Humor Risk

Humor Risk (1921)

Harpo played the hero, a detective named Watson who "made his entrance in a high hat, sliding down a coal chute into the basement". Groucho played an "old movie" villain, who "sported a long moustache and was clad in black", while Chico was probably his "chuckling [Italian] henchman". Zeppo portrayed a playboy who was the owner of a nightclub in which most of the action took place, including "a cabaret, [which allowed] the inclusion of a dance number". The final shot showed Groucho "in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming". Harpo, in a rare moment of romantic glory, gets the girl in the end. This film is lost.

Date of release
1921-12-01
TMDB
9.0 / 10 (2)
Runtime
24m
Genres
Comedy
Director
Richard Smith

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Fort Lee

Humor Risk, also known as Humorisk, is a lost unreleased 1921 silent comedy short film. It is the first film to star the Marx Brothers, and was the only Marx Brothers movie until the release of their 1929 musical comedy The Cocoanuts. The title parodies the popular 1920 film Humoresque.

Production

Jo Swerling played a key role in funding the project, raising $6000. Additional funding was provided by the Marxes, cartoonist (and producer, in some sources) Alvah "Al" Posen, Nathan Sachs, and Max Lippman. Nathan Sachs had previously partnered with Max Lippman at a law firm. Sachs made his fortune in the oil business and was a patron of the Marxes both during and long after Humor Risk.

Information on Humor Risk's filming location is contradictory. Author Allan Eyles has stated that the film was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Groucho Marx wrote in his autobiography that it was "shot on the west side of New York," recalling that the Brothers were working at the Palace Theater and had to run across town to Weehawken to do a scene.

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