MovieChat Forums > Animal Crackers (1930) Discussion > Why the title?

Why the title?

posted 19 years ago by BartBeckett
16 replies | jump to latest

I just watched the movie and did I miss something or why is it called "Animal Crackers"?

Well it's the first Marx Brothers movie that I've seen so maybe it's with other titles as well, but I'm certainly looking forward to watch their other ones as well. I heard about their movies in a lot of American TV series and movies but their movies are never (or only rarely) shown in Austria or Germany. Well now that I've seen Animal Crackers I know why: It's impossible to translate those jokes, especially the "Flash" scene, but a lot of others as well.

[–] Baravelli_the_ice_lady 19 years ago

Some of the Marxes' early films had titles that really didn't apply to the movies at all, e.g., Monkey Business, Horse Feathers and Duck Soup. Their later films, such as A Night at the Opera, had more "sensible" titles. I guess the "nonsensical" titles were just the Marxes' way of being...well...nonsensical!

"And now, I'm going back in the closet...where men are empty overcoats..."

[–] thurberdrawing 19 years ago

I think it's called ANIMAL CRACKERS because Captain Spaulding is a big game hunter. Crackers in the shape of animals have been popular in the United States for many years. Certainly brand name cookies actually called "Animal Crackers," packaged in boxes resembling cages in a zoo were marketed when I was a child in the early sixties. I still see these in the stores. I imagine the exact brand existed in 1930, when the movie was made. My point is, the animal-hunting thing is referred to throughout the movies. This was the Marx Brothers's second movie, based on their second Broadway play. The first one, set in Florida, where cocoanuts grow, was called THE COCOANUTS. This title was humorous, too. If you call somebody a nut, you mean that he's crazy. So a title such as THE COCOANUTS promises crazy viewing. Except for THE COCOANUTS, all the movies made by the Marx Brothers at Paramount have an animal theme in the title, but only ANIMAL CRACKERS has even a slight reference to the content. MONKEY BUSINESS has no monkeys, there are no horses in HORSEFEATHERS, and the only ducks in DUCK SOUP are the ones swimming in the pot during the opening credits. When they went to M-G-M, the animal theme was dropped. Three of their movies after this had either "Night" or "Day" in the title: A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, A DAY AT THE RACES and A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA. Because the Marx Brothers looked at their movies as commercial products (and they made a lot of money, so they were right) it made sense that the titles of these movies had a similarity.

[–] thenewjordy 19 years ago

Actually Horse Feathers featured the Dog catcher's horse, which played an important part in the movie's climax.

[–] ww_sketcher 19 years ago

It was probably just the Marx's being weird and zany. :)

And they probably changed their titles to more sensible ones that had to do with the film (e.g: A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races), after they switched studios. Hmm...

[–] Baravelli_the_ice_lady 19 years ago

And they probably changed their titles to more sensible ones that had to do with the film (e.g: A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races), after they switched studios.

Well, what about The Cocoanuts? That title made sense. (The hotel it was set in was called The Cocoanuts.)

"And now, I'm going back in the closet...where men are empty overcoats..."

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] JuliusHenry 19 years ago

i think they called it
"monkey business" because they were stowaways running/escaping from the captain and his peepz. like monkeyz.

[–] gunforanarm 19 years ago

Sometimes titles just come from inside jokes between writers or anybody involved. A more modern example, what does the title "Reservoir Dogs" have to do with that movie? It's some kind of inside joke but I don't remember the explanation.

[–] MarxBrosFan 19 years ago

When Tarantino worked in a videostore, "Reservoir Dogs" is what he called the Louis Malle film "Au Revoir Les Enfants", as a sort of nickname to remember the title.

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.

[–] gj3123 17 years ago

"The Big Store"

Now there's a zany, imaginative title by MGM

[–] sukhisoo 10 years ago

Actually, I think that a "Big Store" at the time was a slang term for a scam or a con. Not that it makes any more sense in the context of the movie.

[–] nycruise-1 16 years ago

"The Cocoanuts" takes place in Cocoanut Beach ("No snow, no ice."), and at the Hotel de Cocoanuts.

"Monkey Business" is/was a commonly-used term to describe silliness/activity with an intent to amuse.

"Horsefeathers" is a euphemism for the more vulgar "Horse$***" - a nicer way of saying "Nonsense" - just like "Bull-oney".

"Duck Soup" is a term meant to convey "facility" - "it's as easy as 'duck soup'".

"Animal Crackers" - I can only guess that it refers to Groucho's monologue on Africa ("The first day I shot two bucks. That was the biggest game we had.").

You have to remember the Brothers had a long career on the stage prior to their movies - in plays that didn't make it to the screen intact.

Their first real success was "I'll Say She Is." - co-starring with their mother Minnie (who I guess served as sort of a Dumont-prototype - which may explain why Groucho was at ease at putting down Dumont when she finally came aboard.)

Everything may ultimately have been presaged by this odd silly game they would play "Peezy-Weezy" - I can't remember what it was about it - but the title alone indicates the mindset of the Brothers (they played it back when they were first trying to make it on the Vaudeville circuit; long afterward it remained a standing joke between them and all their friends who knew about it.)

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] paultbaker 16 years ago

"Animal Crackers" was the name of the original 1928 Broadway musical by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby (music & lyrics) and by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind (script) that would later be filmed.

All the brothers & Margaret Dumont reprised their Broadway roles for the 1930 film.

"Film is a mosaic of Time."
-A. Tarkovsky

[–] bradford-1 12 years ago

Minnie Marx did NOT appear in "I'll Say She Is." She appeared in one of the earliest, pre-comedy musical acts in vaudeville. You may be confused by the fact that she broke her leg just before the show's New York opening and had to be carried to her box in the theater. Her brother Al Shean was a comedian and writer who wrote some early material for his nephews.
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

[–] D_Ray_Morton 11 years ago

All 5 of their films made at paramount had names that had nothing to do with the film...when they moved to MGM in 1935 all of their remaining films had titles that related to the film...

[–] FedoraDave 9 years ago

Why the title?

Why a duck?