Groucho glasses

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A young woman wearing Groucho glasses.
A young woman wearing Groucho glasses.

Groucho glasses, often called funny glasses or beaglepuss, are a novelty disguise that caricature Groucho Marx. Typically consisting of black horn-rimmed glasses with attached eyebrows, large plastic nose, and bushy moustache, Groucho glasses were marketed as early as the 1940s.[1] Groucho glasses today are often used as a shorthand for slapstick[2] and general silliness such as the "world record most people at one time wearing Groucho Marx glasses."[3]

[edit] Cultural References

In the video game Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, nose glasses (as they are called in the game) play a notable role as a disguise.

Woody Allen disguised two characters in Groucho glasses for interviews in his mockumentary Take the Money and Run.

George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg used Groucho glasses as a diguise to rob a bank in Going in Style.

[edit] References

  1. ^  Gary Giddins, There Ain't No Sanity Claus, The New York Times, June 18 2000
  2. ^  Steven R. Pritzker, The Effect of Groucho Marx Glasses on Depression, Psychology Today, September/October issue 1999
  3. ^  Shaun Byron, Groucho Marx helps high school students break into record books, The State News, May 28 2003