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103-419: Beagle, Shyster, and Beagle was a Monday night comedy program with Groucho Marx as attorney Waldorf T. Beagle and Chico Marx as his assistant Emanuel Ravelli. For the first three episodes, the series was called Beagle, Shyster, and Beagle ; however, a lawyer from New York called Beagle contacted NBC and threatened them with a lawsuit. It was then retitled Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel . The series depicted

206-691: A concert hall to be constructed within the Library of Congress building and an honorarium established for the Music Division to pay live performers for concerts. A number of chairs and consultantships were established from the donations, the most well-known of which is the Poet Laureate Consultant . The library's expansion eventually filled the library's Main Building, although it used shelving expansions in 1910 and 1927. The library needed to expand into

309-418: A fall guy ). The series was originally titled Beagle, Shyster, and Beagle , with Groucho's character named Waldorf T. Beagle, until a real lawyer from New York named Beagle contacted NBC and threatened to file a lawsuit unless the name was dropped. Many of the episodes' plots were partly or largely based upon Marx Brothers films . The show garnered respectable ratings for its early evening time slot, although

412-1085: A "democracy alcove" in the Main Reading Room of the Jefferson Building for essential documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and The Federalist Papers . The Library of Congress assisted during the war effort, ranging from storage of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in Fort Knox for safekeeping to researching weather data on the Himalayas for Air Force pilots. MacLeish resigned in 1944 when appointed as Assistant Secretary of State. President Harry Truman appointed Luther H. Evans as Librarian of Congress. Evans, who served until 1953, expanded

515-403: A $ 5,000 appropriation for the Library of Congress, noting the need to improve its collections in "Law, Politics, Commerce, History, and Geography," which were crucial for Congress. On December 24, 1851, the largest fire in the library's history destroyed 35,000 books, two-thirds of the library's collection, and two-thirds of Jefferson's original transfer. Congress appropriated $ 168,700 to replace

618-400: A book titled Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel: The Marx Brothers' Lost Radio Show , edited by Michael Barson and with an interview with Perrin. In October 1988, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel scenes were broadcast for the first time since the show went off the air in 1933 when National Public Radio , a non-profit media organization that provides content to public radio stations around

721-532: A crowd – and were quickly cleared out at the end of each performance so that the stage would be ready for any filming the following day. The last four episodes of the show were performed back at WJZ in New York. Chico was often late for rehearsals, so Perrin would have to stand in for him on the read-throughs. When Chico eventually made his appearance, Perrin remembers, "he'd be reading Ravelli's lines and Groucho would tell him to stop [and make me] 'show him how

824-561: A different program each weeknight. Episodes were broadcast live from NBC's WJZ station in New York City and later from a sound stage at RKO Pictures in Los Angeles, California, before returning to WJZ for the final episodes. The program depicts the misadventures of a small New York law firm , with Groucho as attorney Waldorf T. Flywheel (a crooked lawyer) and Chico as Flywheel's assistant, Emmanuel Ravelli (a half-wit whom Flywheel uses as

927-662: A dramatic anthology, The Esso Theater . Opera was featured on Thursday night with the Aborn Opera Company. On Friday evenings, a radio drama based on the Charlie Chan film franchise was heard, with a cast that included Ray Collins . Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel is a situation comedy radio show starring two of the Marx Brothers , Groucho and Chico , and written primarily by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman . The series

1030-518: A fifteen-minute recording of Episode 25. A complete recording of Episode 26 exists and was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005. In 1990 the British Broadcasting Corporation 's Radio 4 aired a version of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel . Michael Roberts and Frank Lazarus performed the lead roles of Flywheel and Ravelli, wearing make-up and clothing similar to Groucho and Chico. The regular cast also included Lorelei King in all

1133-402: A lawsuit for $ 300,000 alleging his name had been slandered, and that its use was damaging his business and his health. He also claimed that people were calling his law firm and asking, "Is this Mr. Beagle?" When he answered, "Yes", the callers would say, "How's your partner, Shyster?" and hang up the phone. The sponsors and studio executives panicked, and from episode four the title of the show

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1236-453: A legislative and national library. Asked by Joint Library Committee chairman Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) to assess operations and make recommendations, Douglas Bryant of Harvard University Library proposed several institutional reforms. These included expanding national activities and services and various organizational changes, all of which would emphasize the library's federal role rather than its legislative role. Bryant suggested changing

