Editing Marx Brothers (section)

==Stage beginnings==
[[File:Al Shean Sam J Curtis Arthur F Williams Ed C Mack.jpg|thumb|Al Shean, Sam J. Curtis, Arthur F. Williams, Ed C. Mack{{snd}}the original Manhattan Comedy Four in "It's Nudding" 1898–99]]
[[File:1911jeffers.jpg|thumb|upright|1911 newspaper advertisement for a Marx Brothers appearance (l–r: Harpo, Groucho, Gummo)]]

===1905-1914: Rise in Independent Vaudeville===
====Early Performances====
The brothers got their start in [[vaudeville]], where their uncle Albert Schönberg performed as [[Al Shean]] of [[Gallagher and Shean]]. Groucho debuted as a singer in 1905. In 1907, Minnie approached vaudeville director [[Ned Wayburn]] to produce Groucho in a singing act with Gummo; together with his own discovery, Mabel O'Donnell, they went on the road as "The Three Nightingales".{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=32}}By November of that year, Wayburn had moved on, and the act continued under Minnie's direction.  She replaced O'Donnell with a singer named Lou Levy.{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=33}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marx-brothers.org/acting/vaude_detail.htm?show_id=3|title=The Three Nightingales (1907) – The Marx Brothers|website=www.marx-brothers.org|access-date=2019-03-05|archive-date=March 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043921/https://www.marx-brothers.org/acting/vaude_detail.htm?show_id=3|url-status=live}}</ref> 

The next year, having discovered at the last minute that she had accidentally booked the act as a quartet at a Coney Island venue, Minnie went to a movie house where Harpo was working, and demanded that he quit his job and join the act immediately.{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=34}}  Regardless of the fact that he didn't know the songs they were supposed to sing, Harpo went along, later remembering an inauspicious beginning: "With my first look at my first audience, I reverted to being a boy again.  I wet my pants. It was probably the most wretched debut in show business."{{sfn|Marx|Barber|1961|p=95}}  Harpo had become the fourth Nightingale. By 1910, he had officially changed his name from Adolph, which he had never liked, to Arthur.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=403}}  The same year, the troupe, renamed "The Six Mascots", briefly expanded to include their mother Minnie and their Aunt Hannah.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=402}}

One evening in 1909, a performance at the Opera House in [[Nacogdoches, Texas]] was interrupted by shouts from outside about a runaway mule. The audience hurried out to see what was happening. Groucho was angered by the interruption and, when the audience returned, he made snide comments at their expense, 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 that it had potential as a comic troupe.{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=35-36}}{{efn|The time and place of this performance has been disputed. In his autobiography ''Harpo Speaks'', Harpo Marx stated that the runaway mule incident occurred in [[Ada, Oklahoma]].{{sfn|Marx|Barber|1961|p=112}} A 1930 article in the ''[[San Antonio Express-News|San Antonio Express]]'' newspaper stated that the incident took place in [[Marshall, Texas]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Runaway Mules Gave Marx Bros. Cue to Comedy |work=[[San Antonio Express]] |date=July 20, 1930 }}</ref> However, most sources claim that it took place in Nacogdoches.  A story of a runaway horse can be found in Nacogdoches papers in late April of 1909, before the act started to focus on comedy, so author Robert Bader uses this date.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=400}}}}

[[File:Four Marx Bros Mr Green Reception New Orleans Times-Democrat 11 May 1913.png|thumb|1913 advertisement for "Green's Reception" at the Greenwall. Left to right, Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Gummo.|right]]

Over time, the act evolved from singing with comedy to comedy with music. The brothers' comedy sketch ''Fun in High School'' (sometimes styled ''Fun in Hi Skule'') featured Groucho as a German-accented teacher presiding over a classroom that included students Harpo, Gummo, and, after he joined the act in 1912, Chico.{{sfn|Louvish|2000|p=76}} The brothers toured successfully with ''Fun in High School'' for several years, sometimes alternating with a comedy billed as ''Mr. Green's Reception'', a similar production in which the schoolmaster and his students were portrayed as older characters.{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=41}}

