One of the great showbiz adages came from the febrile mind of quipster playwright George S. Kaufman, who said, “Satire closes on Saturday night.” Kaufman meant that it’s almost impossible to please large audiences by making savage fun of the ideas and people they hold sacred. Kaufman wrote The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers for the Marx Brothers, and both were hits on stage and on screen. But when Groucho and Company turned their attention to politics with the savage and anarchic Duck Soup, the only really great film they ever made, audiences stayed away in droves. Shaken, they turned to the great crowd-pleasing producer Irving Thalberg, who insisted that their next movie feature a treacly pair of ingenues and some gooey love songs.

A Night at the Opera was a smash, and the Marx Brothers never again ventured near satire.