Editing Harpo Marx (section)

=== On stage ===
[[File:1930 - Strand Theater Ad - 21 Sep MC - Allentown PA.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Newspaper ad for ''[[Animal Crackers (1930 film)|Animal Crackers]]'' (1930) with [[Lillian Roth]] paragraph]]
In January 1910, Harpo joined two of his younger brothers, [[Groucho Marx|Julius]] (later "Groucho") and [[Gummo Marx|Milton]] (later "Gummo"), to form "The Three Nightingales",<ref name="LOC">{{cite web |last1=Hall |first1=Mark |title=The Marx Brothers: A Resource Guide |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/marxbros/index.html |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> which would later be renamed "The Marx Brothers". Multiple unverified stories attempt to explain Harpo's evolution as the "silent" character in the brothers' act. In his memoir, Groucho wrote that Harpo simply was not very good at memorizing dialogue, and thus was ideal to portray the archetypal vaudeville role of the "dunce who couldn't speak."<ref>Marx, Groucho (1959). Groucho And Me. Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|978-0-306-80666-7}}, p. 46.</ref>

Differing stories exist regarding the origin of the Harpo [[stage name]]. The stories agree that the pseudonym originated during a card game at which [[Art Fisher]], the dealer that night, referred to Marx as "Harpo" because he played the [[harp]].<ref name="speaks">{{cite book| last=Marx| first=Harpo| author2=Rowland Barber| title=Harpo Speaks!| publisher=Limelight Editions| year=1988| location=New York| isbn=978-0879100360| url=https://archive.org/details/harpospeaks00marx}}</ref><ref name="Mitchell p169">Mitchell 1996, p. 169</ref>  The time and place of the game are disputed, however.  In his autobiography ''Harpo Speaks!'', Harpo claims that it took place in [[Rockford, Illinois]].  The most common version of the story places it at the [[Orpheum Theater (Galesburg)|Orpheum Theatre]] in [[Galesburg, Illinois]]. However, this version of events is disputed, at least partially because the Orpheum Theatre was not constructed until late 1916, whereas Harpo later remembered acquiring the name in 1914. In addition, Fisher is believed to have left vaudeville in 1912.  Some sources give an earlier date for its origin and suggest the game may have instead taken place at the Galesburg Auditorium Theatre or the same town's Gaiety Theatre.<ref name= "GalesburgCardGame">{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Tom |title=Of Groucho and Galesburg |url=https://www.galesburg.com/article/20090314/NEWS/303149941 |website=The Register-Mail |publisher=Illinois Press Association |access-date=31 December 2020}}</ref> 

Harpo learned how to hold the harp by emulating a harp-playing angel in a picture he saw in a [[five-and-dime]].<ref name="speaks" />  No one in town knew how to play the harp, so Harpo tuned it as best he could, starting with one basic note and tuning it from there. He began learning to play the instrument without lessons. Three years later, he found out he had tuned it incorrectly,<ref name="TelegraphTenThings">{{cite news |last1=Chilton |first1=Martin |title=Harpo Marx: 10 Things You Might not Know |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/harpo-marx-10-things-you-might-not-know/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/harpo-marx-10-things-you-might-not-know/ |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access= subscription |url-status=live |access-date=1 December 2020 |work=The Telegraph Limited |date=4 January 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> but that his method placed much less tension on the strings.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}} Despite Harpo's musical talent, he never learned to read or write music.<ref name="TelegraphTenThings" /> Although he paid top musicians handsome fees to teach him "proper" harp-playing technique,<ref name= "WoollcottVanityFair">{{cite magazine |last1=Woollcott |first1=Alexander |title= The Education of Harpo Marx |url= https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1926/03/harpo-marx-theater-music |access-date= 1 December 2020 |magazine= Vanity Fair |agency=Hive |date=March 1926}}</ref> he maintained his unique style his entire life (his "teachers," fascinated by his technique, spent their sessions watching and listening as Marx performed).<ref name= "speaks"/> The major exception was [[Mildred Dilling]], the professional harpist who finally taught Harpo proper harp technique and collaborated with him regularly when he had difficulty composing.<ref name="DillingNYT">{{cite news| title=Mildred Dilling, 88, a Harpist, Performed for 5 Presidents| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/03/obituaries/mildred-dilling-88-a-harpist-performed-for-5-presidents.html| access-date=23 January 2018| newspaper=The New York Times| date=3 January 1983}}</ref> Upon his death in 1964, one of Harpo's harps was donated to the [[Israel|State of Israel]], and eventually found a home in an Israeli orchestra.<ref name="IsraeliHarpDonation">{{cite web |title=Harpo's Harp in the Holy Land |url=https://www.ifcj.org/news/stand-for-israel/harpo-s-harp-in-the-holy-land-2/ |website=International Fellowship of Christians and Jews |date=November 22, 2017 |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref>