In early 1911, Chico was working at music publishing firm [[Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.]], when the founder of that company, Maurice Shapiro, died.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=125}} Chico quit immediately,{{efn|It is not clear why Chico quit immediately when Shapiro died. Robert Bader hypothesizes that he may not have wanted to work for Bernstein.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=126}}}} convincing a young tenor, Aaron Gordon, to tour with him in vaudeville.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=407}}{{sfn|Marx|1980|p=9}}  At the time, there was a successful vaudeville act called ''The Two Funny Germans'', starring Bill Gordon and Nick Marx; with Minnie's encouragement, Aaron Gordon and Chico Marx adopted Italian accents (Chico's reputedly based on that of his barber) and toured as Marx and Gordon.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=126}}  Gordon left the act in the fall of that year,{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=128}} and, after failing to break through with two other partners, Chico finally joined his brothers' comedy act in September of 1912.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=133}}

====Origin of their stage names====
It was during their early years in vaudeville that the brothers received their stage names, which were given to them by [[monologist]] Art Fisher during a [[poker]] game.<ref name="Adamson">Joe Adamson. ''Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of the Marx Brothers''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973.</ref>{{efn|The time and place of this poker game are in dispute.  The brothers' authorized biographies differ on the location, placing it variously in [[Galesburg, Illinois]], [[Aurora, Illinois]], and [[Rockford, Illinois]].  The book ''Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage'' gives a date of May, 1914, when the brothers are known to have performed in [[Galesburg, Illinois]]. However, Art Fisher retired from vaudeville in 1912 and was living in Boston in 1914.  Fisher and the Marxes appeared together in [[Joliet, Illinois]] in December of 1910, prior to Chico's joining the act.  The naming may have taken place either at that time - with Chico receiving his name at a later date - or during a 1915 trip to Boston.<ref>{{cite podcast |host=Matthew Coniam and Noah Diamond|title=What is Your Opinion of Art |website=The Marx Brothers Council Podcast |date=26 Feb 2025 |url=https://www.marxbrotherscouncilpodcast.com/ |access-date=19 April 2025}}</ref>}} The nicknames were influenced by [[Gus Mager]]'s comic strip ''[[Sherlocko the Monk]]'', which featured a character named "[[Groucho the Monk|Groucho]]", reflecting the "O" nickname fad of the era.<ref>Marx, Groucho (1976). ''The Groucho Phile'', p. 31.</ref> As Fisher dealt each brother a card, he addressed them, for the first time, by the names they kept for the rest of their lives.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=414}}

Most accounts attribute Julius's nickname "Groucho" to his notably moody temperament.<ref>''[https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0126108/ The Unknown Marx Brothers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405191544/https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0126108/ |date=April 5, 2022 }}'', host: [[Leslie Nielsen]], writer-directors: [[David Leaf]], John Scheinfeld, [[IMDb]], (1993)</ref>  Alternative theories suggest that it derived from the Groucho character in ''Sherlocko the Monk'', or from the "grouch bag" he carried, containing money and necessities.{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=46}}{{efn|Groucho denied the claim that the nickname referred to the grouch bag in his autobiography ''Groucho and Me''.{{sfn|Marx|1959|p=67}}}} Leonard was named "Chicko" because of his reputation for chasing women (or "chicks").{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=46}}  "Chicko" was eventually shortened to "Chico", but still pronounced "Chick-o" rather than "Cheek-o." Arthur was dubbed "Harpo" because he played the harp.{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=46}}

Milton's nickname "Gummo" stemmed from his habit of wearing rubber-soled shoes, although the details varied depending on who was telling the story.  Harpo claimed that Milton earned the name by sneaking around theaters like a [[Private investigator|gumshoe detective]].{{sfn|Marx|Barber|1961|p=130}} Other sources reported that Gummo was the family's hypochondriac, and therefore wore [[galosh|rubber overshoes]] whenever he thought it might rain,{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=46}} or that he was the troupe's best dancer, and dance shoes tended to have rubber soles.{{sfn|Louvish|2000|p=100}}

===1914-1922: ''Home Again'', World War I, and Failure in Vaudeville===
====''Home Again''====
Generally, while critics were kind to the Brothers, reviews acknowledged that the shows were not of high quality.  When the Marxes tried to play larger venues, they were not well received; at one performance in Chicago, a critic wrote "The so-called Marx Brothers do well, but in the worst kind of vaudeville.  In other words, they are so good that they stink."{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=42}}  Eventually, even local critics started to mention that the material had gotten old, with one reviewer in [[Hammond, Indiana]] describing the jokes as "musty".{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=174}}  They turned to their uncle [[Al Shean]] to help them write new material.  In response, Shean wrote ''Home Again'', an expansion of ''Mr. Green's Reception''.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=174}}

