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From: themindstripper
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  • I just looked this up because yesterday I met a man that was a child actor in this sequence. I haven't seen this in years, and I had forgotten how good it was.

  • I`m an asian & I want to learn that dance T_T

  • Best scene in the whole movie!! lolll I love this film! Margaret Dumont is hilarious too, perfect combo with Groucho. Learned lindy from a few of those dancers...so glad that it was captured. The stereotype doesn't bother me. Black folks was having fun! The Marx Brother's knew where to go to get the spirit!! lolllll

  • @dggd This was the very best musical scene from ANY of their films. Hands down!!!

  • Harpo at 2:20 lol. Always cracks me up

  • This is the kind of stuff that rock n' roll came out of.

  • @TheTubePortal Amen!!!

  • Who dat man that don't like this? He ain't got no swing!

  • Waht do you care about stereotypes, just listen to that band, that trumpet player, wonderful Ivie Anderson, the dancers, the youngsters so talented. Wish we could hear that today. No way!

    The message is: All God's Children Got Rhythm (and soul). Dan V!

  • Isn't this just TREMENDOUSLY entertaining! I never tire of watching this scene. It really picks up my spirits! :)

  • Groucho looks really happy

  • Anyone can please write here the lyrics of "Who dat man"? I can't find them in the web.

  • I looked it up. The lead singer is Ivie Anderson. July 10, 1905 – December 28, 1949). Amazing voice and beautiful woman.

  • Harpo was by all accounts a kind and sensitive man. Harpo in this number truly has soul!

  • I found this to be extremely entertaining. I fail to see in racism or stereotypes! I see some incredibly talented dancers and humor! As far as the Marx brother's in with black polish on their faces... How is that different from Eddie Murphy with white powder on his? It's acting and good acting at that. I thought this was tastefully done and as a person of color don't find this offensive one bit.

  • the lead singer is really pretty.the music itself does swing !!!

  • it does appear at first glance very racist and stereotypical but it does swing! i think i would defer to my many black friends before posting it anywhere.

  • This sequence itself has nothing to drive the story forward, but it doesn't matter. This is entertaining :D

  • Love this video! Incredible talent and performances on every level.

  • o-m-g. this makes me want to slap someone.

  • if not that, then this.

    /watch?v=8UERjH6WFFw&feature=r­elated

  • /watch?v=9LBlsDBC848

    With that, I make my point. Marx bros. made EVERYONE look like clowns.

  • WOW. Marx brothers.. being called "racist" for showing black people acting like clowns. Nearly everyone in the Marx brothers' shows are seen as clowns, or geniuses... The only reason this is racist is because there's only black people? Blame it on the actors, most white actors back then didn't want to act with the black ones or else they'd be persecuted by many people for it. But really, just cuz this shows more people acting like clowns and this time they're black, people shout "RACCIISSTTSS!!"

  • WoW...There's Dorothy Dandridge with the bib overalls on behind that dude at 2:14 and a better shot of her and her sister at 7:24 She had to be only 16 or 17 at the time.

  • @daboys43 You can also see her at 04:28 too. She was 15 at the time.

  • Am I the only one to notice that the people holding the instruments are not actually playing them? The sounds don't match the sights in most places.

  • @bkbelly89 THis makes too much assumption that Blacks had no Brains. They knew what they were doing. THEY ARE NOT GETTING shot up and fed to dogs, like some Blacks are willing to do , just to put their face in films and 4 some green. The White men, in Black faces are making fun of themselv3es for being pale. they want to be one of God children with rhythum

  • @CalypieAndroid We all can acknowledge that blacks weren't portrayed well in 1930s cinema, but for a moment you should realize that someone made the right decision when they decided to feature Whitey's Lindy Hoppers in a movie, because of how amazing their dancing was. Sure we can be pissed that movies that were played in the south had the blacks completely cut from the final edits, but I'd rather celebrate the amazingly talented people performing on the screen.

  • @bkbelly89 This movie is the opposite of racist. Check other movies of the day. Using black talent in a non-black movie was unheard of...