1339-552: A light polishing." After traveling to New York to perform the first seven episodes, the four men decided to broadcast from Los Angeles instead. NBC did not have a studio on the West Coast , so for the next thirteen weeks, between January 16 and April 24, 1933, the show was transmitted from a borrowed empty soundstage at RKO Radio Pictures . Folding chairs were brought in for the audience of around thirty or forty people – coming from vaudeville, Groucho and Chico preferred to perform to

1442-536: A more general one. He organized his books based on Francis Bacon 's organization of knowledge , grouping them into Memory, Reason, and Imagination with 44 subdivisions. The library used this scheme until the late 19th century when librarian Herbert Putnam introduced the Library of Congress Classification , now applying to over 138 million items. A February 24, 1824, report from the Committee of Ways and Means recommended

1545-430: A national library and a legislative resource. He was aided by expansion of the federal government after the war and a favorable political climate. He began comprehensively collecting Americana and American literature , led the construction of a new building to house the library, and transformed the librarian of Congress position into one of strength and independence. Between 1865 and 1870, Congress appropriated funds for

1648-573: A new structure. Congress acquired nearby land in 1928 and approved construction of the Annex Building (later known as the John Adams Building ) in 1930. Although delayed during the Depression years, it was completed in 1938 and opened to the public in 1939. After Putnam retired in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed poet and writer Archibald MacLeish as his successor. Occupying

1751-486: A permanent display), on the global celebration commemorating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta , and on early American printing, featuring the Rubenstein Bay Psalm Book . Onsite access to the Library of Congress has been increased. Billington gained an underground connection between the new U.S. Capitol Visitors Center and the library in 2008 in order to increase both congressional usage and public tours of

1854-422: A place in the Library of Congress, stating: I do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer. Jefferson's library was a working collection for a scholar, not for display. It doubled the size of the original library, transforming it from a specialist's library to

1957-725: A radio show titled Fire Chief . Wynn played the fire chief in front of an audience of 700 and the show was aired live over the NBC Red Network , beginning April 26, 1932. It immediately proved popular with over two million regular listeners and a Co-Operative Analysis of Broadcasting (CAB) Rating of 44.8%. Upon seeing the success of Wynn's Fire Chief , the Standard Oils in New Jersey, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, and Colonial Beacon, decided to sponsor their own radio program to promote Esso Gasoline and Essolube Motor Oil. They turned to

2060-446: A restricted scope for the Library of Congress reflected those shared by members of Congress. While Meehan was a librarian, he supported and perpetuated the notion that "the congressional library should play a limited role on the national scene and that its collections, by and large, should emphasize American materials of obvious use to the U.S. Congress." In 1859, Congress transferred the library's public document distribution activities to

2163-503: A script each week". They found help from Tom McKnight and George Oppenheimer, whose names were passed along to Groucho. Perrin explained, "[Groucho] was in the men's room during a break, and he was complaining to the guy standing next to him, 'Geez, I wish we could find another writer or two to make life easier.' Suddenly there's a voice from one of the stalls: 'I've got just the guys for you!' Having Tom and George did make life easier, although Arthur and I went over their scripts for

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2266-466: A second season was not produced. It was thought that, like most radio shows of the time, the episodes had not been recorded. The episodes were thought entirely lost until 1988, when 25 of the 26 scripts were rediscovered in the Library of Congress storage and republished. Adaptations of the recovered scripts were performed and broadcast in the UK, on BBC Radio 4 , between 1990 and 1993. In 1996, some recordings of

2369-732: A small congressional library was housed in the Capitol. Much of the original collection was lost in the August 1814 Burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812 . Congress accepted former president Thomas Jefferson 's offer to sell his entire personal collection of 6,487 books to restore the library. The collection grew slowly and suffered another major fire in 1851, which destroyed two-thirds of Jefferson's original books. The Library of Congress faced space shortages, understaffing, and lack of funding, until

2472-855: A specialist in the Deposit Collection of the Library of Congress (which oversees the Copyright Office). In a section called "unpublished dramas", he came across the Flywheel scripts. Nobody was aware that they still existed; their copyrights had not been renewed. Flywheel had fallen into the public domain. After the rediscovery of the Marx scripts, many of them were adapted by the BBC, new recordings made with contemporary actors, broadcast on Radio 4 in 1990-1992. The Josef Bonime Orchestra aired on Tuesdays, with baritone John Charles Thomas . Wednesday night showcased