''Home Again'' was a turning point for the Marx Brothers: it was this show that solidified their distinctive comedic style. Shean had portrayed a fast-talking German in his own act; he wrote a similar role for nephew Julius, who also began to wear his trademark [[greasepaint]] mustache and use a stooped walk.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=174}} Shean wrote few lines for Harpo in ''Home Again'', contributing to the decision to stop having him talk.  Explanations for this vary. Shean remembered it as being because Harpo spoke with a lisp, while Harpo said that reviewers would often give his performances positive reviews, but follow it with a note that he shouldn't talk.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=175}}{{efn|Harpo frequently told another story: that after telling a theater owner that he wished his theater would burn down, it did - at which point, he superstitiously stopped speaking in the act entirely.{{sfn|Louvish|2000|p=94}}}} He also adopted his wig and trademark horn at this time.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=176}} Gummo, and later Zeppo, assumed the role of the romantic [[Double act|straight man]] (described by [[James Agee]] as 'peerlessly cheesy').<ref name="Adamson"/>

The response to ''Home Again'' has been described as "wildly enthusiastic", and it played to packed audiences.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=177}}  The brothers, confident about the production's prospects, guaranteed that if theaters did not earn more than their average revenue, then they would play for free.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=177}}  A review in [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] described it as "a good meaty character comedy" and added that "the company's work fully entitle them to their six [curtain calls]".{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=180}}

By the end of 1914, ''Home Again'' was popular enough that they could contract with the [[Vaudeville Managers Association|United Booking Office]] (UBO), which controlled the highest paying theaters in the country.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=179}} Subsequently, they becan sharing bills with more prominent acts, including [[Jack Benny]]{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=227}} and [[W.C. Fields]].  Fields, reportedly concerned about negative comparisons, once refused to follow them on stage, claiming a broken wrist.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=181}}

The ''Home Again'' tour reached [[Flint, Michigan]] in 1915, where 14-year-old Zeppo joined his four brothers for what is believed to be the only time that all five Marx Brothers appeared together on stage.  The September 3, 1915, edition of ''The Flint Daily Journal'' documented this performance, noting that Zeppo sang 'four or five songs' and 'gives promise of becoming as much of a favorite as the rest of the family'.{{sfn|Louvish|2000|p=99-100}} 

====World War I, Gummo Leaves, and Zeppo Joins====
[[File:Sailing away on the Henry Clay.jpg|thumb|upright|Sheet music published in 1917 for the song "Sailing Away on the Henry Clay"; from left: Harpo, Gummo, Chico, Groucho]]

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 and the sinking of the [[RMS Lusitania]] in 1915 triggered strong anti-German sentiment across America, forcing the Marx Brothers to distance themselves from their German heritage.{{sfn|Louvish|2000|p=99}} Groucho abandoned his German stage persona entirely, dropping his exaggerated accent and changing his character's name from "Schneider" to the more American "Jones."<ref name="mentalfloss-2007" />

As the United States entered the war, Minnie Marx attempted to secure draft exemptions for her sons by purchasing a {{convert|27|acre|ha|adj=on}} poultry farm near [[Countryside, Illinois]].{{sfn|Kanfer|2000|p=52}}<ref name="mentalfloss-2007">{{cite web |date=December 20, 2007 |title=mental_floss Blog » Groucho's Threat Against Nixon & 9 More Marx Brothers Stories |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/17625/grouchos-threat-against-nixon-9-more-marx-brothers-stories |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220144216/http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10552#more-10552 |archive-date=December 20, 2007 |access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref> Despite these efforts, by summer 1918, Gummo was drafted into military service. Unlike his brothers, he had grown increasingly dissatisfied with performing and welcomed the change, later quipping that he "went to war to get a little peace."{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=207}}

Gummo's departure created an immediate vacancy in the act. The youngest Marx brother, Zeppo, was working as a mechanic at [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] when Minnie instructed him to leave his job and join his brothers on stage. He later recalled being so unprepared that he had to improvise his lines and abstain from dance numbers during his early performances.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=206}}

