Charlie Chaplin Plays Straight Man To Groucho Marx
Beverly Hills Tennis Club,
Los Angeles
July 14th 1937
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Tennis has become the most fashionable sport in Hollywood:
Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Carole Lombard, David
Niven, Norma Shearer and Katharine Hepburn all play. This prompts Fred Perry -
the world no. 1 player for the past five years' - to turn professional and move
to Los Angeles with his film-star wife Helen Vinson.
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Perry buys the Beverly Hills Tennis Club with the American
champion Ellsworth Vines. To mark its opening, the two of them play in one of
the very first pro-celebrity tournaments: Perry partners Charlie Chaplin and
Vines partners Groucho Marx.
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Charlie Chaplin (b.1889) is just a year older than Groucho
Marx (b. 1890), but the gap seems infinitely wider: the two men are separated
by sound. Chaplin is the king of silent comedy, Marx the king of the
fast-talking wisecrack. Chaplin spends a lot of time fretting that he belongs
to the past; at lunch before the game, he shares these fears with his opponent.
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'Charlie turned around to me and said, "Gee, I envy
you;" recalls Groucho, a quarter of a century on,' and I said, "You
envy me? Why?" He said, "I wish I could talk on the screen the way
you do." I found this such an ironical statement. Here was the greatest
comedian that there's ever been, there's never been anyone like him, and he's
sitting there envying me because I can talk.'
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It is not hard to detect an undertow of triumph beneath this
outward show of sympathy. Groucho has always been a very competitive man, and
Chaplin is known as the world champion in their shared field of comedy. But by
the time Groucho looks back on this conversation, silent comedy has come to
seem as out-of-date and quaint as the penny-farthing.
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At the time, he notes ruefully that while City Lights is
acclaimed an instant classic, Monkey Business is seen as 'the usual Marx
Madhouse .. .'
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On this summer's day in 1937, it is as though the edgy
competition between the two most famous comedians in the world has been
formalized. Chaplin Chaplin prides himself on his tennis: as well as being a
member of the Beverly Hills Club, he has his own court at his home, where he
throws tennis parties for fellow stars like Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. When
newsreel photographers turn up, he always plays that little bit harder. Groucho
is much less proficient with a racket. Unable to compete in tennis, and incapable
of being seen in public without playing his buffoonish on-screen character, he
decides to compete for laughs. He turns up with a huge suitcase and a dozen
tennis rackets, curls up in a sleeping bag, then brandishes a ping-pong bat.
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Chaplin and Perry win the first game with ease, and the
second game too. At this point, Groucho tells the crowd that he is going to
have a lunch break ('Vines can do all my playing for me!'). He dips into his
suitcase and produces a tablecloth and a range of sandwiches, which he proceeds
to spread on the ground. 'Will you join me for a spot of tea?' he shouts to
Chaplin, playing to the crowd.
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Charlie Chaplin feigns laughter, but is quietly seething: he
wants to get on with the match. 'I didn't come here to be your straight man,'
he hisses into Groucho's ear.
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Groucho omits this comment from his memoirs. In newsreel
footage, Chaplin can be seen smiling at Groucho's shenanigans, but this is only
for the cameras. Years later, he has still not forgiven Groucho for casting
himself in the role of funny guy. After all, given the choice, who wants to
play stooge?
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Craig Brown "Hello Goodbye
Hello" (2011)