[[Chico Marx|Chico]] found Harpo some of his first jobs. He and Chico were co-workers, playing piano to accompany [[silent film]]s.<ref name= "speaks" /> Unlike Chico, Harpo could play only two songs on the piano, "Waltz Me Around Again, Willie" and "[[Love Me and the World Is Mine (song)|Love Me and the World Is Mine]]",<ref name="WollcottOnHarposHarp">{{cite magazine |last1=Woollcott |first1= Alexander |title=Alexander Woollcott on the Harp of Harpo Marx |url= https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1926/03/harpo-marx-theater-music |access-date=31 December 2020 |magazine= Vanity Fair |date=March 1926}}</ref> but he adapted this small repertoire in different tempos to suit the action on the screen. He was also seen playing a portion of Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C# minor" in ''[[A Day at the Races (film)|A Day at the Races]]'',<ref name="BrownHelloGoodbye">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Craig |title= Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings |date=7 August 2012 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-1451684513 |page=169 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jVZoAAAAQBAJ&q=A+Day+at+the+Races&pg=PA169 |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> and played piano in ''[[A Night at the Opera (film)|A Night at the Opera]].''<ref name= "DissolveTobias">{{cite web |last1= Tobias |first1=Scott |title=A Night At The Opera saved the Marx Brothers' career while spoiling the act |url= https://thedissolve.com/features/departures/295-a-night-at-the-opera-saved-the-marx-brothers-caree/ |website=The Dissolve |publisher=Pitchfork Media, Inc. |access-date=31 December 2020}}</ref> Ultimately, he relinquished the piano to Chico in favor of his trademark harp, upon which he performed [[Nacio Herb Brown|Nacio Herb Brown's]] 1935 song "Alone", which was sung in the film by [[Kitty Carlisle]] and Allan Jones.<ref name= "IMDbNigtAtOperaSoundtrack">{{cite web |title=A Night at the Opera (1935) - Soundtracks |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026778/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd |website= IMDb |publisher=Amazon |access-date=31 December 2020}}</ref>

Harpo had changed his name from "Adolph", a name he disliked (as a child, he was routinely called "Ahdie" instead),<ref name="Louvish" /> to "Arthur" by 1911.<ref name= "IndependentNameChange">{{cite news |last1=Huggler |first1=Justin |title=Will it ever be OK to call your child Adolf? |url= https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/will-it-ever-be-ok-to-call-your-child-adolf-37164083.html |access-date=2 December 2020 |work=The Sunday Independent |date=29 July 2018}}</ref> The similarity to the name of prominent Chicago show business attorney Adolph Marks may have further encouraged the change.<ref>{{cite book| last=Bader| first=Robert S.| title=Four of the Three Musketeers| publisher=Northwestern University Press| year=2016| location=Evanston, IL| page=147 |isbn=978-0-8101-3416-4}}</ref> [[Urban legends]] stating that the name change came about during [[World War I]] due to anti-German sentiment in the US, or during [[World War II]] because of the stigma that [[Adolf Hitler]] imposed on the name, are groundless.<ref name="TIFONicknames">{{cite web |last1=Deezen |first1=Eddie |title=HOW THE MARX BROTHERS GOT THEIR NICKNAMES |url=https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/10/how-the-marx-brothers-got-their-nicknames/ |website=Today I Found Out |date=October 2, 2012 |access-date=31 December 2020}}</ref>