Comments on: Groucho’s Threat Against Nixon & 9 More Marx Brothers Stories

By: Gerhard

Gerhard — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:00:26 +0000

Re: Chico’s gambling: There’s a story (I may have read it in Adamson; if not, then probably Arthur Marx’s “Life With Groucho”) that when they filmed “A Day at the Races”, Chico bet on the horse that was scripted to lose because he had better odds.

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:02:28 +0000

Apparently, Harpo’s name change wasn’t that enormous. Essentially from being called “Ahdie” to being called “Ahtie.”

His voice can be heard on several recordings, including on a film that shows him speaking at the opening of the film “The Great Ziegfeld.”

What is more rare than Harpo speaking is Chico’s speaking without his accent. I recently asked Groucho’s secretary, Steve Stoliar, if he knew of any records of Chico speaking without his accent. Steve couldn’t remember any, but I then found one of Chico speaking during a British interview.

By: richard dixon

richard dixon — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:45:25 +0000

Groucho, all the way. While my friends were yucking it up to the antics of the (ugh) Three Stooges, I was memorizing Groucho’s banter. “How he got in my pajamas I’ll never know!”

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:58:09 +0000

According to Alice Cooper, Groucho Marx was a huge fan of the band’s act, comparing it to a vaudeville show.

By: Katy

Katy — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:33:44 +0000

Harpo is my favourite too. Followed by Chico. They (respectively) inspired me to learn the harp and to go back to the piano (12 years after being put off it by dull teachers.) They made playing music seem fun again, like I thought it was supposed to be when I was a little kid. (Side note of my own: Apparently Chico was something of a genius with numbers, both Groucho and Harpo lamented in print how Chico never lived up to his full potential because of his compulsive love of gambling. Groucho did concede however that Chico, despite losing all the money he ever made and “wasting” his talent, probably had a lot more fun than them.)

By: Celeste

Celeste — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:29:24 +0000

Harpo is my favorite. He has an excellent semi-auto-biography called Harpo Speaks. Interestingly, he never attended school past, I believe, second grade. And Alexander Woolcott seems to have been one of his best friends. (Side note: my favorite I Love Lucy episode was the one featuring Harpo in the fourth season where Lucy and Harpo have an identity mix-up and do a twin mirror bit that is hilarious.)

By: David

David — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:43:47 +0000

You need to brush up on your Greek a little David. … So go find a little Greek and brush up on him!

Loved every word of this post.

By: harold

harold — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:20:04 +0000

For even more Marxiana, catch Frank Ferrante’s “Groucho: A Life in Revue”. I caught his act a year of so ago at a theater in Hoover, Alabama and it was fascinating. There’s also a website dedicated to this at http://www.grouchoworld.com

By: mommish

mommish — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:58:23 +0000

i’m smiling now, picturing j. edgar hoover pacing back and forth across his green-tiled officef floor, silk stockings bunched about his ankles and stilletto heels tap-tapping as he walked, flicking cigar ash here and there and shouting to his subordinates, “That @$*& Groucho is a
%*$& threat to our national security!! Go get ‘em!!” poor groucho – the only thing he EVER shot off was his mouth!! (nice work, david!)

By: MandC

MandC — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:01:16 +0000

If this whets your appetite for more Marxiana, check out Joe Adamson’s fine book “Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo” for more information and anecdotes. If you can find it, the documentary “The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell” is well worth watching. Produced in the 1970s, it features people who knew and worked with the Marx Brothers.

Best of all, all the Marx Brothers’ Hollywood films and lots of “You Bet Your Life” episodes are available on DVD. Try ‘em!