The Anatomy of Harpo Marx

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Wayne Koestenbaum. The Anatomy of Harpo Marx

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The ANATOMY of

HARPO MARX

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When Chico enters, Harpo’s face remains immobile—arrested by panic—but his alert eyes try to figure out whether the universe is sanely functioning. Hyperawareness of atmospheric dangers is an opportunist’s, a paranoid’s, or a traumatized soul’s—a shtetl mentality, transmuted to Paramount.

THE SWITCH TRICK One of Harpo’s trademarks is the “switch trick”—instead of giving his hand to someone who wants to shake it, Harpo offers a leg. The detective unconsciously grasps the leg and then angrily thrusts it away when he realizes the ruse. This trick always satisfies Harpo. It gives him a chance to rest his leg. It eroticizes the handshake’s masculine formality. It amplifies the offering. It confuses the enemy. It stuns—stops—time. It stymies the equivalence, the fake parity, of hand and hand. It interrupts grammar.

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