Left to right: Chico, Zeppo, Groucho, Harpo
November 17, 1933: Duck Soup premieres, starring the Marx Brothers. It is considered their greatest and funniest film.
The Marx Brothers, sons of an Alsatian father and an East Frisian mother, both parents Jewish, and all 5 brothers born and raised in Yorkville on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, were:
* Leonard Joseph Marx, born March 22, 1887. There was one brother born before him, Manfred, but he died in infancy. His younger brothers noticed his early womanizing, and while the British term "bird" for a young woman remains popular, the long-ago American variant "chicken" does not. But he was called a "chicken chaser." This was shortened to "Chicko." At some point, somebody mistakenly dropped the K, and he was "Chico" from then on. Not knowing the origin, most people pronounced it "CHEEK-oh," but the brothers all pronounced it "CHICK-oh" to the end.
* Adolph Marx, later Arthur Marx, born November 23, 1888. He was called "Harpo" because he was an excellent harp player. He could also play the piano (and Groucho would later write a song titled "I Love a Piano," but Chico was the only one who made piano-playing part of his persona.
* Julius Henry Marx, born October 2, 1890. He gave 2 different stories about how he got "Groucho." There was a comic strip, Knocko the Monk, which had a supporting character, Groucho the Monk. But, in one of his last interviews, he said that comedian Art Fisher gave him the nickname because he was grouchy.
* Milton Marx, born October 23, 1892. His nickname, "Gummo," came from either his tendency to chew gum, or from wearing gum-soled shoes.
* Herbert Manfred Marx, born February 25, 1901. He later claimed he was called "Zeppo" because "Zep" was Italian-American slang for "baby," and he was the "baby brother," so this became "Zeppo." Harpo gave another version, in his memoir Harpo Speaks!: He said that "Herbie" liked to do chin-ups, as did a popular trained chimpanzee named Mr. Zippo. So they called him "Zippo" until he objected to the comparison, and they changed it to "Zeppo." But Groucho said it was short for "Zeppelin," and his ex-wife Barbara backed this explanation up.
The brothers tried their hand at vaudeville. Gummo had a stammer, which made appearing in a stage act difficult. He was the only one who didn't have his heart in show business. When he was drafted into the U.S. Army for World War I in 1918, he went in, and never returned to the act. Zeppo stepped into his place. Gummo survived the war, and became a successful businessman.
The other four succeeded at vaudeville, where W.C. Fields was beginning to make a name for himself. (Good thing he did: His birth name was William Claude Dunkenfeld.) He said that The Marx Brothers were the only act he couldn't follow on the live stage.
He is known to have appeared on the same bill with them only once, during an engagement at Keith's Orpheum Theatre in Columbus, Ohio, in January 1915. Fields later wrote, "They sang, danced, played harp and kidded in zany style. Never saw so much nepotism or such hilarious laughter in one act in my life. The only act I could never follow."
This success led to Broadway, and finally, in 1929, sound films. They made The Cocoanuts, followed by Animal Crackers in 1930, based on their 1928 musical. Groucho stars as Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding -- his characters usually had a middle initial -- a famous explorer and hunter in Africa. He delivered a line that has lasted through the age: "One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know."
That film made the brothers national stars, and it led to them going out to California for Hollywood. It was followed in 1931 by The House That Shadows Built and Monkey Business, and in 1932 by Horse Feathers.
Their personas had been set. Groucho, who wore glasses, smoked cigars, and used greasepaint to simulate a large mustache and large eyebrows, was the prominent wiseguy, who wasn't really worth the hype, but his wit allowed him to bluff his way through tough situations, often involving a woman played by Margaret Dumont (1882-1965), whose character loved his, but he wanted nothing to do with, until he found out how much money she had. Chico was a stereotypical Italian, with the thick accent, and a con artist, but with a talent for playing piano. Harpo, with his hobo's clothes, including a top hat and a long coat with deep pockets, was silent, communicating in pantomime and with a horn he would honk at opportune moments.
Zeppo's persona was less defined: As critic Percy Hammond put it, "One of the handicaps to the thorough enjoyment of the Marx Brothers in their merry escapades is the plight of poor Zeppo Marx. While Groucho, Harpo, and Chico are hogging the show, as the phrase has it, their brother hides in an insignificant role, peeping out now and then to listen to plaudits in which he has no share."
There had been a silent film titled Duck Soup in 1927, starring the comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, as petty criminals hiding from forest rangers. It was remade with sound in 1930, as Another Fine Mess. (This was based on the line Ollie frequently gave Stan: "This is another fine mess you've gotten us into, Stanley!")
Leo McCarey worked on the 1927 film, which was considered lost until a copy was found in 2020. McCarey directed the Marx Brothers' film, and used the same title for the follow-up to Horse Feathers.
Duck Soup takes place in the fictional European nation of Freedonia, which is small and struggling, and threatened by its warlike neighbors. It is basically kept afloat by the money of Mrs. Gloria Teasdale (played by Dumont). This wealthy widow has become convinced that the only man who can properly lead the nation is Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho).
Firefly likes the idea of having the power, but he doesn't like the idea of having the responsibility. He also doesn't like Mrs. Teasdale: "You'd better beat it. I hear they're going to tear you down and put up an office building where you're standing. You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. You know, you haven't stopped talking since I came here? You must've been vaccinated with a phonograph needle." But he finds out how rich she is, and starts courting her.
