Editing Harpo Marx (section)

== Early life ==
Harpo was born on November 23, 1888, in [[Manhattan]], New York City.<ref name="BritannicaBio">{{cite web |title=Marx Brothers |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Marx-Brothers |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="HarpoPassport">{{cite web |title=The Marx Brothers: Passports |url=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GF_X5q0eY90/SgDsUUEvlhI/AAAAAAAAA8g/pFcpgSUggSM/s1600/image.x.jpeg |website=THE MARX BROTHERS A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THE GREATEST COMEDY TEAM OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY |access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref> He grew up in a neighborhood now known as [[Carnegie Hill]] (known at the time as Yorkville)<ref name="NYTimes2">{{cite news |title=Harpo Marx, the Silent Comedian, Is Dead at 70; Blond-Wigged, Horn-Tooting Star Scored on Stage and in Films With Brothers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/09/29/archives/harpo-marx-the-silent-comedian-is-dead-at-70-blondwigged.html |access-date=25 November 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=29 September 1964}}</ref> on the [[Upper East Side]] of Manhattan, on [[93rd Street (Manhattan)|East 93rd Street]] off [[Lexington Avenue]].<ref name="NYTimesChildhoodHome">{{cite news |last1=Mooney |first1=Jake |title=Trying to Save a Link to a Legend and an Era |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/nyregion/thecity/22marx.html |access-date=1 December 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=22 July 2008}}</ref> The turn-of-the-century tenement that Harpo later called "the first real home I can remember"<ref name="speaks" /> was situated in a neighborhood populated with European immigrants,<ref name="OttBiography">{{cite web |last1=Ott |first1=Tim |title=The Marx Brothers: Inside the Comedians' Early Life and Travels |url=https://www.biography.com/news/marx-brothers-beginnings |website=Biography |date=June 12, 2020 |publisher=A&E Television Networks LLC. |access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref> mostly artisans. The neighborhood hosted many historic homes and other buildings,<ref name="NYTimes93Street">{{cite news |last1=Gray |first1=Christopher |title=Streetscapes/East 93rd Street; From Lex to Third, With Groucho, Chico and Harpo |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/realestate/streetscapes-east-93rd-street-from-lex-to-third-with-groucho-chico-and-harpo.html |access-date=1 January 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=11 January 2004}}</ref> such as the [[Spence School|William Goadby Loew House]] (now the Spence School),<ref name="Spence">{{cite web |title=The Spence School - A Private K-12 All-Girls' School in Manhattan |url=https://www.spenceschool.org/ |website=The Spence School |access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref> the [[Congregation Shaare Zedek (Manhattan)|Congregation Shaare Zedek]],<ref name="ShaareZedek">{{cite web |title=Congregation Shaare Zedek |url=http://www.sznyc.org |website=Congregation Shaare Zedek |access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref> and the [[Mrs. Graham Fair Vanderbilt House|Virginia Graham Fair Vanderbilt house]].<ref name="VanderbiltHouse">{{cite web |title=Mrs. Graham Fair Vanderbilt House |url=http://nyc-landmarks.com/mrs_graham_fair_vanderbilt_house.html |website=NYC Landmarks |publisher=New York Social Diary |access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref>

His parents were [[Sam Marx]]<ref name="Louvish">{{cite book |last1=Louvish |first1=Simon |title=Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers : Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo, with Added Gummo |date=8 June 2000 |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=0312252927 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0hqCQgAACAAJ |access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref> (known by his nickname "Frenchie"/"Frenchy") and his wife, [[Minnie Marx|Minnie Schoenberg Marx]],<ref name="WSJMinnie">{{cite news |last1=Mordden |first1=Ethan |title=The Stage Mom Behind the Marx Brothers |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-stage-mom-behind-the-marx-brothers-1476474428 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=October 14, 2016 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> sister of comedian and vaudeville performer [[Al Shean]]. Marx's family was Jewish. His mother was from [[East Frisia]], Germany,<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |last1=Sansom |first1=Ian |title=Great dynasties of the world: The Marx Brothers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/04/great-dynasties-marx-brothers |access-date=1 December 2020 |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |date=4 July 2011}}</ref> and his father, a tailor,<ref name="MinnieNYTObit">{{cite news| title=Mrs. Minnie Marx. Mother of Four Marx Brothers, Musical Comedy Stars, Dies| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/09/16/95997162.html?pageNumber=21| date=September 16, 1929| page=21| access-date=2016-08-09| url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="AMGEveningGroucho">{{AllMusic | class= album | id= mw0000206727 | title= Review of ''An Evening with Groucho'' | first= Bruce | last= Eder| access-date= 1 January 2021}}</ref> was from [[Alsace]], which was part of the [[Second French Empire]] at the time the elder Marx was born and for most of his childhood.<ref name="SamMarxMarriageLicense">{{cite web |last1=Kogan |first1=Pierre |title=La famille paternelle des Marx Brothers |url=http://judaisme.sdv.fr/perso/marxbr/pict/releve.gif |website=Judaisme.sdv.fr|language=fr|trans-title=The Paternal Family of the Marx Brothers |publisher=ASIJA |access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref>
[[File:Harpo Marx playing the harp.jpeg|thumb|left|Harpo playing harp in early 1920s]]
Harpo received little formal education and dropped out of New York Public School 86 at age eight (mainly due to bullying)<ref name="speaks"/> during his second attempt to pass the second grade. He began to work, gaining employment in numerous odd jobs alongside his older brother [[Chico Marx|Chico]] to contribute to the family income, including selling newspapers, working in a butcher shop, and as an office errand boy.<ref>Marx 1961, pp. 17–19</ref>