Self Propelled Banjos and the Marx Brothers

[Jody Stecher]

I liked Carrie's rendition of Reckless Rufus so much that I consulted the Tutor Books page to find it in Agnew's collection. I found it preceded (some pages earlier)  by the Electric Dance and immediately followed by The Whyte Laydie March and The Dance of The Imperials. Hmmm…. was Agnew getting kickbacks from the banjo manufacturers? These are all banjo model names preceded or followed by some kind of foot and leg movement.  I know there is a Paragon Waltz, a Little Wonder Jig, and a Tubaphone Rag. And years later there was Ralph Stanley's Mastertone March.

Are there other such titles depicting cavorting banjos?

I also wonder about the alleged composers of these dubious tunes.

H. Chalet Garber?   It reminds me of the character Rufus T Firefly, played by Groucho Marx in "Duck Soup".  I investigated. Whoever he was he also composed The Orpheum Waltz. More kickbacks? 

Cheney R Prouty?  I looked him up. There was a nineteenth century customs collector from Indianola Texas by that name involved in a law suit whose language is right out of Night At The Opera. More Marx Bros.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8AgUXPpLM

Cheney R Prouty is described as "the party of the first part". At that point I stopped reading and started laughing.

I don't think I've seen any banjos in Marx Brothers films but Groucho does throw a very expensive Gibson guitar at a duck in the film "Horse Feathers". It's at one minute and thirteen seconds here 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lCPmaq960E

but it's worth starting at the top. He plays well and it's a great sounding guitar.

[Trapdoor2]

The guitar he plays is a different one from the one which he shys at the duck. Thank dog for that!

I think Stewart had a Thoroughbred March (or something like that).

[Joel Hooks]

"Thoroughbred Hornpipe" by Tommy Armstrong.

[Jody Stecher]

You're right. Again. I first saw this film as a young boy and "saw" what I was supposed to see. Yup, the guitar flat on his lap that is seen after the duck quacks is a junker. We don't even see it land in the water. We hear the splash and our minds put it in the water.

Trapdoor2 said:

The guitar he plays is a different one from the one which he shys at the duck. Thank dog for that!

I think Stewart had a Thoroughbred March (or something like that).