The devastating debunking of stage and theatrical characters was based on the short story and radio playThe Wisdom of Eveby Mary Orr.The government of a "mythical kingdom" - the Balkan state of Freedonia, is suffering an emergency.It has gone bankrupt through mismanagement and is on the verge of revolution.The country""s richest dowager millionairess, the wide and widowed benefactress Mrs.Gloria Teasdale (Margaret Dumont in a welcome return as the perfect foil for Groucho) has offered $20 million to sponsor and support the cash-poor government, but only if it is placed under new leadership:The government has been mismanaged.Hans is held under the waist-deep water and drowned by the Monster.A sleepy-looking owl witnesses the murder.In one of the many scenes displaying macabre humor, Han""s wife reaches into the wreckage for her husband""s extended hand, not realizing that she is pulling the Monster from the debris.] In fact, here were four musical "prologues" in he film - although the first one, a cat-themed song-and-dance, was very brief ("Sittin"" on a Backyard Fence") and part of a rehearsal.Each of the screens is blown or swept away with cigarette smoke.In the opening sequence, an unidentified hand and finger press in the doorbell buzzer of a mansion doorway.