Tragic Details About The Marx Brothers

the lives of the marx brothers weren't all just chuckles and pratfalls from their hard-scrabble upbringing to their legendary legal troubles they faced more than their share of heartache this is their tragic true life story the marx brothers were famously a group of five but there was actually a sixth marx brother manfred marx nicknamed manny was the firstborn son of sam and minnie marx but he lived for only seven months passing away on july 18 1886 complications that probably arose from influenza are cited as his cause of death he's buried beside his maternal grandmother in new york's washington cemetery manfred's death had a profound effect on sam and many that translated into them lavishing love and attention onto their eldest surviving son leonard better known by his stage name chicco baby mamford's sickness also instilled a heightened sense of parental vigilance in the marxist groucho marx once recalled his mother saying sam can cough all night and i never hear him but if one of my boys coughs just once i'm wide awake in memory of their lost child sam and minnie bestowed their youngest son herbert better known as zeppo with the middle name manfred young groucho born julius henry marks on october 2nd 1890 was an outsider in his own family a middle child he yearned for the approval of his parents but found himself overshadowed by his older brothers unlike his siblings he loved school and threw himself into his studies although he faded into the background at home he could shine in school the praise of his teachers standing in for the parental affection he craved books were his comfort and he dreamed one day of becoming a doctor sadly groucho's academic ambitions were crushed by his family's dire financial circumstances at only 12 years old he left school at the behest of his mother to help support his family if i'd have gone to college i'd have been a writer much faster in my life and probably a much better one because i wasn't sure of grammar or english or anything else groucho was put to work in a wig factory though his stint in the workforce was mercifully short at 15 he joined the leroy trio a traveling musical act and he would go on to sing with other acts as well ironically the formerly unassuming groucho would eventually find his greatest success with his brothers gummo and harpo as a member of the four nightingales during a particularly disastrous gig in nacogdoches texas in which the group was upstaged by a runaway mule he used his acerbic wit to put down an unreceptive audience when equipped nakadochis is full of roaches to everyone's surprise the sparse crowd roared with laughter and a comedy legend was on his way harpo the marx brothers silent master of physical comedy was born adolf marx on november 23 1888. one of a handful of jewish kids growing up in a largely irish and italian neighborhood he often found himself the target of persecution abuse from both bullies and a discouraging teacher who considered him slow led to his permanent exit from school at age 8. in his autobiography harpo speaks he wrote my formal schooling ended halfway through my second crack at the second grade at which time i left school in the most direct way possible i was thrown out the window there were two causes of this one was the big irish kid in my class and the other was a bigger irish kid physical ejections from the classroom at the hands of his tormentors became commonplace over the course of his abbreviated tour of second grade as harpo recalled i was the perfect batsy i was small for my age i had a high squeaky voice and i was the only jewish boy in the room although harpo may have suffered minimal physical damage from his bullies his emotional anguish inflicted by his teacher left more lasting scars chico marx born leonard joseph marks on march 22 1887 had a lifelong penchant for gambling which would cost him dearly over the course of his career this addiction reportedly began when he was just 9 years old his father a tailor discovered early on that he couldn't trust his eldest son with deliveries as chico pawned the garments and blew the cash in local pool halls and bars he even hawked his father's sheers to pay off a gambling debt the marx brothers success allowed chico to indulge his habit at higher stakes his daughter maxine recalled the extent of her father's debts in a 2000 interview with the los angeles times as she put it when somebody asked chico how much money he lost betting he would say two million six hundred forty thousand two hundred thirty nine dollars and twenty seven cents or some figure he'd made up he would always include the sense look at chicolini he sits there alone an abject figure i object toward the end of their careers the marx brothers made some of their less memorable films so as to get chico out of trouble groucho's daughter miriam explained how a desperate chicko would beg his brothers for assistance as he would shout they are going to kill me they are going to kill me and then as miriam put it they made some lousy movie to save his life the youngest of the marx brothers herbert manfred zeppo appeared in the comedy team's first five films cast as the straight man he never really had the opportunity to develop as a comedian his long simmering frustration led to his departure from the marx brothers after their final film for paramount he reportedly broke the news about his intentions to groucho in a letter in which he wrote i have only stayed in the act until now because i knew that you chico and harpo wanted me to but i'm sure you understand why and that you forgive my action wish me luck love zeppo zeppo then became a successful talent agent first on his own and then as part of marx miller and mark's with his brother gummo and their partner alan miller disillusioned with show business the mechanically inclined zeppo left the entertainment industry in the 40s to start an industrial engineering firm that specialized in the manufacture of aircraft parts despite his professional success his personal life was turbulent his second wife actress and former show girl barbara blakely left him in 1973 for frank sinatra and in 1978 zeppo was ordered by a court to pay a former girlfriend twenty thousand six hundred ninety dollars for physically assaulting her during an argument on top of all that legal woes surrounding groucho's estate would haunt zeppo until his death from