I got asked many times if “The Three Stooges” were my favorite group based on my column last week. Well, they are close to my favorite groups but I think “The Marx Brothers” are my favorites. They are similar to the Stooges in several ways. Both groups grew up in Jewish neighborhoods in New York City; both had relations in the groups; both started out in vaudeville and both are considered tops in their crafts.
“The Marx Brothers” were all related and came from a theater background. Their mother pushed them into entertainment where they developed their specific personalities. The oldest was Leonard, later Chico. Then Adolph, later Arthur, still later Harpo. Then Julius, later Groucho. Milton was next. He later became Gummo but never appeared in their films, and last was Herbert, known as Zeppo. As their characters became established, Chico became the Italian piano player. Harpo became a mute harp player. Groucho became the wise-cracking womanizer, and Zeppo was the handsome straight man for the group.
With their names and characters in place they first started off in a play called “I’ll Say She Is”. It was a huge success. They followed that with the plays “The Cocoanuts” and “Animal Crackers”. While performing in these plays, they filmed versions of “The Cocoanuts” and “Animal Crackers”. Both film versions proved to be successful with some memorable characters and scenes. “The Cocoanuts” featured a very funny word play between Groucho and Chico called Via A Duck. “Animal Crackers” had Groucho as Capt. Jeffery Spalding who was an African explorer. They starred in some great musical numbers which were meant to appeal to the women in the audience but ended up a favorite of the men.
