Sugar to Tea" by Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal, and Pierre Norman "O Sole Mio" sung by opera singer Maxine Castle with harp accompaniment by Harpo; music by Eduardo di Capua, lyrics by Giovanni Capurro "I'm Daffy Over You" by Chico Marx and Sol Violinsky (Solly Ginsberg) Reception and impact Monkey Business was a critical and box office success, and is considered one of the Marx Brothers' best and funniest films. Contemporary reviews were positive. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote, "Whether it is really as funny as 'Animal Crackers' is a matter of opinion. Suffice it to say that few persons will be able to go to the Rivoli and keep a straight face." Variety'''s review began, "The usual Marx madhouse and plenty of laughs sprouting from a plot structure resembling one of those California bungalows which sprout up overnight." Film Daily agreed that the plot was "flimsy", but also found the film "crammed all the way with laughs and there's never a dead spot." John Mosher of The New Yorker thought the film was "the best this family has given us." The film was evidently based on two routines the Marx Brothers did during their early days in vaudeville (Home Again and Mr. Green's Reception), along with a story idea from one of Groucho's friends, Bert Granet, called The Seas Are Wet. The passport scene is a reworking of a stage sketch in which the brothers burst into a theatrical agent's office auditioning an impersonation of a current big star. It appeared in their stage shows On the Mezzanine Floor and I'll Say She Is (1924). This skit was also done by the Marxes in the Paramount promotional film The House That Shadows Built (1931). The concept of the Marx Brothers being stowaways on a ship would be repeated in an episode of their radio series Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel (1933) in the episode "The False Roderick", and would also be recycled in their MGM film A Night at the Opera (1935). The essence of Groucho's joke, "Sure, I'm a doctor—where's the horse?" would serve as an integral plot element for their film A Day at the Races (1937). Also repeated in that later film would be the uproarious medical examination that Harpo and Chico give opera singer Madame Swempski (Cecil Cunningham). Awards and honors 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #73 Sequel According to Turner Classic