Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Smutty business at Keith's, Flushing


Thanks to Damian, partly for designing our spiffy new header, and also for hitting upon this charming ad for one of the mini-touring shows incorporating bits of other shows that the Brothers used to do between proper shows.
The heading identifies them as the stars of The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers - that, and the films listed beneath, safely dates this as 1930.
In tiny type that defies you to read it, we learn that they are appearing in person with a 17 strong cast in The Schweinerei. Schweinerei, Damian assures me, is defined in the wictionary as
mess, nastiness, smutty business, (lit:) piggishness.
We are urged to "come and greet them and get your laugh of a lifetime".
It comes from this photostream, dedicated to saving the historic RKO Keith's Theatre. The pictures, of this and other ads plus great shots of the theatre in its heyday and now in heartbreaking disrepair, are well worth a look.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

That photostream of Keith's RKO is really interesting. There's so much history in Queens--not the least of which is the 1939 World's Fair. The 1964 World's Fair was on the same grounds, which is now Corona Park and the site of the U.S. Tennis Open. There are a couple of 30's era movie theaters still standing in Queens--the Fair Theater and the Trylon, but both have seen better days.

Lolita of the Classics said...

I've given you an award! I have no idea if these sorts of things is anything for you, but I felt that I wanted to give you one!
Check it out here:

http://lolitasclassics.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-lovely-blog-award.html

Noah Diamond said...

"Schweinerei" (said Noah, five years later) was an alternate title for the Napoleon scene from "I'll Say She Is."

I've been going back and reading all the posts here, Matthew. Of course I'm a sucker for the kind of Marxian arcana that is your terrain, but in addition to that, the wit and general excellence of your writing makes this blog the best Marx Brothers book on the internet! I've been laughing out loud at the annotated guides (in a good way, I mean). I wish I had been more active here during some of the fascinating exchanges in the comments sections, and am very happy to be part of the expanding conversation on Facebook.

One last sweet cheerio,
Noah

Matthew Coniam said...

Cheers, Noah!
Thanks for the kind words, and the info on ISSI.
Best, Matthew