It is a matter of debate whether Harpo joins in with the singing. Well, we can clean and tighten your brakes, but you’ll have to stay in the garage all night.” In 1935, Todd died in her car inside a garage, apparently from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.Įarly on in Monkey Business, the Brothers-playing stowaways concealed in barrels-harmonize unseen while performing the popular song “ Sweet Adeline“. Alone with Todd in her cabin, Groucho quips: “You’re a woman who’s been getting nothing but dirty breaks. A line of dialogue in Monkey Business seems to foreshadow Todd’s death.
A few years after the release of Horse Feathers, Todd died in unexplained circumstances. This is the first Marx Brothers film not to feature Margaret Dumont: this time their female foil is comedian Thelma Todd, who would also star in the Marx Brothers’ next film, Horse Feathers. Monkey Business was banned in some countries because censors feared it would encourage anarchic tendencies. Typical for many Marx Brothers films, production censors demanded changes in some lines with sexual innuendo. Left to right: Harpo, Zeppo, Chico, Groucho. The four Marx Brothers stowing away on an ocean vessel by hiding in barrels in this promotional still for Monkey Business.