The origin of Zeppo's stage name, which he received around this time, remains contested. Several theories have emerged. Harpo claimed in his memoir that the nickname referenced a trained chimpanzee named Zippo from another vaudeville act,{{sfn|Marx|Barber|1961|p=130}}. Other family members suggested connections to the popular "Zeke and Zeb" rural humor of the era{{sfn|Louvish|2000|p=102}}. Chico's daughter Maxine maintained that the name evolved from a joke between her father and Herbert, beginning with "Zeb" and eventually becoming "Zeppo." Groucho offered yet another explanation, saying the name derived from [[Zeppelin#Renaissance|the first transatlantic flights by zeppelins]], although this did not happen until 1924.{{sfn|Louvish|2000|p=102}}{{efn|Groucho made these claims in a tape-recorded interview excerpted on ''The Unknown Marx Brothers'', as well as in his Carnegie Hall concert in 1972. The first zeppelin flew in July 1900, and Herbert was [[Zeppo Marx|born seven months later]] in February 1901.}}

====Decline and Failure in Vaudeville====
[[File:Marx Brothers 1921.jpg|thumb|''[[Humor Risk]]'' (1921), now long-lost, was the first Marx Brothers' film. Pictured in a photograph the same year, from (left to right), are [[Zeppo Marx|Zeppo]], [[Groucho Marx|Groucho]], [[Harpo Marx|Harpo]], and [[Chico Marx|Chico]].]]

In April 1921, during a break from their touring schedule, the brothers took their first foray into motion pictures, producing a short silent film titled ''[[Humor Risk]]''.  Written by [[Jo Swerling]], the film featured Groucho playing a villain, and Harpo playing a romantic lead named Watson.  Following a poorly received single screening in [[the Bronx]] - reportedly marked by disruptive children and impassive adults - the brothers decided against releasing the film.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marx |first1=Groucho |title=Bad Days are Good Memories |journal=The Saturday Evening Post |date=29 Aug 1931 |volume=204 |issue=9 |pages=12-83}}</ref> No copies of ''Humor Risk'' are known to survive.{{sfn|Louvish|2000|p=134}}

In the summer of 1922, facing a lack of bookings in the United States, the brothers took their act to the UK, where they performed shows in [[London]], [[Bristol]], and [[Manchester]].{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=433}}  [[E. F. Albee]], who ran the UBO, required that acts that played in UBO theaters get his permission before playing in other venues.  Not having asked Albee before traveling to Britain, the brothers were blacklisted from all UBO-controlled theaters upon their return to the United States.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=258}}

After their banishment from UBO theaters, the Marx Brothers produced a show called ''The Twentieth Century Revue'' on the smaller [[The Shubert Organization|Shubert]] circuit.  The Shuberts were concurrently engaged in a lawsuit against the brothers' uncle, Al Shean{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=261}}{{sfn|Diamond|2016|p=51}}<ref name="whyaduck/issi-index"/><ref name="marxology/story"/>  The brothers made less money on the Shubert circuit, and their act was padded with other Shubert talent of mixed quality.  The show was a failure: reviews of the Marxes were positive, but the other acts were met with antipathy.  The ''Cincinnati Post'' of February 12, 1923 said "there are other periods where it seems everyone is sparring for time.  This of course is not pleasant."{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=264}} Former cast members of the ''Revue'' sued the brothers, alleging unpaid salaries. Sheriffs seized the ''Revue'''s assets, leading to the show's closure.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=265}}

===1924-1929: Success on Broadway===
====''I'll Say She Is''====
Having been banned from the largest vaudeville circuit, and having failed on the second largest, the Marx Brothers were at a low point. In his memoir ''Harpo Speaks'', Harpo remembered a plan to break up the team: “It had been decided that Groucho should audition as a single, Zeppo return to Chicago with Minnie, and Chico hire out as a piano player.  To all of these decisions I said: ‘Nuts’”.{{sfn|Marx|Barber|1961|p=160}}

