Introducing The Marx Brothers

One of my favorite things to do in life is to watch a genuinely funny movie with someone that laughs more than I do.

My brother-in-law is a great movie companion - he laughs at most anything. When he and my sister were newlyweds and I - being seven years my sister's junior- was still at home, when they would come to visit, he and I would often watch a late movie. A comedy that was just fair could be hilarious with him around.

The only problem with my brother-in-law was that if the action slowed down- we lost him to sleep. It was always a big disappointment when the hilarity kicked back in and I was the only one laughing. Come to think of it, the hilarity seldom kicked back in after he went to sleep.

Tonight I finally got to introduce our kids to the Marx Brothers.

I have been building up to the Marx Brothers for a month or so now, teasing them with the possibility of watching a movie some time. AA, - who may not love a classic quite as much as his dad but will act like he does - jumped on the bandwagon.

So tonight when I found a Marx Brothers' double-feature on Netflix Instant, we decided to take it in.

We only watched one of the features: the 1939, "At the Circus". It was funny and even kept AA's attention throughout most of the film. Ab is like my brother-in-law, she laughs out loud at most anything . . . that made the movie doubly funny.

AA, who has something of a gift for recognition of classic trivial items, noticed a scene that he had seen parodied in a Looney Toons cartoon.

R. does not have a great appreciation for Classic Comedies, but she did stay in the same room with us - and read.

But it was a nice time.

We are doing that sort of thing far too seldom these days - being all together in one room at one time. There is a sort of continental drift that seems to occur naturally in most relationships unless they are constantly maintained. Sometimes forcing ourselves into doing those things we know we should do, can almost seem unnatural.

It takes deliberate effort sometimes to break that natural cycle of drifting apart.

Things like, eating together at a table, holding a discussion, working together to clean up the kitchen, or playing a game of Badminton or "Short & Long". . . these are the seemingly insignificant moments that we will one day hold in great value.