Hooray for Captain Spaulding
Artist
Al Hirschfeld
United States, 1903 - 2003
Publisher
Darien House, Inc., New York City
Date1974
Dimensions44.25 inches x 29.25 inches: 44 1/4 x 29 1/4 in. (112.4 x 74.3 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Diane Lippert
Object numberPH.808
DescriptionAl Hirschfeld’s poster advertises the release of the book Hooray for Captain Spaulding! Verbal and Visual Gems from “Animal Crackers” by Richard J. Anobile; it centers on a caricature of Groucho Marx with his famous bushy moustache and eyebrows, signature cigar in hand, in the role of Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding, a famous African explorer. Hirschfeld, an American caricaturist best known for his witty and distinctive images of show-business figures in the New York Times, also provided the cover art for this book, which took its main title from a song composed by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby for the original musical of the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers that opened on Broadway in 1928. It was turned into a now-legendary film in 1930. “Hooray for Captain Spaulding!” later became the theme song for the Groucho Marx television show You Bet Your Life, which aired from 1950 to 1961, and was always associated with him. On View
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