2575-554: A week. Harpo Marx was paid as a cast member, although the physical , silent nature of his comedy meant that it was impossible to give him an on-air role without forcing him to break character. Five-Star Theater was broadcast from NBC's flagship station , WJZ in New York City. Because Groucho, Chico, Perrin, and Sheekman were living and working in Hollywood , they had to make a three-day train journey from Pasadena each week, and then another three-day trip back. The first episode

2678-419: Is thought that Broderick Crawford also appeared as various characters. "Shyster" and the second "Beagle" (and later, the second "Flywheel") are referred to only once outside of the show's title, when Flywheel explains that he is both Flywheels, while "Shyster ran away with my wife. And I put his name on the door as a token of my gratitude." Groucho and Chico shared a weekly income of $ 6,500 for appearing in

2781-576: The American Library Association testified that the library should continue its expansion to become a true national library. Based on the hearings, Congress authorized a budget that allowed the library to more than double its staff, from 42 to 108 persons. Senators Justin Morrill of Vermont and Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana were particularly helpful in gaining this support. The library also established new administrative units for all aspects of

2884-693: The Congressional Research Service . After Mumford retired in 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed historian Daniel J. Boorstin as a librarian. Boorstin's first challenge was to manage the relocation of some sections to the new Madison Building, which took place between 1980 and 1982. With this accomplished, Boorstin focused on other areas of library administration, such as acquisitions and collections. Taking advantage of steady budgetary growth, from $ 116 million in 1975 to over $ 250 million by 1987, Boorstin enhanced institutional and staff ties with scholars, authors, publishers, cultural leaders, and

2987-696: The Department of the Interior and its international book exchange program to the Department of State . During the 1850s, Smithsonian Institution librarian Charles Coffin Jewett aggressively tried to develop the Smithsonian as the United States national library. His efforts were rejected by Smithsonian secretary Joseph Henry , who advocated a focus on scientific research and publication. To reinforce his intentions for

3090-665: The Gutenberg Bible . Putnam established the Legislative Reference Service (LRS) in 1914 as a separative administrative unit of the library. Based on the Progressive era 's philosophy of science to be used to solve problems, and modeled after successful research branches of state legislatures, the LRS would provide informed answers to Congressional research inquiries on almost any topic. Congress passed in 1925 an act allowing

3193-524: The John Adams Building (opened in 1939) and the James Madison Memorial Building (opened in 1980), were later added. The LOC's primary mission is to inform legislation, which it carries out through the Congressional Research Service . The library is open to the public for research, although only members of Congress, their staff, and library employees may borrow materials for use outside the library. James Madison of Virginia proposed

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3296-621: The National Film Registry , a collection of American films, for which the Library of Congress accepts nominations each year. There also exists a National Recording Registry administered by the National Recording Preservation Board that serves a similar purpose for music and sound recordings. The library has made some of these available on the Internet for free streaming and additionally has provided brief essays on

3399-563: The United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress , discovered that the scripts for twenty-five of the twenty-six episodes had been submitted to the Office, where they had been placed in storage. Nobody was aware that they still existed and their copyrights had not been renewed. This meant that Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel had fallen into the public domain . The scripts were published that same year by Pantheon in

3502-471: The interlibrary loan service, transforming the Library of Congress into what he referred to as a "library of last resort". Putnam also expanded library access to "scientific investigators and duly qualified individuals", and began publishing primary sources for the benefit of scholars. During Putnam's tenure, the library broadened the diversity of its acquisitions. In 1903, Putnam persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to use an executive order to transfer

3605-469: The librarian of Congress and establishing a Joint Committee on the Library to oversee it. The law also extended borrowing privileges to the president and vice president. In August 1814, British forces occupied Washington and, in retaliation for American acts in Canada, burned several government buildings, including the Library of Congress. Most of its 3,000 volumes were destroyed. These volumes were held in

3708-515: The librarian of Congress , and its buildings are maintained by the architect of the Capitol . The LOC is one of the largest libraries in the world , containing approximately 173 million items and employing over 3,000 staff. Its collections are "universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages". When Congress moved to Washington in November 1800,

3811-399: The 1897 reorganization upon moving into its new home, the Library of Congress began to grow and develop more rapidly. Librarian Spofford's successor John Russell Young overhauled the library's bureaucracy, used his connections as a former diplomat to acquire more materials from around the world, and established the library's first assistance programs for the blind and physically disabled, with

3914-567: The American Civil War increased the importance of legislative research to meet the demands of a growing federal government. In 1870, the library gained the right to receive two copies of every copyrightable work printed in the United States; it also built its collections through acquisitions and donations. Between 1890 and 1897, a new library building, now the Thomas Jefferson Building , was constructed. Two additional buildings,

