We welcome ethnomusicologist Meg Farrell, the great-granddaughter of Will B. Johnstone—an unsung hero of the Marx story who set the template for their Broadway act with I’ll Say She Is, and later contributed to Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and A Day at the Races.

Meg treats us to entries from “Grandpit’s” private diary, revealing surprising Marx Brothers stories from the 1920s, and insights into Johnstone’s day job as a political cartoonist. We’ll discuss the importance of the Napoleon scene from ISSI, and Johnstone’s complicated relationship with S.J. Perelman.