Marx Bros

The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, and Groucho Marx; earlier in their career, they were joined by younger brothers Gummo and Zeppo. They are considered by critics, scholars and fans to be among the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century, a recognition underscored by the American Film Institute (AFI) selecting five of their fourteen feature films to be among the top 100 comedy films (with two in the top fifteen) and including them as the only group of performers on AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema.

Their performing lives, heavily influenced by their mother, Minnie Marx, started with Groucho on stage at age 14, in 1905. He was joined, in succession, by Gummo and Harpo. Chico started a separate vaudeville act in 1911, and joined his brothers in 1912. Zeppo replaced Gummo when the latter joined the army in World War I. The brothers performed together in vaudeville until 1923, when they found themselves banned from the major vaudeville circuits owing to a dispute with E. F. Albee. Failing in an attempt to produce their own shows on the alternate Shubert circuit, they transitioned to Broadway, where they achieved significant success with a series of hit musical comedies, including ''I'll Say She Is'', ''The Cocoanuts'', and ''Animal Crackers''.

In 1928, the brothers made a deal with Paramount Pictures to produce a film version of ''The Cocoanuts'', which they filmed at Astoria Studios during the Broadway run of ''Animal Crackers''. ''The Cocoanuts'' was released in 1929, followed shortly thereafter with a film version of ''Animal Crackers''. The brothers decided to devote their careers to film, and moved to Los Angeles, where they made three more films for Paramount: '' Monkey Business'' (1931), ''Horse Feathers'' (1932), and '' Duck Soup'' (1933).

When their contract with Paramount expired, Zeppo left the group. The remaining brothers were signed by Irving Thalberg to make movies for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was there that they made '' A Night at the Opera'' (1935), which they considered their crowning achievement.
During the production of their next film, '' A Day at the Races'' (1937), Thalberg died. While they continued to make films, they felt that the quality of their work, and their interest in it, declined.

After briefly moving to RKO to make Room Service (1938), they went back to work at MGM, making ''At the Circus'' (1939), '' Go West'' (1940), and ''The Big Store'' (1941) before declaring that they were retired. They briefly came out of retirement twice. In 1946, they made ''A Night in Casablanca'', reportedly because Chico was running out of money. In 1949, they starred together in ''Love Happy''; originally intended to be a solo vehicle for Harpo, producers felt the film would be more successful with all three brothers. That was to be their last film as a trio.

Groucho went on to a successful career as a game show host, while Harpo and Chico continued to make guest appearances in television and on stage.

Family background and early life

The Marx Brothers were born in New York City, the sons of Jewish immigrants from Germany and France. Their mother Miene ("Minnie") Marx (née Schoenberg) was from Dornum in East Frisia. She came from a family of performers. Her mother was a yodeling harpist and her father a ventriloquist; both were funfair entertainers. Around 1880, the family emigrated to New York City. Their father, Samuel ("Sam" or "Frenchy"; born Simon) Marx, was a native of Mertzwiller, a small Alsatian village, and worked as a tailor. Minnie and Sam married on January 18, 1885.

The family lived in New York City's Upper East Side in the Yorkville district centered in the Irish, German and Italian quarters. The eldest child in the household was their cousin Pauline, or "Polly", whom they often referred to as an adopted sister. The Marxes' firstborn son, Manfred, died aged seven months, on July 17, 1886, of enterocolitis, with asthenia contributing (i.e., probably a victim of influenza). He is buried in Washington Cemetery (Brooklyn, NY), beside his grandmother, Fanny Sophie Schönberg (née Salomons), who died on April 10, 1901. Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx was born on March 22, 1887; Adolph "Harpo" Marx was born on November 23, 1888; Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx on October 2, 1890; Milton "Gummo" Marx on October 21, 1892; and the youngest, Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx, on February 25, 1901.