4017-484: The Blue Network announcer and features about fifteen minutes of drama and ten minutes of orchestral music between acts. The episodes end with Groucho and Chico – not in character, but as themselves – performing a 60-second skit promoting Esso and Essolube. Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel was not enough of a success for Standard Oil to continue beyond one season. The CAB Rating for the show was 22.1% and placed 12th among

4120-600: The Capitol building . Hayden clarified two days later that rioters did not breach any of the Library's buildings or collections and all staff members were safely evacuated. On February 14, 2023, the Library announced that the Lilly Endowment gifted $ 2.5 million, five-year grant to "launch programs that foster greater understanding of religious cultures in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East". The Library plans to leverage

4223-489: The Castle due to its Norman architectural style, was severely damaged by fire. This incident presented Henry with an opportunity related to the Smithsonian's non-scientific library. Around this time, the Library of Congress was planning to build and relocate to the new Thomas Jefferson Building , designed to be fireproof. Authorized by an act of Congress, Henry transferred the Smithsonian's non-scientific library of 40,000 volumes to

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4326-764: The Jefferson Building were enlarged and technologically enhanced to serve as a national exhibition venue. It has hosted more than 100 exhibitions. These included exhibits on the Vatican Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France , several on the Civil War and Lincoln, on African-American culture, on Religion and the founding of the American Republic, the Early Americas (the Kislak Collection became

4429-522: The Library Collections Security Oversight Committee in 1992 to improve protection of the collections, and also the Library of Congress Congressional Caucus in 2008 to draw attention to the library's curators and collections. He created the library's first Young Readers Center in the Jefferson Building in 2009, and the first large-scale summer intern (Junior Fellows) program for university students in 1991. Under Billington,

4532-545: The Library of Congress as "one of the last refuges in Washington of serious bipartisanship and calm, considered conversation", and "one of the world's greatest cultural centers". Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th librarian of Congress on September 14, 2016, the first woman and the first African American to hold the position. In 2017, the library announced the Librarian-in-Residence program, which aims to support

4635-496: The Library of Congress in 1866. President Abraham Lincoln appointed John G. Stephenson as librarian of Congress in 1861; the appointment is regarded as the most political to date. Stephenson was a physician and spent equal time serving as librarian and as a physician in the Union Army . He could manage this division of interest because he hired Ainsworth Rand Spofford as his assistant. Despite his new job, Stephenson focused on

4738-753: The Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States . It is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill , adjacent to the United States Capitol , along with the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia , and additional storage facilities at Fort George G. Meade and Cabin Branch in Maryland. The library's functions are overseen by

4841-426: The Library of Congress to establish a trust fund board to accept donations and endowments, giving the library a role as a patron of the arts . The library received donations and endowments by such prominent wealthy individuals as John D. Rockefeller , James B. Wilbur, and Archer M. Huntington . Gertrude Clarke Whittall donated five Stradivarius violins to the library. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge 's donations paid for

4944-454: The Senate wing of the Capitol; one surviving volume was a government account book from 1810. This volume was taken by British commander George Cockburn as a souvenir and returned to the U.S. by his family in 1940. Within a month, Jefferson offered to sell his large personal library as a replacement. He had reconstituted his own collection after losing part of it to a fire. Congress accepted

5047-542: The Smithsonian, Henry established laboratories, developed a robust physical sciences library, and started the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge , the first of many publications intended to disseminate research results. For Henry, the Library of Congress was the obvious choice as the national library. Unable to resolve the conflict, Henry dismissed Jewett in July 1854. In 1865, the Smithsonian building, also called

5150-503: The Twitter archive remains unfinished. Before retiring in 2015, after 28 years of service, Billington had come "under pressure" as librarian of Congress. This followed a GAO report that described a "work environment lacking central oversight" and faulted Billington for "ignoring repeated calls to hire a chief information officer, as required by law." When Billington announced his plans to retire in 2015, commentator George Weigel described

5253-457: The United States, aired an 18-minute recreation of Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel in markets that included Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas, Texas , using Washington, D.C. -based Arena Stage actors to perform the Chico and Groucho lead roles from the published scripts. After 1996, three recordings of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel were found, including a five-minute excerpt of Episode 24 and

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5356-411: The advertising agency McCann Erickson , which developed Five-Star Theater , a variety series that offered a different show each night of the week. Groucho and Chico Marx , one half of the popular vaudeville and film stars the Marx Brothers , were approached to appear in a comedy show. Harpo and Zeppo were not required, as Harpo's trademark mime artistry did not translate to radio, while Zeppo

