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Biography
I C O N I C   C O M E D Y

TheMarxBrothers Julius &Adolph &Leonard & Herbert 2.

How did four nice little boys called Julius, Adolph, Leonard and Herbert grow up into the Marx Brothers? Perhaps because they never really were nice little boys.

Groucho Marx seldom ventured any commenton his own comic style. He felt that humour, like romance and sex, loses its magic if examined too closely: 'If you talk about thosethings, they go away.' When asked why hethought he was funny, he would answersimply, 'I'm a funny-looking jerk'. He didbelieve, however, that all great comedy isbased on character.

People who had known the Marx Brothers before they became famous (when they werestill Julius, Adolph, Leonard, Milton and Herbert), even before they entered show business, all agreed that the five brothers never hadto create the characters they played so convincingly on stage, screen, and television -they already were those characters. A neighbour of the Marx family in New York Cityduring the early 1900s remarked:

'They were wild youngsters with a talent forhaving fun. The place would be a shambles,especially if Mrs Marx left them alone. Theywould tear down the draperies. There was awoman across the way. a doctor's wife, whoused to send over notes saying that she wasgoing to call the police, which probably madethem do it even more.'

the poor marx brothers

The Marx family was poor but, as Groucho saidof his childhood:

'We didn't know it, so we were happy. AtChristmas we didn't have a tree, just a branch,and we each hung up one of our black socksand got a half an orange each for Christmas.All our neighbours even had better garbagethan we did. Harpo used to skate in CentralPark with one ice skate he tied on. When myAunt Hannah cooked the clam chowder, sheused the same pot she used for the laundry,and there was plenty of starch in both.'

Although the Marx Brothers' theatricalcharacters were based on real people andactual experiences, their mannerisms and costumes were developed through trial and errorduring their years in vaudeville. For Groucho this all began in 1905 when he joined a 'travelling troupe as a boy soprano. He got thejob out of economic necessity: (scroll down)

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THE MARX BROTHERS, © UNKNOWN

'I became an actor because I had an uncle inshow business who was making $200 a week,and I wasn't making anything, not even anoccasional girl.'

Although the job didn't last long, and threetimes he found himself stranded on the roadwithout money, Groucho persisted. Eventuallyhe landed work with the Gus Edwards schoolact - his first professional encounter with stagecomedy.

GROUCHO MARX, © TASCHEN

donkey business

Three years later Minnie Marx gathered her sons (Groucho, Gummo, and later Harpo) together into a singing act called first The ThreeNightingales, then The Six Mascots. She wastheir agent, and sometimes joined the act with her sister, Hannah. Sam Marx (known as Frenchie), the father of the Marx Brothers, stayed at home with the cooking andhousework, as well as a threadbare tailoringbusiness. Apparently this pioneering role-sharing worked out perfectly: Sam was asuperb cook while, in Groucho's words:

'Minnie couldn't make anything except myfather.'

But as an agent she was unsurpassed. Groucho often said:

'Without her, we wouldn't have been anything. She was the mostimportant woman in my life.'

As a singing act the Marx Brothers werecondemned to second-rate or even third-rate, vaudeville, and it was only by accident thatthey discovered how funny they could be. Groucho described the moment:

'We were playing a small town in Texas, a farming town. The farmers came in and tied uptheir horses beside the Pantages Theatre. Wewere doing a singing act. a mule runs away,and the whole audience left to catch the mule.Then they came back. By this time we were soangry we started making sarcastic remarks.Like, "Nacogdoches is full of roaches" and"The jackass is the finest flower of Texass."Instead of getting mad, the audience laughs.This is the first time we ever did comedy likethat.'

This incident happened in 1912 during atour through Louisiana. Texas and Oklahoma.

