FREE THE MARX BROTHERS ENCYCLOPEDIA PDF Glenn Mitchell | 304 pages | 20 Jan 2012 | Titan Books Ltd | 9780857687784 | English | London, United Kingdom Marx Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York Citythat enjoyed success in VaudevilleBroadwayand motion pictures from the early s to around The core of the act was the three elder brothers, Chico The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia, Harpo and Groucho ; each developed a highly distinctive stage persona. The two younger brothers, Gummo and Zeppodid not develop their stage characters to the same extent, and The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia left the act to pursue other careers. Gummo was not in any of the movies; Zeppo appeared only in the first five. A sixth brother, Manfred "Mannie"was actually the first child of Samuel and Minnie, born in[ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ] though an online family tree states that he was born in "Family lore told privately of the firstborn son, Manny, born in but surviving for only three The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia, and carried off by tuberculosis. Even some members of the Marx family wondered if he was pure myth. But Manfred can be verified. A death certificate of the Borough of Manhattan reveals that he died, aged seven months, on 17 Julyof 'entero-colitis,' with 'asthenia' contributing, i. Sadye Markswho married comedian Jack Benny. The brothers were from a family of artists, and their musical talent was encouraged from an early age. Harpo was The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia talented, learning to play an estimated six different instruments throughout his career. He became a dedicated harpist, which gave him his nickname. Groucho's debut was inmainly as a singer. The next year, Harpo became the fourth Nightingale and bythe group was expanded to include their mother Minnie and their Aunt Hannah. The troupe was renamed "The Six Mascots". One evening ina performance at the Opera House in Nacogdoches, Texas was interrupted by shouts from outside about a runaway mule. The audience hurried The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia to see what was happening. When they returned, Groucho, angered by the interruption, made snide comments about the audience, including "Nacogdoches is full of roaches" and "The jackass is the flower of Tex-ass". Instead of becoming angry, the audience laughed. The family then realized they had potential as a comic troupe. The act slowly evolved from singing with comedy to comedy with music. The last version of the school act, titled Home Againwas written by their uncle, Al Sheanof the famous vaudeville act Gallagher and Shean. At about this time, Gummo left to serve in World War Ireasoning that "anything is better than being an actor! During World War I, anti-German sentiments were common, and the family tried to conceal their German origin. By this time, "The Four Marx Brothers" had begun to incorporate their unique style of comedy into their act and to develop their characters. Both Groucho and Harpo's memoirs say their now famous on-stage personae were created by Al Shean. Groucho began to wear his trademark greasepaint moustache and to use a stooped walk. Harpo stopped speaking onstage and began to wear a red fright wig and carry a taxi-cab horn. Chico spoke with a fake Italian accent, developed off-stage to deal with neighborhood toughs, while Zeppo adopted the role of the romantic and "peerlessly cheesy", according to James The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia [ 19 ] straight man. The on-stage personalities of Groucho, Chico and Harpo were said to have been based on their actual traits. Zeppo, on the other hand, was considered the funniest brother offstage, despite his The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia stage roles. As the youngest, and having grown The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia watching his brothers, he could fill in for and imitate any of the others when illness kept them from The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia. Zeppo did impersonate Groucho in the film version of Animal Crackers. Groucho was unavailable to film the scene in which the Beaugard painting is stolen, so the script was contrived to include a power failure which allowed Zeppo to play the Spaulding part in near-darkness. By the s, the Marx Brothers had become one of America's favorite theatrical acts. With their sharp and bizarre sense of humor, they satirized high society and human hypocrisy. They also became famous for their improvisational comedy in free-form scenarios. A famous early instance was when Harpo arranged to chase a fleeing chorus girl across the stage during The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia middle of a Groucho monologue to see if Groucho would be thrown off. However, to the audience's delight, Groucho merely reacted by calmly checking his watch and commenting, "First time I ever saw a taxi hail a passenger". When Harpo chased the girl back the other direction, Groucho ad-libbed, "The 's right on time. You can set your watch