Groucho Starred in FBI Comedy

The Marx who is usually associated with communism is Karl. But in the 1950s the FBI investigated whether the somewhat funnier Marx--Groucho--was a member of the Communist Party, according to an article in The Nation magazine.

The author, UC Irvine professor Jon Wiener, found that the agency’s crack operatives had some trouble spelling the comic’s first name.

A 1953 FBI report, writes Wiener, began “with a ‘remark’ ” made by a “rank and file member of the Communist Party (CP, San Diego County) who had ‘recently’ told a confidential informant that ‘graucho (sic) marx contributes heavily to CP.’ But ‘Los Angeles informants familiar with CP activity in Hollywood . . . throughout 1940s state marx was never affiliated with CP.’ ”

The FBI apparently never officially branded Groucho a Communist, perhaps recalling his line, “Those are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others.” And, too, Wiener recalls Groucho’s attitude toward joining groups: “I don’t care to belong to any club that accepts people like me as members.”

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FOR LAST-MINUTE DELIVERIES? Sydney Litwack of Encino passed a “Natural Birth Center” that sported a sign that said, “20 Minute Customer Parking Only.”

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A BREATH OF SOMEWHAT FRESH AIR: You’ve heard of the Sundance Film Festival. Well, Pomona has its own--Smogdance! Yes, entries are being sought for the Nov. 6-8 festival at the city’s DA Center for the Arts.

“Does any other festival promise free popcorn to contestants?” asks a press release. “No other festival takes place in the last known home of Eldridge Cleaver . . . or the publication point of Low Rider Magazine. Where else but Pomona can you get both Chinese food and doughnuts at the same restaurant?”

Three categories will be spotlighted: Inland California Filmmakers, Films About Cars and U.S.-Made Spanish Language Films (information: 909-629-9797).

“Just the enticing nature of our categories is enough to pull Roman Polanski out of exile!” the promoters say.

Oh, yes, here’s one other inducement: There is no entry fee.

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A SUGGESTION FOR SMOGDANCE: It would be nice if the festival paid homage to one of the few movies that mentions Pomona: “War of the Worlds” (1953).

During the Martian attack on the L.A. area, a character remarks that the machines are probably “halfway to Pomona.”

Other nearby areas get a mention too.

Star Gene Barry finds himself in a group that is besieged during an onslaught. Asked to give his position, he answers: “Southwest of Corona.”

Later, a TV announcer, covering the U.S. military’s counterattack, says, “The target for the A-bomb is this nest of Martian machines in the Puente Hills.”

miscelLAny:

Regarding the item here on cinematic mall milestones, Jeff Bernstein notes that the rock video for Tom Petty’s song about growing up in the Valley--”Free Fallin’ “--shows not the Sherman Oaks Galleria but West L.A.’s Westside Pavilion. When the Valley secedes, someone will pay for that insult.

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Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.