Groucho was the master of wit and verbal timing, and he delivered wisecracks and non sequiturs at a dizzying, relentless pace his visual trademarks included greasepainted eyebrows and mustache, glasses, tailcoat, and ever-present cigar. Eliot, George Gershwin, and several other noted writers and composers.īy 1924 the brothers' act had evolved into its familiar incarnation. Although they had little formal education, the Marxes were feted by scholars and intellectuals throughout their lives, and they counted among their personal friends luminaries such as Woollcott, George S.
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His close friendship with Harpo led to the brothers' association with members of the Algonquin Round Table and other members of New York's cultural elite. In what proved to be a turning point in their careers, the show endeared them to Alexander Woollcott ( Woollcott, Alexander), the most prominent and influential drama critic of the time. They scored a major triumph on Broadway with their musical-comedy revue I'll Say She Is (1924), by which time Zeppo had replaced Gummo. For several mostly successful years in burlesque and vaudeville, the brothers' stage act consisted of songs, dances, musical specialities by Harpo (on harp) and Chico (on piano), and the Marx's own brand of chaotic humour.
MARKX BROTHERS SERIES
He was eventually joined by Gummo, Harpo, and Chico in what, after a long series of incarnations, evolved into a comedy act. In 1904 Groucho became the first of the brothers to appear onstage, when he joined a singing trio. The Marx Brothers were the sons of a tailor and a domineering stage mother, as well as the nephews of vaudeville headliner Al Shean of the popular team Gallagher and Shean. Groucho later hosted the television quiz program You Bet Your Life (1950–61). Zeppo left the act in 1934, and the act disbanded in 1949.
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They later starred in Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), Duck Soup (1933), A Night at the Opera (1935), and Room Service (1938), among other films, developing a skillful blend of visual and verbal humour, with Groucho supplying wisecracks and a running commentary as counterpoint to the frantic, anarchic activities of the silent Harpo and the Italian-accented Chico. Gummo left the act early on, and the brothers later became "The Four Marx Brothers." They won fame with their first Broadway play, I'll Say She Is (1924), which was followed by The Cocoanuts (1925 film, 1929) and Animal Crackers (1926 film, 1930). They formed a vaudeville act with their mother, Minnie, called "The Six Musical Mascots" (1904–18). The original five brothers were Chico ( orig.