SPECIAL FEATURE:
IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: GROUCHO MARX
BY BOB WISEMAN

The Rusty Toque | Special Feature | In the Public Domain | January 7, 2014
In our first special feature to The Rusty Toque, songwriter Bob Wiseman writes a timely essay about censorship for our In the Public Domain series and shares a track from his recent album Giulietta Masina at the Oscars Crying (2013).
There is a letter in the public archive that Groucho Marx wrote to Warner Brothers in response to a legal challenge made by Warner Brothers about the film A Night In Cassablanca.

“Groucho Marx’s letter to Warner Brothers” on Internet Archive:
Dear Warner Bros.,

Apparently there is more than one way of conquering a city and holding it as your own. For example, up to the time that we contemplated making this picture, I had no idea that the city of Casablanca belonged exclusively to Warner Brothers …
Read the full letter here.
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The letter is amazing and made me laugh out loud. I thought about Canadian scientists or just ordinary awake citizens (extraordinary in these times) writing to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the legacy of shame and intimidation brought to the present by his extremely dirty work including de-funding the Experimental Lakes Program and ending the long-form census, bringing a halt to evidence-based science because it interferes with business interests—you know, like ones that might be restricted because, say, oh I don't know, they pollute. Perhaps making people laugh is a reliable way to get them to do the right thing. I don't know for sure, but smarter people than me arrived at this conclusion long ago. Then again, maybe it's just a way to keep your dignity in the face of severe bullshit, maybe both.

I admired the fact that in Groucho's school the way to fight the madness of autocracy is to demonstrate notions that are equally insane. You claim that you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without permission. What about "Warner Brothers"? Do you own that too?

You probably have the right to use the name “Warner,” but what about the name “Brothers”? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. Unfortunately when I dug a little deeper, I discovered this hilarious letter was not actually based on any real threat from Warner Brothers. It was just a hand-drawn story by the man with a painted mustache. But dammit I still hate Stephen Harper, so I found myself looking up another amazing funny person who knew first hand about censorship. Bill Hicks.
PictureBill Hicks
On Internet Archive, I found the last video interview he gave before dying at 32 of pancreatic cancer. He had just done his last appearance on the David Letterman show but was censored because of the pro-life joke he made. He noticed later that there was a pro-life advertisement on the episode and concluded, no doubt correctly, that the two were linked. Though he was told it was CBS that removed his routine because it didn't meet their standards, it was in fact Letterman who made the judgment probably because of who his advertisers were. Be that as it may, Letterman invited Hicks's mother to view the footage later.

The actual Letterman performance 15 years later can be viewed on YouTube.

As Bill Hicks followed his muse, he arrived in a place where to make comedy meant telling the truth, and it cost him.
Live Phone In: You've become one of those visionary comics like Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce.

Bill Hicks: I appreciate that. There's a handful of others that you probably haven't heard of because they're even more on the edge.

Live Phone In: Why not?

Bill Hicks: Comedy clubs won't book them. America does not take social criticism seriously. If you look at even the careers of Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce, you'll notice that one was basically run out of the business and the other one killed himself due to lack of work.

Bill Hicks’s last interview from Internet Archive:



GIULIETTA MASINA AT THE OSCARS CRYING (2013)
featuring the song "mothface@yahoo.ca" about actress Tracy Wright.

Enjoy the track "mothface@yahoo.ca" from Bob Wiseman's latest album Giulietta Masina at the Oscars Crying (2013)


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Bob Wiseman
Photo by Christa Treadwell

BOB WISEMAN is a songwriter originally from Winnipeg.

Check out his film reel on Vimeo.