Guide to the Harpo Marx papers
NMAH.AC.1290 NMAH Staff
Archives Center, National Museum of American History P.O. Box 37012 Suite 1100, MRC 601 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 [email protected] http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives Table of Contents
Collection Overview ...... 1 Administrative Information ...... 1 Container Listing ...... 2 Series : Sound Recordings: Original Audio Discs, 1947, 1949, 1956...... 2 Series : Working Box 1...... 6 Series : Working Box 2...... 8 Series : Working Box 3...... 11 Series : Working Box 4...... 13 Series : Working Box 5...... 14 Series : Working Box 6...... 15 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Collection Overview
Repository: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Title: Harpo Marx Papers
Identifier: NMAH.AC.1290
Date: circa 1900-1964
Extent: 7 Cubic feet
Creator: Marx, Harpo, 1888-1964
Language: English .
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information Collection donated by William Woolcott Marx of Rancho Mirage, California in 2012.
Processing Information Collection is unprocessed.
Preferred Citation Harpo Marx Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Page 1 of 15 Sound Recordings: Original Audio Discs Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Container Listing
Sound Recordings: Original Audio Discs, 1947, 1949, 1956 English.
West View Hospital (Parts 1 & 3), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 2 & 4), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 5 & 7), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 6 & 8), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 9 & 11), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 10 & 12), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 13 & 15), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 14 & 16), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 17 & 19), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 18 & 20), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 21 & 23), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 22 & 24), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 25 & 27), 1947 June 2
West View Hsopital (Parts 26 & 28), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 29 & 31), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 30 & 32), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 33 & 35), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 34 & 36), 1947 June 2
West View Hospital (Parts 37 & 39), 1947 June 2
Page 2 of 15 Sound Recordings: Original Audio Discs Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
West View Hospital (Parts 38 & 40), 1947 June 2
The Jack Benny Program (Parts 1 & 4), 1949 January 16
The Jack Benny Program (Parts 3 & 6), 1949 January 16
The Eternal Light (Parts 2 & 4), 1956 December 27
The Eternal Light (Parts 1 & 3), 1956 December 27 (dub), 1953 December 6
[Artists Alliance, Production 20,000] (TBI-3), date unknown Probably from Love Happy
[Artists Alliance: Hearts and ?], date unknown Probably from Love Happy
[Artists Alliance: Production 2,000] (PB20-2], date unknown Probably from Love Happy
[Marx Bros. #20,000] (Harp), date unkown Probably from Love Happy
[Marx Bros. #20,000] (Harp), date unknown Probably from Love Happy
[#2 1st Show], 1945 August 30
[#3 1st Show], 1945 August 30
[#4 2nd Show], 1945 August 30
[#4A Film Sound Track Love HappyDance Prod.], date unknown
[Prod. 1187/Scene 2409-Cued/ Harpo's Bazaar], 1941 April 19
[Prod. 1120/Scene 2407/ Harpo's Solo]
["Mamie" New Demonstration] (Picture Mamie Stover), date unknown
[Winston Churchill Imitation from Hollywood Calling], 1950 January 8
[Harpo Marx] (Mercury Records), date unknown
Page 3 of 15 Sound Recordings: Original Audio Discs Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Song Titles: "All the Things You Are" "Harpo Boogie Woogie" "I Got Rhythm" "Solitude"
"Swanee River" by Harpo Marx, date unknown
[Harpo Marx Sound Effects], date unknown
[Harpo], date unknown
[Carnival: King and Country Call; Carnival: Romantic Love Dream], date unknown
[Tea for Two: Harp by Harpo], dtae unknown
"Autumn Leaves" "My Funny Valentine", date unknown
[Harpo Harp Solo], date unknown
"Thinking of You" "That's All", date unknown
"Tenderly" "Can't Help Lovin' dat man", date unknown
"Lullaby Doll" "They Say It's Wonderful", date unknown
"Honeysuckle Rose" "Ash Grove", date unknown
"Yesterdays" "Guardian Angels", date unknown
Harpo Marx and Harp with the Riverside Symphony, date unknown
Harpo in Hi-Fi, 1957
[Unidentified]
[Unidentified]
[Unidentified]
[3A; 3B]
[A Portrait of Groucho Marx; A Portrait of Harpo Marx]?
