Monkey Business (1931 film) the film, and that Eddie Cantor contributed when he visited the set during shooting Typical for many Marx Brothers films, production censors demanded changes in some lines with sexual innuendo. "Monkey Business" was banned in some countries because censors feared it would encourage anarchic tendencies. This is the first Marx Brothers film not to feature Margaret Dumont: this time their female foil is comedian Thelma Todd, who would also star in the Marx Brothers' next film, "Horse Feathers". A few years later, in December 1935, Todd died in unexplained circumstances. A line of dialogue in "Monkey Business" seems to foreshadow
Monkey Business (1931 film) while constantly trying to evade the ship's crew. Prior to this development, the film has no real plot, with the Brothers merely causing unending uproar. Except in the credits and in the screenplay, the Brothers' characters have no names in this film. They are referred to simply as "the stowaways". After arriving stateside, one of the gangsters kidnaps the other's daughter, leaving it up to the brothers to save the day. Writers S. J. Perelman and Will B. Johnstone were excited to be working with the Marx Brothers, but producer Herman J. Mankiewicz advised them to lower their expectations, calling