Humor Risk

Humor Risk is a lost silent short comedy horror movie that saw the debut of the Marx Brothers.^[1] The movie was released in December 1921 after being shot in April that year. The reception it received at the children's matinee in New York was poor, and either Groucho Marx or the Brothers are said to have purchased the rights and had the sole print destroyed.^[2] The film was never recovered.

Cast

• Groucho Marx
• Harpo Marx
• Chico Marx
• Zeppo Marx
• Jobyna Ralston as Heroine (debated between her, Esther Ralston, Helen Kane, or Mildred Davis^[3])

Plot

According to Kyle Crichton's 1951 biography of the brothers, Harpo played the hero, a character named Watson who "made his entrance in a high hat, sliding down a coal chute into the basement", against Groucho as the villain who in the finale is shown "in ball and chain, trudging slowly off into the gloaming". In his book Monkey Business, Simon Louvish describes Harpo's character as being a detective.^[4]