Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers were a family of American comedians who rose to fame in vaudeville, on Broadway, and through 13 feature films. The five brothers were Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo. Over time, Gummo and Zeppo left the act, leaving Chico, Harpo, and Groucho to carry on as a trio. Critics, scholars, and fans rank them among the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century. The American Film Institute (AFI) placed five of their thirteen films on its list of the top 100 comedy films, with two in the top fifteen. They are also the only group of performers included on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Stars list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. Their career was heavily shaped by their mother, Minnie Marx. Groucho first took the stage at age 14 in 1905. Gummo and Harpo joined him one after another. Chico started his own vaudeville act in 1911 and joined his brothers the following year. When Gummo entered the army during World War I, Zeppo replaced him. The brothers worked in vaudeville until 1923, when a dispute with E. F. Albee got them banned from the major vaudeville circuits. After a failed attempt to produce their own shows on the Shubert circuit, they moved to Broadway, where they found success with hit musical comedies like *I’ll Say She Is*, *The Cocoanuts*, and *Animal Crackers*. In 1928, the Marx Brothers made a deal with Paramount Pictures to film a screen version of *The Cocoanuts* at Paramount’s Astoria Studios while *Animal Crackers* was still running on Broadway. *The Cocoanuts* came out in 1929, followed by a film version of *Animal Crackers* the next year. They then moved to Los Angeles and made three more films for Paramount: *Monkey Business* (1931), *Horse Feathers* (1932), and *Duck Soup* (1933). After their contract ended with *Duck Soup*, Zeppo left the group, and the Marx Brothers left Paramount. Irving Thalberg at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed Groucho, Chico, and Harpo. They starred in *A Night at the Opera* (1935), which they considered their best film. Soon after they began filming *A Day at the Races* (1937), Thalberg died of pneumonia at age 37. The brothers kept making movies, but they felt the quality of their work—and their interest in it—was fading. After starring in *Room Service* (1938) for RKO Pictures, they returned to MGM for *At the Circus* (1939) and *Go West* (1940). They announced that their next MGM film, *The Big Store* (1941), would be their farewell picture, but they returned to the screen in *A Night in Casablanca* (1946), reportedly because Chico needed money. Their final film together was *Love Happy* (1949). Groucho went on to a successful career as host of the quiz show *You Bet Your Life*, while Harpo and Chico continued making guest appearances on television and stage. The Marx Brothers were born in New York City to Jewish immigrant parents. Their mother, Miene (“Minnie”) Marx (née Schoenberg), came from Dornum in East Frisia, then part of the Kingdom of Hanover. She grew up in a family of performers: her mother was a yodeling harpist and her father a ventriloquist, both funfair entertainers. Around 1880, the family emigrated to New York City. Their father, Samuel (“Sam” or “Frenchy”; born Simon) Marx, was from Mertzwiller, a small village in Alsace, France, 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, among Irish, German, and Italian neighborhoods. The eldest child in the household was their cousin Pauline, or “Polly,” often called an adopted sister. The Marxes’ first son, Manfred, died at seven months on July 17, 1886, from enterocolitis with asthenia contributing—likely a victim of influenza. He is buried in Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn, 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 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. In 1909, the family moved to Chicago, home to three major vaudeville talent agencies. They lived in several Chicago locations—one now marked with a historical marker—until moving east again in 1920. 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, along with the family’s theater background, inspired her to push her own children into show business. Using the name Minnie Palmer—so agents wouldn’t know she was their mother—she managed the brothers. All the brothers said at various times that Minnie Marx was the head of the family, the driving force behind launching the troupe, and the only person who could keep them in line. She was also known as a tough negotiator 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 Wayburn’s discovery, Mabel O’Donnell, they went on the road as “The Three Nightingales.” By November of that year, Wayburn had moved on, and Minnie took over directing the act. She replaced O’Donnell with a singer named Lou Levy.