From KCRW, Santa Monica and KCRW.com, this is The Treatment.

Welcome to the treatment. You can also hear this show at KCRW.com. If you're a lover of Groucho Marx, you should know

about the book Raised Eyebrows, which Steve stole your publisher about his years, working for Gracho

for three years in the seven days. The book was published in 96. The 15th anniversary edition with a

terrific new cover by Drew Friedman is published now. Steve, first of all, welcome to the show.

Thank you. My pleasure.

My thanks to you, because you're dead of gratitude to as a boy, as a mere youth,

slaving to make sure that Animal Crackers got its famous re-release in the 70s.

I mean, a lot of us don't know this story.

I consider myself to be kind of a Marxoficionado, and I didn't know it. Well, I hear

from a lot of people today that don't

understand why wasn't the film out

because I explained to them

that Universal had the rights

to the film because they had purchased

the paramount package of old films

back in the 50s, and there was

a legal snag in the rights,

and Universal didn't feel that it was worth

spending the money to untangle and then strike new prints and re-release the film. They would

rather focus on their current crop of films like Airport 75. So people today are saying,

how could they not understand? This was the lost arc. This was the missing link in the Marx Brothers canon. It was their second film. It was Groucho as Captain Spalding. And I have to say, you know, you have to understand in 74, it was just this old movie that Universal saw no potential in. But if only for the sake of my friends who were all diehard Marx Brothers fans,

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