A rejected plot for the film circulated for more than three decades as a Broadway legend and popular backstage tale. The plot featured Groucho Marx as a producer plotting to stage the worst opera in history so that the show would close quickly. The backers he had soaked for ten times the production costs would assume they had lost their money, and Groucho could escape to South America with the sizable profits. But his plans are thwarted when the opera becomes a huge hit and he is left owing ten times what the show actually brings in. Groucho loved the idea, but producer Irving Thalberg nixed it. He explained that he didn't want a funny story but a good, simple plot that the Marx Brothers could use as a springboard for their comic ideas. The basis of the plot floated around both Hollywood and Broadway for many years, before Mel Brooks filmed a version of the plot with his breakout hit, Per favore, non toccate le vecchiette (1967). It is unclear which of the myriad writers for this film was responsible for suggesting the now-famous bogus play idea.

Film

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