Groucho pursues a wealthy dowager ripe for a swindle, played by the dignified Margaret Dumont.

The Broadway run opened at the Lyric Theatre on December 8, 1925 and closed on August 7, 1926 after 276 performances.

The new version, referred to as the "1926 Summer Edition", featured the Brox Sisters, who sang the songs originally assigned to the character of Penelope.

The more famous film adaptation was released by Paramount Pictures in 1929, soon after the addition of synchronized sound permitted talking movies.

Eddie, a bellhop, asks Jamison, a hotel desk clerk, when the staff will get paid.

Penelope suggests to Harvey that he can strike it rich by marrying Polly, since Mrs. Potter has millions of dollars.

Polly soon enters and makes it clear that she is romantically interested in Bob Adams, an architecture student who is currently the chief clerk of the hotel.

Schlemmer and Jamison are at the desk discussing business when Willie the Wop and Silent Sam enter and start to wreak havoc.

Detective Hennessy enters along with Willie and Sam and explains that he's looking for two wanted men whose descriptions they fit.

After they leave, Bob asks Polly whether she could live on that lot in Cocoanut Manor ("A Little Bungalow").

After he leaves, Penelope studies the map and throws in the garbage, but Sam immediately retrieves it, unseen.

Penelope finally succeeds in stealing the necklace and re-enters her own room, proclaiming "Alone at last," not realizing that Sam is still under the bed.

They leave, and Schlemmer enters with Bob, whom he got out of jail for nineteen hundred dollars – "They had a sale," he explains.

Schlemmer introduces a musical specialty number played by the De Marcos, who he describes as not being Spaniards, but Span-Yids (i.e. Jewish musicians).

He then introduces Mrs. Potter, who makes a few short remarks interrupted by constant interjections by Schlemmer, Willie and Sam.

Bob enters and says that a millionaire from Miami wants to buy Cocoanut Manor, which will enable him to realize his architectural dreams.

Note: In the original script, Schlemmer, Willie, and Sam are identified as Julius, Chico and Harpo.

The Breens The DeMarcos The Brox SistersThe DeMarcos In addition to abridging the play for the film, there are a number of other differences: The Cocoanuts opened in June 1996 at the American Jewish Theatre in New York City, with Michael McGrath, Peter Slutsker and Robert Sapoff as Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx respectively.

[5][6] The Oregon Shakespeare Festival staged a revival of The Coconauts in their 2014 season, adapting the original libretto and score with additional material from other Marx Brothers projects.

[7] In July 2018, The Cocoanuts was presented at the Heritage Theatre Festival in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia with Frank Ferrante reprising his role as Groucho, with Matt Roper and Seth Shelden joining as Chico and Harpo.