The tip, The Marx Brothers and a curry

That's how I spent my 50th birthday. Taking a broken toilet to the refuse tip, watching a couple of Marx Brothers films, and overeating a take-away curry. All done with my dad and my son.

First Marx Bros film we watched was At The Circus, I never thought it was one of their greatest... and it really wasn't. It has a few prime moments (and it has Eve Arden) but on the whole it's too flabby.

(play on YouTube)

Second was Monkey Business which I reckon is probably the best of their Paramount pictures (except when I think Horse Feathers is... or Duck Soup). It loses its legs after they get off the boat - and it does have far too much of Harpo creepily chasing women (any is too much it's the most unpleasant recurring theme in Marx Brothers films - Monkey Business probably has more than any other film).

But it has Groucho sparring with Thelma Todd, and some of my favourite gags "We had to drown the gats, but we saved you a little black gitten."

Groucho and Thelma Todd