Pictures from Google Image Search

See more pictures of [TBD: Hi, I'm litTopicName set my Topic name]

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404704252.html" title="Facts and informations about The Marx Brothers">The Marx Brothers</a>

Give this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon

The Marx Brothers

The Marx brothers

The Marx brothers were American stage and film comedians whose lunatic antics dominated comedy during the 1930s.

Samuel Marx, an immigrant tailor, and Minna Schoenberg, a German vaudevillian turned factory worker, met and married in New York and raised five sons: Leonard (Chico), born in 1891; Adolph (Harpo), 1893; Milton (Gummo), 1894; Julius (Groucho), 1895; and Herbert (Zeppo), 1901.

A true stage mother, Minnie Marx tirelessly arranged interviews and created skits and revues for her boys. In Chico's vaudeville debut he wrestled, clowned, and played piano. Harpo began his career performing in two nightclubs; since he used identical routines, he was fired for presenting "used" material. Unable to find a job, he discovered his grandmother's "broken-down harp" and by his own unorthodox methods became a virtuoso. Possessor of a delightful soprano voice, adolescent Groucho won a part in The Messenger Boys, a benefit revue for San Francisco earthquake victims. But his tour with a troupe impersonating female singers ended when his voice suddenly changed.

Although all were living in New York, the three experienced Marx brothers—Chico, Harpo, and Groucho—worked separately. Finally they teamed together, touring the vaudeville circuit. Harpo, extremely nervous onstage, could not be trusted to deliver his lines; he himself imposed muteness on his public image. Harpo and Gummo disbanded the group when they enlisted in World War I, and Chico and Groucho entertained soldiers in army camps.

After the war Gummo left show business for manufacturing, and Zeppo gained his initiation into comedy in revues. During the early 1920s the Marx brothers achieved their final stage identities: Groucho, the almost schizophrenic, mustached punster with the stooped glide, ever-arching eyebrows, and the fat cigar; Harpo, the mute but expressive curly-headed imp, with one hand on somebody's silver service and the other playing his harp; Chico, almost as voluble as Groucho, dressed in an organ-grinder's costume, speaking a number of tortured dialects while performing at the piano; and Zeppo, the straight man. Their "spontaneous idiocy" and frenzied burlesque of their own revues captivated audiences.

A successful New York musical, I'll Say She Is, was followed by Coconuts (1926), a spoof of the Florida land-development boom, and Animal Crackers (1928), perhaps the most representative of the Marx brothers' insane antics; the last two were effectively adapted as movies. Their first talkie, Monkey Business (1929), enabled Groucho to pour forth a cascade of puns and quick wit. Horsefeathers (1932) mocks cultural restrictions and is irreverent toward the "sacred" institution, the university. After Duck Soup (1933), a spoof on political intrigue, Zeppo left to operate his own talent agency, joined later by Gummo.

Chico, Harpo, and Groucho clowned through six more movies. A Night at the Opera (1935), considered by many critics to be their masterpiece, takes a playful swipe at "highbrow" musicians. Crammed full of familiar gags and hackneyed jokes, the slew of films that followed had one saving grace: the three talented brothers, whose very presence induced laughter. A Day at the Races (1939) and Go West (1940) exhibit the nonstop clowning but lack the refined twists. After their eleventh production, The Big Store (1941), with Groucho as a bungling department store detective, the brothers separated for 5 years. Harpo and Chico returned to the stage, and Groucho began a long tenure in radio. American entry into World War II brought the three brothers together again, tirelessly touring army camps and selling millions of war bonds.

The Marx brothers' A Night in Casablanca (1946) was only moderately successful, and the trio once again disbanded. Groucho became the witty, sarcastic host of an otherwise inane television quiz show; Harpo and Chico returned to nightclubs, playing the London Palladium in 1949. During the 1950s the brothers went into semiretirement, appearing only as television and stage guests. All five had married and desired to spend time with their families. Popular demand brought them back in The Incredible Jewel Robbery (1959), their last film, a testament to comic talents able to provoke laughter from Depression and Cold War audiences alike. In 1961 Chico died of a heart condition; Harpo died three years later; both Groucho and Gummo passed away in 1977; and the last living Marx brother, Zeppo, died in 1979. One reviewer remarked of their brand of comedy, "They were exactly like ordinary people and act just as we should act if social regulations did not prevent us from behaving in that way." A biographical musical about the brothers, Minnie's Boys, enjoyed moderate success on Broadway in 1969 but provided only a hint of their lifestyles; the brothers themselves, and the essence of their humor, are inimitable.