5459-434: The business community. His activities changed the post of librarian of Congress so that by the time he retired in 1987, The New York Times called this office "perhaps the leading intellectual public position in the nation." President Ronald Reagan nominated historian James H. Billington as the 13th librarian of Congress in 1987, and the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment. Under Billington's leadership,

5562-406: The collection. In its bill, Congress strengthened the role of librarian of Congress: it became responsible for governing the library and making staff appointments. As with presidential Cabinet appointments, the Senate was required to approve presidential appointees to the position. In 1893, Elizabeth Dwyer became the first woman to be appointed to the staff of the library. With this support and

5665-474: The comedy show. It was titled Beagle, Shyster, and Beagle , and its premise involved an unethical lawyer/private detective and his bungling assistant. Groucho Marx played lawyer Waldorf T. Beagle (later renamed Waldorf T. Flywheel), and Chico played his assistant Emmanuel Ravelli, the same name as the Italian character he played in the film Animal Crackers (1930). Mary McCoy played secretary Miss Dimple, and it

5768-411: The construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building , placed all copyright registration and deposit activities under the library's control, and restored the international book exchange. The library also acquired the vast libraries of the Smithsonian and of historian Peter Force , strengthening its scientific and Americana collections significantly. By 1876, the Library of Congress had 300,000 volumes; it

5871-663: The donation in these areas: The collections of the Library of Congress include more than 32 million catalogued books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 61 million manuscripts ; the largest rare book collection in North America, including the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence , a Gutenberg Bible (originating from the Saint Blaise Abbey, Black Forest —one of only three perfect vellum copies known to exist); over 1 million U.S. government publications; 1 million issues of world newspapers spanning

5974-559: The establishment of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled . Librarian Young's successor Herbert Putnam held the office for forty years of the 20th century from 1899 to 1939. Two years after he took office, the library became the first in the United States to hold one million volumes. Putnam focused his efforts to make the library more accessible and useful for the public and for other libraries. He instituted

6077-452: The female roles and Graham Hoadly as many of the other male characters, and featured Spike Milligan and Dick Vosburgh as guest stars. The scripts for the BBC series were adapted for a modern British audience by Mark Brisenden and were produced and directed by Dirk Maggs . Each episode incorporated material from two or three different original episodes, and occasionally included additional jokes from Marx Brothers' films. Commenting on

6180-478: The films that have been added to the registry. By 2015, the librarian had named 650 films to the registry. The films in the collection date from the earliest period to ones produced more than ten years ago; they are selected from nominations submitted to the board. Further programs included: During Billington's tenure, the library acquired General Lafayette 's papers in 1996 from a castle at La Grange, France; they had previously been inaccessible. It also acquired

6283-587: The first library-wide audit. He created the first Office of the Inspector General at the library to provide regular, independent reviews of library operations. This precedent has resulted in regular annual financial audits at the library; it has received unmodified ("clean") opinions from 1995 onward. In April 2010, the library announced plans to archive all public communication on Twitter , including all communication since Twitter's launch in March 2006. As of 2015 ,

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6386-600: The future generation of librarians by giving them the opportunity to gain work experience in five different areas of librarianship, including: Acquisitions/Collection Development, Cataloging/Metadata, and Collection Preservation. On January 6, 2021, at 1:11 pm EST, the Library's Madison Building and the Cannon House Office Building were the first buildings in the Capitol Complex to be ordered to evacuate as rioters breached security perimeters before storming

6489-402: The highest rated evening programs of the 1932–33 season. The CAB Rating was not disappointing – popular established shows such as The Shadow and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes did not perform as well – but it was less than half of Texaco's Fire Chief , which got a 44.8% CAB Rating and was the third highest-rated program of the season. One reason for the lower ratings may be because of

6592-456: The house down. Six episodes were performed and recorded at the Paris Theatre and aired weekly between June 2 and July 7, 1990. The success of the first series led to another two being commissioned. The second series aired from May 11 to June 15, 1991, and the third from July 11 to August 15, 1992. The first series was made available by BBC Enterprises on a two-cassette release in 1991, but

6695-585: The idea of creating a congressional library in 1783. Though initially rejected, this was the first introduction of the concept. After the Revolutionary War, the Philadelphia Library Company and New York Society Library served as surrogate congressional libraries when Congress was in those cities. The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800, when President John Adams signed an act of Congress that included appropriating $ 5,000 "for

