Minnie Marx (born Miene Schönberg, 9 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was the mother and manager of the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...

, a family of vaudevillains, Broadway and film actors and was also the sister of comedian and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

star

Al Shean Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg (May 12, 1868 – August 12, 1949), known as Al Shean, was a comedian and vaudeville performer. Other sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is mos ...

Early life

Marx was born Miene Schönberg in

Dornum Dornum is a village and a municipality in the East Frisian district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea coast, approx. 15 km east of Norden, and 20 km north of Aurich. Division of the municipality The ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Her parents Fanny née Salomons (1829–April 10,1901) and Levy "Lafe" Schönberg (1823–1919) were members of the local

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community. Her mother was a

yodeling Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the ...

harpist, her father a

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...

. Her younger brother, Abraham Elieser Adolf, the future "

," was born in 1868. Early marx brothers with parents

About 1880 the family immigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where Minnie married Samuel "Frenchie" Marx in 1884. Her son Manfred died in infancy in 1885. Her other children were Leonard Joseph (born 1887), Adolph (1888), Julius (1890), Milton (1892) and

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert ...

(1901), who would grow up to perform as the

Career

While managing the Marx Brothers, she went under the name of Minnie Palmer, so that booking agents would not know that the agent representing the Marx Brothers was their mother. She played the harp as did her mother and her son, Harpo. All the brothers confirmed that Minnie Marx had been the head of the family and the driving force in getting the troupe launched, the only person who could keep them in order, and a hard bargainer with theatre managements. As a tribute to her, all the brothers' daughters were given names that began with 'M': Chico with Maxine; Harpo with Minnie; and Groucho with Miriam and Melinda.

Gummo ''Gummo'' is a 1997 American experimental drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine, starring Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, and Chloë Sevigny. The film is set (but was not filmed) in Xenia, Ohio, a Midwestern American tow ...

and Zeppo had no daughters. Minnie lived long enough to see her sons' 1929 film debut in ''The Cocoanuts'', but died later that year of a stroke.

Death

Marx died from a stroke on September 13, 1929, at age of 64, She was survived by her widower Sam, sons Chico, Harpo, Groucho,

and

Zeppo Marx Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx (February 25, 1901 – November 30, 1979) was an American comedic actor, theatrical agent, and engineer. He was the youngest and last survivor of the five Marx Brothers. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers f ...

, grandchildren Maxine,

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

and Miriam, sisters Sarah and Hänne and brothers Al (who outlived her by twenty years) and Harry, She was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in

Glendale, Queens Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Forest Hills to the east, Ridgewood to the west, Woodhaven to the south, and Middle Village to the north. Glendale was built on a ...

, when her husband died four years later, he was also buried next to her.

In popular culture

Marx and some of her sons appear briefly as characters in

Glen David Gold Glen David Gold (born 1964) is an American novelist, memoirist and screenwriter. Known for his bestselling novels exploring the roles of entertainment and popular culture in historical America, he has also published a critically acclaimed memoir ...

's novel ''

Carter Beats the Devil ''Carter Beats The Devil'' is a historical mystery thriller novel by Glen David Gold centred on the American stage magician Charles Joseph Carter (1874–1936). Novel's title The title of the novel comes from Carter's evening length stage show, ...

''; the narrative identifies her as Minnie Palmer, and only gradually offers clues that the struggling vaudeville act traveling with her are the later-famous Marx Brothers. Marx (played by

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades. She appeared in numerous films. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ''A Patch o ...

) was also the main character in the stage musical ''

Minnie's Boys ''Minnie's Boys'' is a musical with a book by Arthur Marx (Groucho Marx's son) and Robert Fisher, music by Larry Grossman, and lyrics by Hal Hackady. It provides a behind-the-scenes look at the early days of the Marx Brothers and their relati ...

''.

References

External links

Family - The Marx Brothers
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marx, Minnie 1864 births 1929 deaths 19th-century German Jews German emigrants to the United States Marx Brothers