    Kind of like Ali calling Frazier a racist...defies logic...

  • So great to see black people doing black people music and dance, rather than a painted up white guy jumping around like he knew what he was doing...

  • @masercot Wow! You know absolutely nothing about black history or its culture. If you are black, you are probably under the impression that a bunch of thugs chanting about beating women and killing people is "empowering"...

    Lot of folks like you, out there...

  • i can't see why it would be racist.. just because black people appear doesn't mean it's racist, does it now? i would personally be honoured to play in any marx bros movie. they sing a nice song, have fun and make some money on the way.. the marx bros were very popular with black audiences, because the marx bros never made fun of anyone but themselves

  • One of my fave song/dance numbers of all time, thanks for uploading :)

  • I love this because it's a very rare oportunity to watch Ivie Anderson singing with all her power and talent.

    robertgrade

  • the kids in the front are sooo cute

  • The Marx Bros were very popular with black audiences in that time. This movie isn't racist, this scene is fantastic music, choreography and loads of talent from Ivie Anderson and the Lindy Hoppers - very cool - of course racism was common at the time - to have a scene like this in a movie at that time meant it wouldn't be shown in the south at all. The Marx Bros poked fun at everybody

  • Absolute Gold!!!

  • I loved the movie but this scene is the BEST part!!

  • I always dug this scene

  • Thank you for having this classic Marx Brothers song on You Tube that introduced Dorothy Dandridge at 3:24

  • @L1S91 I believe Dorothy Dandridge was 14 at the time!

  • @L1S91 I believe Dorothy Dandridge was 14 at the time! Dorothy Dandridge was introduced earlier. The one that sang "All God's chillin got Rhythym" was Ivie Anderson. I'm sorry!

  • Wonderful, LOVE it.

  • Does anyone know the lyrics to the "Who's That Man?/Its Gabriel!" part? Thanks!! and thanks so much for uploading! xx

  • I see that despite all the negative comments, there are zero dislikes to this video.

  • At that time, they had to sell box office tickets to the movies that the talentless producers - read "investors" - decided should be made. Jewish brothers, virtuousos in their own right, doing comedy. The singing, music and dancing in this clip is simply unparalelled. This is talent that starved and worked without pay to be the very best. And at the time, allowed in only specified hotels, restaurants, and rest rooms. Talent too big to deny! Ivie, i'll always love her. 

  • At that time, they had to sell box office tickets to the movies that the producers - read "investors" - decided should be made with the "properties" they owned. Jewish brothers, virtuousos in their own right, doing comedy. The singing, music and dancing in this clip is simply unparalelled. This is talent that starved and worked without pay to be the very best. And at the time, allowed in only specified hotels, restaurants, and rest rooms. Talent too big to deny! Ivie, i'll always love her.

  • It is a shame that a vast majority of the actors are uncredited. At least Ivie Anderson (soloist at 2:02) is. She sang for many years with Ellington, and it is speculated that some of the actors with musical instruments in this scene were members of the Ellington orchestra.

  • This movie just played on TCM. Big man got down!! If I did that...I'd still be down there. Marx Bros humor so corny and stupid you can't help but laugh :D Classic. And everyone lighten up. Back then it was a job and put food on the table and great exposure. Most of the time these scenes get cut because of the comments people make like the ones below. This is part of american culture. No cussing and not half naked like today. I'd like to see the dancers of today with that much stamina and energy

  • The Marx Brothers came from Vaudeville, where EVERYONE did ethnic humor. Irving Berlin wrote songs playing with Ethnic stereotypes ("Sweet Italian Love"; "Cohen Owes Me 97 Dollars"); Fanny Brice did Jewish humor and black humor. The Marx Brothers first big act had Groucho as a German; Harpo as an Irishman; Gummo as a Jew; and Chico as an Italian. Nobody thought anything of it.

  • @hildawhitby Weren't Irving Berlin and Fanny Brice of a Jewish background anyway?

  • Damn that looked like a GREAT PARTY.

  • I was totally blown away watching this. It Is AMAZING!!!!!

    Ivie Anderson FOREVER!!!!!!!!

