MovieChat Forums > Monkey Business (1931) Discussion > Groucho's eerie prediction?

Groucho's eerie prediction?

posted 18 years ago by majestikmoose9
4 replies | jump to latest

When Groucho is alone with Thelma Todd's character in her cabin, he says: "You're a woman who's been getting nothing but dirty breaks. Well, we can clean and tighten your brakes, but you'll have to stay in the garage all night."

Five years later, Todd was found dead, locked in a garage with a car motor running. Her death certificate states her cause of death as accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. To this day, her death remains one of Hollywood's greatest mysteries.

Anyone else find this just a bit creepy?

[–] slokes 18 years ago

Wow, that's about as creepy as it gets with a film of this magnitude and an actress of Todd's stature. Especially when you think of her death being ruled an accidental "dirty break."

[–] MarxBrosFan 18 years ago

She was locked in that garage by her boyfriend, director Roland West, maybe he remembered Groucho's line... She came home drunk one night from a party and they had a fight... but the resulting death from carbon monoxide poisoning was accidental.

Well, the act was mostly awful, but I enjoyed the slug balancer. -Blackadder

[–] wilhar 17 years ago

You've been reading too much Kenneth Anger.

But then again. Maybe...

[–] aorourke55 15 years ago

I have no idea if it's true but Wikipedia claims:

A segment of the History Channel series History's Mysteries reported that Roland West actually confessed to the crime, in the manner stated in the first theory stated above, i.e. that he was trying to keep her from going to the next party. Although no legal action was taken against him, allegedly due to Hollywood's elite closing ranks, West supposedly never worked again in Hollywood. Actually, West had forsworn making movies after the failure of his independently-made gangster movie Corsair, which starred Todd under an assumed name. By her death in 1935, he had been out of the business for three years. It wasn't until 1951 that West made his confession (to actor Chester Morris).