MARX BROTHERS, © UNKNOWN

school marx

After their unexpected triumph they attempted comedy whenever it seemed appropriate,and in Denison, Texas, The Six Mascots werereceived so enthusiastically that they wereinvited to stay over, this time with a guarantee.Wishing to please an audience of teachers whowere there for a conference, Groucho wrote acomedy sketch based on the Gus Edwardsschool act. Groucho became Herr Teacher, Harpo played the stupid boy, and the othermembers of the troupe, who included Gummo,became the standard school act characters ofthat day. This act was called Fun in Hi Skule,and much of what the Marx Brothers didafterwards was influenced by it. Most notableof all, Harpo donned his famous red wig (laterto become blond for the films) and becamehimself; Groucho assumed a stern countenance and an air of unqualified authority: and Gummo played the juvenile straight-man rolethat Zeppo later inherited. Then Chico joinedthe act as the confidently ignorant 'Eye-talian'.

All of the Marx Brothers shows that followed Fun in Hi Skule, including the films and even Groucho's TV programme, owed a great dealto it. You Bet Your Life was the same routinebut in modern dress, with Groucho still playingHerr Teacher. Horse Feathers is Fun in Hi Skulegraduated to college and Hollywood. As thegreat white hunter in Animal Crackers, theprime minister in Duck Soup, or the bogusdoctor in A Day at the Races, Groucho is still inmany respects Herr Teacher, and his brothersplay almost exactly the same roles as in Fun in Hi Skule.

MARX BROS, © UNKNOWN

harpo loses his voice

It was their uncle (Minnie's brother), Al Shean - himself a big star in American vaudeviille -who had helped to crystallize further eachbrother's stage personality. Groucho was allowed to talk incessantly, while Harpo becamemute, and Chico played comic straight-man toboth. According to Groucho, AI Shean felt that Harpo's voice did not match his whimsicalappearance. Harpo was disappointed, but accepted Uncle Al's dictum. Thereafter Harpo talked professionally only once again duringhis entire career. A quarter of a century later,he spoke at the end of the stage tryouts for GoWest. The brothers decided that this speech,whilst comically effective, departed from theinnocent Harpo character, and it was omittedfrom the movie. In later life, after his retirement from films, Harpo would not accept anyspeaking engagements, and requested that hisfamily never allow a recording of his voice tobe played. He felt that to allow his voice to beheard by the public would be unfaithful anddestructive to the character he had created. Groucho said the question he was most oftenasked was, 'Can Harpo talk?' His answer was always, 'Of course not.'

By 1914, Mr Green's Reception, as Fun in HiSkule was now called, had established the MarxBrothers as rising vaudeville stars. They werenot yet, however, known by their famous 'O'names. This happened while they were touringIllinois in 1914. Another performer on the billwith them had a penchant for giving nicknames to his friends. Julius became Groucho because of his serious demeanour. Adolph became Harpo for the obvious reason. Leonard became Chico because of his passion for thechicks, as girls were then called. (Thus thecorrect pronunciation of his name is 'Chicko') Milton became Gummo because, as he laterexplained:

'I always had holes in my shoes, soI'd wear rubbers, or gumshoes, over them evenwhen it wasn't raining, and I got calledGummo.'

Herbert was only 13 and at home inChicago when his brothers were being renamed, but he became Zeppo later. No one, especially Zeppo, is certain why. They continued to use their real names until 1924, butthe 'new' names eventually took over.

MARX BROS, © UNKNOWN

he stoops to conquer

Harpo's devotion to the harp was not accidental. His grandmother had played, in thefamily's travelling magic show in Germany, ona wondrous instrument without strings. As achild Harpo would also 'play' on this harpwhich was stored in a closet in their New Yorkapartment, and when he finally got a harpwith real strings he taught himself to play, but in an unorthodox style that in later yearsamazed professional harpists.

Before they were established as stars, however, the Marx Brothers ran through a numberof what were then called musical tabloids: several thinly plotted scenes, as sumptuouslymounted as a tight budget and difficult physical conditions would allow, were held together by song, dance and comedy. In each of these shows the brothers enriched their comiccharacters and developed routines that wouldserve them - with variations - for decades. Thesloping, stooping Groucho walk, for instance,happened by accident:

'I was just kiddingaround one day, and I started to walk funny. The audience liked it so I kept it in.'