6798-462: The library doubled the size of its analog collections from 85.5 million items in 1987 to more than 160 million items in 2014. At the same time, it established new programs and employed new technologies to "get the champagne out of the bottle". These included: Since 1988, the library has administered the National Film Preservation Board . Established by congressional mandate, it selects twenty-five American films annually for preservation and inclusion in

6901-419: The library of the Romanov family on a variety of topics. Collections of Hebraica , Chinese, and Japanese works were also acquired. On one occasion, Congress initiated an acquisition: in 1929 Congressman Ross Collins (D-Mississippi) gained approval for the library to purchase Otto Vollbehr 's collection of incunabula for $ 1.5 million. This collection included one of three remaining perfect vellum copies of

7004-551: The library sponsored the Gateway to Knowledge in 2010 to 2011, a mobile exhibition to ninety sites, covering all states east of the Mississippi, in a specially designed eighteen-wheel truck. This increased public access to library collections off-site, particularly for rural populations, and helped raise awareness of what was also available online. Billington raised more than half a billion dollars of private support to supplement Congressional appropriations for library collections, programs, and digital outreach. These private funds helped

7107-430: The library to continue its growth and outreach in the face of a 30% decrease in staffing, caused mainly by legislative appropriations cutbacks. He created the library's first development office for private fundraising in 1987. In 1990, he established the James Madison Council, the library's first national private sector donor-support group. In 1987, Billington also asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct

7210-436: The library's Thomas Jefferson Building. In 2001, the library began a mass deacidification program, in order to extend the lifespan of almost 4 million volumes and 12 million manuscript sheets. In 2002, a new storage facility was completed at Fort Meade, Maryland , where a collection of storage modules have preserved and made accessible more than 4 million items from the library's analog collections. Billington established

7313-418: The library's acquisitions, cataloging, and bibliographic services. But he is best known for creating Library of Congress Missions worldwide. Missions played a variety of roles in the postwar world: the mission in San Francisco assisted participants in the meeting that established the United Nations , the mission in Europe acquired European publications for the Library of Congress and other American libraries, and

7416-463: The line should be read'. My Italian accent was better than Chico's, you see. But Chico didn't care." Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel aired Monday nights at 7:30 p.m. on the NBC Blue Network to thirteen network affiliates in nine Eastern and Southern states. Twenty-six episodes were made, which were broadcast between November 28, 1932 and May 22, 1933. Each episode is introduced by

7519-504: The lost books in 1852 but not to acquire new materials. (By 2008, the librarians of Congress had found replacements for all but 300 of the works that had been documented as being in Jefferson's original collection. ) This marked the start of a conservative period in the library's administration by librarian John Silva Meehan and joint committee chairman James A. Pearce , who restricted the library's activities. Meehan and Pearce's views about

7622-501: The material that was produced for the Eddie Cantor, Rudy Vallee, Joe Penner school. The rapid-fire jokes [...] run the gamut from delightful to embarrassing." George Burns also found it "funny". Modern reviews of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel have also been positive. The New York Times ' Herbert Mitgang described it as "one of the funniest [...] radio shows of the early 1930s", adding that "the radio dialogue

7725-572: The misadventures of a small law firm , with Groucho playing attorney Waldorf T. Flywheel, and Chico playing Emmanuel Ravelli, a character lifted directly from the 1930 film Animal Crackers . The 1980 discovery of scripts for this 1932–33 series led to publication by Pantheon Books, as described in The New York Times in 1988: Now, one of the funniest "lost" radio shows of the early 1930s — Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel, Attorneys at Law , starring Groucho and Chico Marx — has been unearthed. Not

7828-527: The mission in Japan aided in the creation of the National Diet Library . Evans' successor Lawrence Quincy Mumford took over in 1953. During his tenure, lasting until 1974, Mumford directed the initiation of construction of the James Madison Memorial Building , the third Library of Congress building on Capitol Hill. Mumford led the library during the government's increased educational spending. The library

7931-484: The name of the Library of Congress, a recommendation rebuked by Mumford as "unspeakable violence to tradition." The debate continued within the library community for some time. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 renewed emphasis for the library on its legislative roles, requiring a greater focus on research for Congress and congressional committees, and renaming the Legislative Reference Service as

8034-532: The need for a seven-cent nickel . Monkey Business influenced two skits in Episode 25, and The Cocoanuts gave Episode 19 its plot. Episode 26, The Ocean Cruise , lifted some scenes virtually unchanged from the Marx Brothers' film Animal Crackers (with Zeppo Marx and Harpo Marx ). Despite reusing some scripts from other sources, Perrin said that he and Sheekman "had [their] hands full turning out

