|
By PAUL BRENNER
The Shout! Factory has
released a three-disc follow-up to "You Bet Your
Life: The Lost Episodes." The episodes in the new
collection are not lost but classified as the best
in "You Bet Your Life: The Best Episodes." As was
the case in the earlier release, the collection is
handsomely retro-packaged.
It is difficult to determine why the eighteen
episodes included here are considered the best,
since the lost episodes are just as funny. But, I
suppose, you have to call the collection
something.
Best or not, Groucho Marx is in his cigar-chomping
glory, presiding over his nominal quiz show and
skewering his guests and his long-suffering
announcer George Fenneman.
The eighteen episodes are more replete with guest
stars than the previous collection. Candace Bergen
appears as a twelve-year-old girl, already looking
like she just came off the set of "The Group,"
singing along with Groucho and his daughter
Melinda. Harpo makes an appearance and on one
episode Chico can be spotted in the audience
enjoying the show. Joe Louis makes a poignant
appearance and legendary blues singer Gladys
Bentley (trying in 1958 for a comeback after
declaring herself a lesbian and being blacklisted)
does a rip-snorting version of "Them There Eyes."
Groucho always loved and respected humorists and
when the writers Richard Armour, Max Schulman, and
Harry Ruby appear on the program, Groucho's eyes
widen in admiration. When Phyllis Diller appeared
on the show in 1958 (her first national television
appearance), Groucho actually sits back and sucks
on his cheroot while Diller does a few jokes.
Amidst all the wisecracks and jokes, Groucho
reveals himself to be an excellent
conversationalist. When George Fenneman escorts
the two contestants to "meet Groucho Marx," the
victims stand at attention behind the microphones
waiting to be humiliated. Well, at the end of
Groucho's grilling, the guests may be humiliated
and may not but before it is time to play "You Bet
Your Life," Groucho has succeeded in turning two
indistinct or stereotyped quiz show contestants
into distinctive people. Try to distinguish one
wheel-spinning contestant from the other on "Wheel
of Fortune" and you can appreciate Groucho's skill
all the more.
The collection includes outtakes from several
episodes, "stag reels" of racier material cut from
the show, and three failed pilots from "You Bet
Your Life" follow-ups ("The Plot Thickens," "What
Do You Want?" and "Tell It To Groucho" -- all from
1961). Phyllis Diller does a desultory commentary
on her episode. |