Stage beginnings

1905-1914: Rise in independent vaudeville

Early performances

Minnie helped her younger brother Abraham Schönberg (stage name Al Shean) enter show business; he became successful in vaudeville and on Broadway as half of the musical comedy double act Gallagher and Shean. His success, and the family's theater background, inspired Minnie to encourage her children to follow in his footsteps. Minnie acted as the brothers' manager, using the name Minnie Palmer so that agents did not realize that she was also their mother. All the brothers said, at various points, that Minnie Marx had been the head of the family, the driving force in getting the troupe launched, and the only person who could keep them in order; she was also said to be a hard bargainer with theater management.

Groucho made his stage debut as a singer in 1905. In 1907, Minnie approached vaudeville director Ned Wayburn to produce Groucho in a singing act with Gummo; together with his own discovery, Mabel O'Donnell, they went on the road as "The Three Nightingales".By November of that year, Wayburn had moved on, and the act continued under Minnie's direction. She replaced O'Donnell with a singer named Lou Levy.

The next year, having discovered at the last minute that she had accidentally booked the act as a quartet at a Coney Island venue, Minnie went to a movie house where Harpo was working, and demanded that he quit his job and join the act immediately. Regardless of the fact that he didn't know the songs they were supposed to sing, Harpo went along, later remembering an inauspicious beginning: "With my first look at my first audience, I reverted to being a boy again. I wet my pants. It was probably the most wretched debut in show business." Harpo had become the fourth Nightingale. By 1910, he had officially changed his name from Adolph, which he had never liked, to Arthur. The same year, the troupe, renamed "The Six Mascots", briefly expanded to include their mother Minnie and their Aunt Hannah.

One evening in 1909, a performance at the Opera House in Nacogdoches, Texas was interrupted by shouts from outside about a runaway mule. The audience hurried out to see what was happening. Groucho was angered by the interruption and, when the audience returned, he made snide comments at their expense, including "Nacogdoches is full of roaches" and "the jackass is the flower of Tex-ass". Instead of becoming angry, the audience laughed. The family then realized that it had potential as a comic troupe.

Over time, the act evolved from singing with comedy to comedy with music. The brothers' comedy sketch ''Fun in High School'' (sometimes styled ''Fun in Hi Skule'') featured Groucho as a German-accented teacher presiding over a classroom that included students Harpo, Gummo, and, after he joined the act in 1912, Chico. The brothers toured successfully with ''Fun in High School'' for several years, sometimes alternating with a comedy billed as ''Mr. Green's Reception'', a similar production in which the schoolmaster and his students were portrayed as older characters.

In early 1911, Chico was working at music publishing firm Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., when the founder of that company, Maurice Shapiro, died. Chico quit immediately, convincing a young tenor, Aaron Gordon, to tour with him in vaudeville. At the time, there was a successful vaudeville act called ''The Two Funny Germans'', starring Bill Gordon and Nick Marx; with Minnie's encouragement, Aaron Gordon and Chico Marx adopted Italian accents (Chico's reputedly based on that of his barber) and toured as Marx and Gordon. Gordon left the act in the fall of that year, and, after failing to break through with two other partners, Chico finally joined his brothers' comedy act in September 1912.

Origin of their stage names

It was during their early years in vaudeville that the brothers received their stage names, which were given to them by monologist Art Fisher during a poker game.Joe Adamson. ''Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of the Marx Brothers''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. The nicknames were influenced by Gus Mager's comic strip '' Sherlocko the Monk'', which featured a character named " Groucho", reflecting the "O" nickname fad of the era. As Fisher dealt each brother a card, he addressed them, for the first time, by the names they kept for the rest of their lives.

Most accounts attribute Julius's nickname "Groucho" to his notably moody temperament. Alternative theories suggest that it derived from the Groucho character in ''Sherlocko the Monk'', or from the "grouch bag" he carried, containing money and necessities. Leonard was named "Chicko" because of his reputation for chasing women (or "chicks"). "Chicko" was eventually shortened to "Chico", but still pronounced "Chick-o" rather than "Cheek-o." Arthur was dubbed "Harpo" because he played the harp.

