Had another early work session this morning. It was a gorgeous day to round up carts. The sky was blue and cloudless. The wind felt nice and cool. It couldn't have been any more than the lower-mid 70's. I only wish I could have been outside more. It was even quieter today than it was yesterday. There weren't that many carts to gather. (Even fewer once another bagger came to handle them.) I spent the majority of the first half of my shift doing returns, and the second half hauling heavy boxes of paper bags and plastic bags into a closet in the front of the store and one in the back, near the lounge.
Ran some quick Max & Ruby while eating lunch after I got in. "Max's Rocket Racer" is a cool space-themed ride at the local fair. Trouble is, he's too short to ride. Ruby keeps trying to drag him to anything that'll make him tall enough to get on that rocket!
"Ruby's Birthday Party" is for hers and Louise's Bunny Scouts leader. They want to impress their leader and troop with something "extra special." Max and Louise's little brother Morris just want to play with Max's rockets.
We return to the fair in "Max's Candy Apple." Max wants the tasty fall treat...so much, he keeps running out on all the games Ruby wants to play. She's hoping that the three-legged race will keep him by her side long enough to finish.
Went into writing for the next couple of hours. I first backtracked a little. Hank (Han Solo) has a meeting with a greasy punk named Greedo in a dive bar called the Mos Eisley Cantina. Greedo is there on behalf of his boss, the notorious local gangster Jasper Hutt, known simply as "The Hutt" to his men. To keep things (relatively) light, Hank "shoots" a burger at him first, then knocks over a table onto the other customers. He escapes while two big guys pummel the green-haired punk. He and Charlie (Chewbacca) run out quick in Hank's rusted red Ford truck while he explains the situation.
Returning to Maz's pier, tensions are heating up between the residents of the Cottages By the Sea and the Imperial Gang. Arturro, the shorter of the nerds, is the one who finally starts the fight when Vader picks on his best friend Chip. Everyone gets involved, resulting in some nice black eyes all around.
They're all making jokes about their shiners when Luke, then the nerds, smell smoke. Turns out the corner of one of Maz's storage buildings between rides is on fire. The kids do what they can before Maz and Ben bring in firefighters to take out the rest. No one was hurt, but the storage building and an adjacent ride sustained smoke damage.
One of the firemen bring Maz a singed letter. It makes it fairly obvious that the Imperial Gang did this,setting up the brawl in the entrance as a distraction. Leia in particular is angry and vows to find out who's behind this.
Broke for dinner around quarter after 6. I started Animal Crackers (mainly to drown out a noisy, heavily cursing Charlie and his blasting music) while eating leftovers for dinner. The second Marx Brothers movie introduces the song that would later be Groucho's theme on his show You Bet Your Life, "Hooray for Captain Spaulding." Groucho plays the aforementioned explorer, who is an honored guest in the home of rich Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) and her vivacious daughter Arabella (Lillian Roth). She's also displaying a priceless painting. A thief (Kay Francis) wants swipe the original and replace it with her friend's inferior copy. Arabella wants to replace the original with her boyfriend's well-made copy to show off his work. The Professor (Harpo) and the Italian (Chico) are just around to run interference and chase women.
Despite the early talkie stiffness, this is one of my favorite early Marx Brothers movies. There's some prime gags here, including Groucho's card game with Dumont and Harpo running after every girl in a five mile radius. Plus, it introduced one of the best-known songs in any Marx Brothers movie.
(This was, by the way, my first Marx Brothers movie. My family used to rent this on occasion from what was then Perry Street Video when we lived in West Cape May in the early 90's. I've been a Marx Brothers fan ever since.)
The stiffness makes this more for fans than casual views, but if you love the Marxes like I do, put this one at the top of your must-see list.
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