Folks, I’m about to head East for ten days to celebrate The Yale Record’s 150th anniversary, do miscellaneous Bystander stuff, and explore the wilds of Pennsylvania. Plus I’m knocking issues #25 and #26 into shape; they look to be corkers.
So unless you want to read my stemwinder for the Record gala (you don’t), you’ll have to be content with this NSFW photo from the set of Horse Feathers (1932) which, in a truly just world, would be hanging on the wall next to my desk.
This photo, currently on offer at Julien’s Auctions, is going for $4500 and, in my opinion, is worth every penny. According to the site…
“An original 8-by-10-inch photograph featuring comedy great Harpo Marx posing nude while on the set of the film Horse Feathers (Paramount Pictures, 1932).
Harpo, who played the character "Pinky" in the film, was known to publicly bare himself for a laugh - though no images of this behavior are readily known to have ever been found until now.
Another instance of this behavior, as folklore has it, is one night as Harpo and Groucho were headed to a bachelor's party in a hotel, they decided to play a gag which entailed walking out of the elevator nude and surprising their friends. While in the elevator, the brothers' undressed and put their clothes into the suitcases they were carrying, then accidently landed on the wrong floor, exposing themselves to a horrified all-female bridal shower.
Accompanied by a signed Letter of Provenance detailing how the photo was gifted to assistant director Charlie Barton by Harpo as a gag before boarding a train to New York city following production.”
Make your bid, or live with what might have been. I’ll be in touch regularly with photos, musings and assorted nonsense.