Milton's nickname "Gummo" stemmed from his habit of wearing rubber-soled shoes, although the details varied depending on who was telling the story. Harpo claimed that Milton earned the name by sneaking around theaters like a gumshoe detective. Other sources reported that Gummo was the family's hypochondriac, and therefore wore rubber overshoes whenever he thought it might rain, or that he was the troupe's best dancer, and dance shoes tended to have rubber soles.

1914-1922: ''Home Again'', World War I, and failure in Vaudeville

''Home Again''

The Marx Brothers' early vaudeville shows often received mixed reviews; while critics were generally kind to the performers themselves, they frequently noted the low quality of the material. When the Marxes attempted to play larger venues, audiences were often unreceptive. One Chicago critic, for example, wrote: "The so-called Marx Brothers do well, but in the worst kind of vaudeville. In other words, they are so good that they stink." Eventually, even local reviewers began to find the jokes stale, with one in Hammond, Indiana, describing them as "musty." Faced with dwindling appeal, the brothers turned to their uncle, Al Shean, a veteran vaudeville performer, to help them develop new material. Shean responded by writing ''Home Again'', an expanded version of their earlier act, ''Mr. Green's Reception''.

''Home Again'' proved to be a pivotal production, solidifying the Marx Brothers' distinctive comedic personas. Shean, who had portrayed a fast-talking German character in his own act, created a similar role for Groucho. This character began to incorporate Groucho's trademark greasepaint mustache and a stooped walk. For Harpo, Shean intentionally wrote few lines, contributing to the decision for him to cease speaking on stage. Explanations for this varied: Shean attributed it to Harpo's lisp, while Harpo himself stated that positive reviews often included the caveat that he should not speak. It was during this period that Harpo also adopted his signature wig and horn. Gummo, and later Zeppo, assumed the role of the romantic straight man, a part James Agee famously described as "peerlessly cheesy."

The reception to ''Home Again'' was overwhelmingly positive, with the show playing to packed audiences. Confident in its success, the brothers even guaranteed that if theaters did not surpass their average revenue, they would perform for free. A review in ''Billboard'' hailed it as "a good meaty character comedy," adding that "the company's work fully entitle them to their six urtain calls"

By the end of 1914, ''Home Again'' had become popular enough to secure a contract with the United Booking Office (UBO), which controlled the highest-paying theaters in the country. This allowed them to begin sharing bills with more prominent acts, such as Jack Benny and W.C. Fields. Fields, reportedly concerned about unfavorable comparisons, once feigned a broken wrist to avoid following them on stage.

In 1915, the ''Home Again'' tour reached Flint, Michigan, where 14-year-old Zeppo joined his four brothers for what is believed to be the only time that all five Marx Brothers appeared together on stage. The September 3, 1915, edition of ''The Flint Daily Journal'' documented this performance, noting that Zeppo sang "four or five songs" and "gives promise of becoming as much of a favorite as the rest of the family."

World War I, Gummo leaves, and Zeppo joins

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915 triggered strong anti-German sentiment across America, forcing the Marx Brothers to distance themselves from their German heritage. Groucho abandoned his German stage persona entirely, dropping his exaggerated accent and changing his character's name from "Schneider" to the more American "Jones."

As the United States entered the war, Minnie Marx attempted to secure draft exemptions for her sons by purchasing a poultry farm near Countryside, Illinois. Despite these efforts, by summer 1918, Gummo was drafted into military service. Unlike his brothers, he had grown increasingly dissatisfied with performing and welcomed the change, later quipping that he "went to war to get a little peace."

Gummo's departure created an immediate vacancy in the act. The youngest Marx brother, Zeppo, was working as a mechanic at Ford when Minnie instructed him to leave his job and join his brothers on stage. He later recalled being so unprepared that he had to improvise his lines and abstain from dance numbers during his early performances.

