Giraffes on Horseback Salad The strangest movie never made! ; starring the Marx Brothers, screenplay by Salvador Dalí

Josh Frank

Book - 2019

Giraffes on Horseback Salad was a Marx Brothers film written by modern art icon Salvador Dali, who'd befriended Harpo. Rejected by MGM, the script was thought lost forever. But author Josh Frank found it, and with comedian Tim Heidecker and Spanish comics creator Manuela Pertega, he's re-created the film as a graphic novel in all its gorgeous full-color, cinematic, surreal glory. In the story, a businessman named Jimmy (played by Harpo) is drawn to the mysterious Surrealist Woman, whose very presence changes humdrum reality into Dali-esque fantasy. With the help of Groucho and Chico, Jimmy seeks to join her fantastical world--but forces of normalcy threaten to end their romance. Includes new Marx Brothers songs and antics, plus th...e real-world story behind the historic collaboration.

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Subjects
Genres
Graphic novel adaptations
Fantasy comics
Graphic novels
Published
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : Quirk Books [2019]
Language
English
Main Author
Josh Frank (author)
Other Authors
Manuela Pertega (illustrator)
Physical Description
223 pages : chiefly color illustrations ; 24 cm
ISBN
9781594749230
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

This frenetic interpretation brings to fruition a movie idea developed by surrealist painter Salvador Dalí and the Marx Brothers during the 1930s and said to be the strangest never made. Because no full script existed, the authors pieced together fragments from various sources, arranging original scenes into a logical story and creating dialogue where necessary. The final homage is presented as a film in graphic novel format. In it, a young man falls in love with a nameless Surreal Woman, whose existence warps and restructures everything around her. Despite the emphasis on the surreal, underneath the bizarre imagery this remains a typical love story, albeit one with constant interruptions from the Marx Brothers and their comedic antics. Visually, the pages are rich with imagery, beginning in classic movie grayscale and morphing into vibrant color as the story becomes ever stranger. Supplemental materials include several forewords, a few surviving pages of the original script, and excerpts from Dali's sketchbooks. Appeal may be limited, but classic cinema buffs and Dalí fanatics will appreciate the care and effort taken by the authors.--Summer Hayes Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

This graphic novel is utterly one of a kind: an adaptation of a film that Salvador DalA- developed with the Marx Brothers in the 1930s but never managed to get produced. The book's creative team stitches DalA-'s freewheeling treatment and sketches into a semicoherent plot, an absurdist romantic comedy about a straitlaced business innovator who falls for a mysterious, reality-warping siren called the Surrealist Woman. Their romance proceeds with the help of her friends and enablers, the Marx Brothers. The graphic novel format allows for visual possibilities that would have been all but impossible on film, from melting cities and flaming giraffes to the constantly transmogrifying body of the Surrealist Woman herself. The art is often weak when it comes to individual elements-though the Surrealist Woman looks striking, too many of the ordinary human figures are stiff and awkward-but the overall page compositions are exceptional, bursting with motion, mind-bending patterns, and wildly shifting color schemes. The Marx Brothers are almost lost in the chaos, but they're drawn with cartoonish charm and written with genuine wit. This messy, imperfect, fearless visual buffet is almost certainly better than any film version would have been. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

In the late 1930s, a mutual admiration between surrealist painter Salvador Dali and Harpo Marx led to Dali's developing a treatment for a Marx Brothers movie that the two unsuccessfully pitched to MGM Studios. After the idea was rejected, the project was considered lost, aside from a collection of notes and sketches in Dali's papers. Drawing on those primary sources and years of research, author Frank (The Good Inn: A Novel) and comedian Heidecker have assembled a look at what might have been. The story follows Jimmy, a Spanish aristocrat living in exile, as he becomes infatuated with a mysterious figure known as the Woman Surreal and finds himself in a world gone mad with bizarre imagery and Groucho's quips in equal measure. Artist Pertega excels at portraying dreamlike illustrations but falters when tasked with expressing more mundane sequences of humans conversing, robbing many of the Marx Brothers-centric scenes of any energy. VERDICT A fascinating project inspired by obvious passion from everyone involved, but subpar illustration ultimately results in a volume that will, owing to a few text pieces describing the origins of the project and reprints of Dali's initial treatment and notes, appeal primarily to die-hard -fans alone. © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

