In Search Of The Sons Of Barnum

More spin tales from the old colony. I am told by email from Ralph Hawkins that when the news was announced that the wacky Marx Brothers were making a movie called A Night in Casablanca, the suits at Warner Bros. spun a campaign that Casablanca might get tainted by the Marx’s low brow humour.

A phoney PR campaign claiming that Warners owned the word “Casablanca” was kicked off in the trade press. The film giants threatened to sue the Marxs if they persisted in using it. A counter campaign orchestrated by Max Blinnt, a PR hired to write letters in a typically sarcastic style which freely mimicked Groucho. The crusade cleverly nailed Warners’ alleged pretentiousness and arrogance. It heroically won the day and the action was dropped.