Room Service (1938 film)

Room Service is a 1938 American comedy film directed by William A. Seiter, based on the 1937 play of the same name by Allen Boretz and John Murray. The film stars the Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo and Chico) and also features Lucille Ball, Ann Miller and Frank Albertson. It was produced and distributed by RKO Pictures; RKO paid $255,000 for filming rights, which was then a record for a sound picture.

This is the only film starring the Marx Brothers with a screenplay based on material that was not written especially for the team. Less frenetic and more physically contained than their other films, the plot revolves around the shenanigans of a broke Broadway producer getting a play staged and funded by a mysterious backer, while evading eviction from a hotel.

RKO remade the movie in 1944 as Step Lively, starring George Murphy and Frank Sinatra.

Plot
Gordon Miller, a flat-broke theatrical producer, whose staff includes Harry Binelli and Faker Englund, is told by his brother-in-law Joseph Gribble, manager of the White Way Hotel, that he and his cast of twenty-two actors, who have run up a bill of $1,200, must leave the hotel immediately or face the wrath of supervising director Gregory Wagner. Miller has hidden the cast and crew of his play, Hail and Farewell, in the empty hotel ballroom. Miller is planning on skipping out on the hotel without paying the bill when he receives word that one of his actresses, Christine Marlowe, has found a financial backer for the play. Miller must avoid being evicted and keep the company hidden in the hotel until he can meet with the backer and receive a check.

At the same time, Wagner discovers Miller's debt. Assured by Gribble that Miller had skipped without paying his bill, Wagner is surprised to find Miller still in the hotel, now joined by Leo Davis, the play's young author who has arrived unexpectedly. Davis is also broke and hopes to collect an advance on his royalties from the play.

When Wagner threatens to throw Miller out of the hotel before the backer can arrive, Miller and Binelli convince Davis to pretend to be sick. Hungry and with no money for food, Miller promises hotel waiter Sasha Smirnoff a part in the play in exchange for a meal. When Davis leaves to meet with new love interest Hilda Manney, Englund takes over as the sick patient examined by Dr. Glass, brought in by Mr. Wagner. Wagner leaves to confront the crowd in the ballroom, while the doctor examines the patient. To delay the doctor giving his report to Wagner, Binelli and Miller tie him up, gag him, and lock him in the bathroom. Simon Jenkins, the agent for the wealthy backer, arrives to sign the check and contract. Wagner returns and interrupts just as Jenkins is about to sign; Binelli and Gribble arrive. After Dr. Glass is freed, he angrily tells Wagner that he overheard everything while tied up in the bathroom: Miller was about to transact a legitimate deal. During the commotion, Jenkins is accidentally hit on the head by Englund as he chases a flying turkey around with a baseball bat. Jenkins, desperately trying to escape the madness, quickly signs over the check and flees.

Davis returns and informs Miller he saw Jenkins in the lobby who told him he is stopping payment on the check and signed it only to get out of the room. Wagner is fooled into believing all is well, and upgrades the boys to a fancier room and extends them more credit. Later, just as the play is about to open, Wagner discovers the check has bounced and has Miller, Binelli, Englund and Davis locked in their room. They manipulate Wagner into believing he's driven Davis to take poison. They pretend to give Davis large quantities of Ipecac (which is actually drunk by Englund), and he eventually pretends to die. Then Englund pretends to have committed suicide. Wagner is bluffed into believing he drove both Davis and Englund to suicide and helps take Englund's "body" down to the alley. As Miller and Wagner prop Englund on a crate, a passing policeman asks what's going on. Miller bluffs their way out of the situation, so he and Wagner make an escape, leaving Englund "asleep". They go to watch the end of the play, a scene where the miners are bringing a body from out of the mine. The body on the stretcher is Englund's. Wagner realizes he's been duped as the play is greeted with thunderous applause and a revived Davis appears next to Wagner, causing him to faint.

Cast
* Indicates the actor created the role on Broadway.

Production
Zeppo Marx, who had retired from the screen after Duck Soup, was now a Hollywood agent representing his brothers. He brokered a deal with RKO to produce the version of the Broadway play Room Service by John Murray and Allan Boretz. The play was adapted for the Marxes by Morrie Ryskind. Room Service was the only film in which neither the story nor the characters were created especially for the Marx Brothers.

This was only the second Marx Brothers film (the other being Duck Soup) in which Chico does not play the piano and Harpo does not play the harp.

Ann Miller was only 15 years old when she made this film. She had lied about her age and obtained a fake birth certificate when she was about 14 years old, which stated that she was 18, just prior to signing with RKO Pictures. In a Private Screenings interview with Robert Osborne on Turner Classic Movies, Miller described her experience with the Marx brothers. Miller described a situation in which Harpo Marx dropped his pants in front of her, beeped his horn and chased her across the set. Miller described her being so "scared to death of the man" and thought he was "crazy", but she "loved" Groucho Marx.

Reception
Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times noted that the film had not changed much from the play and "the Marxes haven't made it any funnier; but neither has their presence interfered to any large extent with the disorderly progress of an antic piece. While there may be some question about the play's being a perfect Marx vehicle, there can be none about its being a thoroughly daffy show." Variety wrote that it would "do plenty of business and satisfy on the laugh score." "Sure-fire comedy smash ... the hilarious proceedings find the Marx Brothers right in their element," Film Daily wrote. Harrison's Reports called it "A good comedy" with a "pleasant" romance. John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote, "As comic pictures go, this ranks certainly above average; it has enough of the Marxian note for that. As Marx Brothers movies go, however, it is a minor effort."

The film recorded a loss of $330,000.

In popular culture

 * The basic plot of Room Service was used for the "Monkees, Manhattan Style" episode of The Monkees (season 1, episode 30, first broadcast April 10, 1967, also known as "Monkees in Manhattan").