Article: THE STRAIGHT MAN

Martin F. Nolan is editor of the Globe's editorial page. As Horatio W. Jamison, field secretary to Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding, Zeppo Marx showed perfect training for becoming a vice president. In the opening scene of "Animal Crackers," he singsongs Groucho's strategy for dealing with a gender gap:

In one thing he is very strict:

He wants his women young and picked.

The men must all be very old.

The women warm, the champagne cold.

California Gov. George Deukmejian says he doesn't want to be second banana to George Bush. That's too bad, because his resemblance to Zeppo makes him an ideal occupant for Throttlebottom's throne. Some suggest that Harpo, the silent Marx ...