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Yes, Virginia,

There Is No Sanity...

But there is a hilarious contract negotiation scene in the Marx Brothers' A Night At The Opera. A scene that exists as certainly as Groucho and Harpo and Chico exist... okay, even Gummo and Zeppo, too. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no contract negotiation scene, and no George Kaufman to write it! A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, it will continue to make glad the hearts of moviegoers and humor connoisseurs...

Groucho Marx: Now I've got something here you're bound to like, you'll be crazy about it.
Chico Marx: No, I don't like it.
PhotobucketGroucho: You don't like what?
Chico: Whatever it is, I don't like it.
Groucho: Well don't let's break up an old friendship over a thing like that. Ready?
Chico: OK. Now the next part I don't think you're going to like.
Groucho: Well your word's good enough for me. Now then, is my word good enough for you?
Chico: I should say not.
Groucho: Well I'll take out two more clauses. Now the party of the eighth part --
Chico: No, that's no good, no.
Groucho: The party of the ninth part --
Chico: No, that's no good too. Hey, how is it my contract is skinnier than yours?
Photobucket Groucho: Well, I don't know, you must have been out on a tail last night. But anyhow, we're all set now, are we? Now just you put your name right down there, then the deal is legal.
Chico: I forgot to tell you, I can't write.
Groucho: Well that's all right, there's no ink in the pen anyhow. But listen, it's a contract isn't it? We've got a contract, no matter how small it is.
Chico: Oh sure. You bet. Hey wait, wait. What does this say here, this thing here?
Groucho: Oh that? Oh that's the usual clause, that's in every contract. That just says, it says, 'If any of the parties participating in this contract are shown not to be in their right mind, the entire agreement is automatically nullified.'
Chico: Well, I don't know.
Groucho: It's all right, that's in every contract. That's what they call a sanity clause.
Chico: You can't fool me, there ain't no sanity clause. (GH)

Photobucket Comics and Graphic Novels
Bill Sherman, Editor

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Natalie Bennett (You can email me at natalieben AT gmail DOT com)

Comics and Graphic Novels Editor: Bill Sherman (email)

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