The Marx Brothers and Tobacco - Part I

I believe a couple items in my collection of Marx Brothers memorabilia must be relatively rare. Several years ago I purchased two old Parade Magazines from the 1950s. For those who might not know, Parade Magazine is a national supplement to Sunday newspapers which is still around today. The ones I bought happened to be distributed with the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison, Wisconsin. One magazine featured Harpo in a baseball uniform on the cover, and the other, dated Feb. 17, 1952, is shown above. The associated article describes the photo session which resulted in the cover photo. Groucho didn't blow his own smoke rings, so two "smoke ring experts" were brought in. For reasons not entirely clear to me, one smoke ringer blower was, as Groucho said of his Uncle Julius "well over four feet," and the other was six feet tall. Groucho was in fine form during the session, and you can click to enlarge the article below to read his wisecracks.

Click to enlarge