Early Beginnings
Minnie Marx was the legendary manager and mother of the Marx Brothers. She was also the driving force that catapulted them into vaudeville. She was also the sister of comedian and vaudeville star, Al Shean.
Minnie was born in Dornum Germany in 1864 to Lafe and Fanny Schonberg, who were magicians. Minnie, her parents, and her brother Abraham immigrated to New York City around 1880. In 1884 Minnie married Sam Marx, a tailor who was barely adequate at his trade. Everybody called Sam “Frenchie” because he was from Alsace, France.
The following year, their first son, Manfred, was born. He died from either tuberculosis or influenza at just 7 months. In 1887, they welcomed their second son, Leonard (Chico). The following year a third son, Adolph (Harpo) was born. Adolph would be followed by Julius (Groucho) in 1890, Milton (Gummo) in 1893, and Herbert (Zeppo) in 1901.
Bad Habits
Leonard was extremely gifted at mathematics. He used this talent to try and make money in the street gambling rackets of New York City. Leonard became addicted to gambling at a young age, and would often pawn items belonging to his family members, to pay off his gambling debts. Groucho remarked years later:
“…My father was a tailor, and a very bad one and Chico was always short of money, and he used to hock my father’s shears, so whenever my father made a suit, of course, it didn’t fit, and the shears would be hanging up in the pawnshop on Ninety-first Street…”
Adolph had a rough time at school and was severely bullied regularly. He dropped out of school at 8 years old after failing the second grade. After leaving school he went to work with Leonard in various odd jobs to help support the family. These included working in a butcher shop and selling newspapers.
Julius was an excellent student who loved school and dreamed of growing up to be a doctor. However, at the age of twelve, his dreams were dashed when his parents pulled him from school and put him to work at a wig factory, to help pay the bills.
Vaudeville Years
In 1905, destiny changed things for Julius when he became a professional singer. Despite being Jewish, he was singing as part of an Episcopal choir. Julius was noticed and offered a part in a singing trio, “The Gene Leroy Trio,” which debuted at the Ramona Theatre in Grand Rapids, MI, on July 16, 1905.
While a member of the trio, Julius was stranded in Colorado for a while, after another group member ran off with his money. Julius worked at a grocery store to earn enough money to make it back to New York. Julius would next tour with British singer Lily Seville as “Lily Seville and Master Marx,” throughout Texas in early 1906.
Julius was not the only Marx brother who was musically inclined. Leonard was also adept at playing the piano, and Adolph – who was inspired by his grandmother – played the harp. All of these talents would be worked into their act.
Minnie was motivated by her brother Al Shean’s success in vaudeville. By 1907, she had pushed her sons Julius and Milton to team up with Mabel O’Donnell (who would go on to be a best-selling writer). “Wayburn’s Nightingales” was soon born.
When the group’s manager Ned Wayburn ran into financial trouble, Minnie took over as manager, and the group was renamed “The Three Nightingales.” In 1908, Minnie replaced Mabel with another boy, Lou Levy. Soon Adolph (who would soon change his name to Arthur) was in the troupe, and they became “The Four Nightingales.” Harpo stated:
“…I was being shanghaied to join Groucho, Gummo, and Lou Levy. On a stage. Singing. In front of people…”
Evolution of Genius
Meanwhile, Leonard Marx was playing piano in nickelodeons, dance halls, and saloons. He also worked for a time with the song publishing firm of Shapiro, Bernstein, and Company in Pittsburgh. Leonard eventually entered vaudeville.
He first partnered with Arthur Gordon, a young singer, and later with his cousin Louis Lefevre, who had adopted the last name Shean as well. It was during this time that Leonard began to develop his Italian accent and stage persona. In 1912, Leonard joined his brothers in their act, replacing Lou Levy.
The Marx Brothers’ stage show began to evolve, gaining more comedic elements as time went on. As early as 1909, Julius played a German character named Hans Pumpernickel, a character that the other boys would distract so they could steal wieners from his basket.
“I went from bad to wurst”. – Groucho Marx
In 1912, while in Texas, a mule got loose outside the theater where the Brothers were performing, causing a great commotion. A large number of theater-goers got up and went outside to see what was happening.
Julius began to spout insults at the audience such as “the jackass is the flower of Tex-ass”. The audience loved these remarks, which were the opposite of what Julius had in mind when he hurled them. Soon after Julius adopted another German character, this time a teacher in a sketch called “Fun in Hi Skule” with the other brothers as his students.
Stage Names
In 1915, the Brothers finally got their stage names. While in Galesburg, Illinois, comedian Art Fisher named them during a poker game. As Fisher dealt each Marx Brother a card, he addressed them, for the very first time, by the names they kept for the rest of their lives.
Arthur became “Harpo” because he played the harp. Milton became “Gummo” because he wore rubber boots all the time. Leonard was “Chico” because he chased “chickens” (girls) and Julius was dubbed “Groucho” because of his temperament. Or because he owned a grouch bag (this has been debated – even between the brothers – for over a century).
