Groucho glasses explained

Groucho glasses (also known as the beaglepuss^[1]) are a humorous novelty disguise which function as a caricature of the stage makeup used by the comedian Groucho Marx in his movies and vaudeville performances. They typically consist of black frames without lenses (either round or horn-rimmed) with attached features including bushy eyebrows, a large plastic nose, bushy moustache, and sometimes a plastic cigar.

Considered one of the most iconic and widely used of all novelty items in the world, Groucho glasses were marketed as early as the 1940s^[2] and are instantly recognizable to people throughout the world.^[3] The glasses are often used as a shorthand for slapstick^[4] and are depicted in the Disguised Face emoji.^{[5] [6]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Buhle . Paul . Jews and American Popular Culture: Sports, leisure, and lifestyle . 2007 . Praeger Publishers . 978-0-275-98796-1 . 153 . en.
2. Web site: There Ain't No Sanity Claus. Gary. Giddins. The New York Times. 18 June 2000. 1 November 2020.
3. Book: Giddins, Gary . The New York Times Book Reviews 2000, volume 1 . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers . 2001 . 1579580580. "The most enduring mask of the 20th century—likely to take their place alongside Comedy and Tragedy or Pulcinella and Pierrot..."
4. The Effect of Groucho Marx Glasses on Depression. Steven R.. Pritzker. Psychology Today. 1 September 1999. Sussex Publishers. 1 November 2020. dead. https://archive.today/20130419093838/http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19990901-000042.html. 19 April 2013.
5. Web site: Hy . Mo . Proposal for New Emoji: Disguised Face . Unicode . 19 January 2022.
6. Web site: Disguised Face . Emojipedia . 18 January 2022.