With help from comedian Heidecker (Tim and Eric's Zone Theory, 2015, etc.) and illustrator Pertega, "pop-culture archaeologist" Frank (The Good Inn, 2014, etc.) adapts into a graphic novel a never-produced film collaboration between surrealist artist Salvador Dal and classic-Hollywood absurdist Harpo Marx.The first 40 pages of this graphic novel are mostly straight-text exposition, detailing how Frank came to reconstruct the unproduced film and explaining the brief time Dal and Marx spent together in mutual admiration. This sluggish start sets the stage for what is to come: an illustrated adventure that kicks off in 1930s New York but eventually engulfs the world, thanks to "the Surrealist Woman," an enigmatic beauty with fantastical reality-altering powers. We first encounter her through visionary businessman Jimmy, who discovers an artistic self he never knew was inside him when the Surrealist Woman arranges an otherworldly musical performance. As Jimmy and the Surrealist Woman fall in love, the happiness she feels triggers global chaos (the Great Pyramid floods, Venice runs dry, the streets of Paris suddenly all go in one direction). Jimmy's vulgar, ambitious, unfaithful fiancee, Linda, becomes enraged by the attention the Surrealist Woman receivesboth from Jimmy and from societyand rallies the forces of order to prosecute the Surrealist Woman. The story is a bit on the nose about freedom of expression versus societal oppression and expectation. Most enjoyable are Groucho and Chico Marx, who work on behalf of the Surrealist Woman; their playful, punny dialogue contrasts with the stiff exchanges between Jimmy and Linda or Jimmy and the Surrealist Woman. Pertega's art shines in detailed close-ups and as the story delves deeper into surrealism (dripping wax effects, rivers of hair, complex page layouts), while the plainer scenes and more distant perspectives render the characters flat.An intriguing pop-culture artifactmore so for its background than its execution. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A Strange Meeting MGM STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES, CA, 1937--Though never documented on film or in writing, the scene is easy to imagine in the theater of the mind: Two men are seated next to each other: a dark-haired, wideeyed Spaniard wears an anachronistic velvet suit, while his curly haired cohort has swathed himself in a ratty trench coat. Their outlandish appearance and hand-me-down fashion, not to mention the contrast between the men themselves, paints a picture of strange characters up to no good. Anywhere else in the world, they might have been mistaken for vagrants.       But in the waiting area outside the office of film producer Louis B. Mayer, one would expect to find the most unusual people. In fact, if you weren't such a character, you probably wouldn't be waiting for a meeting with the head of MGM Pictures. Here, eccentrics were a common sight. Vikings, pirates, monsters, witches, and every other costumed type imaginable could be seen wandering the movie lot every day.      Yet, somehow, these two particular gentlemen seemed out of place. Separately, either would stand out in a crowd. Together, they created a scene simply by sharing the same space, their uniqueness magnified.      Regarding the duo cautiously from behind her desk, Mayer's secretary was convinced they had to be in the wrong office. But she was new, fresh off the bus from Ohio, and this was her first job in the exciting city of Los Angeles. If only her friends could see her now . . .      She had no idea the man with the crazy red hair had already spoken to her boss, informing him that he'd be popping over with his friend from Spain to pitch a movie idea. She would learn that this particular redheaded man could see Louis B. Mayer whenever he wanted. He--Arthur, along with his brothers Julius and Leonard--had been making Mayer and the other studio heads a lot of money. And that's why Mayer (like his predecessor, Irving Thalberg) put up with the mischief they brought to his doorstep.      Despite their names being on the list of visitors, the secretary didn't want to flub her first day of work. So she watched the pair curiously to make sure they didn't do anything . . . funny. The buzzer rang; the secretary jumped nervously. She picked up the telephone and heard Mayer's voice. "Yes, sir. Right away, sir," she replied. She put down the phone and stood.      "Mr. Dali, Mr. Marx, Mr. Mayer will see you now." Excerpted from Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Greatest Movie Never Made by Josh Frank, Tim Heidecker All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.