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Frank Ferrante brings experience and a personal touch to An Evening with Groucho. He has played Marx in other productions and believes his hero was ''about danger on stage - he might do anything.''
By PETER SMITH
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 11, 2001
If your brand of Marxism is the Groucho sort, then be aware that Frank Ferrante, America's foremost performer of Marxian madness, is coming to town.
"I celebrated Groucho's birthday (Oct. 2, 1890) with his son Arthur at the Friars Club," Ferrante said in a recent interview. "Talked to Milton Berle, Red Buttons, Tony Martin (romantic lead in A Night at the Opera) about Groucho -- had a great time."
Ferrante has played Groucho in productions of the original plays and will play Capt. Jeffrey Spaulding in Animal Crackers later this year in Philadelphia.
"It has always seemed to me that Groucho was the most important comedian of the last century," Ferrante mused. "And the most American."
Marx's comedy was always based on telling the absolute truth, especially when no one else wanted to hear it.
"My favorite Groucho story?" Ferrante laughs quietly to himself. "He took his son to a fancy country club, and they said -- I can only do this story as Groucho -- 'We're delighted you're here, Mr. Marx.' And I said, 'Well, I'm delighted to be here.' And they said, 'We're delighted that you are delighted.' So we all were delighted, until they found out I was Jewish. Then they were less delighted, and explained 'Mr. Marx, we don't allow Jews in our swimming pool.' And I said, 'My son is only half-Jewish; can he go in up to his knees?' "
"You see, Groucho had some of the best writers in the world -- Morrie Ryskind, S.J. Perelman, George S. Kaufman (who Ferrante has played in a one-man show) -- but he was funny all by himself."
As a teenager, Ferrante got to meet his hero. "I was 13, Groucho was about 75, and I shook his hand. There were a group of people around, and someone asked -- couldn't believe this -- 'Are you going to make any more Marx Brothers movies?' Well, Harpo and Chico had been dead for a few years, and Groucho stopped, looked at the person, and said, 'No, I'll just be answering stupid questions from now on.'
"That's the thing about Groucho in a live show," Ferrante went on, "You know, why do this show when the movies are available? Well, Groucho was about danger on stage -- he might do anything. I try to make that danger part of the show."
He also could be about comfort.
"Groucho's daughter Miriam told me . . . when FDR died, she was inconsolable, as was the country. And Groucho sat with her and said, 'You know, the country will go on, it's not just one man. We'll miss him, but there's another man in the White House now, and he can handle it.' And Miriam said Groucho's faith in the country made her feel better."
PREVIEW: An Evening with Groucho, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg. $15 general, $12 for ages 55 and older, $10 ages 6-21. (727) 822-3590.