A Day at the Races (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A Day at the Races is a 1937 American comedy film, and the seventh film starring the Marx Brothers, with Allan Jones, Maureen O'Sullivan and Margaret Dumont. Like their previous Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature A Night at the Opera, this film was a major hit.
Plot
The Standish Sanitarium, owned by Judy Standish, has fallen on hard times. Banker J.D. Morgan, who owns a nearby race track and nightclub, holds the mortgage on the sanitarium and is attempting to purchase it in order to convert it into a casino. Judy's employee Tony, suggests asking financial help from the wealthy patient Mrs. Emily Upjohn. Mrs Upjohn threatens to leave the Sanitarium for treatment by Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush. Tony overhears her praise of Hackenbush, who is, unknown to her, a horse doctor. When Tony tells Mrs. Upjohn that Hackenbush has been hired to run the Sanitarium, she is elated and informs Judy she will consider helping her financially. Tony contacts Hackenbush by telegram and when the Doctor arrives he immediately insults the Sanitarium's business manager Mr. Whitmore. Whitmore, being Morgan's stooge, is suspicious of Hackenbush's medical background.
Meanwhile, Judy's beau, singer Gil Stewart, who performs at Morgan's nightclub, has just spent his savings on a racehorse named Hi-Hat. He hopes the horse, which he purchased from Morgan, will win and the money will allow Judy to save the Sanitarium. Hi-Hat is so afraid of Morgan, that he rears in fright whenever he hears his voice. Gil now has no money to pay for Hi-Hat's feed, and he, Tony and Stuffy, Hi-Hat's jockey, have to resort to trickery to fend off the Sheriff who has come to collect money for the feed bill. Tony raises some money by scamming Hackenbush in the "Tutsi Fruitsy Ice Cream" scene, giving him a tip on a horse, but all in code, so he has to buy book after book to decipher it.
Whitmore attempts to contact the Florida Medical Board for information on the doctor. Hackenbush intercepts the call, and by assuming a southern accent, feigning a hurricane with an electric fan and repeatedly calling Whitmore to the dictagraph, he enrages Whitmore until he gives up. That night, at the gala Water Carnival in which Gil performs along Vivien Fay and her ballet, Hackenbush invites a blonde floozie named Flo as well as Mrs. Upjohn to his room without the latter knowing of the other woman. Being chased by the Sheriff, Tony and Stuffy blend with the musicians and perform the signature Chico/Harpo musical performances, plus a scene in which Stuffy tears a piano apart in anger. Whitmore attempts to get Hackenbush fired by having Mrs. Upjohn catch him with Flo, but Stuffy and Tony, posing as house detectives and then as paperhangers, hide Flo by stuffing her under the sofa cushions.
The following day, just as Mrs. Upjohn is about to sign an agreement to help Judy, Whitmore brings in the eminent Dr. Leopold X. Steinberg from Vienna, whom he hopes will expose Hackenbush. After Mrs. Upjohn agrees to an examination by Steinberg, Hackenbush wants to flee for fear of being exposed; Gil, Tony and Stuffy remind him that Judy still needs his help and persuade him to stay.
After making a shambles of Mrs. Upjohn's examination, Hackenbush, Tony, Stuffy and Gil hide out in Hi-Hat's stable, where Judy soon joins them. She is upset by the negative light of the situation; Gil tries to lift her spirits. Near the stable, Stuffy starts sympathizing with a community of poor folk who believe him to be Archangel Gabriel. As the number progresses, the police arrives and Hackenbush, Tony and Stuffy try to disguise themselves by painting their faces with grease in blackface. The attempt fails, everybody runs off and Whitmore finally exposes Hackenbush as a horse doctor with a letter he received from the Florida Medical Board. Hi-Hat hears Morgan's voice and bolts, jumping several obstacles in the way. Gil notices this and enters him into the upcoming steeplechase race.
Morgan tries to prevent him from being entered in the race but fails. Knowing that Hi-Hat is afraid of Morgan, everyone works to make Hi-Hat aware of his presence before reaching the fence. On the last lap, Hi-Hat and Morgan's horse wipe out; when they reach the finish line, it appears that Morgan's horse has won. Stuffy realizes that the mud-covered horses were switched after the accident, and Morgan's jockey was riding Hi-Hat in the finish, thus making Hi-Hat the winner. The black folk arrive at the race and start walking with Gil, Judy, Hackenbush, Tony and Stuffy through the racetrack, all singing the final number.
Cast
- Groucho Marx as Dr Hugo Z. Hackenbush
- Chico Marx as Tony
- Harpo Marx as Stuffy
- Allan Jones as Gil Stewart
- Maureen O'Sullivan as Judy Standish
- Margaret Dumont as Emily Upjohn
- Leonard CeeleyTemplate:Citation needed as Whitmore
- Douglass Dumbrille as J.D. Morgan
- Esther Muir as "Flo"
- Sig Ruman as Dr Leopold X. Steinberg (credited as Sig Rumann)
- Robert Middlemass as Sheriff
- Vivien Fay
- Ivie Anderson as specialty singer (in number "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm")<ref>Bill Crow From Birdland to Broadway: Scenes from a Jazz Life, New York: Oxford University Press, 1992 [1993], p. 24</ref>
- Richard Farnsworth appears uncredited as a jockey
- Darby Jones appears in an uncredited role as a trumpet player during the "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" number
