Information Source: Louvish, Simon. Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers. St. Martin's Press, June 2000.

Image Source: "Harpo Marx and the Gift of Laughter" Reader's Digest, December 1965. Condensed from Sherman, Allan, A Gift of Laughter, 1965.

Why: School Project -- three-minute biography on someone who achieved the American Dream.

Contact: Confront Heather with any questions or comments.


death & the evening post

Birth date:
  1. actually November 23 1888
  2. conveniently changed it to 1893
  3. "kept" his age at 14 until he was past twenty
Death:
  1. had heart attacks starting in 1959
  2. convinced by Gummo to have a heart bypass surgery
  3. surgery on 26 September 1967
  4. had seizure and died two days later
  5. this was said to be the only time Groucho ever cried
Personality:
  1. "more of the hot-sport type"
  2. never really grew up
  3. always saw the world through a child's eyes
  4. very stubborn at times
  5. always comical, yet sometimes bitter
  6. very laid back
  7. heart of the brothers
  8. hated retirement; had to do something
  9. self-described as "the perfect family man"
  10. didn't drink
Social Life:
  1. star in Algonquin Round Table with Woolcott
  2. everyone surprised that Harpo had upper-class friends
  3. had a poodle named Harpo
  4. impulsive girl-chaser, but not serious about it
  5. went to Russia 1933-ish --
  6. wanted to try gag comedy on a non-English audience
  7. was almost sent to labor camp several times for what he carried with him (wigs, hands, knives, harp, etc)
Music:
  1. could play two piano songs: "Waltz Me Around Again, Willie" and "Love Me and the World is Mine"
  2. loved Gershwin, Ravel and Debussy, later Prokofiev and Stravinsky (unconventional)
  3. couldn't read music
  4. harp was shipped randomly to him in 1912
  5. self-taught harp and clarinet
  6. professional harpist took notes rather than taught him (late in life)
  7. universally loved for his harp playing
  8. completely drops the comedy when he plays
Employment:
  1. many odd jobs (selling second-hand cuckoo clocks)
  2. tried to avoid work (hung out with Chico too much)
  3. liked "Tin Can Swinging" the best, for his grandfather the umbrella repairman
  4. played piano at silent movies when Chico went gambling
  5. soon took silent movies as steady job
  6. played piano at Mrs. Shang's bar (lots of trouble there)
  7. forced to join the show when they needed a fourth person
Religion:
  1. technically Jewish
  2. not raised as a "temple boy"
  3. used jewish-nes basically only in humor
  4. could have prospered in the Yiddish theatre, but didn't
Education:
  1. claims to have gotten as far as second grade
  2. could have actually been in school until age 19
  3. Irish kids hated him, threw him out the window
  4. teacher conveniently not in room when he was defenestrated… every time
The Show:
  1. joined b/c a fourth person was needed
  2. pulled out in the middle of a show to join
  3. only really liked for harp
  4. Donned red wig for "Fun in Hi Skoole" sketch
  5. started comedy when a crowed walked out to see a mule and the boys got mad
  6. one on the bill as "Marx boy who wears the red wig and plays the Zither or whatever you call it"
  7. "I'll Say She Is" is the epochal, breakthrough comedy
  8. was so nervous when first on stage that he wet his pants
On Being Silent:
  1. 1915 - Marx bros kicked out of a theatre
  2. Harpo shouted "Here's hoping your lousy theatre burns down!" and it did
  3. 1916 - insulted by reviewed in Variety
  4. reviewer said his talking ruined everything, only harp playing was good
  5. script for 'Home Again' only gave him three lines
Family Relations:
  1. when younger, idolized Chico
  2. looked very similar to Chico, only haircuts kept them apart
  3. constant joke on who was taller (always Chico by a fraction)
  4. MUCH later took legal custody of Groucho
  5. married Susan Flemming secretly on 28 September 1936
  6. adopted 5 children, and loved them all
Money:
  1. Not too well-off growing up
  2. needed the odd jobs
  3. blew a lot of money gambling
  4. lost $10,000 during stock market crash
  5. mysteriously got it all back four days later
  6. allowed Gummo to take care of finances in later years
  7. Jewishly thrifty
Misc:
  1. had a menagerie of dogs, cats and birds
  2. family loved to toy with people's minds
  3. hence all biographies/autobiographies are different
  4. always took in guests
  5. three loves were named "Flemming"
  6. started many gags, such as stolen cutlery and honking
  7. started legacy of silent comedy (followed by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd)
Filmography:
  1. Humor Risk (1921) .... Watson
  2. Too Many Kisses (1925) .... The Village Peter Pan
  3. Cocoanuts, The (1929) .... Harpo
  4. Animal Crackers (1930) .... The Professor
  5. Monkey Business (1931) .... Harpo
  6. Horse Feathers (1932) .... Pinky
  7. Duck Soup (1933) .... Pinky
  8. Night at the Opera, A (1935) .... Tomasso
  9. Day at the Races, A (1937) .... Stuffy
  10. Room Service (1938) .... Faker
  11. At the Circus (1939) .... Punchy
  12. Go West (1940) .... Rusty Panello
  13. Big Store, The (1941) .... Wacky
  14. Night in Casablanca, A (1946) .... Rusty
  15. Love Happy (1950) .... Harpo
  16. Story of Mankind, The (1957) .... Sir Isaac Newton