[Unidentified]
Page 4 of 15 Sound Recordings: Original Audio Discs Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
[957], 1937 February 11
[Undientified]
[Unidentified]
[Unidentified]
"Anything You Can Do I can Do Better", date unknown Melinda and Groucho
[Harpo Harp Solo], date unkown
[Unidentified]
Harpo at Work "Sweet Sue" /"My Blue Heaven"
Harpo at Work "Sweet Sue" /"My Blue Heaven"
Harpo at Work "Sweet Sue" /"My Blue Heaven"
Harpo at Work "Sweet Sue" /"My Blue Heaven"
Harpo at Work " Imagination" / "Taking a Chance on Love"
Harpo at Work " I Got Rythm [sic]" / "In mY Solitude"
Harpo at Work "Harpo Boogie"/"All the Things"
Harpo at Work "Laura"
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Page 5 of 15 Working Box 1 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Working Box 1
Box 1, Folder 1 "Harpo Marx eulogies", also contains clippings about his death
Box 1, Folder 2 "Great clippings -- Harpo"
Box 1, Folder 3 Untitled, but contains photocopies of articles and of photos
Box 1, Folder 4 Program from Academy of Music, Philadelphia, 105th Anniversary Concert and Ball, 1962
Box 1, Folder 5 Program, International Championship Rodeo, Chicago, October 11-21, 1951, 1951
Box 1, Folder 6 Program, Riverside Symphony Orchestra, undated
Box 1, Folder 7 Program, London Palladium, Val Parnell Presents Harpo and Chico Marx, undated
Box 1, Folder 8 The North Shore Players, The Yellow Jacket, 1941
Box 1, Folder 9 Bucks County Playhouse, The Man Who Came to Dinner, 1941
Box 1 Scrapbook containing original photographs and clippings, Vaudeville era
Box 1 Plastic envelope containing photographs (not originals) and clippings relating to the Marx Brothers
Box 1 Diary of Billy Marx from a European trip, 1949
Box 1 Harpo telegrams (photocopies)
Box 1 Harpo FBI (contains dossier on Harpo Marx), 1940s
Box 1 "Woollcott copies", photocopies of Alexander Woollcott's letters to Harpo Marx , 1930s-1940s
Box 1 "Truman-Harriman-[John] Tunney-Warren -- copies" (photocopied letters)
Box 1 Alexander Woollcott letters to Harpo Marx, photocopies, 1930s-1940s
Box 1 Original letters to Harpo Marx from Alexander Woollcott, 1930s-1940s, 1930s-1940s
Page 6 of 15 Working Box 1 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Box 1 Clippings; Photocopy of a contract for The Colgate Comedy Hour, 1954;
Box 1 Envelope marked "Max Gordon", containing three letters from Harpo Marx to Max Gordon and one from Bernard Baruch to Gordon;
Box 1 Letter from Harpo Marx to family from Owensboro, Kentucky, 1958;
Box 1 Letter from Harpo Marx to family from Miami, date unclear;
Box 1 Originals of letters from Truman, Harriman, et al, referenced above, 1950s;
Box 1 Copy of book Harpo Speaks
Box 1 Copy of book Son of Harpo Speaks by Bill Marx
Box 1 Audio book, Son of Harpo Speaks by Bill Marx
Box 2 Audio book, Son of Harpo Speaks by Bill Marx
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Page 7 of 15 Working Box 2 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Working Box 2
Box 2 "Mexican Hat Dance" (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Mexican Hat Dance", parts, manuscripts, Chico Marx
Box 2 "Theme" (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Gypsy Love Song", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 Mss. for "Bali Bali" and "Woodpecker Song", Chico Marx
Box 2 "Woodpecker", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Who's Sorry Now?" (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Ain't Necessarily So", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Captain Spalding", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "I Came to Scotland", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Bali Bali", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Beer Barrel Polka", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Woodpecker Song", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 "Mexican Hat Dance", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Box 2 Sheet music, "I'm in Love with Vienna" and "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"
Box 2 "Saints Sequence", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Harpo Marx
Box 2 "Bubbles", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 "Tiger Rag", (mss. for parts for various instruments);
Box 2 "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" (mss. for parts for various instruments);
Page 8 of 15 Working Box 2 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Box 2 "Saints Sequence", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 Sheet music for "Tomorrow is Another Day'
Box 2 "Guardian Angels", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Harpo Marx
Box 2 "Tea for Two", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Harpo Marx
Box 2 "Swanee River", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Harpo Marx
Box 2 "Stardust", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Harpo Marx
Box 2 "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Harpo Marx
Box 2 "Tales from the Vienna Woods", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Harpo Marx
Box 2 Marked "Turkey in the Straw" but also containing manuscripts for parts for "Bubbles", "Captain Spalding', "12th Street Rag", and some assorted sheet music for Bach and Beethoven compositions
Box 2 (incomplete) manuscript pages from various songs
Box 2 "Purgatory", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 "My Tune for Susan", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 Unidentified piece of music, (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 "Hungarian Rhapsody", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 "Impromptu Caprice", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 "All the Things You Are", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Bill Marx
Box 2 "Harpo Woogie", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Bill Marx
Box 2 "Bourree", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 Sheet music, "Guardian Angels"
Box 2 "Captain Spalding", (mss. for parts for various instruments), Chico Marx
Page 9 of 15 Working Box 2 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Box 2 "If I Had You", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 Sheet music by Haydn, Beethoven
Box 2 "Valentine", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 "Blowing Bubbles", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 "Orleans", (mss. for parts for various instruments)
Box 2 Three pieces of sheet music, "Lullaby Doll"
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Page 10 of 15 Working Box 3 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Working Box 3
Box 3 "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", Harpo Marx, undated
Box 3 Folded up poster for "The Yellow Jacket"
Box 3 Sheet music book, "Kathryn Godfrey's Songbook", inscribed by Harpo Marx to Bill Marx
Box 3 Clippings, recent, about the Marx Brothers
Box 3 Script, unidentified
Box 3 Inv. Pac. Uran. (Papers relating to stocks)
Box 3 Investment Gum. Marx Assoc.
