the Marxes could get "twice the box office with half the laughs", believing their films would attract a wider audience. Groucho himself agreed with Thalberg's rationale. In his autobiography, Groucho and Me, he wrote of the Marx Brothers' 13 films, "Two were far above average. Some of the others were pretty good. Some were deplorable. The best two were made by Thalberg"—a reference not only to A Night at the Opera but A Day at the Races. Another idea which Thalberg consented to, was that before filming would commence on an upcoming film, the Marx Brothers would try out the new material on the vaudeville stage, working on comic timing and learning which jokes and gags earned a laugh and which did not. Jokes were planted accordingly, so the laughs could be timed correctly. What was to become the famous "stateroom" scene was nearly eliminated because it was not getting any laughs. One evening the Marx Brothers threw away the script and ad-libbed the whole scene. As a result, a weak scene was transformed into one of their all-time classics. In A Night at the Opera, each of the brothers' characters was refined: Groucho was somewhat less nonsensical, and less trouble; Chico became less of a scammer and gained some intelligence; Harpo became less mischievous and more sympathetic. The film dives straight into a plot and accompanying comedy, with every scene having a clear beginning, middle, and end. The end consisted of a grand finale in the traditional MGM musical fashion, something lacking from the brothers' Paramount efforts. A Night at the Opera established a basic formula that was utilized in every subsequent film the Marx Brothers made at MGM: a friendship existing between the romantic couple and Chico establishing sympathy for Harpo Chico and Groucho going through an extensive verbal routine Harpo joining as Chico's partner (or brother) lush surroundings as a backdrop to the brothers' lunacy a key scene with all three Marxes a fall from grace a rebound on a grand scale in which everything is righted Reputation and legacy Contemporary reviews were positive. Andre Sennwald of The New York Times wrote, "If 'A Night at the Opera' is a trifle below their best, it is also considerably above the standard of laughter that has been our portion since they quit the screen. George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind have given them a resounding slapstick to play