Copacabana Reviews

Groucho, without his brothers, doesn't quite make it in this silly farce about the famous New York nightclub. Marx is a fast-talking small-time manager with only one client, Miranda. He gets her an audition at the Copa, where she dons her usual South American accent and fruited hat. The owner (Cochran) likes her but he also needs a French chanteuse. Groucho, ever resourceful, puts Miranda in a wig and different outfit. She auditions for the other singing job and gets both of them. Further, Cochran won't take one without the other as he wants a package deal. This forces Miranda to do both gigs, managing a quick-change between the big floor show and the lounge. She is rapidly running down and something must be done so Groucho concocts a fight between the two women behind closed doors. Cochran is making eyes at the French half of Carmen, so the story goes that the Brazilian whacked the Frenchwoman and sent her scampering. The police are called in by a distraught Cochran, who was really beginning to fall hard for the Gallic gal. Just when the cops are about to arrest Groucho for the murder of said woman, all is explained and the picture ends happily. A piece of fluff without too many good jokes. Chili Williams, the 1940s sexpot, does a brief bit and three well-known Broadway columnists (Louis Sobol, Abel Green, and Earl Wilson) play themselves. Producer Coslow wrote several songs, none of which was memorable. The only tune anyone can recall from the picture is "Tico, Tico." Songs: "Je Vous Aime," "Stranger Things Have Happened," "My Heart Was Doing a Bolero," "Let's Do the Copacabana," "I Haven't Got a Thing to Sell," "We've Come to Copa" (Coslow), "Tico Tico" (Ervin Drake, Aloysio Oliveira, Zequinha Abreu).