Groucho Barx

**Groucho Barx** is the deuteragonist of the 1987 Golden Book Step-Ahead Video, *Journey Through the Jungle of Words*.

## Description

Groucho Barx is a short, witty, wisecracking dog who is a parody of the late Groucho Marx, as well as Olivia Ostrich's best friend. He is just as adventurous as Olivia is, and enjoys going everywhere she goes.

Despite being second to Olivia, he sometimes does most of the talking for her. He has a tendency to crack jokes or make general snarky comments at any opportunity. Despite this, he's still friendly and helpful, even smart enough to help solve problems. He is even aware of when his wit gets out of hand and hurts somebody's feelings, and is quick to apologize.

His appearance matches Groucho Marx almost as much as his personality, such as his thick black eyebrows and his glasses - all that's missing is the bushy mustache. He also carries a white bone with him everywhere, that he often holds as a cigar, like the real Groucho Marx is also well-known for.

He also has light brown fur, small, dark brown triangular ears that point downwards, three small strands of hair on his head that point upwards, a black nose, and thick black eyebrows. He wears a green safari jacket, where his short, pointy tail sticks out from underneath. He is about the same height as Seealot, Dualot's best friend.

## Biography

While nothing is known about his earlier life, it's suggested that he hails from New York City, and shares his home with his best friend Olivia when the two aren't on adventures. At one point, he and Olivia meet the famous explorer Schnoz Ali, and the three quickly became friends due to their love of adventure.

One day, Groucho and Olivia hear the shocking news that Schnoz Ali had apparently went missing in the Jungle of Words. Soon after, they receive a message from Schnoz Ali on how to find him, along with a map, leading Groucho and Olivia to assume that he has treasure in store for them.

So they set off in a biplane and flew in it to the jungle, with Groucho piloting the plane the whole way. When they arrive at the Jungle of Words, they meet a zebra named Zebra, who thinks that there is a monster chasing after him, judging by the noises, until Olivia and Groucho help him discover that it was just the local jungle animals making the noises. After that, they find out that a menagerie of animals are all drinking from the watering hole at once, so Groucho, Olivia, and Zebra all help them drink from the water in a more organized manner. At one point, when a snake shows up to drink, Olivia is scared into hiding her head in the ground, so Groucho and Zebra had to pull her free. After the animals clear the watering hole, the crocodile (one of the animals that Groucho, Olivia, and Zebra helped) swims up to give Groucho and Olivia a ride. Before Groucho and Olivia board on the crocodile's back, they invite Zebra to come with them, but Zebra declines the invitation, as he wants to find more letters of animals' names.

During a rather long ride on the crocodile, Groucho and Olivia find a lost piece of the map that takes them to a ruin called King Tut's Hut. When they arrive at the hut, they are sent down a trap door. When Olivia looks at her reflection in a mirror, she is scared when she sees King Tut materialize behind her, causing her to run and bury her head in the ground. Groucho initially ridicules her for worrying about a ghost, but soon panics when he realizes. He grabbed Olivia's tail and tried to run out of the hut with her, but when Olivia got free, the two of them crashed into King Tut's treasures. When Groucho inadvertently made a negative comment on the mess in the hut, King Tut started crying. When Olivia scolds Groucho for hurting the ghost's feelings, he realized his mistake and apologized to King Tut. The sad ghost told them he had had no idea how to clean up his hut for many years, so they help him sort his things where they belong by combining letters with word endings. King Tut expresses his gratitude to Groucho and Olivia by giving them the final piece of the map.

Olivia is overjoyed that she and Groucho have completed the map. Olivia decides for her and Groucho to take the path to their next destination, King Solomon's Mind, but when Groucho excitedly pulls on her wing so they can venture down the path, it results in them slipping and falling down a cliff, which sends them splashing into a muddy pool. Just then, a Tarzan-like panther named Dualot, along with her monkey companion named Seealot swings over to examine them in their situation. After Groucho and Olivia get out of the mud, they ask Dualot to take them to the right direction to King Solomon's Mind. She obliges, and the four all vine-swing their way to the grounds of the cave. When they go in, they go through the entire set of obstacles before them by reading the action words on the cave paintings. When they get out of the cave, they find the Readers' Palace.

After Dualot and Seealot bid them farewell, Groucho and Olivia go to the Readers' Palace, where they find their friend Schnoz Ali, who, much to their shock, tells them that he took a bus to the Readers' Palace instead of going on the long journey that Groucho and Olivia went on. He even reveals that he left the message, "Take the bus to the Readers' Palace" on the back of the map. He also explains that he did go on the same journey that Groucho and Olivia went through several years ago. When he invites Groucho and Olivia into the palace, they are amazed to find all of the letter and word games that are inside. They meet up again with Dualot, Seealot, King Tut, and Zebra, who all have them play games that involve combining words to make sentences. After they play the last game, they are given two tickets to a show called, The Readers' Palace Extravaganza. When they get to the stage, they meet up with Schnoz Ali, who tells them that their treasure was the spirit of the adventure, the love of learning, and the knowledge of words.

## Trivia

* Groucho's last name, Barx, is not only a reference to his real counterpart's last name, Marx, but also a reference to "bark", the noise that dogs make.
* Groucho's favorite food is hot dogs, but only that of the "four-star" quality kind.
* Despite being the deuteragonist, even being addressed after Olivia by Schnoz Ali twice, releases of the video list him before Olivia, making him seem to be the main protagonist.

## References

1. ↑ **Groucho:** "Oh, what a mess! I bet this place hasn't been cleaned in a thousand years."

**King Tut:** *(crying)*

**Olivia:** "Shh! Groucho, look! You hurt his feelings!"

**Groucho:** Sorry about that." - Groucho, King Tut, and Olivia in *Journey Through the Jungle of Words*
2. ↑ "Maybe my stomach's growling. Are there any four-star hot dog stands in this park?" - Groucho in *Journey Through the Jungle of Words*