After vaudeville, before Hollywood, the Marx Brothers were Broadway stars. Their first two talking pictures, adapted from their stage hits The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, were filmed at Paramount’s Astoria studio in Queens. In this informative and entertaining talk, Marxian writer and performer Noah Diamond illuminates the Brothers’ transition from stage to screen, and explains why the first two Marx Brothers movies belong to their Broadway period more than their film career. Noah Diamond is a writer, performer, comedian, and speaker, cartoonist, and the founding member of the Marxfest Committee, and has written and lectured extensively about the Brothers and their work.