The origin of Zeppo's stage name, which he received around this time, remains contested. Several theories have emerged. Harpo claimed in his memoir that the nickname referenced a trained chimpanzee named Zippo from another vaudeville act. Other family members suggested connections to the popular "Zeke and Zeb" rural humor of the era. Chico's daughter Maxine maintained that the name evolved from a joke between her father and Herbert, beginning with "Zeb" and eventually becoming "Zeppo." Groucho offered yet another explanation, saying the name derived from the first transatlantic flights by zeppelins, although this did not happen until 1924.

Decline and failure in vaudeville

In April 1921, during a break from their touring schedule, the brothers took their first foray into motion pictures, producing a short silent film titled '' Humor Risk''. Written by Jo Swerling, the film featured Groucho playing a villain, and Harpo playing a romantic lead named Watson. Following a poorly received single screening in the Bronx - reportedly marked by disruptive children and impassive adults - the brothers decided against releasing the film. No copies of ''Humor Risk'' are known to survive.

In the summer of 1922, facing a lack of bookings in the United States, the brothers took their act to the UK, where they performed shows in London, Bristol, and Manchester. E. F. Albee, who ran the UBO, required that acts that played in UBO theaters get his permission before playing in other venues. Not having asked Albee before traveling to Britain, the brothers were blacklisted from all UBO-controlled theaters upon their return to the United States.

After their banishment from UBO theaters, the Marx Brothers produced a show called ''The Twentieth Century Revue'' on the smaller Shubert circuit. The Shuberts were concurrently engaged in a lawsuit against the brothers' uncle, Al Shean. The brothers made less money on the Shubert circuit, and their act was padded with other Shubert talent of mixed quality. The show was a failure: reviews of the Marxes were positive, but the other acts were met with antipathy. The ''Cincinnati Post'' of February 12, 1923, said "there are other periods where it seems everyone is sparring for time. This of course is not pleasant." Former cast members of the ''Revue'' sued the brothers, alleging unpaid salaries. Sheriffs seized the ''Revues assets, leading to the show's closure.

1924-1929: Success on Broadway

''I'll Say She Is''

Having been banned from the largest vaudeville circuit, and having failed on the second largest, the Marx Brothers were at a low point. In his memoir ''Harpo Speaks'', Harpo remembered a plan to break up the team: “It had been decided that Groucho should audition as a single, Zeppo return to Chicago with Minnie, and Chico hire out as a piano player. To all of these decisions I said: ‘Nuts’”.

Ned Wayburn, who had produced Groucho and Gummo in The Three Nightingales, introduced the Marxes to writers Tom and Will Johnstone, who had an idea for a new show. They were aware of Joe Gaites, another Shubert veteran whose show ''Gimme a Thrill'' had failed. Gaites still owned the scenery and costumes from that production. The Johnstones felt that they could put together a successful show with the Marxes using the costuming, scenery, and the more successful songs and plot from that show. They found a backer: a man named James P. Beury, who had recently purchased the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia (and was reputedly looking for a starring vehicle for a chorus girl he was dating).

The show, rewritten by the Johnstones, and now titled ''I'll Say She Is'', premiered in Allentown, Pennsylvania in May 1923. After successful initial showings, the production moved to Beury's theater in Pennsylvania for the summer. The show then played in Boston during September, followed by Chicago for the remainder of the year, before embarking on a nationwide tour. In May 1924, ''I'll Say She Is'' premiered on Broadway. For this momentous occasion, their mother Minnie had been getting a custom dress made when she fell and broke her ankle. Determined not to miss the premiere, she attended the show on a stretcher.

The Broadway premiere of ''I'll Say She Is'' launched a new phase of the Marx Brothers' careers. Positive reviews appeared in most of the New York dailies, including the ''New York Sun'', the ''New York Evening Post'', the ''New York Daily News'', The ''New York Daily Mirror'', and ''Life Magazine''. The production became a commercial success, running for 313 performances and consistently playing to near-capacity audiences. The reviewer for the ''Sun'' was Alexander Woollcott, who was to become a lifelong friend of Harpo’s. Woollcott introduced Harpo to the Algonquin Round Table, a collection of intellectuals who met regularly at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan. He also convinced the brothers - who had been billed to that point as Julius, Leonard, Arthur, and Herbert - to go by their stage names in public.