8137-483: The network." In his 1976 book, The Secret Word Is Groucho , he writes, "Company sales, as a result of our show, had risen precipitously. Profits doubled in that brief time, and Esso felt guilty taking the money. So Esso dropped us after twenty-six weeks. Those were the days of guilt-edged securities, which don't exist today." Although the successful Marx films Monkey Business and Horse Feathers contained plots involving adultery, Variety did not appreciate them in

8240-487: The offer in January 1815, appropriating $ 23,950 to purchase his 6,487 books. Some House members, like New Hampshire representative Daniel Webster , opposed the purchase, wanting to exclude "books of an atheistical, irreligious, and immoral tendency". Jefferson's collection, gathered over 50 years, covered various subjects and languages, including topics not typically found in a legislative library. He believed all subjects had

8343-399: The only copy of the 1507 Waldseemüller world map ("America's birth certificate") in 2003; it is on permanent display in the library's Thomas Jefferson Building. Using privately raised funds, the Library of Congress has created a reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's original library. This has been on permanent display in the Jefferson building since 2008. Under Billington, public spaces of

8446-428: The original show were discovered (all recorded from the final three episodes), including a complete recording of the last episode to air. In 1932 Texaco introduced its "Fire Chief" gasoline to the public, so named because its octane rating was 66, higher than the United States government's requirements for fire engines. To advertise its new premium grade fuel, Texaco approached vaudeville comic Ed Wynn to star in

8549-609: The papers of the Founding Fathers from the State Department to the Library of Congress. Putnam expanded foreign acquisitions as well, including the 1904 purchase of a 4,000-volume library of Indica, the 1906 purchase of G. V. Yudin's 80,000-volume Russian library, the 1908 Schatz collection of early opera librettos , and the early 1930s purchase of the Russian Imperial Collection, consisting of 2,600 volumes from

8652-420: The past three centuries; 33,000 bound newspaper volumes; 500,000 microfilm reels; U.S. and foreign comic books—over 12,000 titles in all, totaling more than 140,000 issues; 1.9 million moving images (as of 2020); 5.3 million maps ; 6 million works of sheet music ; 3 million sound recordings ; more than 14.7 million prints and photographic images including fine and popular art pieces and architectural drawings;

8755-521: The post from 1939 to 1944 during the height of World War II , MacLeish became the most widely known librarian of Congress in the library's history. MacLeish encouraged librarians to oppose totalitarianism on behalf of democracy; dedicated the South Reading Room of the Adams Building to Thomas Jefferson, and commissioned artist Ezra Winter to paint four themed murals for the room. He established

8858-423: The purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ... and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them." Books were ordered from London, forming a collection of 740 books and three maps housed in the new United States Capitol . President Thomas Jefferson played a crucial role in shaping the Library of Congress. On January 26, 1802, he signed a bill allowing the president to appoint

8961-454: The radio show: That's fine stuff for children! Chances are that if the Marxes proceed with their law office continuity along lines like this they will never be able to hold a kid listener. Firstly because parents don't want their children to hear about bad wives and divorces, and this isn't an agreeable theme to kids. Which means that if the Marxes don't look out, whatever kid following they have on

9064-414: The screen will be totally lost to them on the air. It's quite likely the Marxes can make themselves on the air. But they will have to use more headwork than their first effort displayed. Groucho's 13-year-old son Arthur found the show "extremely funny", albeit conceding that he may have been "a very easy audience". Following the airing of the first episodes, a New York attorney named Morris Beagle filed

9167-517: The second and third series were not. Library of Congress The Library of Congress ( LOC ) is a research library in Washington, D.C. , serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the de facto national library of the United States . It also administers copyright law through the United States Copyright Office . Founded in 1800,

9270-409: The series, Maggs has said it was his favorite among the comedies he had directed, and described how they were performed. The great thing about audience shows is doing the effects live on stage. BBC Radio Light Entertainment tended to have the effects operator hidden away behind curtains so they wouldn't distract the audience! A few Light Entertainment Producers like me have reasoned over the years that

9373-560: The show. During the Great Depression , this was considered a high sum for 30 minutes' work, especially since radio scripts required no memorization and only a few minutes were needed for costume, hair and makeup. By comparison, Greta Garbo 's weekly salary from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the same period was also $ 6,500, though this was for a 40- or 50-hour week. Wynn was paid $ 5,000 a week for Fire Chief . In contrast, almost two-thirds of American families were living on fewer than $ 26