After one failure, the Marx Brothers appeared in the successful On the Mezzanine Floor,which, along with Home Again, toured GreatBritain in 1922. They opened at the Coliseumin London. At first, the audience did notunderstand the Marx Brothers' humour andresponded by throwing pennies onto the stage.In those days, Groucho recalled:

'it was thecustom when the audiences didn't like an act -a pretty dangerous custom, too, since theEnglish penny was as large as a silver dollar.'

Groucho waded into the shower of coins andaddressed the audience: Groucho recalled:

'We came all the wayfrom America to entertain you, so you might atleast throw some shillings.'

His ad lib won overthe audience, and their entire British tour wasenormously successful.

MARX BROTHERS, © UNKNOWN

a night in new york

Back in the United States in 1923 they hadserious difficulties with the United BookingOffice, which controlled virtually all of vaudeville. Unable to get work they were forced toput on their own show. They were helped by aPennsylvanian industrialist who owned atheatre in Philadelphia and the sets and propsfrom several theatrical flops, and were thusable to put together I'll Say She Is, their mostambitious musical tabloid to date. Although Groucho always referred to this show as 'a realturkey,' it was a huge success in Philadelphia.After a tepid road trip, they came to Broadway.Fortunately, on the night they opened in1924 a more important show postponed itspremiere, and the most influential New Yorkdrama critics went to I'll Say She Is instead.Their rave reviews established the MarxBrothers as permanent superstars.

Two even bigger Broadway hits followed: The Cocoanuts in 1925 and Animal Crackers in1928: both were later filmed in New York - in1929 and 1930 respectively - almost exactly asthey were presented on the stage.

After filming Animal Crackers, the MarxBrothers left for California, where they remained. Their first three Hollywood pictureswere produced for Paramount by Herman J.Mankiewicz. writer of Citizen Kane (1940) andone of Hollywood's great non-conformists.(Assigned to write a Rin-Tin-Tin picture, hehad the courageous police dog carry the babyinto a burning building instead of out of it. Hewas never assigned to a Rin-Tin-Tin filmagain.) The Marx Brothers' pictures of thisperiod - Monkey Business (1931), HorseFeathers (1932), and Duck Soup (1933) - allbear the imprint of their iconoclastic producer.

MARX BROS, ANIMAL CRACKERS, 1930 - © UNKNOWN

under thalberg's wing

The next two films, A Night at the Opera (1935)and A Day at the Races (1937), were producedby Irving Thalberg at MGM. Groucho creditedThalberg with saving their careers after DuckSoup had done poorly at the box office.Thalberg felt that the Marx Brothers wereappealing only to a minority, and that they were missing especially the female audiencethat so often decided which film the familyattended. He found the Marx Brothers characters of the Paramount films 'unsympathetic'because they were not helping anyone.

Toremedy this, he reinforced the plots so thatthey could stand alone as romantic comedies,recast the Marx Brothers as helpful avunculartypes rather than totally uninhibited anarchists, and added the kind of lavish productionnumbers that a major studio like MGM couldafford. He also allowed the Marx Brothers totry out material for their next picture in front ofaudiences on a road tour; this was especiallyhelpful, as the Marx Brothers had alwaysdepended heavily on the reaction of live audiences to their ad libs.

Thalberg returned to theoriginal successful formula of George S.Kaufman who, with Morrie Ryskind, hadconceived and written The Cocoanuts andAnimal Crackers, and at Groucho's behest,Kaufman and Ryskind were imported from theEast Coast to write A Night at the Opera.

After Duck Soup Zeppo had quit the act and started a talent agency. Zeppo had never beenhappy with his role as a straight-man:

'Ialways wanted to be a comedian, but I camealong too late, and three comedians in the actwas already enough.'

Gummo, who had beenout of show business since his discharge fromthe army in 1919 and never appeared in thefilms, joined Zeppo, and the two built theiragency into one of the biggest in Hollywood.One of Zeppo's first deals for the Marx Brothers was buying the rights to the Broadway hit Room Service for their next picture in 1938.

Thalberg's premature death during the filming of A Day at the Races marked a crucial pointin the Marx Brothers' career as a team. Nolonger did they have their champion at thebiggest studio in Hollywood. Their next threepictures, At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940),and The Big Store (1941), were made for MGMon a production-line basis, and by 1942 theywere ready to retire as a team, each brothergoing his own way professionally.

