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The Marx Brothers

The Marx Brothers - Siblings of Helen Kane

History - The Real Life Characters

The Marx Brothers

The mother of the Marx Brothers came from Germany. She was born in Dornum on Nov 9, 1864. Her name was Miene Schönberg. Her brother Abraham Elieser Adolf was born on May 14, 1868, and he later became known as the comedian, Al Sheen.

In 1880, the family came to the United States. Grandfather Levy, was an umbrella maker who had worked as a ventriloquist and Grandmother Fanny played the harp - so the Brothers were not the first family members on a stage. With them came some of their eight surviving children.

Simon's and Minnie's first child, Manfred, born in 1885, died in infancy before the age of three. Most likely the cause of his death was tuberculosis, but some sources say that he died in an accident. The other children were born in 1887, Chico, 1888, Harpo, 1890, Groucho, 1892, Gummo and 1901, Zeppo.

Minnie helped her brother, Al Sheen, get into showbusiness and decided early that her children should follow him.

Chico played the piano in pubs, Groucho sang as a boy soprano. The Brothers appeared as The Four Nightingales and The Six Mascots.

Photograph of four Marx Brothers

Photograph of four Marx Brothers

The first performance in the Marx Brothers style as we know it was Fun in Hi Skule in 1912. Other shows were Mr Green's Reception, Home Again, On the Mezzanine Floor and I'll Say She Is which became their first big success in 1924.

After Home Again Gummo left show business and became an Agent. He was replaced by Zeppo.

Photograph of three The Marx Brothers with large scissors

What followed was The Cocoanuts, a Broadway show which became their first film. This show as well as Animal Crackers was originally written for the stage and what we see today are more or less filmed versions of the stage productions.

These stage performances gave them the possibilities to test the script before an audience and so they perfected the puns and timing. They went back on stage for test performances when filming A Night At The Opera.

Classic Night At The Opera

Classic! Night At The Opera. The Marx Brothers comically on board ship.	Photograph of The Marx Brothers in Night At The Opera

From 1929 on they were mainly active in filming. In their first films they appeared as The Four Marx Brothers (Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Zeppo), but Zeppo left the movie business after Duck Soup.

From 1929 to 1949, they made 13 films. After that Chico and Harpo more or less retired, but Groucho started a second career as a show master in the quiz show, You Bet Your Life.