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+--- Thread: Giraffes on Horseback Salad (2019) by Josh Frank and Tim Heidecker (/showthread.php?tid=5552)
Giraffes on Horseback Salad (2019) by Josh Frank and Tim Heidecker - cranefly - 07-14-2020
Josh Frank is intrigued by artists or artworks that never came to be, that, due to circumstance, accident, or misadventure never saw the light of day or never achieved the recognition they deserved. He previously wrote In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre, which I have not read, but which prompted the LA Police Department to reopen the bungled case (not that it can ever be solved, as the number one suspect is now dead).
Anyway, he's got some investigative chops, and seems to know how to round up the right people for a project like this.
The full title, by the way, is Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Strangest Movie Never Made. It's an attempt to reconstitute and realize a movie idea that Harpo Marx and Salvador Dali pitched to MGM Studios back in 1937. Was there a script? A partial one, at least (included as an appendix and reputed to be what MGM saw). In addition, Josh tracked down scattered notes, scene fragments, quips, surrealist concepts, but not enough to get the full storyline. That is, until he learned of the existence of a Dali notebook on the project residing at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He succeeded in getting a copy (handwritten in French, and replete with sketches and doodles in the margins), and had the French translated into English.
That gave him enough to green-light the endeavor, though he knew he would need help -- a group of talented individuals to help fill in the blanks. There was Tim Heidecker, listed as co-author, an American comedian with Marx Brothers sensibilities, who along with his writing team helped think-tank and flesh out the storyline. Manuela Pertega, an illustrator of surrealist bent, did the artwork. There was input from suitable musicians for song lyrics (after all, it had to include some musical numbers), research on Dali's real-life concerns at the time (the Spanish Civil War, etc.), Hollywood's mood circa late 1930s, and so forth.
The result is not a movie, nor a script, sort of a storyboard only more than that, maybe a graphic novel. Does it succeed? Well, not entirely. How can you possibly resurrect the spirit of so many eccentric talents and at that time in their lives. But Josh gives it the old college try, and it's respectable, occasionally inspired, such as Groucho and Chico's quick-witted banter throughout, and I can't fault him for the effort.
Overall, it was a good investment of his time, and mine.
RE: Giraffes on Horseback Salad (2019) by Josh Frank and Tim Heidecker - Drunk Monk - 07-14-2020
I've leafed through this graphic novel several times at SC Bookshop. It was expensive so I didn't invest. But it was intriguing. The Dali/Harpo relationship always fascinated me, just like Dali & Disney.
![[Image: harpodali_3044664b.jpg]](https://preview.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03044/harpodali_3044664b.jpg)
RE: Giraffes on Horseback Salad (2019) by Josh Frank and Tim Heidecker - cranefly - 07-14-2020
(07-14-2020, 10:21 AM)Drunk Monk Wrote: I've leafed through this graphic novel several times at SC Bookshop. It was expensive so I didn't invest. But it was intriguing. The Dali/Harpo relationship always fascinated me, just like Dali & Disney.Yeah, I think over 20 bucks. But then I saw it on eBay for 7 or 8. Really? I was suspicious. But looking the offer over, it was a brand new product, it had free shipping, and estimated delivery was two weeks. It all looked legit. Though still suspicious, I ordered it. Maybe an hour later I get an email from the seller saying it's ready to download.
Now the seller wants me to rate him. No he doesn't. If he pushes too hard, I'll give him a negative.
Upon study of the product page, I did see mention of eBook down at the bottom in small print; but wow, 99% of the product page strongly suggests hardcopy.
Anyway, I'll not make a fuss over it. I'm not much into collecting these days, and we're trying to get rid of books.
Still, it would have been nice to curl up with a hardcopy of this to study at leisure.
P.S. I don't think the artist quite captured Dali's surrealism. For instance, the burning giraffes looked too cartoonish, whereas Dali tended to give them a dark, brooding mystique. And there seemed too much melting of objects so it all looked like paisley.