9476-501: The spot effects are part of the entertainment so we brought the operator out front. And in the case of Flywheel we dressed him or her up as Harpo! Michael Roberts who played Groucho came out with such good ad libs that I was always happy to cut scripted gags to keep them. One great one was when he and Frank as Flywheel and Ravelli find themselves in a pigsty – the rest of the cast pushed in to make pig voices – and Mike ad libbed, "Imagine – two nice Jewish boys surrounded by ham" – it brought

9579-409: The time slot the show aired. In September 1932, only 40% of radio owners were listening to the radio at 7:00 p.m., whereas 60% listened at 9:00 p.m. The 1932–1933 season's top-rated shows, The Chase and Sanborn Hour , Jack Pearl 's Baron Münchhausen , and Fire Chief all aired after 9:00 p.m. Standard Oil decided it could not compete with Texaco in the ratings and Five-Star Theater

9682-570: The voices; in those years radio programs were not regularly recorded. But the transcripts of 25 of the original Flywheel episodes have been found in the archives of the Library of Congress. For viewers and listeners who want to discover — or rediscover — what comedy was all about in those more slaphappy days, the actual scripts of Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel , edited by Michael Barson, will be published in October by Pantheon Books. It happened that in 1980, as part of his Ph.D. studies, Mr. Barson worked as

9785-539: The war. Three weeks into his term as Librarian of Congress, he left Washington, D.C., to serve as a volunteer aide-de-camp at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg during the American Civil War . Stephenson's hiring of Spofford, who directed the library in his absence, may have been his most significant achievement. Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford , who directed the Library of Congress from 1865 to 1897, built broad bipartisan support to develop it as

9888-474: Was able to establish new acquisition centers abroad, including in Cairo and New Delhi . In 1967, the library began experimenting with book preservation techniques through a Preservation Office. This has developed as the most extensive library research and conservation effort in the United States. During Mumford's administration, the last significant public debate occurred about the Library of Congress's role as both

9991-428: Was changed to " Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel ", and Walter T. Beagle was renamed Waldorf T. Flywheel. It was explained in the episode that the character had divorced and reverted to his "maiden name". The show was later praised by other comedians of the time. In 1988, Steve Allen said, "when judged in relation to other radio comedy scripts of the early 30s, they hold up very well indeed and are, in fact, superior to

10094-405: Was not renewed for a second season. In his 1959 autobiography, Groucho and Me , Groucho comments, "We thought we were doing pretty well as comic lawyers, but one day a few Middle East countries decided they wanted a bigger cut of the oil profits, or else. When this news broke, the price of gasoline nervously dropped two cents a gallon, and Chico and I, along with the other shows, were dropped from

10197-446: Was on the verge of leaving the act. Before this decision was officially reached, early drafts of the scripts featured guest appearances written for both absent brothers, with Harpo being represented through honks of his horn and other trademark sound effects. Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman , who had contributed to the scripts of the Marx Brothers' films Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932), were enlisted to write

10300-714: Was originally broadcast in the United States on the National Broadcasting Company 's Blue Network , beginning on November 28, 1932, and ending on May 22, 1933. Sponsored by the Standard Oil Companies of New Jersey , Pennsylvania and Louisiana and the Colonial Beacon Oil Company , it was the Monday night installment of the Five-Star Theater , an old-time radio variety series that offered

10403-561: Was so witty and outrageous, [an] innocent form of original comedy – as well as serious drama". Rob White of the British Film Institute said the show "glitter[s] with a thousand-and-one sockeroos." The episodes of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel were recorded, but for many years it was thought the recordings had not been preserved. At the time of the broadcasts, pre-recorded shows were frowned upon by advertisers and audiences. However, in 1988, Michael Barson, who worked in

10506-584: Was tied with the Boston Public Library as the nation's largest library. It moved from the Capitol building to its new headquarters in 1897 with more than 840,000 volumes, 40 percent of which had been acquired through copyright deposit. A year before the library's relocation, the Joint Library Committee held hearings to assess the condition of the library and plan for its future growth and possible reorganization. Spofford and six experts sent by

10609-494: Was written as they took their first train ride to New York. A number of Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel ' s scripts reused plots from Marx Brothers films. The plot of Episode 17 was suggested by the stolen painting plot in Animal Crackers , though it was a "Beauregard" in the film, not a Rembrandt . The 23rd episode also reused scenes from Animal Crackers , including the stolen diamond plot and Groucho's lines regarding

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