	I WONDER WHATEVER BECAME OF ME?(examination of the Marx Brothers and their work)(Critical Essay) Magazine article from: CineAction; 3/22/2001; ; 700+ words ; A NOTE ON THE MARX BROTHERS Give me your tired, your...since I started seeing the Marx Brothers' films in the 1930s (the...relationships. But the Marx Brothers' films can hardly be described...Joe Adamson (Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo...released, wondering why the ... Read more
	Marxist Rebellion.(Review) Magazine article from: Reason; 11/1/2000; ; 700+ words ; ...Legends of the Marx Brothers, by Simon Louvish...Dali loved the Marx Brothers so much he wrote...Groucho ordering Harpo to round up dwarfs...same time, the Marx Brothers were popular with...appeal of the Marx Brothers. While most comic...then Adolph ... Read more
	The comic world of the Marx Brothers' movies; "anything further father?".(Brief Article)(Book Review) Magazine article from: Reference & Research Book News; 11/1/2007; 144 words ; 9780838641248 The comic world of the Marx Brothers' movies; anything further father...at all 15 of the films of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo Marx through the...biographical information about the Marx Brothers vaudeville beginnings, along with...each one. The last chapter discusses ... Read more
	A harvest of cocoanuts, (dancetheater by choreographer Richard Sabellico) Magazine article from: Dance Magazine; 11/1/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...George S. Kaufman and Irving Berlin's The Cocoanuts, the Marx Brothers's first musical comedy vehicle, was revived at the American...he says. For Cocoanuts, written as a vehicle for the Marx Brothers before they were famous, I wanted dancing, musical numbers...the dance honors, she needn't have ... Read more
	Feeling better by the dozen.(REEL WORLD)(film comedians) Magazine article from: USA Today (Magazine); 7/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...1933, Mae West), Duck Soup (1933, Marx Brothers), Sons of the Desert (1933, Laurel...Brown), A Night at the Opera (1935, Marx Brothers), Modern Times (1936, Charlie Chaplin...director ever to put a personal stamp on a Marx Brothers movie, while still making it easily... Read more
	Cinema-verite. (renting movies on video) (Column) Magazine article from: Commonweal; 11/4/1994; ; 700+ words ; ...them. I met Laurel & hardy, Wheeler & Woolsey, the Marx Brothers, Red Skelton, and a sharper, hilarious Bob Hope I'd not seen...Lewis, but my wife is in front of Beaches. I'm looking at the Marx Brothers, but she sniffs, Guy stuff. I'm in the mood for a comedy... Read more
	Reassembling the dust: the art of biography. (Reel World).(great interest in chronicling of lives) Magazine article from: USA Today (Magazine); 3/1/2003; ; 700+ words ; ...public's take on the subject. When doing my first book on the Marx Brothers (1987), I had to address the popular mistaken belief that...the personal slant of the subject himself. In my second Marx Brothers book (1994), I keyed on Groucho's conscious decision to alter... Read more
	Stan and Ollie still rule.(REEL WORLD) Magazine article from: USA Today (Magazine); 3/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; ...there likewise would be numerous scholarly advocates for the Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields, Mae West, Will Rogers, Bob Hope...Hardy never were the toast of the critics like Chaplin or the Marx Brothers, but the public seems to have always connected with Start... Read more
	Children of Hollywood; accounts of growing up as the sons and daughters of stars.(Brief Article)(Book Review) Magazine article from: Reference & Research Book News; 2/1/2006; 102 words ; ...2005 229 pages $29.95 Paperback PN1998 In these interviews, the children and grandchildren of such stars as W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Douglas Fairbanks and Boris Karloff tell their versions of the lives of the rich and famous. The interview summaries do... Read more
	Paris Hilton would have bombed in Topeka.(Tilting at Windmills)(Brief Article) Magazine article from: Washington Monthly; 9/1/2005; ; 60 words ; ...identify with and try to emulate the rich nearly as much as today's middle class does. Social snobbery existed, but it was widely ridiculed. Think of the Marx Brothers and their favorite foil, the sanctimonious society lady played by Margaret Dumont. Read more

For more facts and information, see all related premium articles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

	Marx Brothers, The Dictionary entry from: International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers THE MARX BROTHERS Nationality: American. CHICO. Born...for the unequalled achievements of the Marx Brothers in the art of motion picture comedy...Groucho as "God") Publications By MARX BROTHERS: books — Beds by Groucho Marx... Read more
	Marx Brothers Book article from: World Encyclopedia Marx Brothers US team of vaudeville and film comedians. The Marx Brothers consisted of Chico ( Leonard, 1891–...latter withdrew from the group in 1935. Marx Brothers' riotous, wisecracking comedies include... Read more
	Brooks Brothers Book article from: Contemporary Fashion ...Selections for Men and Boys, New York, 1988. On BROOKS BROTHERS: Books Roscho, Bernard, The Rag Race, New York, 1963...Articles Millstein, Gilbert, "The Suits on the Brooks Brothers Men," in the New York Times Magazine, 15 August 1976...1989. Barron, James, "Pleats? Cardigan Cuddling? Brooks Brothers ... Read more
	Duck Soup Dictionary entry from: International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers ...1972. Books: Crichton, Kyle, The Marx Brothers , New York, 1951. Marx, Harpo...York, 1961. Eyles, Allen, The Marx Brothers: Their World of Comedy , London...Paul, and Burt Goldblatt, The Marx Brothers and the Movies , New York, 1968... Read more
	A Night at the Opera Dictionary entry from: International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers ...York, 1951. Crichton, Kyle, The Marx Brothers , New York, 1951. Marx, Arthur...York, 1957. Eyles, Allen, The Marx Brothers: Their World of Comedy , New York...Paul D., and Burt Goldblatt, The Marx Brothers and the Movies , New York, 1968... Read more