Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo e Zeppo Marx
Chico - Leonard (New York, 22 March 1887 - Hollywood, 11 October 1961); Harpo - Adolph Arthur (New York, 23 November 1888 - Los Angeles, 28 September 1964); Groucho - Julius Henry (New York, 2 October 1890 - Los Angeles, 19 August 1977) Gummo - Milton (New York, 23 October 1892 - Palm Springs, 21 April 1977); Zeppo - Herbert (New York, 25 February 1901 - Palm Springs, 30 November 1979). Their mother Minnie Schönberg, of German origin, guided them towards theatre careers at an early age. They thus became The Three Nightingales. They had an uncle who was a comic theatre performer; he took them on tour around the American theatres. It seems that in 1912 the brothers created their first sketch, which was related to their future film successes. But it should be said that that Gummo (named after rubber overshoes) left the group before the start of their film career to fight as a soldier in the First World War. Their nicknames soon eclipsed their real names: Groucho, big moustache and endless wisecracks; Harpo, curly wig, crafty, silent, dressed like a tramp, musician and harpist with coat full of improbable tools; Chico (after 'chicks'), dimwitted Italian-American, strutting around with women; and Zeppo, the "normal" one who acted as their feed. Broadway open its doors to them in the early twenties. One of their shows was Cocoanuts, which was brought to the big screen in 1929. This led to a five-film deal with Paramount. The next film, Animal Crackers, was filmed in New York and was successful with critics and audiences alike. After their arrival in Hollywood they made Monkey Business in 1931 and Horse Feathers in 1932. In 1933 they produced what many consider to be their masterpiece: Duck Soup, a film against war and militarism. Despite the quality of the film, it did not have the success Paramount had hoped for and the studio did not renew their contract. In 1935, however, Irving Thalberg of MGM stepped in to help them, and they were able to shoot two more masterpieces, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. RKO signed them up for Room Service in 1938. This proved one of less successful films so the brothers returned to MGM for three more films until 1941. Chico and Harpo afterwards become a theatre double act while Groucho worked in radio. They got back together to help resolve Chico's financial troubles with A Night in Casablanca in 1946 and Love Happy in 1949, in which Marilyn Monroe makes her first ever film appearance in a brief walk-on part in one scene. In the fifties Groucho was the only one who managed to earn a consistent living, moving from radio to television as presenter of the quiz show You Bet Your Life. The Marx Brothers would reunite only once more in a movie, in the 1957 colour film The Story of Mankind. Their last appearance together was for a TV special in 1959. Chicago and Harpo died in the early 1960s and Groucho continued to appear in television programmes and as a guest on