One of those warlike neighboring nations is Sylvania. Their ambassador, Trentino (Louis Calhern, 1895-1956), also wants Mrs. Teasdale for her money, and he wants control of Freedonia. He sends 2 spies into the country to get dirt on Firefly: Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo). As part of his cover, Chicolini sells peanuts outside Firefly's window. Firefly takes a liking to him, and appoints him Secretary of War.
Bob Roland (Zeppo), Firefly's secretary, suspects Trentino's treachery, and tells Firefly to get rid of him by insulting him. The idea is that Trentino will be goaded into slapping Firefly, and will thus be forced to leave the country. The plan backfires: Firefly slaps Trentino instead. Leading to the Groucho line, "Of course, you realize, this means war!"
(Mel Blanc would base the cartoon character Bugs Bunny on Groucho, with a New York accent, and a carrot in place of the cigar. On a few occasions, Blanc as Bugs reacted to an insulting situation by saying, "Dis means war!")
Thanks to vampish spy Vera Marcal (Raquel Torres, 1908-1987), Trentino learns that Freedonia's war plans are in Mrs. Teasdale's safe, and Chicolini and Pinky break into her mansion to steal the plans. This leads to the famous "mirror scene" between Groucho and Chico (which Harpo and Lucille Ball would, over 20 years later, parody on I Love Lucy), which leads to Chicolini getting caught. During his trial, war is officially declared, and Freedonia... breaks out into song and dance.
But Chicolini knows too much about Trentino, and offers his services to Freedonia in exchange for clemency. Pinky joins, too, and all four brothers' characters fight together. Just as it looks like Freedonia will lose the one-battle war, Trentino gets caught in a makeshift pillory. The brothers throw fruit at him until he surrenders, and Freedonia have won the war. The film ends with Mrs. Teasdale happily singing the Freedonian national anthem. And the brothers throw their remaining fruit at her.
Duck Soup would be Zeppo's last film. He left the act, and became an engineer and a theatrical agent. He married Barbara Blakeley, who later divorced him, and became the 4th and final Mrs. Frank Sinatra.
The three remaining brothers are how people tend to remember the Marx Brothers: Groucho, Harpo and Chico. They made A Night at the Opera in 1935, A Day at the Races in 1937, Room Service in 1938, At the Circus in 1939, Go West in 1940, and The Big Store in 1941. World War II ended the era of "screwball comedies" that were popular during the Great Depression, and killed, along with 75 million people, the Marx Brothers' momentum. They made only 2 more movies together, and in 1957, all 3 appeared, but no 2 in the same scene, in The Story of Mankind.
Harpo and Chico didn't really adjust to TV, but they were able to sit on the money they made from earlier films, and the residuals they got from those films being shown on TV. They made only 1 TV appearance together, in 1957, on Tonight! America After Dark, a late-night show hosted by Jack Lescoulie. It was a version of NBC's The Tonight Show, between hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar.
From 1950 to 1961, NBC aired You Bet Your Life, a game show with Groucho as host. By this time, his familiar curly hair had receded, and he had actually grown a mustache. But he was still, essentially, playing himself, giving out insults that may, or may not, have been good-natured. Before Don Rickles and Robert Smigel's puppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Groucho was the original "insult comic." But the show introduced a new generation to Groucho, and they sought out his films with his brothers on TV.
In 1960, Billy Wilder, then the biggest comedy director in Hollywood, wanted to make A Day at the U.N., a comedy about international intrigue set at the United Nations complex in New York. Groucho and Chico were willing to do it, but Harpo was too ill to try. On October 11, 1961, when it looked like Harpo might recover enough, Chico died, the first of the brothers to go. The project was canceled. Harpo died on September 28, 1964.
On October 1, 1962, Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for the 1st time, and Groucho was one of his guests that night. He came on a few more times, and was also an occasional guest on The Dick Cavett Show.
In the 1970s, Groucho impersonations became common. Richard Dawson did them as a member of the cast of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and then as a panelist on Match Game, even after Groucho died during that show's run. On M*A*S*H, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) did Groucho impressions a few times, and once did a full-makeup parody, with Trapper (Wayne Rogers), already having blonde curly hair, playing Harpo. And on All in the Family, the Stivics went to a costume party as Groucho (Rob Reiner as Mike) and Harpo (the curly blonde Sally Struthers as Gloria).
Gummo died on April 21, 1977. By this point, Groucho was ill, and no longer with it. He was never told that his brother had died, for fear it would shock him into a fatal heart attack. Groucho died on August 19, 1977, 3 days after Elvis Presley, so his death was barely noticed. Zeppo was the last survivor, living until November 30, 1979.
The last surviving actor from Duck Soup was Leonid Kinskey, who played one of Trentino's "agitators." He became a drinking buddy of actor Humphrey Bogart and, as a result was cast as one of the European exiles in Casablanca, as Sascha, the Russian bartender at Rick's Cafe Americain. He lived until 1998.
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November 17, 1933 was a Friday. Baseball season was over. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. No games were scheduled in the NHL. And the NFL had to wait until the following Sunday.
There were 2 college football games played on the day. The University of Tulsa beat George Washington University, 13-6 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. And Texas Tech beat Baylor, 13-0 at Tech Field in Lubbock, Texas.
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