![]() ![]() Adolph was the worst student, but both had dropped out by their teenage years. Leo, the oldest, was the biggest criminal, venturing just about as far into crime as it is possible for a child to go: running with gangs, hanging out in pool rooms, shooting craps, getting in fights, and – worst of all – hocking family belongings to underwrite his growing gambling habit. ![]() They seem to have been indulgent, almost negligent, parents, letting the kids run wild around the neighborhood getting into whatever trouble they pleased, with mild rebukes at best as punishment. Their mother Minnie was also a crackpot-the kind of a woman who would show for a weekly card game wearing a wig, then take it off when her head got too hot. “Frenchie”) was a famously bad tailor who lost every customer he ever had. Both of their parents seem to have been creative types as well. The act evolved over 15 long years in vaudeville, through trial and error, almost like a scientific experiment - R & D. ![]() Fields called them “the one act I could never follow”.Īs astoundingly talented as they were and as natural as they were together, the most perfect act in show business didn’t just happen overnight. They were as good therefore as four acts in one, combining the appeal of Charlie Chaplin, Weber & Fields, Milton Berle and, well, Zeppo, all in one act. They had a first rate pantomimist ( Harpo), a top-notch dialect comedian ( Chico), a “talker” ( Groucho) and a romantic light comedian (successively Gummo and Zeppo). Whether consciously or unconsciously, over the years they managed to cook up an act that encompassed all the comedy genres currently in vogue. In reality, they pretty much scored a hit with everybody regardless of brow height. Alexander Woolcott, Salvador Dali, and James Agee numbered among their enthusiasts. With the possible exceptions of Ed Wynn and Fred Allen, no vaudeville comedy act ever attracted more highbrow approval than the Marx Brothers. ![]()
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