About this blog

The beginning for these reflections is in my essay "Extras to the Extraordinary" on the non-speaking roles in Marx Brothers films, published in a critical anthology entitled A Century of the Marx Brothers. This essay was just the beginning. Once you start noticing them, background figures move to the foreground and the many crucial functions they play find the spotlight. The headlining actor and actress now seem just to obstruct all the interesting figures milling around behind them.