World War I
World War I brought more changes to the family act. Gummo joined the Army to support the war but didn’t see combat because an armistice was reached shortly thereafter. Herbert took his place and was given the name Zeppo, as Zep was Italian-American slang for baby and Zeppo was the youngest Marx Brother.
Another change that occurred around this time happened due to excessive anti-German sentiment. Due mostly in part to World War I, Groucho had dropped his German-accented characters from his routines.
By the early 1920s, the Brothers were one of the most popular acts in vaudeville. While they were popular with audiences, they were not popular with vaudeville owners and promoters. Things came to a head in 1922 when they made an enemy of E.F. Albee, president of the VMA’s United Bookings Office.
Albee controlled most major vaudeville circuits’ theatrical bookings, in exchange for a 5% commission. It’s believed Albee moved against the Brothers because they toured the UK against his wishes. A tour in which Albee wouldn’t get any commissions. Regardless, with Albee against them, the Marx Brothers needed to find a new avenue for their performances.
“I’ll Say She Is” and Silent Movies
The Marx Brothers had tried and failed to produce their shows on the alternate “Shubert Circuit” in New York City, and in May 1924, they headed for unexpected pastures. The Casino Theater on Broadway.
A year earlier, in 1923, the show I’ll Say She Is premiered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. For a year, the Brothers honed the show into a well-oiled machine. By the time the show hit New York City on May 19, 1924, it was perfected and became an instant smash.
Although never filmed in its entirety, likely due to the numerous musical numbers in which the Brothers do not appear, segments of the show featuring their scenes eventually were committed to celluloid.
The opening “Theatrical Agency” scene was later filmed for the Paramount Pictures release The House That Shadows Built (1931). On Broadway, the Marx Brothers impersonate Gallagher and Shean, but in the short, they replace that vaudeville act with Maurice Chevalier. With that exception, it is unchanged.
Another scene was turned into a cartoon in the Rankin-Bass television program The Mad, Mad Comedians (1970). Groucho had reprised his original role, but Harpo and Chico had passed away by then. Zeppo refused to participate. Legendary voice actor Paul Frees filled in for Chico. Harpo was replaced with sound effects.
Harpo Speaks! (not really)
1925 brought both Harpo and Zeppo to movie screens officially for the first time. Harpo appeared with William Powell in Too Many Kisses (1925). This is the only film where Harpo “speaks,” but he can’t be heard because it is a silent movie.
Zeppo would make his first on-screen appearance a few months later as an extra in A Kiss in the Dark (1925). All four Marx Brothers made a movie in 1921 called Humor Risk, a short subject where the Brothers play more conventional movie characters. Harpo plays a detective, Groucho the villain, Chico his henchman, and Zeppo a young playboy.
This movie was shown once and then lost forever. Likely, the reels were accidentally thrown away, but an unlikely story exists that Groucho hated it and burned the only copy after it premiered. Harpo never gave up hope that it would be found and spent considerable time trying to hunt it down until he died in 1964.
With the huge success of the Marx Brothers on Broadway, movie studios were eager to get the quirky quartet in character and on camera. In 1926, First National Pictures announced that a deal was reached with the comedians before a deal was reached, which resulted in a deal NOT being reached.
In 1928, both MGM and United Artists would attempt, and fail, to sign the Brothers and produce their second Broadway smash, The Cocoanuts. A year later they would finally sign on with Paramount Pictures to turn this sophomore show into a movie.
The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers
The Cocoanuts debuted on October 26, 1925, first in Boston, making its way to Broadway in December of that year. Notably, the music and lyrics in this show were written by Irving Berlin. Like I’ll Say She Is, the show was a success, with it being performed nightly for nearly 2 years, including a tour of the United States.
In October 1928, Animal Crackers, the third Marx Brothers musical hit Broadway, where it ran until April 1929 for a total of 191 performances. This show didn’t last as long because the Marx Brothers were headed to movie screens, and to larger audiences than the theater could provide.
Shortly after the show premiered, the Brothers reached a deal with Paramount to bring The Cocoanuts to movie audiences. Filming began on February 4, 1929, at Paramount’s Studio in Astoria, Queens.
After filming, the Brothers would trek back down to Manhattan to perform in Animal Crackers on the stage that evening. This was a brutal schedule for them, and a challenging task between the long hours and the requirement to perform 2 entirely different shows every day. As per the Brooklyn Daily Star in 1929:
“It was the first attempt on such a scale to bring over a Broadway musical show to the talking films. Large choruses had to be recorded for sound and picture at the same time. Vast and elaborate sets had to be built overnight and cleared as rapidly.”
Due to the primitive sound equipment, the cameramen were enclosed in large soundproof booths with glass fronts. This allowed filming to take place while suppressing the sound of the camera motors. Despite the difficulties, filming only took three weeks to complete.
Conclusion
The movie was released on August 3, 1929, and it earned $1,800,000 on a budget of $500,000, making it one of the most successful movies of the early sound era. 41 days after the release of The Cocoanuts, Minnie Marx passed away at the age of 64. The Marx Brothers are rightfully remembered for their work in movies and television. However, the years before that, which are largely forgotten, defined them.
