THE STANFORD THEATRE
The Cocoanuts poster

The Cocoanuts

1929 ★ 93 min
Starring: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx
Director: Robert Florey, Joseph Santley
Writer: George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind
Producer: Monta Bell, Walter Wanger

The Cocoanuts is a 1929 pre-Code musical comedy film starring the Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo). Produced for Paramount Pictures by Walter Wanger, who is not credited, the film also stars Mary Eaton, Oscar Shaw, Margaret Dumont and Kay Francis.

Trivia

  • Based on The Cocoanuts (1925 musical by the Marx Brothers).
  • At night, they traveled to the 44th Street Theatre, where they were concurrently performing the 1928 Broadway musical Animal Crackers.
  • For many years, a false legend had it that Florey, who had never seen the Marxes' work before, was put in the soundproof booth because he could not contain his laughter at the brothers' spontaneous antics.
  • Every piece of paper seen in the movie is soaking wet, in order to keep crackling paper sounds from overloading the primitive recording equipment of the time.

Filming Locations

  • Principal photography began on Monday, February 4, 1929, at Paramount's Astoria studio.
  • At the time, Tours had been conducting at the Plaza Theatre in Piccadilly Circus (Paramount's premier exhibition venue in the UK). Filming took place at the Paramount studios in Astoria, Queens; their second film, Animal Crackers, was also shot there.

Previous Showings

9 Runs • 4 Festivals

5,927 tickets sold

Original Billings: 1 run (October 20 - 22, 1929)

Original Run: October 20 - 22, 1929 (Sunday - Tuesday)

All runs on record (9):

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