MARX BROTHERS, DUCK SOUP - © UNKNOWN

the laughter maker

Groucho, who had published Beds in 1930,continued to write, eventually writing fivebooks. He had always aspired to being a writer,even before wanting to become an actor, andhe was as proud of his literary output as ofanything else he ever did. He was also proud ofbeing able to make people laugh. He said:

'It's a loteasier to make people cry than it is to makethem laugh.'

Groucho also tried radiobut was unsuccessful until You Bet Your Life in1948. Although he was known as one of thescreen's great talkers, the visual aspects of hiscomic style were important, too. LeeStrasberg noted:

'The way hemoved greatly enhanced his character'.

Studying the famous dialogues between Groucho and Chico, one immediately becomes aware of Groucho's senseof movement, even in a static scene. He isalways in motion, yet what he does is soappropriate to what is being said that itheightens it while not being obtrusive.Director King Vidor noted that Groucho'sreactions were always perfect, and that reacting is the most difficult aspect of film acting.

GROUCHO MARX, 1947 - © UNKNOWN

final marx

During their first 'retirement' Harpo and Chico continued to make personal appearances onstage, in concert, or at nightclubs, sometimesalone, sometimes together. Occasionally Chico would join Groucho on a radio broadcast, butby 1945 Chico, who was an inveterate gambler, was broke. To help Chico, the otherbrothers agreed to come out of retirement andmade A Night in Casablanca in 1946. This film.which satirized Casablanca (1942), was successful but the team disbanded again immediately afterwards.

However, a later re-union, Love Happy (1949), was not successful,and the team made only one more professional appearance, in a television special called TheIncredible Jewel Robbery (1960). In neither ofthese last two productions does Groucho makemore than a cameo appearance. At the timehis own career was soaring with starring rolesin major motion pictures and with his ownsuccessful TV quiz show, You Bet Your Life.

Chico died in 1961 (aged 74), Harpo in 1964(aged 75), and Gummo in 1977 (aged 80). Groucho died in 1977 just before his 87th birthday. He had survived his brother Gummo by a few months but wasn't told by his family of his brother's death because of the distress it would have caused him. Zeppo, who was born in 1901, lived in PalmSprings and had not been associated with showbusiness for years before he, too, passed away in 1979. He was survived by his ex-wife, Barbara, nearly 30 years his junior, who went on to marry Frank Sinatra.

Others have tried this same kind of irreverent comedy, but none with the elan or style of the Marx Brothers. Groucho, Harpo, Chico,and Zeppo really were those zany charactersthey played on stage and screen.

As children, the Marx Brothers slept four ina bed, two at each end, and early developed therespect for each other's privacy and the closefriendship that lasted throughout their lives. Groucho once said:

'We played every town in America and Ithink we were the only group that never fought.No act in vaudeville got along better than wedid. There never was anyone like my brothersand me.'

He was right.

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Filmography
M A R X   B R O T H E R S

Filmography

Groucho, Harpo. Chico and Zeppo:

1. 1926 Humorisk (unreleased and no cast list)
2. 1929 The Cocoanuts
3. 1930 Animal Crackers
4. 1931 Monkey Business
5. 1932 Horse Feathers
6. 1933 Duck Soup

   Groucho, Harpo and Chico:

7. 1935 A Night at the Opera
8. 1937 A Day at the Races
9. 1938 Room Service
10. 1939 At the Circus
11. 1940 Go West
12. 1941 The Big Store
13. 1946 A Night in Casablanca
14. 1949 Love Happy
15. 1957 The Story of Mankind (separate appearances).

    Harpo only:

16. 1925 Too Many Kisses
17. 1936 La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (short)
18. 1943 Stage Door Canteen
19. 1944 Hollywood Canteen.
20. 1945 All-Star Bond Rally

    Groucho only:

21. 1937 The King and the Chorus Girl(co-sc. only)
22. 1947 Copacabana
23. 1950 Mr Music
24. 1951 Double Dynamite
25. 1952 A Girl in Every Port