  • Are they calling Harpo 'Gabriel'? 

    Why is that-- i seem to hear an angelic motif in the lyrics, but I don't get the joke apart form him being a blond man who plays a horn...

  • @ensis harp actually means angel, and not only (obviously) could harpo play the harp, but the man was a living angel himself. just that sweetest guy

  • Are they calling Harpo 'Gabriel'?

    Why is that-- i seem to hear an angelic motif in the lyrics, but I don't get eh tjoke apart form him being a blond man who plays a horn...

  • Thank you for this! I always LOVED this scene! The immensely uplifting music. The awesome swing choreography. Ivie Anderson's flawless style and grace and swagger and voice that could break mountains. Maureen O'Sullivan's breathtaking beauty. The Marxes! The music! The lyrics! The clapping! The crowd!

    What's not to love? <3

    (Don't say 'the racism')

  • @ thekillerfroggy harpo hated white people, too. Chico and Zeppo hated goyem and whitebread idiots. Groucho liked all peoples--women especially.

  • wishin i could dance like that. this is a history lesson on many levels

  • does anyone know who is playing the piano ?

  • @ANealis Comedian/dancer Troy Brown Sr. portrays the pianoplayer in this scene. Duke Ellington is really playing (in the studio).

  • @ANealis Comedian/dancer Troy Brown Sr. portrays the piano player in this scene. Duke Ellington actually tickled the keys in the recording.

  • @ANealis I had the same question

  • YES YES YES THIS IS THE BEST

    I HATE WHITE PEOPLE

  • The fat man dancing is Troy Brown Sr., "320 pounds of fun," a mainstay of the Black vaudeville circuit for more than two decades. The Dandridge sisters are visible in many shots--Dorothy in light-colored overalls, Vivian in similar, darker costume. The backup band is actually the Duke Ellington orchestra (recorded Jan/Feb '37), with Ivey Anderson, his longtime vocalist, singing on camera. Zazu zazu!

  • That's the kind of happiness that the rich people will never understand.

  • For those viewers who are upset by the use of racial stereotypes, also please realize the marx bros grew up very VERY poor as children of jewish immigrants. They can identify with the poor class. Besides the obvious racial stereotypes they are also romanticizing the poor working class cutting loose and having fun, running away from "the man", etc. If you are a fan, you'll notice several of their movies have a scene like this but not always involving blacks. And come on, this was a long time ago.

  • @brainburrito And let me add to your very astute comment that it was actually quite radical in the 1930's to be showcasing Black talent of this caliber in a film. It was, in fact, quite ground breaking. It demonstrates the great appreciation that Groucho, Chico & Harpo had for music. Vaudeville is a mix of music and humour, and that's the tradition they came from into film. This is not a putdown. It's a celebration of the highest order.

  • i fthis were sterotyping or racist then the cops would have been after the black guys not the white guys. just sayin

  • Fantastic!

  • This makes me want to dance, lol. I love how all of the Marx brother's films' music is enjoyable.

  • wow .................what an ending love it

  • Funny how people are so quick to judge this according to todays moral standards, I actually came looking for this clip 'cause I was talking about how far ahead of their time The Marx Brothers were in terms of showing talented black artists in their films at a time when it was generally frowned upon.

  • I'm sorry, but despite loving the music and dancing, that last bit with the blackface is painful to watch considering its history. However, according to Groucho, the director Sam Wood was a very racist man and that is the main reason for its inclusion. But I feel the brothers made the best with the material, making it, for the most part, a positive and uplifting scene, rather than a mockery. Marx Brothers=comic gods.

  • What the stunt at about 6:40 called?

  • I love that I AM the ONLY person at my school who has this song on their I-pod.

  • Let the Juke joint Jump!!!!

  • i absolutely love this scene & thank you so much for posting it! it's nice to not have to wait till New Year's Eve (in chicago they used to do new years eve marx brothers & fred astaire marathons for many years). Note to ESponge2000 - thank you for pointing out the foreshadowing of the civil rights movement in this scene - i'm embarrassed that never occurred to me, but it's exactly the Marx Brothers style, come to think of it...anyway, thanks again for such a beautiful post!!

