football scenes, most notably during the shot where the Four Marx Brothers chase a horse-drawn garbage wagon, climb in and head off in the opposite direction; Chico's double is taller than the other brothers by several inches.
* A picture of the brothers in the "chariot" near the end of the film made the cover of *Time* magazine in 1932.