Part musical and part farce, this wacky George S. Kaufman (book) and Irving Berlin (music and lyrics) collaboration opened on 8 December 1925 for 377 performances starring the Marx Brothers and produced by Sam H. Harris. The Cocoanuts, along with Animal Crackers (1928), coauthored by Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind,* made stars of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo, who went on to achieve legendary status in motion pictures with their first appearance in the screen version of The Cocoanuts in 1929 at the dawn of the "talkies." Florida-boom hotel owner Henry W. Schlemmer (Groucho) is a charlatan attempting to sell swamps as prime property to anyone unfortunate enough to check into his hotel. This simple plot, coupled with Kaufman's wit, Berlin's songs (although his best one, "Always," was cut before the show opened because Kaufman hated love songs), and the lunatic improvisations of the Marxes, made The Cocoanuts a hit.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.