  • at 2:10 does anyone know the pianist? He looks so familiar.

  • Those kids were deff doin the reject in the beginning of this song

  • My we've come a long way..

  • Also there's some foreshadowing in this clip about the forecoming of the civil rights movement, when the swing band starts playing parts of the "Stars and Strips Forever"

  • There are things in this clip that could be perceived as racist by today's standards, but they weren't intended to be racist then. They were based on 1930s reality of life. (How they portrayed black people here and how they look up to this unable to talk musician like he's the resurrection of Moses...that's the overtone I'm getting)

    The real message was about human beings sharing a love of rhythm. The makers of this film would have definitely embraced the words of Martin Luther King, JR.

  • I want to learn to dance and sing like that!

  • beautiful,clasic, amazing, something more good what the marx brothers?

  • The Dandridge Sisters (including Dorothy and Vivian Dandridge and Etta Jones) are in the crowd.

    btw, Ivie Anderson was the vocalist on Duke Ellington's original versions of It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got that Swing) and Take the A-Train

  • BLACKFACE

  • This is to misunderstand the intentions of the filmakers and the era in which this lamentably beautiful work was made.

  • I can't stop watching this! Thank you themindstripper!!!

  • I love that beat and sound :)

  • No,  kiinankaali999, Hebrews!

  • Have to agree here, if stuff like this is being "slienced", I sure am missing the point of it all

  • wow, I'm really not sure how I feel about this.

  • Awesome! Glad to hear the audio now!

  • So happy to be able to hear it again myself. Thanks again for the tip, I bet I'm speaking on behalf of many people here!

    Thank yo!

  • Not a problem ;) Being able to hear it is enough for me!

  • this is one of the very best movie scenes ever - PLEASE LET THE AUDIO GO ON!!!! PLEASE!

  • Put the music ON- What's the problem. This is a classic

  • so what's the point of retaining the video w/o sound ? .... i feel utube's "going commercial" .... in the end is it all about money ?

  • Damn them! Taking the sound off!

  • This video is too important to have the audio track removed. Please return it.

  • Overall the scene is very complimentary towards African American culture as far as music. :)

    But the way they have some of the actors talking and the over the top laughing is a bit stereotypical, but that was the '30s. I'm not a fan of PC, but we can't pretend stereotyping never happened.

  • @HeraldMB Of course it happened. But not EVERYTHING was meant or intended to be. Considering the time this flim wa made it wa a step UP. And you cant put 21 frist century thinking into a 1930 s flim, its not fair to anyone involed

  • The move at 5:52 is the best. Also when the three people are dancing together!! Yay for lindy hop!

  • By the way, that fat guy dancing is AMAZING! I can't believe he did the split! WOW! Its great to see music like this. Why can't they do stuff like this now? Its not stereoytpical or anything at least in my opinion.

  • Harpo is a great dancer. And the little kids look like they are having a lot of fun. The rest of the cast looks like they love the scene also. Great job by the bro's to have blacks in the movie when it was looked down upon. They were Jewish also so they sided with blacks a lot

  • i would simply be winded after that!..well to be honest during..

  • I just found out that Dorothy and Vivian Dandridge are in this clip. You have to look closely to catch them though. You can see them pretty well at 4:28-4:36!

  • Favorite Marx Bros moving and probably simply just based on this scene. I also love the mix of "All God's Chillun" and "Tomorrow is Another Day". Love it!

  • Wonderful Ivie Anderson!

  • One of my favorite classic musical moments.

  • In todays media you will find comedy where black people make fun of white people, even using makeup to appear white.

    Times change, judge this movie according to the morals of its day.

    I see black people dancing amazingly and being very cool, im impressed the marx brothers put this in their movie especially when you know how most americans felt about this sort of music, dancing and blacks in general. Besides the brothers dont do black face for comedy but to avoid detection by the bad guys!