Box 3 Empty folder with tooled lettering, "Chico Marx"
Box 3 Script, unidentified
Box 3 Script for "Pepe the Paesano"
Box 3 London Times article, mimeographed
Box 3 Script for "The Little Matchmaker"
Box 3 Script for "The Best Laid Plans"
Box 3 Script for "Beggars Can Ride"
Box 3 Loose bits of script, incomplete
Box 3 Sheet music, parts for "Tiger Rag"
Box 3 Marked "Oil", relates to Susan Marx' investments
Box 3 Marked "Contracts, 1947" relates to membership in ASCAP. This folder also contains several unrelated letters, including one from James Michener and two from the Prime Minister of Israel.
Box 3 Marked "Harpo, Guest appearances" but letters inside relate to Harpo Marx borrowing prints of Marx Brothers movies , 1950s
Page 11 of 15 Working Box 3 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Box 3 "Inv. Trusco Oil"
Box 3 Unmarked, relates to appearances on TV, in nightclubs, etc., 1950s-1960s
Box 3 "Investments, Texas Oil (McCarthy)"
Box 3 "Von Philp" contains papers on oil investments
Box 3 "Life Insurance"
Box 3 "Investments - Miscellaneous"
Box 3 Untitled, relates to Harpo Marx' income from appearances and investments, 1950s-1960s
Box 3 "LA Models File", posthumous papers relating to investments, royalties, estate, etc.
Box 3 Untitled, relates to Harpo Marx' shares in Desert Savings and Loan Association, 1964
Box 3 Ad for Smirnoff Vodka featuring Harpo Marx
Box 3 Certificate of appreciation to Harpo Marx from U.S. Treasury Department, for "patriotic services", 1945
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Page 12 of 15 Working Box 4 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Working Box 4 Box 4
Box 4, Folder 1 Contents of album entitled "Family photos"
Box 4, Folder 2 Contents of album entitled "Susan, Chico, Mixed, Plays"
Box 4, Folder 3 Contents of album entitled "Movie and TV Stills"
Box 4, Folder 4 Contents of album entitled "Harpo with Famous People" and "Harpo Solo Shots" Image(s)
Box 4 Album, "Family Photos"
Box 4 Album, "Susan" Chico" "Misc." "Plays"
Box 4 Album, "Movie & TV Stills"
Box 4 "Photos with Famous People", "Harpo Solo Photos"
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Page 13 of 15 Working Box 5 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Working Box 5
Box 5, Folder 1 Chord charts for numerous songs, also included is a 45 r.p.m. record, "Harpo by Harpo"
Box 5, Folder 2 Sheet music: Guardian Angels" with Harpo Marx on the cover
Box 5, Folder 3 Manuscript with parts for various instruments for "Harpo Woogie", "I Got Rhythm", arranged by Bill Marx
Box 5, Folder 4 "Harpo Marx, 2nd alto sax", contains manuscripts for parts for various instruments for "Saints Sequence", "Turkey in the Straw", "Moonlight Cocktail", "Traviata"
Box 5, Folder 5 "Harpo Marx, 2nd trumpet", contains manuscript for "Saints Sequence"
Box 5, Folder 6 "Harpo marx - drums", contains manuscripts for parts for "Guardian Angels", "Tenement Symphony","Tiger Rag", "Bubbles", "Bali Bali", "Turkey in the Straw"
Box 5, Folder 7 "Harpo Marx - Tenor Sax", contains manuscripts for parts for "Saints Sequence"
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Page 14 of 15 Working Box 6 Harpo Marx Papers NMAH.AC.1290
Working Box 6
Box 6, Folder 1 Life Magazine, contains an ad for Smirnoff Vodka featuring Harpo Marx, September 15, 1961
Box 6, Folder 2 McCall's Magazine article about Harpo Marx, May, 1961
Box 6, Folder 3 Life Magazine with Harpo Marx on the cover, September 6, 1931
Box 6, Folder 4 Show Magazine, with Harpo Marx on the cover, November 1961
Box 6, Folder 5 Three large photographs
Box 6, Item 6 Large photograph
Box 6, Item 7 Seven small portfolios with tooled inscription "Chico Marx", empty
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Page 15 of 15