[[Ned Wayburn]], who had produced Groucho and Gummo in The Three Nightingales,  introduced the Marxes to writers Tom and [[Will B. Johnstone|Will Johnstone]], who had an idea for a new show.  They were aware of Joe Gaites, another Shubert veteran whose show 'Gimme a Thrill' had failed. Gaites still owned the scenery and costumes from that production.  The Johnstones felt that they could put together a successful show with the Marxes using the costuming, scenery, and the more successful songs and plot from that show.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=271}}  They found a backer: a man named James P. Beury, who had recently purchased the [[Walnut Street Theater]] in [[Philadelphia]] (and was reputedly looking for a starring vehicle for a chorus girl he was dating).{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=272}}{{sfn|Marx|1959|p=161}}

The show, rewritten by the Johnstones, and now titled ''[[I'll Say She Is]]'', premiered in [[Allentown, Pennsylvania]] in May of 1923.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=275}}  After successful initial showings, the production moved to Beury's theater in Pennsylvania for the summer. The show then played in [[Boston]] during September, followed by [[Chicago]] for the remainder of the year, before embarking on a nationwide tour.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=280}} In May of 1924, 'I'll Say She Is' premiered on Broadway.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=436-437}} For this momentous occasion, their mother Minnie had been getting a custom dress made when she fell and broke her ankle. Determined not to miss the premiere, she attended the show on a stretcher.{{sfn|Marx|1959|p=169}}

[[File:Casino Theatre, Broadway and 39th Street, Manhattan.jpg|thumb|Casino Theatre, Broadway and 39th Street, Manhattan, where ''I'll Say She Is'' ran]]

The Broadway premiere of ''I'll Say She Is'' launched a new phase of the Marx Brothers' careers. Positive reviews appeared in most of the New York dailies, including the [[The Sun (New York City)|New York Sun]], the [[New York Evening Post]], the [[New York Daily News]], The [[New York Daily Mirror]], and [[Life Magazine]].{{sfn|Diamond|2016|p=146-147}} The production became a commercial success, running for 313 performances and consistently playing to near-capacity audiences.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=437}}  The reviewer for the ''Sun'' was [[Alexander Woollcott]], who was to become a lifelong friend of Harpo’s.  Woollcott introduced Harpo to the [[Algonquin Round Table]], a collection of intellectuals who met regularly at the [[Algonquin Hotel]] in [[Manhattan]].  He also convinced the brothers - who had been billed to that point as Julius, Leonard, Arthur, and Herbert - to go by their stage names in public.<ref>[https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0126108/ The Unknown Marx Brothers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405191544/https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0126108/ |date=April 5, 2022 }}, host: [[Leslie Nielsen]], writer-directors: [[David Leaf]], John Scheinfeld, [[IMDb]], (1993)</ref>

====''The Cocoanuts'' and ''Animal Crackers''====
The success of ''I'll Say She Is'' attracted numerous producers eager to develop the Marx Brothers' next show.  After being unable to come to an agreement with [[Florenz Ziegfeld]], the brothers settled on [[Sam H. Harris]], due to his association with composer [[Irving Berlin]].{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=289}}.  Harris recruited [[George S. Kaufman]], a member of the Algonquin Round Table, to write the show.  Kaufman, who knew of the brothers' tendency to harass writers and ignore the script, reportedly exclaimed, "Are you crazy? ''Write'' a show for the ''Marx'' Brothers?  I'd rather write a show for the Barbary apes!"{{sfn|Marx|Barber|1961|p=187}}  Nevertheless, Kaufman signed on, believing that a show starring the Marx Brothers, with music by Berlin, was almost certainly going to be a hit.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=300}}

''[[The Cocoanuts]]'', penned by Kaufman, with music by Berlin, premiered in Boston in October 1925, and came to Broadway in December of that year.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=439}}  The critics were glowing, with Woollcott saying, "It need only be reported that ''The Cocoanuts'' is so funny it's positively weakening."{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=305}} ''The Cocoanuts'' was notable for another Marx Brothers first: the inclusion in the cast of [[Margaret Dumont]], a former small-time vaudevillian who had married into wealth, become widowed, and then been forced to take the stage again.{{sfn|Bader|2022|p=307}}  Dumont played a straight foil to Groucho, a role she would go on to reprise in their next Broadway production, and in seven of their movies.

Kaufman also wrote their next production, ''[[Animal Crackers (musical)|Animal Crackers]]'' (1928–1929), with music and lyrics by [[Bert Kalmar]] and [[Harry Ruby]].