The Marx Brothers’ message for us in 2025
Today I finished the second hour of a 1970s Marx Brothers documentary, “Marx Brothers Special” [narrated by Leslie Neilson of Naked Gun fame] — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEtFhL16zXw
In the second hour, around 1961, Harpo is being interviewed on TV about his new book, Harpo Speaks. The NPR-like host hands Harpo his copy of the book. He asks Harpo, “Could you show me a couple of your favorite stories in the book?” Harpo takes the book, opens it, pretends to read, and tears out the page he was pretending to read. He then opens to a different page, pretends to read, and tears out this second page. He hands the two pages to the host, pointing to them gesturing he should read them aloud. The host begins to read the first page aloud. While he does, from a bag on the floor, Harpo takes a pair 1950s a prop, “gag” wind-up chattering teeth, just teeth which chatter, nothing else (the 1950s equivalent of Jerry Seinfeld’s, 1980s, “Yadda- yadda-yadda”). Harpo sets it chattering on the table top right next to where the host is reading into his mic. One set of chattering teeth makes a good amount of noise. The host can barely keep reading aloud with the racket.
The host starts laughing yet keeps reading. Harpo takes out a second pair of chattering teeth, sets them chattering too on the table, near the mic. Now the audience can no longer hear the host reading at all. The host is laughing, still trying to read aloud. Harpo takes out a third and fourth pair of chattering teeth gets them all chattering — until all the anyone can hear is the laughter of the host and his camera crew.
What was Harpo demonstrating? It’s clear to me he was saying, “Be here now. If we are not laughing now, it’s even less likely we are going to find laughter by looking back in time in some old story about me and so and so. BE HERE NOW!” In this way Harpo also points up the many ways the host was NOT HERE NOW, too content, too easily convinced joy for him lives in the past or in the future — not now.
If we put IFS words into Harpo’s mouth, he says, “If you are not enjoying the present moment, then you are putting up with the mediocrity of some old mental or emotional part — which you have rehearsed a thousands times, to keep you company, because you are afraid there’s no safety, comfort, or joy in the present moment.
At its best, simple awareness is a lifetime commitment to your self on how in addition to safety and comfort in the present moment, we also need SPONTANEITY. If you don’t feel or don’t think you are worth these — what are you doing? How are you living?