by the Lehigh Valley. Under Chico's management, and with Groucho's creative direction, the brothers' vaudeville act had led to them becoming stars on Broadway, first with a musical revue, I'll Say She Is — and then with two musical comedies, The Cocoanuts — and Animal Crackers — Playwright George S. Kaufman worked on the last two and helped sharpen the Brothers' characterizations. Out of their distinctive costumes the brothers looked alike, even down to their receding hairlines. Zeppo could pass for a younger Groucho, and played The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia role of his son in Horse Feathers. A scene in Duck Soup finds Groucho, Harpo and Chico all appearing in the famous greasepaint eyebrows, mustache and round glasses, while wearing nightcaps. The three are indistinguishable, enabling them to carry off the "mirror scene" perfectly. The stage names for four of the five brothers were coined by monologist Art Fisher [ 19 ] during a poker game in Galesburg, Illinoisbased both on the brothers' personalities and Gus Mager 's Sherlocko the Monka popular comic strip of the day which included a supporting character named " Groucho the Monk ". The reasons behind Chico's and Harpo's stage names are undisputed, and Gummo's is fairly well established. Groucho's and Zeppo's are far less clear. Arthur was named Harpo The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia he played the harpand Leonard became Chico pronounced "Chick-o" because he was, in the slang of the period, a "chicken chaser". In his autobiography, Harpo explains that Milton became Gummo because he crept about the theater like a gumshoe detective. Groucho stated that the source of the name was Gummo wearing galoshes. Either way, the name relates to rubber-soled shoes. I kept my The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia in a 'grouch bag. Naturally, you're going to think that's where I got my name from. But that's not so. Grouch bags were worn on manly chests long before there was a Groucho. Herbert was not nicknamed by Art Fisher, since he did not join the act until Gummo had departed. As with Groucho, three explanations exist for Herbert's name, "Zeppo":. Maxine Marx reported in The Unknown Marx Brothers that the brothers listed their real names Julius, Leonard, Adolph, Milton and Herbert on playbills and in programs, and only used the nicknames behind The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia scenes, until Alexander Woollcott overheard them calling The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia another by the nicknames; he asked them why they used their own ordinary real names publicly when they had such wonderful nicknames. They replied, "That wouldn't be dignified. Since Woollcott did not meet the Marx Brothers until the premiere of I'll Say The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia Iswhich was their first Broadway show, this would mean they used their real names throughout their vaudeville days, and that the name "Gummo" never appeared in print during his time in the act. Other sources report that the Marx Brothers did go by their nicknames during their vaudeville era, but briefly listed themselves by their given names when I'll Say She Is opened because they The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia worried that a Broadway audience would reject The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia vaudeville act if they were perceived as low class. The Marx Brothers' stage shows became popular just as Hollywood was changing to " talkies ". They signed a contract with Paramount and embarked on their film career. Their first two released films they had previously made — but not released — one short silent film titled Humor Risk were adaptations of Broadway shows: The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers Both were written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. Following these two feature-length films, they made a short film that was included in Paramount's twentieth anniversary documentary, The House That Shadows Builtin which they adapted a scene from I'll Say She Is. The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia third feature-length film, Monkey Businesswas their first that was not based on a stage production, and the only movie in which Harpo's voice is heard he sings tenor from inside a barrel in the opening scene. Horse Feathersin which the brothers satirized the American college system and Prohibitionwas their most popular film yet, and won them the cover of Time. It included a running gag from their stage work, where Harpo revealed having nearly everything in his coat. At various points in Horse Feathers Harpo pulls out of his coat: a wooden mallet, a fish, a coiled rope, a tie, a poster of a woman in her underwear, a cup of hot coffee, a sword; and, just after Groucho warns The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia that he "can't burn the candle at both ends," a candle burning at both ends. In another famous sketch, shown in Animal CrackersHarpo drops a full banquet's worth of pilfered silverware out of his sleeve, followed by a coffeepot.