RetroClips

The Cocoanuts was the Marx Brothers' first film, adapted from their 1925 Broadway hit with songs by Irving Berlin and a book by George S. Kaufman. Harpo's silent harp solo debuts here and became a signature bit in every subsequent Marx Brothers picture. A persistent piece of trivia credits this film's inventive overhead dance shots to Busby Berkeley, but that's a myth: they're the work of co-director Robert Florey, a full year before Berkeley's own screen debut.