Marilyn Monroe and the Marx Brothers - ''Love Happy'' Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P9S-N3IV10 ''Marilyn auditioned for producer Lester Cowan for a walk-on bit in a Marx Brothers film, "Love Happy." Marilyn was required mainly to catch the eye of Groucho Marx (who plays a private detective) as she sidles past him. According to Marilyn, she practiced walking in front of a mirror for a week. Of the three girls who auditioned that day, it was Marilyn whom Groucho asked to repeat her interpretation of a sexy walk. Groucho approved and Marilyn landed the role. As she glides toward the camera in the slow, undulating walk that would become one of her trademarks, Marilyn's character tells Groucho, "I want you to help me ... Some men are following me." Groucho gives his patented leer and remarks, "Really? I can't understand why!" Many have attempted to explain "the walk," including Natasha Lytess, who claimed she invented it for Marilyn, as well as Emmeline Snively, who insisted it was the result of weak ankles. Gossip columnist Jimmy Starr believed Marilyn simply shaved a bit off one high heel in order to undulate in that manner, while Marilyn herself declared that she had always walked that way. "Love Happy" is a minor, unfunny comedy that captured the Marx Brothers at the tail end of their film careers as a team. Still, Marilyn made enough of an impression on producer Cowan for him to release a publicity statement about her to columnist Louella Parsons. Cowan told Parsons that Marilyn was an orphan who had been raised in a series of foster homes in the Hollywood area. Despite the brevity of Marilyn's role in "Love Happy," Parsons mentioned the starlet in her column. The writer became an early champion of Marilyn and later defended her on the occasions when Marilyn ran conflict of the press or her studio. Marilyn agreed to travel to New York to help promote "Love Happy." Having always heard that New York was much cooler than Los Angeles, Marilyn packed only heavy, woolen suits to wear to the various publicity functions. Cowan and Marilyn arrived in New York in the midst of a summer heat wave. The producer graciously purchased a simple cotton dress for Marilyn, though some publicity shots show her wearing a woolen suit while eating three ice cream cones, supposedly in an effort to keep cool. While in New York, she participated in a publicity stunt for Photoplay magazine, in which she presented movie fan Virginia MacAllister with a brand-new home that MacAllister had won in Photoplay's "Dream House Contest." Photographs of the presentation appeared in the magazine's November 1949 issue. Nearly simultaneously, Marilyn appeared in the October 1949 issue of Life magazine, in which she was photographed "emoting" with seven other Hollywood starlets. Together, these articles generated some much-needed publicity for the young actress. She also landed a bit role in the forgettable Twentieth Century-Fox musical "A Ticket to Tomahawk," though she was still working without a contract. During Marilyn's first three years in the film industry, she suffered rejection on both a professional and personal level; she sought the counsel of many who claimed to have an inside track to Hollywood success, only to be disappointed by their lack of results; she worked hard to please those who could help her; and in order to pay her bills, she was forced to make sacrifices and compromises others would later criticize. Looking back over Marilyn's early film experiences, one is struck not by the glamour of Hollywood but by its harsh reality. Fortunately, Marilyn's small bit in "Love Happy" would prove to be more of a break than she anticipated. In addition to the attention she received by promoting the film in the East, she attracted the eye of respected Hollywood agent Johnny Hyde, who saw the comedy at an advance screening. Hyde tracked down the agent of the beautiful blonde with "the walk" and negotiated with Harry Lipton to take over the contract of Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn needed an opportunity, she needed expert guidance, and she needed confidence. She would get all of that -- and more -- from agent Johnny Hyde.'' Source: Entertainment.howstuffworks.com ''I hear you're looking for a sexy blonde to play with the Marx Brothers. Would you like to see me. I'm blonde and I'm sexy. '' - MM to Lester Cowan on the casting of Love Happy, 1949 ''It's amazing. She's Mae West, Theda Bara, and Bo Peep all rolled into one.'' - Groucho Marx - Groucho claimed a crush and remarked she had the ''prettiest ass in the business''. - ''Love Happy'' not regarded well, was the last official Marx Brothers film. - During the early 1950s, Groucho described his perfect woman: “Someone who looks like Marilyn Monroe and talks like George S. Kaufman.'' - Shortly after his death, his children found a gag letter written by Groucho that stated that he wanted to be buried on top of Marilyn Monroe. Groucho's interview on The Today Show (1963) talking about Marilyn Monroe - @ 02:25 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFal_pKsshY&feature=related Transcribed below: ''I want to tell you about Marilyn Monroe, we did one picture in which she had a bit. She got a hundred dollars for one days work, you can imagine how long ago this was, and Lester Cowan who was producing the picture, he called me up because I was going to do the scene with Marilyn, he called me up --- and he said, I wish you would come over the studio tomorrow to my office because we're going to try out 3 girl's for the part in this picture, I think it was called ''Love Happy'', terrible picture...so I sat there with Lester and the three girls were there I was introduced to them, and he says now the first girl walk, and she walked across from one end to the other and he says very nice, and now the second girl walk... she did it too, and then the third one...he says now you walk across, and he says well which one do you like best? and I said, your kidding aren't you? Now how can you take anybody except that last girl.....the whole room revolved around when she walked.....and it was Marilyn Monroe - and she got $100 dollars, and then we quit shooting at 5 and she got $25 dollars extra for going to a couple gas stations...they were plugging some kind of gas or something, which was part of the picture or something and she got 25 dollars extra and they took snapshots of her from 6 to 8:00. She was a wonderful girl really, very nice girl. That was her first picture and was almost our last.'' - Groucho Marx (Correction on Grouchos part, it wasn't her first picture. Trivia: ''Not good comic timing'' - Groucho Marx died 3 days after Elvis Presley. Anger over Presley's death, the media paid little attention to the passing of this comic genius.