  • Well said that man/woman, and i am a black man. Your words are true, its just a great movie

  • Remember that the bro's were Jewish and they to got a lot of flack for being Jews (and we still do). So they sided with blacks a lot of times.

  • There was Groucho's famous line when he was preforming at this hotel that wouldn't let him go into the swimming pool because he was Jewish.

    He said "Can my daughter go in up to her knees she's only half Jewish."

  • @nederland4045 You ar right. Some church were even againest going to movies at back then. And danceing was forbidden no matter what by some curchs back then. In reality this was ahead of its time in many ways

  • For some reason that shot of the woman leaning back at 1:14 always gets me. She just looks so natural.

  • This swing number is awesome!! I love Harpo's music, and these ultra-talented people made it even more special!! Who cares what race they are, talent is talent and I love it!!!

  • This is my favorite Marx Brother scene. Full of strong feelings Crazy humour, Wild Swing music and beautiful singing and the Lindy Hop dance sequences are unbeliveably Great. Absolute Genius

  • This ist sooo beautiful. I've seen this movie 'bout a hundret times when I was young so this really ist a childhood memory!

    Everyone who thinks this scene is racistic and compares it with those really ugly minstrel shows has never seen one of them.

  • i love how the light the big guy is on his feet.

  • I've always been in love with Ivy Anderson. She is a beautiful singer with such emotional range and expression. Harpo just makes things even better. I'll bet the two of them really hit it off.

  • why argue about it being PC or not...they put on face paint to hide...if in another film at that time or this time, you see a white guy in asia put on the whole chinese outfit(traditional clothes sterotypical coned hat)..is that racist???? get over it

  • DAMN! even chico look fine with a blackface but i don't know about the dance.

  • Sorry. I should have written "Ain't That The Truth" below.

  • Who's the arranger of this musical delight?...Phil Moore arranged "Ain't That Peculiar?", the deleted Louis Armstrong super number in "Cabin in the sky", and this one sounds pretty similar.

  • As an Ivie Anderson fan I have to say this is fabulous. She is at about 2:00 and 3:20 minutes. She was often lead vocalist for the Duke Ellington Orchestra in the 1930's.

  • This is one of the only pieces of film footage of the wonderful Ivy Anderson who sang with the Great Duke Ellington and his big band. I think it's fantastic. It is of value simply for that reason. Stop analysing and enjoy.

  • My vote for the single greatest musical-number ever put on film! It doesn't have a damned-thing to do with The Marx Bros, the plot or much of anything-else,but DOES have everything to do with sheer raw talent -- there is probably more exuberance, joy and energy in this scene than in any 10-movies combined! R.J.

  • Damn, that scene is a killer. There's a shot at 1:45 where the entire house is moving because they're jamming so hard. Great!

  • "It's Gabriel!" I love this scene. Harpo takes on a Pied Piper sort of form. I wish I had the power to stir people up like that.

  • I wish more girls had voices like her!

  • Back then wearing black face was the thing to do no different then acting like a gangstera rapper today.

  • No, not quite.

  • Really, you don't think whites or blacks trying to act from the street isn't as offensive as wearing black face.

  • I was referring to the fact that black face was created by white entertainers to mock black musical expression, while rap/hip hop was a form created by blacks (and Latinos) originally. While people acting like "gangster rappers" is silly, it is nowhere near as offensive and degrading as black face was.

  • OK. My point was back then it was PC to wear black face also blacks were forced to wear black face. I will agree that some theater owners were racist cause they forced talented black permforers to play stero types, but I noticed today most blacks don't have a problem playing stero types as long they get paid.

  • That's my favorite bit of the movie!! Man it was so great! So much better than the ballet they had in the film! I love the song and everything about this scene!

  • Great and thanks. Have you got "Tomorrow is another Day" ?

  • I love a lot. S'wonderful !

  • the most beautifull scene ever made by the marx bros!!!

  • i love this movie!

  • Great video.

  • she sounds like sister rosetta tharpe.

  • CLASSIC!!

  • I WANT TO DANCE LIKE THE FAT BLACK GUY.

  • So do I!!!!

  • who dat man!? lol

  • i love youuuuuuu

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