Copacabana

Copacabana (1947) starring Groucho Marx, Carmen Miranda

Copacabana (1947) starring Groucho Marx, Carmen Miranda

Synopsis for Copacabana

Copacabana (1947) starring Groucho Marx, Carmen MirandaA zany agent books a Brazilian bombshell again, as a French singer, in the same club on the same night.

Editorial review of Copacabana courtesy of Amazon.com

Buy from Amazon.com Happily, Groucho is still Groucho in his first post-Marx Brothers movie, and that’s enough to keep this showbiz farce going. The rather labored plot has Groucho getting his longtime fiancée, Carmen Miranda, booked at Manhattans glamorous Copacabana club, but as two different performers: a Brazilian bombshell (the usual Carmen Miranda act, without the pineapple on the head) and a veiled French chanteuse called Mademoiselle Fifi.
Some of the nightclub stuff has a retro appeal, and the appearance of real-life showbiz columnists (like Earl Wilson) brings a whiff of Sweet Smell of Success. But mostly there’s Groucho, still flinging one-liners in a zone of his own. Even when the material isn’t first-rate, his delivery never wavers from the withering skepticism of the Marx brothers early days. The old greasepaint mustache comes out for one typically Marxist number, with the remainder of the songs handled by Miranda and wet-eyed crooner Andy Russell. Robert Horton

Movie quotes from Copacabana

Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): This is an outrage! You’ll hear from my lawyer! As soon as he gets a telephone!
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): [handing Carmen’s mink stole to a hat-check girl] Take good care of this, and at ten o’clock give it a saucer of milk.
Carmen Novarro (Carmen Miranda): Why are you always chasing women?
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): I’ll tell you as soon as I catch one.
Carmen Novarro (Carmen Miranda): [trying to sneak into their hotel] Why don’t we get married?
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): Let’s not rush into marriage; we can’t even get into the hotel.
Carmen Novarro (Carmen Miranda): I don’t think you want to marry me.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): How can you say that? We’ve been engaged for almost ten years!
Abe Green Editor of Variety: Now listen, Deveraux. You and I both know this check is no good.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): Oh? I thought only I knew it.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): Listen, babe.
Specialty: Yes?
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): How’d you like to see your name in lights?
Specialty: Why, are you an electrician?
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): No, but I’ve got some good connections.
Steve Hunt: Do I know you?
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): Do you know me? Lionel Q. Deveraux, your old roommate at Yale?
Steve Hunt: I never went to Yale.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): Remember those good old days at Erasmus High?
Steve Hunt: I never went to Erasmus High.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): At least you do remember when we graduated from PS 27?
Steve Hunt: No.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): Say, for a man with no education, you’ve done alright.
Liggett, an Agent: Ive got so many clients, they get in my hair!
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): This guy must handle a flea circus.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): You ought to go and get cured by Penicillin.
Singer Andy Russell: Well, it is good for my throat.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): So is a razor!
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): How much are the cigars?
Cigarette Girl: They’re a dollar.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): Oh, I’m just browsing don’t you have any nickel cigars?
Cigarette Girl: Yes, but they’re forty cents.
Lionel Q. Deveraux (Groucho Marx): I’ve got an explanation for this, but I don’t even believe it myself.

Songs performed in Copacabana

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Professional clown for over 25 years - happily married, with 5 children and 1 grandson