lung cancer in 1979. although critics and fans tend to agree the marx brothers were at their unhinged best during their tenure at paramount pictures their time at the studio was marred by financial disputes creative accounting on the part of paramount reportedly robbed the marx brothers of prophets following the successes of 1929's the coconuts and 1930s animal crackers the brothers negotiated the deal that should have garnered them 50 percent of the net profits for the next two films 1931's monkey business and 1932's horse feathers although both the films were box office hits the studio cooked the books to avoid paying the brothers their fair share the two sides fought the matter in court for decades finally 1962 the marx brothers were awarded a 36 thousand dollar settlement after 1933's duck soup the marx brothers parted ways with paramount and mgm head irving thalberg then snatched them up with a personal contract the brothers successfully negotiated for 15 percent of the gross of their next film a night at the opera which netted them the greatest financial returns of their careers however that monetary success would ultimately come at the cost of their creativity a night at the opera and its follow-up a day at the races shoehorned the brothers mayhem into formulaic plots that featured them as supporting players in their own films the marx brothers fortunes appeared to be looking up in thirty five with a lucrative contract with mgm and an ally and irving felberg they were set for their greatest success with the night at the opera mgm was in need of a comedy hit when it nabbed the marx brothers but the studio wasn't willing to give them the free reign that they'd enjoy to paramount their new studio was instead intent on fitting them into a structured plot rather than just letting them loose in front of the camera nevertheless a night at the opera was a hit for mgm and a financial windfall for the brothers however mgm's smoothing of their rough edges robbed the comic trio of their anarchic quality that was their hallmark in a way thalberg's re-engineering of the troop act was the beginning of the end for the marx brothers while their early films portrayed them as a force of anti-authoritarian chaos a night at the opera relegated them to support players mischievous but kind-hearted troublemakers in the service of mgm's stable of stars dahlberg's gambit initially worked but in the long run it robbed the marx brothers of their unpredictable essence harpo marx performed for the last time in january 1963 appearing opposite comedian alan sherman at the pasadena theater he pulled out all the stops with his classic bits then the silent comic stunned the audience with a surprise ending as his son bill recalled in the pbs documentary make him laugh the funny business of america at the very end he picks up the microphone and he launches into his bar mitzvah speech for 13 long years i have twirled and labored for your happening and does the whole thing bill continued the people are just silent as a church mouse i mean you can't hear a pin drop and he comes to the end of this and he says and in conclusion i am so honored to know that you folks have the keenness and the perspicacity for recognizing monumental genius i thank you and walked off the stage the people must have applauded for at least a good two or three minutes that's a long time if you're just counting seconds on september 28 1964 harpo died at the age of 75 after undergoing an open heart procedure braucho wept at the funeral according to his son arthur it was the only time he ever saw his father cry by the end of his life groucho marx was in extremely poor health suffering from dementia congestive heart failure hypertension and a host of other debilitating ailments he was no longer able to care for himself estranged from his children he fell into the care of his companion and manager aaron fleming 51 years as junior she was instrumental in engineering his comeback in the 70s alas the revival of groucho's career was not without its dark side many of his friends accused fleming of pushing him too hard forcing an increasingly frail marks to perform against his will for her financial gain his son arthur filed suit against fleming accusing her of having a harmful and destructive influence on his ailing father groucho's nurses testified that fleming administered overdoses of tranquilizers to him and verbally abused him groucho's daughter melinda accused fleming of attempting to alienate him from his family fleming was eventually removed as his conservator but his family's legal woes with her would continue long after his death from pneumonia in 1977. the children of groucho harpo and chico marx spent many of the years after the deaths of their famous fathers embroiled in intense litigation related to the immortal comedy true at the center of these long-standing legal battles was the issue of the licensing of the comedian's likenesses these legal quarrels were just as often between the marx children as they were with outside parties in 1981 the marx heirs successfully filed suit against the producers of a broadway play that consisted of performers simulating the style appearances and mannerisms of the marx brothers but there was still more strife to come in 2000 just as the marx estates were coming into an amicable agreement on a proposed biopic about the comedy team the estates of chico and harpo marks came to legal blows with groucho marx productions over a proposed marx brothers animated tv show the result is that as of 2020 a marx brothers biopic has never been produced check out one of our newest videos right here plus even more grunge videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon subscribe to our youtube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one

Channel: Grunge

Views: 191,454

Keywords: grunge, grunge channel, marx brothers, groucho, groucho marx, zeppo, zeppo marx, gummo, gummo marx, harpo, harpo marx, chico, chico marx, comedy group, vaudeville, broadway, duck soup, a night at the opera, a day at the races, a night in casablanca, at the circus, go west, the big store, room service, brain donors, stage door canteen, double dynamite, will success spoil rock hunter, frank sinatra, charlie chaplin, laurel and hardy, buster keaton, the three stooges

Id: m7UIHZ8Uxwk

Length: 11min 55sec (715 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 19 2020