''The Cocoanuts'' and ''Animal Crackers''

The success of ''I'll Say She Is'' attracted numerous producers eager to develop the Marx Brothers' next show. After being unable to come to an agreement with Florenz Ziegfeld, the brothers settled on Sam H. Harris, due to his association with composer Irving Berlin. Harris recruited George S. Kaufman, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, to write the show. Kaufman, who knew of the brothers' tendency to harass writers and ignore the script, reportedly exclaimed, "Are you crazy? ''Write'' a show for the ''Marx'' Brothers? I'd rather write a show for the Barbary apes!" Nevertheless, Kaufman signed on, believing that a show starring the Marx Brothers, with music by Berlin, was almost certainly going to be a hit.

''The Cocoanuts'', penned by Kaufman, with music by Berlin, premiered in Boston in October 1925, and came to Broadway in December of that year. Unlike their previous show, which had been essentially a revue, ''The Cocoanuts'' featured a coherent narrative - albeit one frequently interrupted by the brothers' anarchic comedy. Set during the Florida land boom, the plot involved a hotel owner named Hammer (Groucho) trying to sell worthless real estate while navigating various romantic entanglements and theft schemes. The production showcased several now-classic Marx Brothers routines, including the " Why a Duck?" sequence, in which Groucho attempts to explain a map to Chico, leading to an increasingly absurd series of misunderstandings about the difference between "viaduct" and "why a duck." The critics were glowing, with Woollcott saying, "It need only be reported that ''The Cocoanuts'' is so funny it's positively weakening." The production ran for 276 performances on Broadway before touring.

''The Cocoanuts'' was notable for another Marx Brothers first: the inclusion in the cast of Margaret Dumont, a former small-time vaudevillian who had married into wealth, become widowed, and then been forced to take the stage again. Dumont played Mrs. Potter, a wealthy widow and object of Hammer's romantic pursuits. Writer Morrie Ryskind, who had performed uncredited work on ''The Cocoanuts'', remembered that, from when she stepped on stage, "it became obvious ..that the addition of Miss Dumont ..filled a long neglected void, and that a great comedy team had been launched." She would go on to reprise her role as straight foil to Groucho in their next Broadway production and in seven of their movies. Groucho later reflected that Dumont "never understood any of my jokes," though this was likely an exaggeration for comic effect, as interviews showed that Dumont was a skilled performer who understood precisely how to play opposite him.

Sam Harris brought together many of the same creative talents for the next Marx Brothers production, ''Animal Crackers''. Kaufman would again develop the book, this time with co-writer Morrie Ryskind receiving full credit. Margaret Dumont would again play the foil. In place of Irving Berlin, lyrics and music were provided by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby", which was to become Groucho’s signature tune, and later the theme music for his television program ''You Bet Your Life'' describing it as “the very concoction for which the word ‘wow’ had been coined”.

Motion pictures

1929-1933: Paramount

As Animal Crackers began its tour, Paramount Pictures signed the Marx Brothers to create an all-talking film adaptation of ''The Cocoanuts''. Filming commenced in February 1929 at Astoria Studios in Queens. The film was a groundbreaking venture; at this point, most talkies featured only short sound segments, and no all-talking musical had yet been released. While ''The Cocoanuts'' wouldn't be the first - that distinction went to The Broadway Melody - its production faced significant hurdles due to the nascent state of sound film technology, which was highly experimental and sensitive. Paper props, for example, had to be sprayed with water to prevent microphones from picking up crinkling sounds. Cameras had to be kept in soundproof boxes that limited dynamic movement and contributed to a visually stage-bound style. The production schedule was also grueling for the Marx Brothers, who commuted daily between the Astoria set and Manhattan for evening stage performances of Animal Crackers.

The film's plot largely mirrored the stage play, though substantial cuts were necessary to maintain a manageable runtime. ''The Cocoanuts'' premiered in New York in May 1929. Mordaunt Hall

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