Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel is a fun thing for fans of the Marx Brothers to discover. It’s easy to miss, but satisfying for those hungry for more material. Sadly, the original series with Groucho and Chico Marx is mostly lost. This review will only cover their surviving material; long excerpts from episodes 24, 25, and the complete episode 26. For those that want a more complete view of the series, there was a book released of every surviving script. All twenty-six episodes’ scripts survive except episode 21. Despite the incomplete recordings, they can stand on their own without the need to consult the scripts. Episode 25’s ending suggests there’d be more, but there isn’t.
Flywheel is very close to Groucho’s movie characters, though slightly toned down probably so he’s clean for home audiences. He is generally shown to be sexist and interested in women. In Episode 25, Groucho has a great nonsensical monologue. There’s another in 26, but it takes up too long of a runtime to work as well. The movies sometimes treat Chico without as much depth, but we get a little insight here. “Ravelli” has nice bits of characterization here and there. Ravelli doesn’t seem to mind the threat of being hit by a mean-sounding guy, possibly for money. He is told he has to do work and says he doesn’t want to because it’s work. Perhaps this was a recurring trait of him having to be convinced or forced to do things. Hopefully this doesn’t contradict his characterization before, it at least doesn’t match the movie characters he played. There was one point he may have stolen a car for no real reason. A favorite moment is when Ravelli is left alone and he talks to himself. It’s fun to hear him simply seem like a mindless person with not much in his head. It gives insight into how he thinks. This would’ve been a good thing to have in an early episode of the series.
Episode 26 takes gags and premises from the movies. Ravelli mentioning not having eaten in three days and the stowaway concept are from Monkey Business. Flywheel talks about his trip to Africa. There are more, with the most notable being Flywheel singing the Chevalier song, “You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me”. That song was used by the brothers before in The House That Shadows Built and Monkey Business. Episode 26’s pacing suffers so much from gags being dropped in from different movies in a way that feels mindless that it’s hard to get into the story. The “marriage” joke feels especially out of place. The female bit actresses aren’t very funny and should be playing their roles “straighter”. They are hamming it up a little. Margaret Dumont’s performance left large shoes to fill. Perhaps this wasn’t doable, but it would’ve been great to get back Dumont for the show.
There’s periodic laughter, but sometimes long stretches without. It’s as if the audience simply laughed when they found something funny and didn’t when not. The quality of the jokes is mixed, so that makes sense. It’s amusing the show didn’t try to “fake it” by having a sign that tells them when to laugh. The series sounds quite cheap. At one point, someone says a train is coming, but the audience can’t hear it. At another it rains, with once again no sound for it. There are moments where someone messes up their line. Perhaps retakes or special effects would be too expensive. There is pleasant music throughout. It’d be interesting to know how much money they got if they were a live band or if recordings were used.
Below are thoughts on specific episodes. All include
SPOILERS
EPISODE 24
Why would the women stay on Flywheel and Ravelli’s bus for so long? It was established that it can’t stop, but they could yell for a policeman or do other things to arrange it being forced to stop. They literally let the two leads drive them out in the middle of nowhere for hours. A favorite line is, “Ravelli, I’m getting sick of these dames. Can’t you stop this bus and dump ’em out?” “No, there’s a sign over there that says no dumping.”
EPISODE 25
There’s a gag reminiscent of a scene in Monkey Business when Chico and Harpo force a woman to let them do a medical treatment on her. Here, Ravelli forces a man down against his will so he can remove his mustache. As an aside, based on the man’s later established demeanor, he seems strong enough to stop someone from doing something like that, so why wouldn’t he stop Ravelli? Chico gets some of the best lines in the show. Ravelli: “Anyway, last week I buy her a new dress, but it don’t fit.” Flywheel: “Well, what are you gonna do about it?” “I think I get a different wife.” Another is; Ravelli: “Hey boss, hey boss, we better get another camera.” “Why?” “The killer wants to hit you with this one.”
Despite “Miss Winsome” knowing how violent “the Killer” is, she is okay with a choking scene. I’d be scared of him hurting me. A frustrating trope in media is when a character is dimwitted and does something so stupid you couldn’t believe they’d actually do it and it makes the media seem like it’s forcing in mal-fitting jokes. Ravelli hits the Killer with a camera for choking Winsome, despite him knowing he’s on a film set and they’re doing a scene. This could’ve been fixed by having Winsome scream for help, making Ravelli think she’s being choked too hard. It’s pretty contrived that the robbery in the film would have real money. It makes the ending obvious, where “the Killer” simply steals the money for real.
There’s an amusing standup scene at the end of the episode. It’s proto-Seinfeld. “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you about a little hunting trip I was on last week. I take some worms…” “Take some worms? Just a minute, Chico, didn’t you say you went hunting?” “Sure, I went hunting for a place to fish.”
EPISODE 26
One favorite joke is, “I’m not the captain, I’m the bos’n’s mate.” “You’re his mate? Well, I hope you’re very happy together.” Another is when the stowaways’ description is described to the duo and Flywheel explains that he doesn’t match Ravelli’s description and vice versa with Ravelli. Lastly, “A lion is loose? How fortunate it is we have Sir Roderick Mortimer, the most famous lion hunter in the world with us! He’ll know what to do – won’t you, Sir Roderick?” “Absolutely, but I don’t think there’s room under my bed for all of us.”
Here, Flywheel is mistaken for a lion hunter. It’s funny to think that in Animal Crackers, Groucho’s Captain Spaulding was really just mistaken for Captain Spaulding when he was really a stowaway. It doesn’t make sense why everybody thinks the lion must’ve been caught, essentially only because they couldn’t find it. Arguably this episode is taking a more moralistic approach to the brothers’ antics than the Paramount films. The duo get arrested for their crimes at the end. The sequence isn’t particularly funny, so it seems it could’ve been tacked on.
OVERVIEW
The series would be better as a television show or series of short films with Harpo Marx. You could imagine such a thing being considered a legendary sitcom of the time, like I Love Lucy or The Abbott and Costello Show. Still, Harpo’s exclusion is certainly no deathblow. Groucho and Chico have a fun dynamic which in some scenes would be diminished by a third person, especially one as destructive as Harpo. Sadly there aren’t as many Groucho and Chico dialogues as there could be, with Groucho sometimes working off of a straight man.
Five-Star Theater, which aired this Marx series, asked people in Episode 26 to say so if they wanted the series back. It was not renewed. Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel is a nice bit of bonus material for a Marx Brothers fan. All three episodes have good jokes, but there is a stiffness to the shows and some very weak jokes. It’s not something a casual fan should feel compelled to hear.
ON THE CORNER AND OFF THE WALL
I listened to most of this in my hat that looks like Chico’s. That’s gotta count for something! Also, today is Harpo Marx’s birthday. In keeping with this, I reviewed a piece of media that focuses on the core act except him.
The Filme Diary 